Online Mini Retreats: 10a - 12p, PST

Topic & Retreat date: See below. To learn more about the presenter, simply click on the down arrow to the right of the presenter’s name.

Registration: Click the registration button at the end of the retreat description.

Cost: Suggested donation of $35.

The suggested donation reflects the true cost of creating and offering a retreat. CFDM does not want finances to be a barrier to participate. Therefore, your donation of any amount is welcome and helps CFDM offer an honorarium to the presenter and to those who serve behind the scenes to make these retreats possible. Thank you!

CFDM is a nonprofit organization.

identity: moving from what i am, to who i am

October 4, 2025

We all carry narratives within us about who we are and who we should be, often formed from messages we embraced throughout our lives. Some narratives are uplifting and many are not. Marilyn will lead us through two “identity exercises,” helping us to name both the fearful accusations that paralyze and discourage us and the God-breathed affirmations that can inspire and ground us.

In this retreat, we will draw near to the One who lovingly created us and knows us completely. In God’s presence we come to know who we truly are, and to Whom we belong.

  • Marilyn Vancil. Author of two books: Self to Lose, Self to Find: Using the Enneagram to Uncover Your True, God-Gifted Self and Beyond the Enneagram: An Invitation to Experience a More Centered Life with God.  She has studied the Enneagram personality system and its value in Christian spiritual transformation for over 30 years. She is a Certified Enneagram Professional in the Narrative Tradition, a certified spiritual director, and a trained life coach. She has also completed coursework on the Enneagram at Loyola University and the Deep Coaching Institute. Marilyn facilitates workshops on the Enneagram, focusing on how it can be used to deepen one’s life with God and improve relationships. She has a passion to help others experience greater spiritual freedom and peace within. She practices spiritual direction from Cheney, WA where she enjoys life with her husband, Jeff. They have four grown children and eleven grandchildren. 

grief movement: a gentle, embodied approach to release grief and stress from our bodies

November 15, 2024

Living in this world, we've all experienced some sort of grief, loss or sadness in our lives. Loss of a loved one, an estranged relationship, loss of a job or a dream or the version of the life we thought we'd be living.

Grief Movement invites us to embrace an embodied approach to the emotions stored in our bodies. The movements are gentle and easy. All of them are done from a seated position. We will use movement, breath and sound to release grief and stress from our bodies, to open space within our hearts to become more aware of God's loving presence with us.

  • Donna is a spiritual director and grief movement guide residing in a wooded suburb outside of Seattle. She's a big fan of chocolate, swoony fiction and spending time with her husband and their two adult children, preferably on a beach. She is passionate about embodiment, somatic practices and centering prayer.

welcoming prayer

December 6, 2025

The holiday season brings lots of emotions ranging from joy and contentment to grief and frustration. In Welcoming Prayer we welcome our emotional experience in the presence of God, and are led to greater freedom to live out of our true self. Often described as “consent-on-the-go,” this prayer offers a practical way to open ourselves to God’s presence and action in everyday life.  Join us as we explore and practice this prayer.


  • Wanda received her certificate in spiritual direction through CFDM-NW. Her first career was as a Registered Dietitian, followed by many years as a stay-at-home mom to three children during which time her passion for soul care began to blossom.  During these years she completed CFDM’s formation programs (Going Deeper with God I & II), and she took various other classes to nurture this passion. In her local church Wanda has served in various leadership roles, preaches several times a year, and has been instrumental in coordinating and leading women’s ministry activities including bible studies and other opportunities for spiritual formation.   She seeks to maintain a well-tended soul through a wide range of spiritual practices, including regular silent retreats, which prepare her to love well and embrace what life brings. She and her husband live in rural central Washington with an almost empty nest where she enjoys orchard walks, kayaking on local lakes, reading, and playing games with family. 

presence and discernment: attending to god, yourself, and others

January 10, 2026

Scripture tells us we are being transformed into Christ’s likeness.  It is not our job to transform ourselves; it is the work of the Holy Spirit in us.  Our task is to stay connected to God in as much of our lives as possible.  One way we do this is by pausing to create some silence and space which will help us get beyond the noise and distraction going on, both within and without, to pay attention to what is happening to us interiorly—in our lived experience and emotions.  As we do this more and more, reflection becomes a spiritual practice, leading to a deeper awareness of God and his will, and discernment becomes a way of life.

This retreat will offer the opportunity to experience God's presence through exploring discernment and noticing what helps or hinders our presence to God, ourselves and others.  Come join us for this mini retreat, which will give us some tools for discernment and deepen our awareness of God's presence within and around us.

  • Paula Mitchell. Spiritual Director, teacher, retreat facilitator, writer, wife, and mother of four grown sons. Paula was director of the CFDM Spiritual Formation Program for 5 years.  She founded Doorway’s Ministries which offered Days of Prayer and Reflection, a nine month Spiritual Exercise Program titled Free our Hearts and 3, 4 and 5 day silent retreats.  Paula has taught as an adjunct for the CFDM Spiritual Direction training program since 2008. 

centering prayer: consenting to gods presense and action within us

February 21, 2026

Centering Prayer is beautifully described by Thomas Keating as “…the opening of mind and heart - our whole being - to God beyond thoughts, words, and emotions. Moved by God’s sustaining grace, we open our awareness to God, who we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing - closer than consciousness itself.”

In this retreat, we will learn more about this form of prayer and have time to practice it.

  • Katrina Obata is a spiritual director and CFDM-NW’s Executive Director.  She enjoys being creative with collage journals, watercolor, drawing, jewelry making, Gelli printing.  She also loves to be outside walking, gardening, and rock hounding.  A native of the Adirondack Mountain area of New York state, Katrina has made the PNW her home since 1994. She is a mom to an adult son via foster adoption, and currently lives in Bend, OR with her husband, and wonderful dog. Meeka.

noticing god in everyday life: the prayer of examen

March 21, 2026

The Prayer of Examen is an ancient spiritual practice of expressing gratitude for God’s presence of love that is with us every moment of every day. It has been described as “reading the scripture of our lives.”  It is a simple, yet powerful practice that invites us to reflect on our everyday happenings and experiences to see the movement of God.

With this simple practice, we make space to notice more deeply who we are, what we need, and how God is present with us.

  • Serves as pastor for Newberg First Presbyterian Church in Newberg, Oregon. He is blessed to be married to Karen and to be dad to two daughters, Cate and Chiara. He is an ordained minister with the Presbyterian Church USA and earned his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Direction through Fuller Theological Seminary. Chris received a Certificate in Spiritual Direction in 2005 and has actively offered spiritual direction and prayer retreats for the last 20 years. Chris has taught for Fuller Seminary, CFDM Seattle, CFDM Los Angeles, and Renovare Institute. He is grateful to partner once again with CFDM and to help students grow in God's love and in the art of spiritual direction.

encountering God through lectio divina

April 18, 2026

Lectio divina is also called divine (or sacred) reading. It is an ancient Christian approach to reading scripture that allows God to meet us personally in the moment. When we read scripture this way, we are not looking to gain information, we are seeking to deepen our personal relationship with God. Reading in this way is transformational, it engages not only our mind, but also our heart, our emotions, our body, our curiosity, our imagination, and our will.

Lectio divina is rooted in the belief that through the presence of the Holy Spirit the scriptures are alive and active as we engage them (Heb 4:12).

  • Stan attended Lutheran Bible Institute in Seattle, then the University of Washington and graduated from Seattle Pacific College. At the age of twenty-nine he entered Luther Seminary. After serving in Lutheran churches for thirty-seven years, 2017 marked his retirement. For most of those years, Stan met with a spiritual director, believing it to be an important part of his spiritual life. In 2018 Stan received a certificate in Spiritual Direction from CFDM-NW. He now offers spiritual direction to others and is part of a peer group who meets monthly to “enhance our understanding of ourselves and our growth as spiritual directors. I am eager and slowly learning how to listen to God. I am a spiritual pilgrim.” 

embodied prayer and somatic movement: experiencing god through our body center

May 16, 2026

Many of us were taught to distrust our bodies, to "die to the flesh". We may find it challenging to sense or feel present in our bodies. But our bodies can help us connect with spirit of God within us.

Prayer with simple gestures can help us attune to the body and enable us to commune with God from our sensing or body center, beyond our very busy minds.

Somatic exercises can help us to calm and regulate our nervous systems with very simple movements. Please bring a blanket, mat or a towel as we will be doing some gentle, soothing movements on the floor, for those who are able.

 

  • Donna is a spiritual director and grief movement guide residing in a wooded suburb outside of Seattle. She's a big fan of chocolate, swoony fiction and spending time with her husband and their two adult children, preferably on a beach. She is passionate about embodiment, somatic practices and centering prayer.