Sanctuary for the Heart

Monthly Event: Stillness of the Heart
2022-11-16 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Vancouver)
Join Candace in learning how trauma and layers of social conditioning impacts our capacity to experience the quiet stillness, beauty and goodness that is here in the present moment. We gather together to rest and gently bring our attention to what calls us home.
What to expect:
Candace will lead the group in rest, grounding and orientation practices followed by dialogue and questions.

An Ocean of Compassion
2022-11-11 11:00 - 13:00
Meetings with Candace in the Sanctuary, a place of refuge, are an invitation to rest and join with others in a safe, slow and sacred space.
Candace will guide the group in gentle practices and engage in dialogue with participants that invite a deep resting into an “Ocean of Compassion”.
Together we will come to recognize that the safety, warmth and compassion that we long for is the very ground we stand on; the air we breathe and the sacred space that we occupy. Everything is here to remind us that we belong to this moment and to each other.
“When times are urgent let us slow down and notice how indebted we are to the ground.” ~ Bayo Akomolafe
“Candace has a quality of depth, tenderness, gentle curiosity, warmth and sincerity that naturally invites settling and deep rest. The nurturing slowness and softness of her voice communicates, “it’s safe here”.
(Event sessions will be recorded and available to all participants)

Monthly Event: Your Quiet Wisdom
2022-10-19 11:00 - 12:30

Monthly Event: The Sweetness of Being
2022-09-21 11:00 - 12:30

Monthly Event: The Quiet Friend
2022-08-17 11:00 - 12:30

The Unadorned Beauty of Being Here (Day 3 of 3)
2022-08-14 10:00 - 12:00
Meetings with Candace in the Sanctuary are an invitation to rest and join with others in a safe and sacred space.
Candace will guide the group in gentle practices and dialogue that invite resting into the present moment where we will practice listening gently to what is arising here both inside and outside.
Bringing attention to what’s happening outside is a way to support and connect with what’s happening inside even though there really is no difference. No inside. No outside. Everything is appearing in the same open field of awareness.
The sound of birdsong; clenched jaw; a gentle breeze; sunlight coming in through the window; the sound of the dishwasher; cool air; flickering candle light; tension; the crunch of gravel; physical pain; tears; the far off sound of traffic; busy mind; body softening.
Everything is waiting for us here.

“It was what I was born for – to look, to listen, to lose myselfinside this soft world.”~ Mary Oliver

(Event sessions will be recorded and available to all participants)

The Unadorned Beauty of Being Here (Day 2 of 3)
2022-08-13 10:00 - 12:00

The Unadorned Beauty of Being Here (Day 1 of 3)
2022-08-12 10:00 - 12:00

The Great Mother
2022-07-22 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-07-15 11:00 - 13:00, 2022-07-08 11:00 - 13:00
Held in the warm embrace of the Great Mother – Healing the Mother Wound
Many of us were not raised with the kind of tender and loving support we needed when we were children. We didn’t have a fierce and loyal protector or a safe and reassuring lap to crawl into when we were scared. This created, what I call, a wound of absence in our physiology. A soul wound. A gnawing emptiness that seeks to be filled. It is the birthplace of addiction, self-loathing, unhealthy relationships and alienation from ourself and each other.
In the words of Gabor Mate: In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts; “From the latin word vulnerare, ‘to wound’, vulnerability is our susceptibility to be wounded. This fragility is part of our nature and cannot be escaped. The best the brain can do is to shut down conscious awareness of it when pain becomes so vast or unbearable that it threatens to overwhelm our capacity to function.
When we flee our vulnerability, we lose our full capacity for feeling emotion. We may even become emotional amnesiacs, not remembering ever having felt truly elated or truly sad. A nagging void opens, and we experience it as alienation, as profound as ennui, as the sense of deficient emptiness.”
The Great Mother is the Archetype of unconditional loving and tender compassion. An immense warmth and welcoming rooted firmly in the present moment. She opens her arms and invites us into her robust lap of comfort and gentle reassurance. She soothes the places inside that are worn and weary. She is never more than a whisper away.

We are born of love; Love is our mother.~ Rumi

Join Candace Kirby and Jessica Holland for a 3 week event as we weave stories and gentle practices around the healing presence of The Great Mother Archetype followed by questions and dialogue with the participants.
Jessica HollandInspired by fairytales and myth, a storyteller at heart.Rooted in animism, nature, cyclical and seasonal living.Herbalist, pattern breaker and student of the nervous system.
Candace KirbyThe gentle heart of a poet, counsellor and spiritual mentor. Candace specializes in working with trauma, the nervous system and the role of trauma in spiritual awakening.

Monthly Event: Grace is Every Moment
2022-07-20 11:00 - 12:30

Monthly Event: An Ocean of Goodness
2022-06-15 11:00 - 12:30

Stillness in a Chaotic World
2022-05-01 10:00 - 12:00, 2022-04-17 10:00 - 12:00, 2022-04-10 10:00 - 12:00, 2022-04-03 10:00 - 12:00, 2022-03-27 10:00 - 12:00
Devotion to Truth in Practice
This will be a 6-week experiential course that will require practice between sessions.
We will stay intimately connected to the present moment as our primary teacher and guide. We will practice slowly together. Nothing will be forced. Nothing will be demanded. We will gently renew our connection to the mysterious and compassionate nature of right now.
What to expect:

Candace will lead the group in several different practices followed by a teaching, questions and dialogue.
You will have access to the audio recording of each session.
There will be weekly practices and priming for the upcoming sessions.

Registration Closes:
April 23, 2022

Every Moment is a Holy Moment
2022-04-20 11:00 - 12:30
Join Candace in learning how trauma and layers of social conditioning impacts our capacity to experience the beauty, pleasure and goodness that is available in every moment.
What to expect:
Candace will lead the group in meditation, grounding and orientation practices followed by dialogue and questions.

Finding Refuge in the Present Moment
2022-03-16 11:00 - 12:30

Guided Orientation Practice
2022-03-09 09:00 - 10:00
Connecting to the Present Moment through the Senses
We need text here.
What to expect:

Candace ..

Cost:
The cost of each session is $10. Please email Candace to purchase.

Awakening into the Goodness of Right Now
2022-01-28 11:00 - 12:30
A Gentle and Safe Approach to Healing Trauma
Imagine loving your life and being able to care for yourself and bring yourself back to a state of peace and acceptance when you can’t.
This is such a historic time. There is no blue print for how to navigate the loss of safety, grief and confusion except for our own natural ability to heal and find comfort in the most challenging situations.
This course will help you:

Understand the impact of past and present trauma on the physiology and why we suffer
Love and care for your nervous system
Pause slow down, rest and find ease in the present moment with the support of the group and consistent guided practices
Notice that the environment and your own physiology (present moment) is constantly offering support.
Align with what is helpful and supportive and let go of what isn’t
Build capacity to be here by first building a foundation of safety, stability and unconditional acceptance
Shift through the repetition of slow and nourishing new practices
Feel safe in the company of others. Perhaps for the first time
Learn to trust that the Love you long for is already and always here and that you are not separate from that Love
Know yourself as you really are

“You do not have to walk on your kneesfor a hundred miles through the desert repenting.You only have to let the soft animal of your bodylove what it loves.” ~ Mary Oliver – Wild Geese

In this course we will engage in teachings, simple present moment practices; meditation, grounding, orientation and creative practices followed by questions and dialogue.
This is a slow and gentle process.
Registration includes:

Access to all 8 live classes.
All class audio recordings.
Weekly homework practices and primings for upcoming topics.

Cost:
$160.00$80.00 (Returning Students)(Sliding scale rates available for first time students)
Please private message or email candacekirby@shaw.ca for registration for the information event.
