Public Talk & The Werk of Getting Free with Lama Rod Owens

July 24; July 25–27

We are living through an apocalypse, a period of deep truth unveiling. This revelation seems overwhelming especially as it calls into question our participation in social systems that perpetuate violence, including racism and white supremacy. Through skillful practice, we can meet these challenges, remember who we are, and lean into love, community, and belonging. Join Lama Rod Owens as he guides us into relationship with our suffering and with both the seen and the unseen worlds to do the work of abolishing systems of violence. Through connection to the elders, the elements, land, indigenous wisdom, our magic, and our practice, we can learn to be the medicine we and our communities need. Presented by Bhumi Durham in partnership with Peace Hill at Avila.

Seasons Within with Shirli Hughes

June 20

How Do You Keep the Music Playing? In the midst of changes, challenges, and choices, how do you keep the music of your heart alive? How do you allow your soul to continue to sing out its deepest longing in a world that often seems, gone mad? We will gather as beloved community and share our hearts’ songs through meditation, sharing our stories, labyrinth play, and yes, even making melodies, strung together by love and light. Facilitator Shirli Hughes says: “As a musician, I am always listening for hidden melodies, found in unexpected places that bring joy to my soul. This is the joy that I want to share with you and watch in wonder as you discover and reconnect with your own inner song, waiting to be set free!” Seasons Within is a quarterly retreat series to celebrate the equinox and solstice sponsored by Peace Hill at Avila.

Practice, Poetry and Play: Clergy Together for a Day of Re-Creation, Song, and Joy

June 4

This is the second of three gatherings in 2025 with the intent of providing helpful space and time for clergy conversation and camaraderie. Retreat facilitators: Lois Deloatch, Music Artist, Senior Fellow, Self-Help; Racquel Gill, Minister for Intercultural Engagement, Duke University Chapel; and Chalice Overy, Associate Pastor, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church; Spiritual Director, Root Cause Collective.

Flow of Community with Tony Johnson

April 4–6

Join us for Flow of Community, a weekend workshop focused on building community through guided movement, conversations, and meditation. The workshop will be led by Tony C. Johnson, Choreographer, Activist, Mercy Associate at Sisters of Mercy, Founder of My Neighbor Ministries, and Ambassador for the American Dance Festival.

Together, workshop participants will discover ways to rebuild a community where every member is a part, is equal, and feels a sense of belonging. We all wear many masks. This workshop is for persons who are aware of the importance of community and the necessity to recreate it; people who are willing to be true and authentic about themselves, to join in a sacred space together, where they would be willing to share with each other, be there for each other, and be vulnerable. Sponsored by The Racial Justice and Reconciliation Committee of the Diocese of North Carolina.

Seasons Within with Shakira Bethea

March 20

Join us for a day of renewal and deep inner listening as we honor the Spring Equinox—a time of balance, growth, and new beginnings. We will work with the archetype of the Healer, exploring what has heart and meaning through four transformative practices. Each practice will center on one chamber of the four-chambered heart: full, open, clear, and strong. Just as the Earth awakens from winter’s stillness, we, too, are called to realign with life-affirming patterns. This seasonal shift invites us to nourish our well-being, strengthen our inner clarity, and expand into spring with purpose. Through mindful movement with sound bowls, silent reflection, and intentional practice, we will cultivate the vitality needed to embrace the season ahead. This is an invitation to tend to your own healing as a radical act—for yourself and the world around you. The spring retreat will be led by Shakira Bethea. With over a decade of experience as a licensed massage and bodywork therapist, Shakira’s deep commitment to embodied living has evolved over time, shaping her brand Rhythmic Bloom.

Anger: Yours, Theirs, and God’s: Quandaries & Conversations for Clergy with Paul Lang

March 13

Ours is certainly an age in which “anger is all the rage.” Consider these questions: While it seems that scripture on the whole counsels against having and harboring anger — it is also true that there are moments when God is overcome with wrath. How do we understand God’s anger? Can anger ever be the source of virtue? In the current US culture, many seem to feel that their anger is justified and, in fact, is indicative of their righteousness. Can that be true? What are we to do with anger … ours and theirs … personally and pastorally? Rev. Dr. Paul Lang, Pastor of Cary Presbyterian, will facilitate this timely conversation with area pastors serving in an array of ministries. This will be the first of three gatherings in 2025 with the intent of providing helpful space and time for clergy conversation and camaraderie. Sponsored by Peace Hill, RCWMS, and Duke University Chapel.

Seasons Within with Phil Mathews

December 21

On the day of the year with the longest night, for our last Seasons Within of 2024, we will come together in the evening hours to explore and experience what darkness has to teach us. During this period of sharing meditations, music, silence, and reflections, we will seek not only to embrace the darkness but to also allow ourselves to be embraced by it. Please join us as we seek to enter “the gateway to all understanding.” Facilitator: Phil Mathews, Peace Hill Board of Directors

Going to the Edge: Exploring Chaos & Radical Resiliency with Lama Rod Owens

November 1–2

We are living through an apocalypse, a period of deep truth unveiling. The world is unsteady and chaotic. We find our lives completely disrupted again and again as we are confronted with the reality of death in a way we never imagined. To move through this period, we must rely on our capacity to grieve, to touch into the sadness of change and loss and tend to it with compassion. In this compassion we can allow our hearts to break and in the breaking be held by the understanding that we are not alone in this grieving. Once we allow ourselves to be in relationship with our grief, then it can begin to teach us how to move through sorrow and hopelessness into clarity and connectedness. Yet most importantly, our relationship to grief through compassion opens up the space for joy and gratitude. Join Lama Rod Owens as he explores this liberating relationship with grief through the radical practices of skillful mourning, self-care, and refuge. We will also engage in discussion and guided contemporary tantric deity practices along with meditation, movement, and pranayama. This experience will move us into the edges of our practice with support and care in order to be resilient in the face of chaos and uncertainty. Presented by Bhumi Durham in partnership with Peace Hill at Avila.

Treasure Buried in a Field: Contemplative Practices and Insights from the Celtic Christian Tradition with Terry Allebaugh

October 25–26

An overnight 24-hour retreat for participants to rest, replenish, and rejuvenate, drawing upon the deep well of practices and insights from Celtic wisdom traditions. Treasure Buried in a Field offers participants an opportunity to slow down their pace, gather for thoughtful listening to each other and the natural world, enjoy nutritious communal meals, and restore energy for engagement in the world. Teaching and practices grounded in the Celtic traditions of spirituality serve as source material for the retreat.

The retreat facilitator will be Terry Allebaugh, a graduate of The Living School Program of the Center for Action and Contemplation and currently a participant in John Philip Newell’s The School of Earth and Soul. By the time of the retreat, Terry will have recently returned from a pilgrimage week with Newell at Iona, Scotland, the historic center of the Celtic Christian tradition. Multiple members of the Peace Hill Leadership Team will lead participants in body movements, prayers, and chants associated with Iona and the tradition. For an example, follow this link to watch a variation of the Sun Salutation done on the island of Iona by Ali Newell, a wisdom teacher in the Celtic tradition and spouse of John Philip Newell.

Seasons Within with Phil Mathews

September 22

Participants will gather together each solstice and equinox to acknowledge, integrate and celebrate the silent changes in nature and within our own beings. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience transformation through silence, stillness, journaling and sharing during these gatherings. Facilitator: Phil Mathews, Peace Hill Board of Directors.

Seasons Within with Phil Mathews

June 20

Participants will gather together each solstice and equinox to acknowledge, integrate and celebrate the silent changes in nature and within our own beings. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience transformation through silence, stillness, journaling and sharing during these gatherings. Facilitator: Phil Mathews, Peace Hill Board of Directors.

Seven Homecomings: An Overnight Retreat with Karen Ziegler

May 3–4

The Seven Homecomings is a contemplative practice developed by Buddhist minister and activist Lama Rod Owens. The practice provides an opportunity to breathe in the energy of deep care, and serves as a portal to ancestors, teachers, guides, lineages, and to the awakened consciousness of the earth. It is a way to remember one’s true identity and learn to be free in the midst of a radically unfree world so one can work to free others. The retreat leader is Karen Ziegler who has been a student of Lama Rod Owens since 2017. He has empowered her to teach and lead the Seven Homecomings practice.

Fashioning Life’s Working Paper in Chaotic Times: An Overnight Retreat with the Words of Howard Thurman with Dumas Harshaw and Phil Mathews

April 5–6

Participants will explore Howard Thurman’s life, legacy, and writing to discern how to continue developing and embodying humane, loving and liberating “working papers” in a time of seeming chaos and unprecedented change. The resources for this time of reflection, rejuvenation and renewal will include the documentary “Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story,” as well as a few Thurman books including Jesus and the Disinherited, Deep is the Hunger, and Meditations of the Heart. Led by Dumas Harshaw and Phil Mathews.

Seasons Within with Phil Mathews

March 19

Participants will gather together each solstice and equinox to acknowledge, integrate and celebrate the silent changes in nature and within our own beings. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience transformation through silence, stillness, journaling and sharing during these gatherings. Facilitator: Phil Mathews, Peace Hill Board of Directors.

Dignity, Justice and Joy: Holding on to Our Dignity in Challenging Times with Cole Arthur Riley

February 16

Peace Hill at Avila is proud to offer two opportunities for hearing the accomplished author and poet, Cole Arthur Riley on Friday, February 16. Cole Arthur Riley is the author of the NYT bestseller, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Guernica, and The Washington Post. Cole is also the creator and writer of Black Liturgies, a project that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body.

This event is co-sponsored by Duke University Chapel, Living the Word Justice and Equity Ministry, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Resource Center for Women & Ministry in the South, Racial Justice and Reconciliation Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, and Episcopalians United Against Racism.

Be Still And… with Susan Mazzara

November 16

A quiet, contemplative autumn day for clergy facilitated by Rev. Susan Mazzara. The day will include guided practices, times of quiet, colleague conversations, a nourishing lunch & snacks. Susan Mazzara is a bivocational minister at large in New Hope Presbytery who has over 30 years’ experience leading retreats and spiritual practices. She received her MDiv from Duke Divinity School, is trained as a Stephen Minister and Stephen Leader, and is a meditation teacher certified by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. As a pastor, her greatest joy is to create space in which people can deepen their relationships with God. She sees her ministry as an offering of hospitality in which people can grow in friendship with themselves, others, and God.

Blessed & Beautifully Broken: A Spa for the Soul Experience with Shirli Hughes

September 29-30

Participants will experience specially curated opportunities to relax, restore and explore their intrinsic beauty, as they are led through a variety of holistic mediums and techniques such as: meditation, guided imagery exercises, breath work, journaling, large and small group community sharing, as well as individual time and space, in which to encounter one’s sacred center of the soul. Facilitation will be by Shirli Hughes, a noted motivational speaker, workshop facilitator, Certified Reiki Master and spiritual director.  She is also a published author, songwriter, composer and sought after pianist, arranger, choral conductor and solo vocalist.