Spiritual Direction

“Any spiritual direction commitment affords the opportunity for spiritual friendship, and provides the time and structure, wisdom and discipline, to create sacred space in your life in which God can act.”

— Henri Nouwen, Spiritual Direction

 
I am a painter, and I am also a spiritual director. I don’t just feel called to paint and bring beauty into the world, I feel called to help others use beauty to find healing as well. I would love to sit with you, create beauty with you, and help you see and hear and touch and taste and smell the presence of God in your life. He is there, and he gave us our five senses so that we could fully and totally experience him, in and with our bodies. As a spiritual director, it is my goal and honor to create a space that allows you to be present in your body so that you can recognize God’s presence with us. We will spend time in silence noticing the things that we experience with our senses— what do we hear? What do we smell? What do we feel?  What do we sense inside of ourselves? What is God saying to us or showing us? Our space and our time are sacred, and I look forward to bearing witness to God’s presence with you.

What is Spiritual Direction?

 

Listening

Listening deeply and attentively together to the movement of God in our lives. We will spend time together in silence, listening to God and to ourselves. “Holy Listening.”

Safe Space

A safe space to talk through questions, hurts, and frustrations, specifically those related to faith and the church. It is OK to ask, “where was God in this?”

Companion

Journeying together through life, sharing and experiencing the things that are good and beautiful and hard and ugly.

Professional

A professional relationship with appropriate boundaries surrounding the relationship. While different from counseling, our space together will be private and confidential.

“By creating sacred space, you reserve a part of yourself and prevent your life from completely being filled up, occupied or preoccupied. Spiritual direction provides an “address” on the house of your life so that you can be “addressed” by God in prayer.”

— Henri Nouwen, Spiritual Direction

What might we do in Spiritual Direction?

  • Silence

    Practice sitting in silence, listening to the Spirit. What do we notice? What do we hear, see, smell, touch, or taste in this time of silence? Pay attention to these things. What do they tell you?

  • Talk

    Talk about the things weighing on our hearts, looking for God in the simple, beautiful, or hurtful moments of our lives. I desire for this space to feel truly safe and truly sacred. It can hold whatever you have to share.

  • Create

    Create using art as a way of processing our thoughts and emotions; giving us a physical and sensory way to experience God’s presence and invite healing. Maybe you don’t consider yourself an artist,— good! Creating is still for you.

  • Lectio Divina

    Divine Reading— a contemplative and immersive way of reading the Bible (or other sacred and meaningful texts) to see what God is speaking to you, today. It is a slow and prayerful process that can allow God to feel very real and present with us.

  • Ask Questions

    It is good and safe to ask questions. They are welcome and invited into this space, as are your doubts and your disbelief. This is not a space to convince or evangelize you. You and your questions are safe here.

While I am a Christian and worship and believe in the Triune God, I am also happy to provide spiritual direction to those of differing faiths and other faith backgrounds as well. I do not believe that God’s presence is monopolized within the Christian faith, and would love to help you notice and listen for him whatever you may believe.

Connect with me.

 

If you are interested in Spiritual Direction, or have any other questions you would like me to answer, please let me know! I would love to talk with you.

I live and work in Beverly, MA, and am happy to meet with you in my studio here or online.

 

shaunakurihara@gmail.com

Beverly, MA