Ignatian Spirituality & Yoga Mini-Retreat

In-Person

Past Event

Ignatian Spirituality & Yoga is grounded in an encounter with God. Experience the Divine presence through movement, breath, prayer, spiritual conversation, and fellowship.

This retreat offers a space to engage in practices that enable us to listen deeply to the Spirit within us. In this deep listening to our emotions, desires, and interior movements—as St. Ignatius of Loyola calls them—we encounter God and notice how we are beloved and being called in our lives. This personal experience is then enriched by the awareness of our spiritual journey from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola as well as Yoga.

Mini-Retreat Schedule
2:00 pm Check-in
2:10 pm Opening Prayer & Teaching: Ignatian Spirituality & Yoga
2:25 pm Yoga Flow
3:25 pm Journal, Silent Prayer & Reflection, Walk the Grounds
4:00 pm Small Group Sharing
4:30 pm Large Group: Gathering of Graces & Closing Prayer
5:00 pm Departure

Please bring: a yoga mat, water bottle, and appropriate clothing for yoga and walking outdoors. If you have one, it would be helpful to bring a yoga block and strap, and your journal.

If you were wondering… Catholics can practice yoga because interreligious dialogue and the dialogue of spiritual practice (such as Yoga philosophy and Ignatian Spirituality) has an established history in Catholic Christianity. St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552) was the greatest missionary the Church has known since apostolic times in India and other areas. Chinese Catholics look upon Fr. Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) as the “Apostle of China.” In the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate), specifically in the section on Hinduism and Buddhism, it states, “The Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct of life, those precepts and teaching which, through differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all [people].” (2)

Within the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), we hold a rich tradition of interreligious dialogue. This was described in the 34th General Congregation held in Rome in 1995, “The Jesuit legacy of creative response to the call of the Spirit in concrete life situations is a motive for the development of a culture of dialogue in our encounters with believers from other religions. This culture must become a specific mark of our Society, which is sent forth to the whole world to work for the greater glory of God and to help human beings.” (442)

Ignatian Spirituality & Yoga brings Yoga philosophy into conversation with our Christian faith as we live and move and have our being in the life of Jesus Christ.

Your Teacher
Jon Jarc is RYT-500 certified yoga instructor, and a full-time art teacher at Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland. His yoga classes focus on alignment, building strength and stability in the body, and connecting your breath to movements. Jon’s classes will bring a deep understanding of body mechanics, breath work, strength, flexibility, and mindful presence. Jon and his wife and five children are parishioners of St. Brendan in North Olmsted. Jon has worked as a soccer coach, retreat leader, and parish youth ministry director both at Saint Ignatius HS and St. Raphael Parish. His hope is to invite students to make a deeper connection to their own spirituality through breathwork, meditation, movement and mindful living.

This is a great opportunity for anyone who feels moved to participate in this retreat. Please email Fr. Paul O’Connor, SJ, the JRC Director of Mission & Identity, for questions and further information poconnor@jesuitretreatcenter.org.

Registration