At SHARED we aim to answer four questions:
What is Community? We believe Community is the coming together of unique individuals under a common cause, sharing in experience, and participating in what Fr. Richard Rohr calls, "The Divine Dance."
Why is it important? Recent studies show people today experience more feelings of separation and disconnection than that of union and belonging. For us, participating in Community with intention is a way of bridging this gap. When we gather together to be seen, to make ourselves known, to offer presence to others and to share in the abundant fruit of resonant, vibrant being, we address individual and communal issues of profound loss and abandonment. In Community we learn everyone belongs.
How do we foster it? We believe shared experience is the best way to foster Community. We aim to foster life-producing and light-filled experiences through the practice of yoga, meditation, contemplative prayer, community service + activism, creativity + adventure and shared meals.
How do we sustain it? Community is sustained when our hearts are transformed. We are an ever becoming and ever evolving people, dynamic in both needs and resources to meet those needs. In order to sustain healthy, vibrant Community, we must allow ourselves to be supple in the hands of the Divine. Practices like yoga, meditation and contemplative prayer help cultivate postures of consent and surrender to the Divine at work in our world, helping us to better see and understand the unique interconnectedness of all peoples and all things. With regular practice, these postures effectively transform the ways we relate to ourselves and the world around us, allowing for more authentic connection to both self and others.
