by Sylvia Somerville, Special to Arizona Daily Sun
Back to In The News ~ Judith Duerk Retreat

“Each woman must go through the slow process of discovering who she is and bringing herself to birth,” says Judith Duerk, author of two beloved women’s classics Circle of Stones and I Sit Listening to the Wind. Duerk speaks to women in a nurturing voice that is deeply accepting, understanding and empowering, a voice that calls women back to their center of stillness. “Duerk’s books are a must-read for any woman searching for a way back to her self,” says Karen Ely, founder of A Woman’s Way, which has invited Duerk to come to Sedona. “The mission of A Woman’s Way is to provide a sacred space and to sponsor a process that encourages women to find their vision and their voice through small, structured retreats for women by women.” 

On Thursday, July 14, Duerk will facilitate a quiet evening of reflection and contemplation at the Sedona Creative Life Center and will then go on to lead a three-day retreat from July 15 to July 17 at the Briar Patch Inn, a nine-acre creekside oasis in Oak Creek Canyon. 

Duerk is the wise woman we all want to know. She has worked with women for 35 years as a psychotherapist and music therapist and has facilitated more than 1,000 retreats across the USA and Canada. She has also led several ongoing women’s groups since the late 1970s; the longest one met continuously for more than 20 years and still occasionally gets together.

“We’ll be in good hands with Judith,” says Ely. “She has a deep respect for a woman’s need for balance, quiet, and time to simply be.” Duerk also appreciates the value of being with other women in a supportive atmosphere. “The depth and power of women’s listening is often astonishing,” says Duerk. “While a woman might feel wary towards the opening of a retreat or perhaps fearful of some feeling being expressed, she often finds that there is a natural course from the heaviness of thought to healing lightness and upliftment.” 

Duerk believes that being in touch with one’s woundedness is an important part of the healing process. “We place a high importance on being up so feelings of sadness or woundedness get pushed away. If we continually push them away, they will pop up and simply engulf us in perhaps a depression or on the cellular level as a physical malaise,” she says. “If we can realize that our sadness is as natural as our happy times, then we are not afraid of our feelings when they come.”

“A retreat gives women a time to breathe, slow down and be, to let their feelings, which have been suppressed, slowly emerge within a space of trust,” adds Duerk. During Duerk’s retreats other women simply listen silently without interrupting. “Just the depth of this listening alone helps to move a woman just a bit further in her own understanding of where she is in her life. Perhaps she experiences the beginning of healing,” says Duerk. 

What if a woman comes to a retreat and doesn’t know what she wishes to speak? “Then listening to the other women often helps clarify what her feelings are; perhaps something ignored or suppressed within her will respond, just to the feeling of quietness and space; or perhaps something that was left behind and pressed down is remembered when another woman speaks of something somehow similar that might have happened to her.”

Duerk incorporates many techniques into her retreats, including walking, writing, guided meditation, music, drawing, meditative drumming, singing (often without words) and solitude in nature.

“A retreat is a gift to any woman who is struggling to own herself,” says Duerk.
To register for the retreat or for more information, call 928-254-1897 or visit www.awomansway.com. The retreat fee is $575. The evening at the Sedona Creative Life Center is $12 and registration is at the door.

~ Sedona writer Sylvia Somerville writes frequently about arts and culture.

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Judith Duerk Retreat