embodied quakerism

COME experiment with reviving the radical, embodied practices of early friends 
There are a growing number of Friends and Quaker-adjacent spiritual seekers longing to rediscover and reinvigorate the embodied spiritual practices of first generation Friends. If you're one of us, you are hungry to explore the somatic forms of worship that opened early Friends to a direct, unmediated encounter with the Divine, grounded in the body. The forms of worship, collective mystical practice, and social resistance were so radical – and threatening to Empire – to have been erased from the tradition. This collective experiments with how we might revive and reimagine them. 
Recent historical findings have uncovered  a clearer picture of how the embodied practices of First-generation Friends shook the world. These lost expressions include movement (like physical quaking and falling to the ground), vocalization (such as chanting and messages conveyed through sounds), and shared mystical practices (for example, hands-on healing, dream interpretation, and body-based discernment). In recovering an experiential sense of the perceptual pathways available to our ancestors but mostly lost to us, we can taste the bold, countercultural spirit that once defined the Quaker movement.
We come together to consider how reclaiming the embodied roots of our tradition might strengthen our Quaker witness in today’s world. ​

Reach out to learn more about upcoming offerings that weave together history, embodiment, and collective inquiry, to explore how continuing revelation might lead us at this critical moment towards a more embodied Quakerism. 

CONVENER:
​KATY HAWKINS, Ph.D

about me:

Katy is a lifelong Quaker and a member of Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting in Northwest Philly, where she teaches weekly classes and workshops experimenting with a Quaker approach to whole-self integration.  Her teaching draws from training in modern dance, yoga, Comparative Literature, and Social Justice Somatics. She is the author of Thinking Feelingly,  a collection of essays and somatic practices for an embodied experience of poetry. In everything she does, Katy explores new ways that ritual, connection, and play might heal our dissociation from feeling. ​

SUPPORT THE CENTER for centering: 

We need your help in building this collective! Please make a donation today, and reach out if you can  ​help provide people power for:
​-building a website
-social media outreach
-organizing a fundraiser
-bringing this work to your meeting 

UPCOMING OFFERINGS:

Second Sunday Summer Centering:
Practices for Deepening Worship
June 14th, July 12th, August 9th
9:45-10:15am
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting
Free

The Seeds of Embodied Quakerism:
History of Repression & Reviving the Radical Practices of Early Friends 
July 26th postponed
August 9th, 3:30-5:30pm
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting 
$45 suggested contribution - scholarships available 
*RSVP to [email protected]

The Seeds are Flowering: Current Embodied Quaker Practices
September 27th, 4-6pm
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting 
$45 suggested contribution - scholarships available 

​Seeds & Flowerings: Embodied Quakerism *online*
An online offering exploring the history and current revitalization of Embodied Quakerism
October 4th, 2-4m
Pendle Hill
Info & Registration:  https://pendlehill.org/calendar/embodied-quakerism/

​Digging Deeper: Spreading the Seeds
A weekend deep dive into the  revitalization of early Quaker practices of embodiment, with the intention to prepare participants to share them in their meetings and other spiritual communities.
Easter Weekend
Pendle Hill
Stay tuned for more info and registration link