For a very long time, I navigated through life with a sense of heaviness which in the last few years was accentuated by various losses and what at times seemed like life coming to a screeching halt.

During that time, I turned to what I knew would feed my soul: faith, nature, art, music, travel, service and community; not to dismiss the countless pity parties and crying sessions. While my personal regimen helped sustain me along the way, by mid last year [2014] after nearly two months home recovering from surgery, I reached a point where my soul felt as though it was coming undone. I knew it was time to go deeper and to summon up the courage to fully surrender. It was time to face and accept my truths [good, bad and ugly]; to release what I couldn’t change and to embrace what was in front of me – life, hope, peace, joy.

Sabătica Founder & Director, Christine Dorvil; Photo Credit: Abbey Domond Photography

Last August, in response to my [forced] awakening, I took a week off from work, checked myself into a hotel in Boston and signed up for a Soul Care conference  that was being offered by a former seminary professor of mine.  For a week, I intentionally disconnected from my regular life, surrounded myself with things that brought me joy and opened myself up to feel, release and heal.

The days that followed, I found myself sharing my experience with a few friends, some of whom surprisingly wished they could do as I did and others who inquired about possible short-term retreats where they could go to decompress and recharge.

Around that same time, I came across numerous articles and books addressing the observance of the Sabbath, the need to be still and to create space to rest. I felt a burden and a constant nagging to walk alongside my friends whose souls were also weary and restless. Having just been through the process myself, it didn’t take too much to convince me to accept the call; hence, the birth of this new space.

Sabătica is a rest offering to women and men who need an urgent life infusion; parents who need to recharge, couples who need to reconnect, individuals who need to stand still to process their thoughts, feed their souls and restore joy and peace to their lives.

It promotes a sabbatical rest that cannot be experienced just once but rather intentionally pursued and practiced week after week — a discipline that must become a way of life.

If you don’t know where or how to begin, our inaugural retreat is a great starting point. I encourage you to accept the invitation, to give yourself permission to return to life and to reclaim what’s already yours, the gift of rest.

Sola gratia!

Christine