July 2025

Myofascial Self-Care Workshop

(optional donations support September retreat)

Jessie Owens, Structural Integration and Myofascial Bodywork practitioner (and a much-appreciated companion at last year's retreat!) will again bring her gentle presence and abundant skill to help ground and support those who gather to share deep silence in September.

Jessie generously offered a workshop in May and donated the $250 it generated -- now she's offering another to benefit this fall's (3rd Annual) Centering Prayer Retreat for those who have experienced incarceration.

Myofascial Self-Care Workshop

July 24, 2025, from 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm EDT

Proceeds from this workshop will be donated to support the COPOST/PCF (Praestolari) Centering Prayer Retreat this September; each person chooses how much, and you are welcome to come without making a financial contribution.

Our fascia is our body’s most sensory-rich organ. By working with our connective tissue, we can benefit the body in many ways, including decreasing pain and tension, increasing embodied awareness, range of motion and fluidity of movement, and settling the nervous system, thereby creating an overall sense of wellbeing.

This workshop is for everyone. It is a gentle class, and most of the techniques will be done seated or lying on the floor. Modifications will be made for those who have trouble lying on the floor.

If you know anyone who has experienced incarceration and has a Centering Prayer practice who might be interested in this year’s Centering Prayer Intensive Retreat, please share the flyer.

$5 Fridays!

Every Friday, we’re inviting you to help build something sacred.

With just a $5 donation, you can support the sending of our Centering Inside newsletter to someone living in a locked facility for a whole year.

That’s a full year of connection and reminders that they are not forgotten.

Every newsletter grows the circle—bringing more people into a community rooted in dignity, healing, and presence. Let’s build this fellowship, one Friday at a time.

Look what's happening in Chicago!

PCF is honored to share three videos produced by Kolbe House Jail Ministry (Archdiocese of Chicago) on our website, and to help spread the word about how Centering Prayer is spreading like wildfire inside Chicago's Cook County Jail:

• Letting Go: Centering Prayer in Cook County Jail (30 mins)
• What Does Centering Prayer Do For You? (10 mins)
• True & False Self (10 mins)

Differing in perspective from PCF's Holding Still documentary (2021), the footage here focuses largely on relative newcomers to the practice.  The videos aim to speak in a relatable way about Centering Prayer and the fruits that arise from regular practice. While developed primarily for use inside CCJ, they have generously been made available for public viewing.

How exciting to see further evidence of the widespread appreciation for the healing and peace Centering Prayer can bring to those experiencing incarceration! 

If you know any practitioners of Centering Prayer in Chicago, please spread the word about this opportunity to join (and for those not in Chicago, Tom's message remains inspirational -- if only all prison volunteers had the backing of a local organization like Kolbe House!):

A (time-sensitive!) message from Tom Cook, Jail Ministry Coordinator and Chaplain, Kolbe House Jail Ministry:  

Kolbe House Jail Ministry of the Archdiocese of Chicago is currently offering Centering Prayer groups inside Cook County Jail (CCJ) and is in need of more Centering Prayer practitioners who have a heart for sharing this practice with people inside CCJ. 

We started with one CP group in CCJ in January of 2023 and – thanks to our Kolbe House volunteers – we are now offering 10 CP groups across CCJ, have produced 3 videos about the impact of CP in CCJ, and there is a demand in CCJ for more CP groups! 

Please consider joining us in this ministry. The deadline to register to become an in-jail volunteer with Kolbe House is July 9th. Please contact Kolbe House's Volunteer Coordinator, Olivia, for more information (oriddle@kolbehouseministry.org). 

Our Mission

Journeying together as people affected by incarceration, we share Centering Prayer meditation and foster connections to support healing and transformation, both personal and communal.

Our programs include: 

• Making resources widely available (see below)
• Building the capacity for effective communication across the walls
• Continually improving the welcome and accompaniment offered to contemplative practitioners post-incarceration
• The co-sponsoring of annual retreats with COPOST



Support our Mission

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Prison Contemplative Fellowship's impact?

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Resources

Our goal is to share resources as broadly as possible:

• Our books and films are available for downloading and viewing via the links below.
• We regularly ship books and DVDs to volunteers and chaplains facilitating/supporting Centering Prayer groups inside locked facilities.
• Through our association with the Human Kindness Foundation, we send books and materials about Centering Prayer to residents of locked facilities.
• Our materials are also accessed in prisons and jails all over the country via Edovo, an app that is increasingly included on facility-issued tablets to provide spiritual, rehabilitative, educational, and vocational content without cost to the residents.
• Our Centering Inside newsletter which gets sent to our vast network of people living in locked facilities throughout the United States twice per year.

If you wish to receive books or DVDs, do not hesitate to reach out at hello@uspcf.org; please let us know if you are currently sharing Centering Prayer with those inside -- or how we might help you get started.

Watch the 22-minute Holding Still documentary here

Watch the Companion Films here

PCF Books available for download

All issues of our Centering Inside newsletter can be found here

"Before I became a detainee here, I wasn't that spiritually inclined. My spiritual journey started here, with Centering Prayer... I started to just kind of listen to other people... when we have our discussions and I hear other people, that helps me. One thing I like about this program: it didn't push spirituality on you. It let you receive it. I don't like to be pressured into something (it kind of makes me kind of push away from it), but this program did not, you know, pressure me... so I kind of was more receptive. So, it helped me to get more spiritually inclined."

- a practitioner at Cook County Jail