A retreat in Parksville this weekend will feature two award-winning authors aiming to help residents regain joy and balance in their lives.
A Pace of Grace is a book as well as a weekend retreat, created by Linda Kavelin Popov. Together with her husband, Dr. Dan Popov, the couple first created the Virtues Project, an initiative that inspires people to incorporate a number of virtues into their everyday lives, a project honored by the United Nations as a model global program for all cultures.
A Pace of Grace is part of this Virtues Project and teaches the virtues of a sustainable life in a four-part program.
Linda is also the author of the international best seller The Family Virtues Guide, which landed her a spot on Oprah, among other talk shows.
After using the practices laid out in A Pace of Grace, Linda said she recovered from a debilitating illness, Post polio syndrome, and she wanted to share what she had learned with other people.
“It’s not only about recovery but about redesigning your life so you have this rare thing called balance,” she said.
Linda has been a psychotherapist for more than 30 years and has being doing retreats throughout that time.
It started out with women’s empowerment retreats, and then she was asked to hold some for men, and today she and her husband have done the Pace of Grace retreat all over the world.
The retreat begins Friday evening and continues over the weekend until Sunday afternoon. Linda said there are four main elements to the Pace of Grace: purify your life, pace yourself, practice the presence and plan a sustainable life.
“To me this retreat is for anyone that feels their life is somewhat out of control, where they have lost that sense of joy in the everyday or are just looking for the opportunity to step back and take a long loving look at their life and then say ‘How do I want to design it?’”
A Pace of Grace begins Friday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Edmunds Parish Hall in Parksville and runs until Sunday at 3:30.
To attend Friday night only is $20 and the full retreat is $200, including lunches. Phone the Port Theatre for tickets or visit www.porttheatre.com.
For more information on the retreat, Linda and her books visit www.paceofgrace.net or www.virtuesproject.com.
