Lo-Fi & Hushed Summer Solstice Session / Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks (Connect via Zoom or Riverside)
2025 Summer Solstice Practice Session
“I am the blossom pressed in a book,
found again after two hundred years. . . .”
— Jane Kenyon
Lo-Fi & Hushed Contemplative Practice Session for Wed, June 25, 2025 at 6:30am MT (GMT - 6)
Summer is here. Traveling through the American midwest I am met by a wall of humidity. Drenched. Heavy. I miss my desert heat, but alas, there are lakes here! Great ones. In for a brief dip, the Great Lake speaks a welcoming word. Come into my waters, she laps, wash the sticky dust away, forget your cares for a minute. I am the one who replenishes. When I emerge—freezing & sun-kissed—I am ravenous for more of this life. And turn to poetry to mark its transitions. Each solstice and equinox Contemplify offers a public Lo-Fi & Hushed contemplative practice session for both free1 and supporting subscribers of the Non-Required Reading List. Now you can connect via Zoom or Riverside. All are welcome. For those interested, go tell it on the mountain…
Summer days are heavier than winter. They stroll rather than huddle. Beefy black flies do pushups on my ankles, dancing is the only way to be free of these winged irritants. The sun reached its pinnacle in the northern hemisphere this past week and weighty shadows were cast from a hard rain. Unfree from the violence of this world, our shadows overlap with perpetrators, suffering, and the ambivalent alike. Without escape I want summer to gentle my steps. Brush away nothing. Grieve the absurd and sweat out buckets and buckets of gratitude for this lean, fleeting day. As we celebrate Summer Solstice, Jane Kenyon’s “Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks” will be our vessel for this Wednesday’s Lo-Fi & Hushed Solstice Session. You can follow the link to the entire poem or wait to be surprised in the practice.
May summer squeeze the joy of life out of you.
How to Participate
You can participate live in Lo-Fi & Hushed at 6:30am MT (GMT -6) on June 25, 2025 by going to:
RIVERSIDE: to view Lo-Fi & Hushed live on Riverside go to https://riverside.fm/studio/lo-fi--hushed
No one can see you, check the tech details on how to use Riverside
If this is your first time, check out the helpful links below
ZOOM: to view Lo-Fi & Hushed live on Zoom go to https://us05web.zoom.us/j/86940947986?pwd=RJPSjpMqirnfHXRppvABwI6rltGgDv.1
Possible for other practitioners to see you on Zoom if you keep your camera on.
If this is your first time, check out the helpful links below
If you are a regular attender, remember the solstice Lo-Fi & Hushed practices are public and use an unique link. Use one listed above. A deep bow to all of you supporting subscribers who have joined this circle of practice. Your presence and practice nourishes this poetic lectio divina. As summer beckons, may we be held in th heat.
In hushed prayers,
Paul
P.S. Convert to your time zone here.
Recording of June 25, 2025 Lo-Fi & Hushed will posted on the Substack post when available.
Helpful links for Lo-Fi & Hushed…
Lo-Fi: Tech details
Hushed: Contemplative details
Question: FAQs
Instructional Flow for Lo-Fi & Hushed (March 26, 2025)
Go to one of the Lo-Fi & Hushed links at 6:30am MT (GMT - 6):
To View Lo-Fi & Hushed Live (No one can see): https://riverside.fm/studio/lo-fi--hushed (if this is your first time, check out the helpful links above)
To View Lo-Fi & Hushed Live Zoom (Possible for other practitioners to see you): https://us05web.zoom.us/j/86940947986?pwd=RJPSjpMqirnfHXRppvABwI6rltGgDv.1 (if this is your first time, check out the helpful links above)
Light a candle (as possible): To physically acknowledge and welcome the fire of the Spirit’s presence
Hum: The research shows that humming (like singing and laughing) calms our nerves and enhances our sympathy. I begin with 3 long hums (feel free to join in). Humming settles my body and spirit while slowing the chug of my train of thoughts.
Bow: I bow to symbolize my head dropping into my heart as well as to literally bow before Mystery.
A thought before Lectio: A short musing and grounding to prepare us
I will mark the transition of each movement in the practice with a brief introduction to guide you through the practice.
Lectio / Reading: (~ 5 - 10 minutes)
Poem will be read 2-3 times.
Notice any words, phrases, thrusts, or themes that draw your attention.
Meditatio / Discursive Meditation (~5 minutes):
What is this poem saying to me? What word/phrase/thrust/or theme hovered? What surprised me? What am I being asked to notice? How did my body respond? My mind and heart? My spirit and soul? Who does this remind me of and why? How might God/Mystery/Higher Power be speaking to me through it? These are some example questions of inquiry to startle bring attention into active engagement with the poem.There is a level of effortful engagement in this movement of the practice. This can be done interiorly (that is what I do), in a journal (sometimes I do this), or talking aloud (rarely for me).
Oratio / Prayer (~5 minutes):
What is this poem calling out of me? How does this change my rutted ways of viewing reality? How is this poem asking me to show up in the world? What conversation does this start with the Beloved? You can see how this movement is prayerfully active out of the text and into conversation with God/Mystery/Higher Power. These are some example questions of prayerful longing in active relationship with God through the poem. I often find meditatio and oratio swing back and forth towards one another like a porch swing in a prairie wind. Once that wind settles to stillness, the invitation to the fourth movement opens.Contemplatio / Contemplation (~ 10 - 15 minutes):
This movement is being open to the passive reception of undisciplined grace.
Reflection:
After the Lo-Fi & Hushed session (and throughout the week), practitioners can return to this post and share any reflections or insights on the practice in the comment section below. The purpose is to 1) meaningfully integrate the practice through reflection 2) bear witness to the practice of others through reading their experiences 3) connect across the common bonds of a shared practice.
Sharing Reflections after Lo-Fi & Hushed
Communal reflection can be powerful, restorative, and encouraging. That is what the comment space after a Lo-fi & Hushed session is for. To help orchestrate that, here are the snappy guidelines.
Share from the heart what you experienced in the practice. Let that guide what you post. Some insights are given in contemplative practice to be shared. Paradoxically, more is not always more. Contemplative teacher James Finley says that “brevity forces clarity.” Let that guide the length of your post.
Be good to yourself. Allow the Divine to hold what arises as you can. And be patient with yourself.
This is not a therapeutic space. Best to take therapy to the professionals.
Above all, be kind. If you post unkind things here your comments will be deleted and you will be booted from Contemplify. This is a place of written reflection to edify the journey. Do not self-promote or market (no urls to your website, books, sales, etc).
Enjoy the gift of sharing and learning from one another. Your contribution means a lot. Thank you!
Shared a reflection on the practice by clicking the “Leave a comment” button below.
"I am the blossom pressed in a book,
found again after two hundred years"
Life paused and put into a book, rediscovered centuries later held my attention. Living for the pressing of what could be found later. But like Kenyon's poem, I am many things. What damn blessing to be many things. I am surprised by it often. Reminding me that first thoughts often shy themselves into fuller ones. The flash of my mind, that lingers around the fire to be warmed into conversation and lulls. Those are the prayers that I want cook over.
The phrase in the poem, 'I am the maker, the lover, and the keeper' brought to my mind Julian of Norwich, who described a vision of our Lord showing her "a little thing, the size of a hazelnut,... - 'It is all that is made.'" Julian saw "three properties: the first is that God made it; the second is that God loves it; the third is that God cares for it." Mystics, especially James Finley, speak of the brief moments when we feel closeness, even union, with God. We want more of that, but cannot make those moments happen - we can only make ourselves available for those moments ('when you think to call my name'). This poem describes some of those moments for me.
Thank you, Paul, for choosing this poem for this week.