About the Course
First Sunday of the month, October 2026 – May 2027
October 4, November 1, December 6, January 3, February 7, March 7, April 4, May 2
Time - TBA
Start times:
The Listening Life is an 8-part contemplative series for adults in their 30s–50s who are longing for a deeper, steadier spiritual life in a time of transition, uncertainty, and change.
Many people in midlife find themselves renegotiating their relationship to faith, vocation, family, identity, and community. What once felt certain may no longer fit. Some are weary of institutional religion but still hunger for meaning, depth, and connection. Others are carrying grief, burnout, and disappointment. Many are overwhelmed by anxiety over justice and environmental issues.
This series offers a grounded and spacious place to explore those questions together.
Rooted in the contemplative, mystical, and desert traditions of Christianity - but open to those from many spiritual backgrounds or in seasons of deconstruction - The Listening Life invites participants to learn how to listen more deeply: to their lives, their bodies, one another, and the movement of the sacred within ordinary experience.
From October to May, participants gather online monthly for two-hour sessions that include teaching, experiential practices, and small-group listening circles facilitated by trained spiritual directors. A small reflection package with additional reading and reflective questions will be provided to prepare for each month.
We will explore the following topics:
The Edges of Our Lives (October)
Starting with Where We Are, Not Where We Wish We Were (November)
Learning to Listen (December)
Letting Go (January)
Insight and the "A-Ha" Moment (February)
Awe and Presence (March)
Enoughness, Trust, and Rest (April)
Living into a Rhythm (May)
This is not a place for easy answers or spiritual performance. It is a place for honesty, reflection, community, and learning how to stay present to our lives as they are.
Because life is beautiful and hard. Because many of us are tired, enraged or anxious. Because we need places where we can bring our real selves and remember that we do not have to navigate this season alone.
This series has been made possible through a grant from the Sisters of St. Benedict's in Winnipeg, MB.
Your Instructor
Kalyn Falk and Team
Kalyn Falk: Kalyn, MA, has been a spiritual director for over 20 years, trains for Mediation Services, offers workshops through Spirit River, and used to teach Conflict Resolution Studies at University of Winnipeg through Canadian Mennonite University. She spends a lot of time learning from and caring for people in neurodiverse and gender diverse communities. She lives in Winnipeg (Treaty 1 territory and the homeland of the Red River Metis Nation) with her husband, and has two adult children. Kalyn loves making space for people to listen intently to themselves, each other and the Holy.
Janet Peters: Janet is a pastor, friend, daughter, wife, and mother to two still-launching young adults, all of which bring relationships with that sacred mix of laughter, exasperation, worry and joy. Her work as a pastor has her walking alongside folks of all ages during major life transitions as well as everyday life, where she gets to practice deep listening to the other and to Spirit.
Kristi Degenhart: In 2019, Kristi and her family, painfully and intentionally, left the church denomination that raised her. She has since found her way to a small, rural house church that believes Jesus calls us to action in response to faith. Kristi has an MA in Christian Ministry and is the Hospitality Manager at the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, where Indigenous Spirituality and Christian Spirituality work together towards justice and reconciliation, listening for Creator and learning from the Land. Kristi and her husband live in Treaty 1 (Beausejour, Manitoba) and cottage in Treaty 3 (Minaki, Ontario). They are enjoying this season of parenting young adult children.
Jo Hiebert Bergen: Midlife is informing Jo’s lived experience. As she moves into later life, relationships of mutuality and care - whether interpersonally, across communities of difference, and with our mother, the earth, offer grounding. Questions and deep listening alongside respect and care are ways in which she longs, in connection with others, to work toward a world that can heal and renew real possibilities for just peace. Her day job involves working with colleagues to live out Jesus' call to prioritize the voices of those on the margins. Community and The Sacred ensure this is work done together, and she looks forward to journeying with those participating in The Listening Life.