Anne Lawrence, Ph.D.
I help individuals and groups to reconnect with their inner wisdom and to explore the meaning and mystery of their lives. I offer compassionate listening, supportive questions, and intuitive guidance. I also design creative workshops and retreats involving transformative experiences in nature, expressive-arts activities, and guided meditations. Certified to facilitate depth practices, including dreamwork, Focusing, SoulCollage®, and spiritual direction, I encourage the integration of body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit.
Depth Practices
A long-term practitioner of contemplative Christian spirituality, I am Episcopalian and an active member of the Cathedral Church of St. Peter in St. Petersburg, FL. Currently, I am a doctoral student in Christian spirituality at Virginia Theological Seminary, an Episcopal seminary. I specialize in creative practices that enhance holistic spirituality, including imaginative prayer, artistic expression, and reverential experiences with nature.
Similarly, I have completed the Center for Action and Contemplation's Living School, a two-year program of study on contemplative spirituality, Christian mysticism, and compassionate service. During this transformative experience, I studied with the program's founder, Richard Rohr, with core faculty Cynthia Bourgeault, James Finley, and Barbara Holmes, and with visiting teachers, including Ilia Delio and Mirabai Starr. I have also participated in Cynthia Bourgeault's Wisdom School.
I graduated from the Haden Institute's two-year training program in Jungian dreamwork. Likewise, I have studied Dream Tending with depth psychologist Stephen Aizenstat. As a spiritual director, I facilitate both individual and group dreamwork. I also design dream-centered workshops and retreats. Through creative activities, I help people to explore their richly meaningful dreams and to receive healing guidance for their lives.
ENNEAGRAM
For over ten years, I have worked with the Enneagram both personally and professionally. I have studied with Fr. Richard Rohr, Russ Hudson, and Beatrice Chestnut and Uranio Paes. The wisdom of the Enneagram informs all my offerings.
I am a certified Focusing facilitator, having completed a two-year training program through The International Focusing Institute, under the supervision of Beth Mahler and Maria Skoufas. I have also pursued advanced training through the Seattle Focusing Institute in Jeffrey Morrison's nine-month course on Focusing with complex trauma. In addition, I have studied Thinking at the Edge (TAE) with Beatrice Blake. Developed by Eugene Gendlin, Focusing is an intuitive process for accessing the wisdom of the body to enhance self-awareness, healing, relationships, communication, creativity, dreamwork, and spirituality. I provide one-to-one Focusing support, which I call "Inner Listening." Moreover, I integrate Focusing in my workshops and retreats: for example, in guided meditations. In addition, I offer "The Art of Felt Sensing," a two-year Focusing training and certification program for spiritual directors.
LABYRINTH
I am a certified labyrinth facilitator, trained by Lauren Artress through her non-profit organization, Veriditas. I guide creative and contemplative labyrinth walks, including online gatherings in which participants trace a handheld labyrinth.
I am a trained facilitator of SoulCollage®. Created by Seena Frost, SoulCollage® is an arts-based practice of self-exploration, in which participants combine found images and personal photographs to create visual collages on cards. Making and dialoguing with the energies evoked by your cards is an opportunity for healing self-reflection. I offer SoulCollage® workshops for groups, provide one-to-one support for deepening the practice, and guide personalized SoulCollage®-centered retreats at home.
I completed a two-year certification program in contemplative Christian spiritual direction through Oasis, under the supervision of Glenn Mitchell, followed by an additional year of advanced training and a nine-month certification program to offer the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. With Oasis, I served for three years as a teacher/supervisor for prospective spiritual directors. Through my private practice, The Soul Companion, LLC, I offer both individual and group spiritual direction and guide the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, a thirty-week personal retreat at home that involves deep discernment. I also provide discernment support as an independent service and ongoing supervision for prospective and practicing spiritual directors.
I received a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Writing from Michigan State University and an M.A. in Educational Studies: Literacy, Language, and Culture from the University of Michigan. I have worked as a writing professor, a literacy education researcher, a writing teacher educator, an academic writing coach for faculty and graduate students, and an English language teacher for multilingual adults, adolescents, and children. In my current workshops and retreats, I offer reflective writing activities that help participants to explore their life experiences, to express their emotions, to develop awareness and insight, and to discern possible responses to growth opportunities.
