2023 Schedule
Walking with the Divine: Contemplative Prayer in Nature
Sunday, February 5, 2023
Westminster Presbyterian Church Waterloo
10 – 11 a.m.
Join me as we listen for the voice of our Creator speaking to us through the natural world. discovering what wisdom creation has to offer.
Sweet Darkness: Reflective Writing for Growth & Healing
Hawkeye Community College
Sunday, February 19, 2023
2 – 4 p.m.
NewAldaya Lifescapes Library
Register at:
The long, dark days of winter are made for solitude and self-reflection. We’ll gather together in a nurturing space to attune ourselves to this powerful, transformative time. How can time spent in the dark help us to listen to our inner landscape and help us express our deepest feelings without judgment? We’ll explore David Whyte’s poem “Sweet Darkness” and use journaling techniques to discover how to write our way into the light.
EarthWhispers Abbey: Investigating Our Square Patch of Earth
Hawkeye Community College
Saturday, April 8, 2023
1 – 4 p.m.
Cedar Falls Center
Register at:
This course digs deep into a single, natural landscape of significance to you. You’ll spend three hours meditating on this place digging into why its colors, textures, and scents deserve close observation and consideration. Sue and Felicia will lead you through a series of writing prompts that serve as launch pads for your imagination and heart-self connection to place.
EarthWhispers Abbey: Rooted & Reaching – Earth Day Workshop
Hearst Center for the Arts
Saturday, April 22, 2023
1 – 4 p.m.
To register: call 319-273-8641 or visit thehearst.org
Join us in this three-hour retreat to explore our relationship with trees and how they impact our physical and emotional well-being. The session is FREE but pre-registration is required.
Rewilding Prose
Hawkeye Community College
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
at the Cedar Valley Arboretum & Botanic Gardens
Register here:
Writing workshops and craft books often place nature in a subordinate role as “setting”—the stage upon which the human drama, or plot, or “real story” unfolds. In this workshop, we will flip nature’s role to the foreground. We’ll explore “rewilding” our narratives. We’ll note the inseparable connections between human and non-human worlds, and what community with nature might look like on the page. We will also examine how to write in a spirit of kinship and reciprocity with nature using the structure of myth and fairytale.
Herb Celebration
Cedar Falls Historical Society
Saturday, September 16, 2023
Details coming soon.
2022 Schedule
Mindfulness & Creativity: Say Yes to the Muse
In cooperation with Hawkeye Community College
Sunday, February 20, 2022
New Aldaya Lifescapes Library
2 – 4 p.m.
Register at:
Are you seeking creative inspiration? Explore expressive arts through mindful activities such as writing prose and poetry, sculpting with Play-doh and drawing. We’ll combine the genius of Leonardo da Vinci with the playfulness of nine modern day muses to nurture our own creative genius. This class is for curious novices and seasoned writers/artists and anyone who wants to explore their own untapped potential.
EarthWhispers Abbey: Awaken Your Creative Spirit, Celebrate Water
In cooperation with Hawkeye Community College
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
HCC Cedar Falls Campus
6 – 9 p.m.
Click here to register.
What’s the water you dream about and long for – bath, ocean, waterfalls, rain? From ice to rain, from swimming pools to puddles, and from faucets to oceans, explore water in all its many forms and mindfully noticing its capacity for transformation. We’ll honor the element of water and learn to develop our wells of wisdom through creative activities. Each participant will receive a blue marble. Join us to discover the significance of this gift. Please bring your own journal.
EarthWhispers Abbey: Terra Divina
Saturday, April 30,2022
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Waterloo, Iowa
9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
As part of the Contemplative Outing at Westminster Presbyterian Church, we will explore our sacred relationship to Earth by reading the text of the landscape.
Register at:
Legacy Facilitator Training
Thursdays, May 12, 19, 26 and Monday June 6
via Zoom
As a certified life legacy facilitator, you will help guide others to write legacy blessings and letters. You will become skilled in assisting others in sharing their needs, beliefs, and values through this rich, sacred tradition. Training is taught live on-line via Zoom. Life Legacies founder Rachael Freed leads the training along with two certified Life Legacies facilitators, Deborah Ross and Sue Schuerman.
Contact Sue for registration information: sueschuerman9@gmail.com (Registration deadline is April 25)
Cedar Falls Christian Writers Workshop
June 9, 10 and 11
Visit the website to see start and end times for each day
Riverview Conference Center, Cedar Falls
Novice and experienced writers, who want to hone their skills and network with award-winning authors and other accomplished writers, are invited to attend the 20th annual Cedar Falls Christian Writers Workshop.
Register at: cedarfallschristianwritersworkshop.org
EarthWhispers Abbey: Rhythms of Sky, Stone & Sun
Saturday, July 9, 2022
1 – 4 p.m.
Hearst Center for the Arts
To Register Call: Hearst Center for the Arts, 319-273-8641
EarthWhispers Abbey: Rooted & Reaching
In cooperation with Hawkeye Community College
July 26, 2022
Big Woods Lake Cedar Falls (North Shore Parking Lot/Shelter)
6 – 8 p.m.
By taking cues from Mother Nature, you might be surprised to find yourself breathing easier, embracing change, weathering storms, and being just a little more tree.
Register at:
EarthWhispers Abbey: Celebrate the Spiritual Connection Water Provides
Women of Faith Monthly Gathering
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Cedar Falls United Church of Christ, 9204 University Avenue
6:30 – 8 p.m.
You’re invited to share an evening with a spiritually and culturally diverse group of women. Through meditative practices and sharing, we will explore the significance of water in our various faith traditions and cultures.
No registration. EVERYONE is Welcome.
EarthWhispers Abbey: Terra Divina (Somewhat Silent Saturday)
Saturday, October 1, 2022
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Waterloo, Iowa
9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
As part of the Contemplative Outing at Westminster Presbyterian Church, we will explore our sacred relationship to Earth by reading the text of the landscape.
Register at: TBA
Mindfulness & Creativity: Write from Your Senses
Thursday, November 3, 2022
6:30 – 8:30 PM
Hawkeye Community College Buchanan Hall 108
Waterloo, IAWake up your senses to wake up your writing. Whether you write fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, or keep a journal; using your senses will enliven your writing. What better way to invigorate all the senses than to attend a tea tasting? Through tea tasting and other mindful activities, you’ll learn imaginative techniques to describe taste, hearing, smell, and sight.
Register at:
2021 Schedule
EarthWhispers Mystery Box Series
Sponsored by Shalom Spirituality Center
Wednesdays, April 7, 14, 21, & 28, 2021
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Via Zoom
Register at shalomretreats.org
Each week a mystery box will be opened to discover what Earth is revealing to us. For now the contents are a closely-guarded secret. EarthWhispers Sisters Felecia Babb and Sue Schuerman invite you to the big reveal.
EarthWhispers Earth Day Celebration
Saturday, April 24, 2021
1 – 4 p.m.
Hearst Center for the Arts
304 West Seerley Blvd., Cedar Falls, Iowa
Register at: thehearst.org
Through guided writing, meditation and other creative exercises, we’ll explore how color affects our moods and feelings.
Cedar Falls Christian Writers 19th Annual Workshop
Friday, June 18 and Saturday, June 19, 2021
Riverview Conference Center
409 N. Division Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa
Register at: cedarfallschristianwritersworkshop.org Take your writing to a new level–experienced and novice writers welcome. Our featured speaker is award-winning author Shelly Beach. Various sessions on writing craft, marketing, personal growth, and publishing will be available.
Dialoguing With Nature: Rooted & Reaching
Saturday, August 21, 2021
9 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Includes a sack lunch)
Shalom Spirituality Center
1001 Davis Street
Dubuque, Iowa
Register at: shalomretreats.org
We’ll discover the regenerative spirit of Iowa’s forest landscapes to reveal the beauty and magnificence of our own true nature. This is an outdoor event.
Alternative Ways to Preserve Your Life Story
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Hawkeye Community College Business Building
5330 Nordic Drive, Cedar Falls, Iowa
Register at: Alternative Ways to Preserve Your Life Story
Do you want to preserve your life stories for yourself, loved ones? This class is for those of you who want to save those precious memories, but who don’t want to write a full-length book.
EarthWhispers Mini-Retreat: Reconnect with Nature & Awaken Your Creative Spirit
Tuesday, August 10, 2021
6 – 9 p.m.
Cedar Valley Arboretum & Botanic Gardens
1927 E. Orange Road, Waterloo, Iowa
Register at: EarthWhispers Mini-Retreat: Reconnect with Nature & Awaken Your Creative Spirit
The botanic gardens will be our inspiration as we explore the element of Air and how it can help us learn to go with the flow.
Mindfulness & Creativity: A Photographic Excursion
Tuesdays, August 24 & 31, 2021
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Cedar Valley Arboretum & Botanic Gardens
1927 E. Orange Road, Waterloo, Iowa
Register at: Mindfulness & Creativity: A Photographic Excursion
Glass Pen Writer 