We are grateful to gather on land generously shared with us—our time together will be held outdoors, within the church’s woodland path, and along the shoreline at Old Saybrook Town Beach, allowing the natural world to gently guide the experience.

Friends of the Forest is honored to welcome Jean Golicz, Ed.D., to guide this Sacred Saunter, a contemplative two-hour experience designed for women who wish to move slowly, listen deeply, and reconnect with themselves through the natural world.

This experience is a slow, immersive journey—an opportunity to step out of ordinary time and into the subtle, living presence of the wild. Here, you are invited to soften, notice, and attend to the sensations, textures, and rhythms of the landscape, allowing it to guide your awareness inward as well as outward.

Jean’s guidance creates a space of curiosity, trust, and gentle awakening, helping each participant find her own pace, focus, and connection to source, the land, and herself.

The contemplative path at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church Gardens

About Your Guide

Guiding this experience is Jean Golicz, Ed.D., whose life and work are rooted in the embrace of transformation and liminality. Living at the mouth of the Connecticut River—where fresh and salt waters meet—Jean embodies the meeting of opposites, teaching how to find balance and harmony within thresholds, transitions, and contrasts.

With a doctorate in education and a research focus grounded in both data and lived experience, Jean bridges intellect and intuition. She holds certifications in traditional faith practices and has studied sacred traditions around the world: from Kabbalah and numerology in Israel to Celtic consciousness in Scotland. She continues her work as a member of the Barred Owl Cohort at the Seminary of the Wild.

Jean brings presence, intuition, and deep reverence for the natural world, creating a space where every participant feels seen, guided, and honored as she engages with the quiet wisdom of the land.

Where the Land Will Lead Us

You’ll be guided through a contemplative journey shaped by two intertwined practices:

Contemplative Walking
A tender, sensory way of moving through the landscape with your whole being—breath, intuition, and attention. As your pace slows, the living world begins to reveal its quiet teachings: the movement of light, the textures beneath your feet, the scent of air and water, the rhythms of wind and birdsong. Every step becomes an opportunity to notice, to feel, and to deepen your connection to the world around you.

Lectio Divina in Motion
Jean offers a nature-rooted approach to the ancient contemplative practice of Lectio Divina. A short text—often a poem such as those by Mary Oliver—will be read slowly three times throughout the walk. Participants are invited to listen for a word or phrase that gently calls their attention.

As you walk, you may begin to notice that same word or essence reflected in the world around you—in a pattern, a sound, or a moment of stillness. This practice weaves together the cognitive, the embodied, and the spiritual, allowing for moments of quiet synchronicity between inner awareness and outer landscape.

This experience is supported by a set of simple, optional embodied gestures—drawn from historical contemplative traditions—that help the body soften and open to presence.

Through Awake, Allow, Accept, Attend (and at times returning again to Awake as both beginning and integration), you will engage awareness in a way that fosters receptivity and connection to the land, yourself, and the subtle movement of meaning between them.

Where the Water Will Hold Us

As our time in the gardens comes to a close, we will gently transition to Old Saybrook Town Beach. There, we gather at the water’s edge to complete our experience at sunset—allowing the rhythm of the shoreline and the fading light of day to deepen reflection, connection, and integration.

The beach is just a short five-minute drive away. You are welcome to carpool or travel separately.

Our closing gathering location at sunset

Flow of the Evening

Arrival: 5:30 PM

Memorial Garden Experience: 5:30 – 7:00 PM

• Welcome & introduction to contemplative walking

• Guided Lectio Divina walking

• Journaling and personal reflection

• Gentle closing within the gardens

Transition to Old Saybrook Town Beach: 7:00 PM
(A short 5-minute drive — carpooling welcome)

Closing at the Shore: approximately 7:15 – 7:45 PM

• Arrival and grounding at the water

• Shared reflection

• Closing blessing

• Anointing at the water

Investment: $75 (non-refundable)
Your contribution supports the space, facilitation, and care that goes into creating this experience.

Group Size: Limited to 10 women to preserve an intimate and supportive atmosphere