Investment: €125 early bird (book before 1st August 2026) · €135 standard
Includes: Lunch, all materials, tea & refreshments
Limited to 45 places
Book Now
There comes a moment...
There comes a moment when more information isn't what we need.
We don't need another book to read.
Another podcast to absorb.
Another idea to carry.
We need a different quality of attention.
We need to become quiet enough to hear what is already speaking.
Not only with our ears,
but with our bodies,
our imagination,
our voices,
and our hearts.
Inspired by the wisdom of Hildegard of Bingen, this day is an invitation to rediscover listening as a way of living.
"How we listen shapes how we live."
An Invitation from Us
Over the past year, our conversations have returned again and again to one simple question:
How does the way we listen shape the way we live?
As we shared stories, music, language and silence, we found ourselves returning to Hildegard—not simply because of who she was, but because of the way she perceived the world.
She reminds us that music, language, the body, imagination and the natural world are not separate. They belong together.
This gathering has grown from those conversations.
It is shaped by Nóirín's lifelong relationship with voice, music and the Irish language, and by Lucia's work exploring listening as an embodied contemplative practice through The Listening Field.
Together we invite you into that conversation.
Why Hildegard?
Hildegard of Bingen lived nearly nine hundred years ago, yet her vision feels remarkably contemporary.
She was a composer, visionary, healer and writer who trusted her own experience at a time when few women were encouraged to do so.
Her music reaches beyond words.
Her illuminated visions awaken imagination.
Her writings invite us to recognise the deep connections between body, creativity, nature and spirit.
We won't simply learn about Hildegard.
Instead, we will allow her wisdom to accompany us as we discover what it means to listen with greater attention and freedom.
"Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to put our ears to our own inner voices, to see our own light, which is our birthright, and comes to us in silence"
-Hildegard
The Journey of the Day
Rather than moving through separate workshops, the day unfolds as one gentle movement—from listening, towards voice, towards community.
Each part of the day opens another doorway into presence.
Opening the Earan chluas
We begin with the Irish language.
Not through grammar or translation, but through sound.
Together we will savour its rhythm, notice how it lives in the mouth and the body, and experience language as something to inhabit rather than analyse.
As we become attentive to sound itself, language becomes another way of listening.
Opening the Imagination
Hildegard's luminous visions and soaring music emerged from the same source: a way of perceiving that was spacious, courageous and profoundly alive.
Rather than studying her work from a distance, we will spend time with her images and music as living companions.
Through meditation and shared reflection, we will notice where our own lives may be asking for greater freedom, trust and creativity.
Opening the Voicean guth
The Sanskrit tradition describes four stages of speech, reminding us that words begin long before they are spoken.
Together we will explore how listening and expression belong to one another.
Through chant, song and gentle vocal practice, we will rediscover voice not as performance, but as relationship.
No musical experience is needed.
Only curiosity.
Opening the Body - an corp
Listening is not only something we do with our ears.
Through gentle movement, we invite the whole body into the experience of listening — releasing tension, softening habitual patterns, and making room for a different kind of attention to emerge.
We close this opening with a deeply restorative sound bath, where layered tones and resonance wash over the body. As thought begins to soften, another kind of knowing becomes possible — one that doesn't arrive through effort, but through rest.
Opening to One Another
The Irish word comhrá means conversation, but it also carries the sense of meeting one another with presence and respect.
Throughout the day we cultivate a community of listening.
A place where every voice is welcomed.
Where silence has its place.
Where we discover that listening is not something we do alone.
What You May Discover
We don't promise transformation.
We simply create the conditions where something authentic may begin to unfold.
You may leave with:
- a renewed relationship with your own voice
- a deeper trust in your perception
- an embodied experience of listening
- the joy of singing and sounding together
- a fresh appreciation for the beauty of the Irish language
- a living encounter with Hildegard's wisdom
- the nourishment of genuine community
- a quieter, more spacious way of meeting life
Is this gathering for you?
This day is for anyone who senses that something within them is asking to be heard.
For those drawn to Hildegard's wisdom.
For those curious about language, music and contemplative practice.
For those longing for a slower, more attentive way of living.
Whether you know Hildegard well or are meeting her for the first time...
Whether you sing every day or have never sung outside your own home...
Whether you speak Irish fluently or are simply curious to experience its beauty...
You are warmly welcome.
Bring only your curiosity.
We'll discover the rest together.
A day to attune, express and resonate
- in body, voice and community
Your Guides
Two Voices, One Conversation
This gathering has grown out of an ongoing conversation between us.
Nóirín brings decades of experience in voice, music, the Irish language and contemplative practice.
Lucia's work through The Listening Field explores listening as a path of presence, meaning and embodied awareness.
Together we create spaces where ancient wisdom becomes lived experience—through language, music, movement, silence and shared conversation.
We don't come with all the answers.
We come with a shared practice of listening, and an invitation to explore alongside us.
More about your guides
Rev. Nóirín Ní Riain PhD
Nóirín is an internationally acclaimed spiritual singer, theologian and author. Her engagement with the music of Hildegard of Bingen spans over forty years, including performances at Hildegardian festivals across Europe and the role of Anima in Hildegard's morality play Ordo Virtutum, from Notre Dame University to the International Conference on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, Michigan. She has recorded Hildegardian chant extensively, including with the Benedictine monks of Glenstal Abbey. Her autobiography, Listen with the Ear of the Heart (Veritas, 2008), traces a lifelong devotion to deep, contemplative listening.
Lucia Guerin
Lucia's journey into the power of voice and spoken word began in 2005, as a path of self-exploration and healing. She has since shared her passion for voice, sound, movement, silence and language through group and one-to-one work, training with Kim Rosen — author of Saved by a Poem — in the Poetry Mystery School. Lucia weaves these threads, together with her ongoing study of Irish and contemplative sound practice, to offer immersive workshops and training events grounded in embodied presence. More at www.listeningfield.ie.
PRACTICAL DETAILS
Saturday 12th Sept, 2026
10am - 5pm
Glenstal Abbey, Murroe, Co Limerick
Includes Lunch, all materials, tea & refreshments
We promise to open your hearts and minds to wisdom that is timely, healing, and deeply needed.
Spaces are limited to 45 places — please book early to secure yours.
Ag tnúth go mór le do láithreacht — we look forward to your presence and wisdom among us.
Cost €135 (€125 early bird 1/8/26)
PREVIOUS PARTICIPANTS
What people experience at our retreats..
Clodagh - 2025
Míle buíochas to both of you for a wonderful retreat. It was a very special day.
I'm still letting it settle but I wanted to say that I felt a tremendous release after the day itself. During your sound bath, Lucia, I found myself unable to make a sound but afterwards I was conscious that something which had been bothering me for a long time had eased. I'm profoundly grateful for that - and so much more which is revealing itself gently as the days unfold.
Two lines that jumped out at me were:
- Dare to declare who you are.
- Always having a prayer on your lips.
The words that came to me were in Irish: Bí liom.
Thank you both so much for this important and very beautiful work.
Lorraine - 2025
Caitríona - 2025
Hildegard: Listening for the Living Voice
"All living creatures are sparks from the radiation of God’s brilliance"
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BOOK NOW FOR EARLY BIRD €10 DISCOUNT
AVAILABLE UNTIL 1ST AUGUST 2026
Cancellation Policy
If a person books a place on the workshop, pays and then can’t attend –
2 week's notice – we offer a full refund or transfer their deposit to another workshop.
1 week notice – we offer a 50% refund or transfer their deposit to another workshop.
Less than 1 week notice – no refund but we can transfer their deposit to another workshop
