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Rev. Dr. Catherine Quehl-Engel

As a child I fell in love with Mystery which I'll call communing Oneness or The Sacred.
An opening to the omnipresent field of mysterious healing forces and Presence weaving us as One
amid moments of Awe. Wonder. Joy when experiencing Oneness out among the trees, quiet earth, and sky.
I'd enter the gates of Heaven out among the fireflies and the gloaming not only in moments of solitude but also at dusk during games of kick the can and ghost in the graveyard. 

Sensing Spirit coursing through all of it.

Beauty met in moments of tenderness. Laughter.  The Divine drenching everything and everyone.

Even myself, or so I discovered in the quiet listening when out among the trees, quiet earth, big sky, and feeling the whirring hum of cicadas vibrating through my being and everything.  This was good practice for later sensing Presence or The Sacred during vulnerable, hard times later in childhood. It helped me know I was not alone. 
 

Through the years this sensing of a larger reality of which we all are part--Presence, Oneness, and healing peace--evolved into a vocation which has included spiritually companioning alongside others on the life journey.
Being love. Being peace. An outflow of compassionate, healing Presence.  To spiritually companion alongside others on their life journey. Not giving answers. Rather, offering presence and a teaching and healing ministry including through non-dualism and Incarnational Mind-Body-Emotions & Spirit based practices which help others
explore and experience wholeness, Mystery, healing Peace, Love, and Oneness it turns out we've had all along.
Life force energy Spirit flowing within and round us, weaving us as One.

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INTO THE ONENESS

   Few experiences are more profound than dropping into flow and awareness of communing Oneness.

As Emeritus Chaplain of Cornell College, spiritual retreat leader, teacher, and guide it has been my lifelong joy helping others open, relax, revitalize and expand, entering into wholeness. 

   In addition to offering spiritual and medical styles of Qigong, I'm also a Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and meditation instructor, sound healing practitioner, spiritual director, reiki master teacher, healing touch practitioner,

spiritual landscape artist, and dream teacher/healer/guide. My doctorate on energy and heart focused interior prayer/meditation titled "Praying, Living, and Loving from the Inside Out"

was featured by HeartMath Institute in 2014. 

      An inclusivist dedicated to inter-faith understanding, East-West inter-spiritual wisdom, and Christian mystics and contemplation traditions, it's a joy and art finding of bringing together people with highly diverse spiritual outlooks. Also as an Episcopal priest utilizing wisdom and practices from TCM including Qigong to help overcome false dualistic notions of mind, body, and spirit in the West

(including into Christianity which claims to prize Incarnational ways of being).

   Together we can make the shift into wholeness. Not only within our own being, but also with all peoples and beings. Relaxing like waves merging back into The Oneness. Back into the ocean of love of which we all are part. 

Peace,

Catherine 🪶🌸🙏🏽 

TEACHING

Three decades of teaching Christian spirituality, Inter-spirituality, theology, Biblical studies, Inter-Faith Understanding, and East-West contemplative and mystical wisdom traditions in academic classrooms, spiritual retreat & wellness centers, convents, houses of worship, Palisades Kepler State Park, and beyond. Current offerings include:

  • Online Energy Medicine (Qigong & Yoga) & Yogic Sleep  (Fall through Feb)

  • Into The Oneness: Qigong for Energy Equanimity, & Ease - Prairiewoods Spirituality Center, Hiawatha, IA (Thursdays @ 12:45)

  • Qigong, Lester Buresh Community Wellness Center, Mt. Vernon, IA (Tues @ noon).

  • Deep Peace Yoga, LBC Wellness Center, Mt. Vernon, IA. (Weds @ 10am)

  • Chair Yoga & Chi (Qi) - LBC Wellness Center (Weds @ 11:10am)

  • Sound Healing & Yogic Sleep - Prairiewoods (1st Th of month @ 1:45)

  • Serenity Sublime Healing with Sound and Vibration, 1st Pres. Church, Mt. Vernon, IA.

  • Mindfulness, Meditation & Psychological Health (Cornell College Psychology Dept.)

  • Deep Peace Yoga, Cornell College (weekly for students, faculty & staff).

  • Dreams as Spiritual Guidance, Healing & Encounter (retreat, friendship group, & individual availability).

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YOGA & YOGA NIDRA TEACHER CERTIFICATIONS

Yoga Alliance 500RYT.
Certified since 2017, I specialize in meditative breath, energy, and compassion-based approaches to Yin Yoga, Yogic Sleep (Yoga Nidra), Chairi Yoga, and related contemplative

wisdom from The Vedas, Taoism, Buddhism, and beyond for life both on and off the mat.

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  • 300 hr Yin Yoga Teacher Certification grounded in Buddhist Mindfulness and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) - Summers School of Yin Yoga.

  • 200 hr Kavi Yoga Teacher Training.

  • 100hr Amrit Method of Yoga Nidra Certified Facilitator Training.

  • Chair Yoga Teacher Training - YogaVista.

  • 60 hr Teaching Methodology and Practicum in Advanced Chair Yoga Teacher  Training - YogaVista

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MEDITATION & MINDFULNESS TEACHING CERTIFICATIONS

  • Koru Mindfulness Instructor

  • The American Institute for Health Care Professionals Certified Mindfulness Instructor

  • See Yoga, Yoga Nidra, & Qigong certifications 
     

QIGONG TEACHING CERTIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Teaching Qigong since 2015. 

  • Spring Forest Qigong Certified Practice Group Leader

  • Holden Qi Gong Certified Teacher - Tier 1


REIKI / HEALING TOUCH / SOUND HEALING CERTIFICATIONS

  • Reiki Master Teacher

  • Healing Touch Spiritual Ministry Certified Practitioner

  • Certified Healing with Sound and Vibration Practitioner, Atma Buti (Soul Medicine) 

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DREAM TEACHER

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  • Dream Teacher Certification - Level 3 (Moss Dreams) 

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RETREAT LEADERSHIP(sampler)

  • Province VI Daughter's of The King - Experiencing The Sacred In Everyday Life (Omaha, 2023)

  • Lenten Retreat, Order of Franciscan Sisters, (Clinton, IA 2023)

  • Winter's Wisdom, Rest, and Renewal (Prairiewoods, 2022 & 2023)

  • Goodbye/Hello: Healing Relationships for Spiritual Wholeness (Prairiewoods, 2022)

  • Indwelling Light, Day of Prayer for Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Dubuque, IA 021)

  • Winter Solstice: Opening to Light (Prairiewoods, 2021)

  • The Energy of Love (Prairiewoods Spirituality Center, Hiawatha, Iowa, 2020)

  • Christ Within (The Episcopal Diocese of Iowa Summer Ministry School & Retreat, 2018)

  • Christ Consciousness (Diocesan SMSR, 2017)


ORDINATION & PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Raised and ordained within The United Church of Christ (a tradition I still love), yet eventually followed my mystical wiring and sacramental way of seeing and being into The Sacred Order of Priests of The Episcopal Church in 2006.

  • Non-parochial priest-at-large, The Episcopal Diocese of Iowa

  • Emerita Chaplain of Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa

  • Affiliate of The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration

  •  Priest Associate, Trinity Episcopal Church, Iowa City, IA (2006 - 2018)

  • Professional member of SDI (Spiritual Directors International)

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VISUAL ART

MA, Religion & Visual Art (Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA,1994)

B.A. with majors in Art and Religion (Cornell College, 1989).

Numerous art exhibitions including:

  • Art Heals, solo show Mercy Hospital, Iowa City, Iowa (2021)

  • Alumni Art of the Pandemic; Cornell College (2022)

  • Into the Blue The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (2019?) 

  • Ubuntu and several other Episcopal Church & Visual Arts exhibitions

  • Lincoln Hwy Arts Festival (ongoing)

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EDUCATION

  • Doctorate of Ministry in Christian Spirituality, Washington Theological Union.

Includes mystical and contemplative wisdom of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi, and Teresa of Avila. Also creation of a 30 person, multi-week doctoral research project on the use of heart focused compassion, breath, and energy-based meditation/interior prayer for personal and communal healing.Dissertation - Deep Abiding: Praying, Living and Loving from the Inside Out featured by the scientific research and educational org, HeartMath Institute (2014).

  • Doctorate in Theology, Ethics and Culture, Univ. of Iowa (1994-96)
       Left to become a mom, love my daughter, and serve as chaplain of my alma mater.

  • Clinical Pastoral Education, UofI Hospitals & Clinics, Iowa City (Summer 1994)

  • Master of Divinity Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA (1994)

  • Master Degree in Religion and Visual Arts, PSR, Berkeley, CA (1994)

  • Holocaust Studies for Educators, Hebrew University & Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel (Summer 1993)

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