Your Community Guides

Shirley is a wife of 50 years to Stephan and mother of two children, Trista and Stephan II. She is a Benedictine Oblate with Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, Indiana. She teaches meditation in the Christian tradition and is the author of the book Soul Provider, the Story of God’s Abiding Presence.

Shirley was formerly the director of training for the Salon Division of DowBrands in Minneapolis, leading the U.S. training team. The predominance of her career, however, was at Bath & Body Works Corporate as manager of learning and development, responsible for leading teams to design and implement training to promote sales and support new store openings throughout the U.S. She went on to work in that same role with Bath & Body Works International which provided her opportunities for world travel and work in collaboration with people from different cultures, religions, and ideologies.

As an oblate Shirley is currently serving on the International Benedictine Oblate Congress team in Rome where she is responsible to lead an international team to develop Congress workshops for oblates from around the world.

Shirley’s coordinates the Women’s Ministries at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, her home parish in Marysville. On behalf of the non-profit, Kindway, Shirley supports marketing plus teaches cognitive behavioral therapy courses to prepare women for successful release at The Ohio Reformatory for Women. Shirley is a retreat leader and has an introductory six-part series, “Silence & Contemplation”, available on YouTube.

Gwen Surratt’s meditation journey began in 1972 at a meditation and yoga retreat. After returning home she was encouraged to attend an intensive teacher training for Yoga and Meditation at the Sivananda Yoga Center in Val Morin, Quebec, Canada, as a student of Swami Vishnudevanada. From there, she has continued her studies with Alice Christensen, Swami Muktananda, Light Watkins, Jeff Kober, Emily Fletcher, and Thom Knoles 

Gwen has been an avid yoga and meditation practitioner and registered, certified teacher for longer than she cares to admit. She currently teaches for The City of Columbus, Westerville Parks, and Rec., McConnell Heart Health, and The Yoga and Fitness Factory. 

Gwen teaches a meditation style that is accessible to everyone and likes to remind us that it is called a meditation “practice”, not meditation perfection. She teaches meditation for those of us that live in the real world, with family, jobs, school, and whatever life throws at us. 

Daron helps people feel more at home in their lives by encouraging them to habitually notice ordinary experiences in liberating ways. He has been practicing mindfulness daily to disrupt his own default narrative mode since his first silent meditation retreat in October 2002.

He teaches mindfulness practice as attention training, using the challenges and benefits of physical fitness to help navigate similar aspects of developing attentional skills. Growing scientific evidence shows that consistent mindfulness practice can improve baseline levels of self-awareness, contentment, and compassion. Attentional Fitness Training is a natural, science-backed addition to the strategies currently available for healthier living.

In addition to coaching individuals, he has facilitated classes and workshops for JamesCare for Life, Mount Carmel Health, Nationwide Children’s Hospital Employee Wellness, Upper Arlington LifeLong Learning, Dublin Community Recreation Center, IGS Energy, Otterbein University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Shinzen Young’s Basic Mindfulness Home Practice Program, Marion Correctional Institution, as well as other businesses and organizations.

Cindy has been practicing and teaching yoga, movement, meditation, and mindfulness for nearly 15 years.  She came to yoga and meditation at a time of high stress in her life, as a means to help manage chronic health issues and now as a means to strive for equanimity in her life. Cindy offers classes that make movement and mindfulness accessible for all, despite any kind of hesitation, limitation, or injury and hopes and that the peaceful and steadying effect of these practices become a positive force of energy that everyone can take with them into their lives off the mat.