Rev’d Mel King is a retired Anglican priest and a Spiritual Director in the Diocese of York. She lives in North Yorkshire with her husband who is also a priest.
Mel seeks to work with practical Wisdom, embodied, awake and alive, in the practical tasks of daily life and in her work with groups and individuals. As a student of Wisdom she is an active participant in Wisdom School (Cynthia Bourgeault) and a commissioned Presenter of Centering Prayer with Contemplative Outreach (Fr Thomas Keating OCSO).
Her Wisdom work is grounded in a daily sitting practice of Centering Prayer with Lectio Divina, and other Heartfulness practices.
Mel offers Spiritual Direction to those who desire to take “a long loving look at the real,” and who are seeking a deeper incarnational and heart-presence connection with the Divine, through contemplative, embodied and BioSpiritual practices. Her earliest professional training was in the full Ignatian Spiritual Exercises which continue to background her work and personal practice.
Walking alongside a growing community of practice, which meets regularly online and in-person, Mel serves as a Wisdom Waypoints Post-holder in the UK, and as Co-ordinator for Contemplative Outreach in Yorkshire and the North East. She can be contacted for workshops, contemplative quiet days and retreats by request.
CONTACT:
For further information Mel can be contacted for …
– Centering Prayer Introductory Workshops: york@contemplativeoutreach.org.uk
– Wisdom Spiritual Direction, Quiet Days, Retreats and Spiritual Direction: revmelking@cpny.org.uk
Rev’d Ian Houghton has been a priest in the Church of England since 1983 and has worked in parish ministry, as a higher education and city centre chaplain and in industrial mission. In 2018 he retired from 10 years as Vicar of a group of rural parishes in York Diocese and for some of this time he was also an Area Dean.
Before ordination he taught in secondary education for six years and since then has had a continuing involvement in education and training. He is also experienced in community development and team working and in inter-faith work.
Ian is married to Mel and they live in Northallerton in North Yorkshire.
Spiritual exploration and prayer have been part of Ian’s life for almost as long as he can remember. He trained in prayer guiding and spiritual accompaniment with the Jesuits in Birmingham and more recently has been exploring the Rule of St. Benedict.
Attracted and inspired for a number of years by the life and work of Thomas Merton, a Cistercian monk who has written extensively on the contemplative life, he is presently continuing these explorations through the regular practice of Centering Prayer and the teaching of Thomas Keating, Cynthia Borgeault and others.
Ian supports CPNY’s work of training and facilitating Centering Prayer groups and he offer individual Spiritual Accompaniment by arrangement. He can be contacted at ian.houghton@cpny.org.uk