THE book Dancing at the Still Point is “principally aimed at people seeking to make a retreat in their own surroundings”, and is an inaugural publication of SPCK’s new imprint Form, created to “help busy readers cultivate spiritual rhythms in their everyday life”.

Gemma Simmonds is clear that she is not making another contribution to the self-help bookshelf, because a Christian retreat is about God, and “the starting point is precisely that we cannot help ourselves.” Neither is it spiritual narcissism, because “Any serious engagement in prayer . . . will also shift our focus outwards.”

She offers basic teaching on the need for retreat in a hectic world and advice on developing stillness, and commends the contemplative potential of nature, music, poetry, and — as she once recalls — gazing in wonder at the technological brilliance of a newspaper production line.

Simmonds is a member of the Jesuit-inspired Congregation of Jesus and author of The Way of Ignatius; so it is no surprise that she draws extensively on such Ignatian resources as the Examen, the use of the imagination in reading scripture, and the cultivation of discernment in making choices, as well as introducing lectio divina from the Benedictine tradition.

This short, accessible book does not itself provide a structure for at-home retreats, but introduces a range of contemporary tips and traditional practices for individuals to draw upon. It also reminds us that “There are few better ways of democratizing spirituality than making a retreat. A retreat is a vote of confidence in our own capacity to hear and respond to the God who dwells within us.”

The Revd Philip Welsh is a retired priest in the diocese of London.

Dancing at the Still Point: Retreat practices for a busy life
Gemma Simmonds
SPCK £9.99
(978-0-281-08471-5)
Church Times Bookshop £9