Spiritual Accompaniment | Spiritual Formation | Retreats | Counselling
“Nearly all wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”
– John Calvin
Meet Kobus
Kobus Mouton is an ordained minister with over twenty years of experience as a teacher and counsellor in a church community and international mission organisation. He offers spiritual accompaniment as well as accompaniment supervision.
I have always placed a high value on the inner journey, both my own and that of others. Mine took me from counselling and personal development, aided by tools such as the Enneagram, to spiritual formation and spiritual accompaniment.
I love God and the journey God has invited me on. Over the years, I have experienced many ups and downs, but gradually, I’ve noticed God becoming a compassionate friend to me. That’s to say (of course) that my experience of God has changed, not that God has changed – for that, I am profoundly grateful.
I am part of a team, training spiritual accompanists in the Ignatian tradition. I facilitate various kinds of retreats and spiritual formation workshops. Of these, I most enjoy individually directed silent retreats and Ignatian retreats.
While I find in-person sessions preferable, I also offer spiritual accompaniment and individual retreats online. These can be successfully facilitated virtually, providing flexibility and accessibility to those whose circumstances call for it.
Spiritual Accompaniment
What is Spiritual Accompaniment?
Spiritual Accompaniment is the contemplative practice of helping another person awaken to the mystery called God, in all of life. It is a conversation that “enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship.” (William A. Barry and William J. Connolly, The Practice of Spiritual Direction)
What happens in this conversation?
The sanctuary space of spiritual accompaniment invites you to bring your real self to someone who will accept what you bring as your opportunity to experience the love of God.
Spiritual accompaniment is concerned with your actual experience of a relationship with God. God is leading you to deeper faith and more generous service. The spiritual accompanist asks, not just, “What is happening?” but, “What is moving towards God and moving forward?”
The real spiritual accompanist is God. God touches the human heart directly. The human accompanist does not “direct” by giving advice and solving problems, but rather helps a person respond to God’s invitation to a deeper relationship.
To relate the Gospel to the experiential world of individuals is “an appropriation process of the most passionate inwardness.”
– Søren Kierkegaard
Spiritual Formation
You are invited to a journey of spiritual formation in Christ.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2/20
Spiritual formation provides a welcoming space where you can explore your own story in a one-on-one conversation and discover God’s gracious resources for deep and lasting freedom and transformation.
Who might it be for?
Anyone who is longing for more! For people of all ages, nationalities, and motivations. You might have a desire to discover personal destiny, you might be in crisis, you might come with a sense of ‘Is this as good as it gets?’ – a disillusionment with self or God or church, or simply a hunger for personal growth.
Where will such a journey take me?
The process will involve taking a look at what has contributed to your current perception of who you are and your basis of identity. This usually means exploring early childhood history – events and relationships in order to discover current beliefs, motivations, and strategies for living. It will often also involve an exploration of your concept of God, inviting you to participate in the ways that God is already at work to bring you to a deeper experience of the work of the cross and a deeper dependence on Jesus as the true source of life.
The process normally consists of a meeting once a fortnight for a session of an hour to an hour and a half. It would also involve some homework of reflection and reading helpful material.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
– Carl Jung
Retreat Facilitation
I delight in accompanying individuals or groups on retreat. I regard it as an essential time away to be available for God in an unhurried and uncluttered space. It is a time to enlarge and especially to fill one’s inner reservoir. Once one is back in the business of your life, it is easier to retreat into an interior space to draw from God’s loving presence and to allow that life to overflow into your everyday life.
What type of retreat do you need?
Introductory Workshop-style Retreat: Adapted to the need of the retreatants to be introduced to elements such as silence; becoming present; being encountered by God through Lectio Divina and Imaginative Scripture Contemplation; encountering God in music, visual material like paintings or icons; listening inwardly and the use of a breath prayer; being surprised by God in nature; journaling, etc. Such a retreat may carry a theme and it has times to be alone as well as times for conversation.
Themed Retreat: e.g. Advent or Easter.
Retreat as a Creative Journey: Through loss, suffering, and grief.
Deeper Journey with God.
Journey towards Wholeness and Inner Restoration.
Exploration of Your True Self: Deepening your identity in Christ.
Silent Retreat with One-on-One Accompaniment.
Inner Rhythms: Explore Inner Rhythms to deepen your awareness of God’s love for you and for God’s world. This can be done as a retreat or a series of short workshops.
About Inner Rhythms
Inner Rhythms seeks:
- To introduce contemplative practices to those who had no experience of it;
- To rekindle the practices for those who have had a prior taste of it;
- To refresh and deepen your personal intimate journey with God;
- To awaken and experience the impact of such inward disciplines on your way of being in the world.
Inner Rhythms explores the rhythms of
- Desire
- Lectio Divina
- Imaginative Scripture Contemplation
- Examen; & Lectio Visio
- Breath-Prayer, Centering Prayer & Spontaneous Writing and/or Drawing
- The nature and process of Spiritual Accompaniment
All these can be done as a group with individual accompaniment or as an individually directed retreat, tailor-made around your needs.
Retreats Online
All of the above retreats can be facilitated online for individuals.
Ignatian Retreats
The Spiritual Exercises: This is a classic silent retreat done over thirty days. It can be done in three periods of ten days over a year. It can also be done in the course of one’s everyday life. This might take between twelve and eighteen months.
Individually Directed Ignatian Retreats: These are similar in approach to a Silent Retreat with one-on-one accompaniment. These retreats can also be done alone or in groups not bigger than five retreatants. Online or in person.
The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion.
It is wordless. It is beyond words, and beyond speech, and it is beyond concept.
– THOMAS MERTON
Emotional & Trauma Counselling
Counselling conversations are conducted against the backdrop of Spiritual Formation. The wounded and hurting person will be encouraged to allow the One who has been holding his or her life, to become to them the wounded healer. My hope for each counselee is to grow towards a readiness for the ongoing journey of Spiritual Accompaniment.
We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us.
– Thomas Merton
Exploring Your Essential Self through the Enneagram
What is the Enneagram?
The Enneagram is a system of personality typology that provides an in-depth understanding of our inner world—our motivations and fears. It uncovers how we deal with challenges and stress and indicates our preferred social interaction styles and shows how we manage our experience in the world. Studying the Enneagram gives us a deeper understanding of ourselves, others, and our relationships, and it provides insightful wisdom and offers the potential for deeper personal and spiritual growth.
The Enneagram was intended for spiritual realization – to understand fundamentally who and what we are.
The Enneagram’s deeper function is to point the way to who we are beyond the level of the personality, the dimension of ourselves that is infinitely more profound, more interesting and rewarding, and more real.
Sandra Maitri – *The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram*
How does it work?
If you are unfamiliar with the Enneagram, I will take you through an introduction of the nine different Types with the intention to share wisdom and insight into how you can use the Enneagram not just for personal growth and support for your life, but to reveal the hidden aspects of your spiritual nature.
Once we have established what it is you are hoping to gain from such an exploration, we will agree on the number of conversations you would like to have as your preliminary exploration into this, mostly hidden, dimension – your real authentic self. After that, you might decide to explore the spiritual dimension deeper. Sessions will then be booked as necessary.
What will sessions cost?
There is a conservative fee for all sessions. It will be part of our first discussion. Please feel free to approach me on this if you consider any of the forms of accompaniment you desire.