RHYTHMS | PRAYER, PRACTICE, PLACE
Vol 4. Issue 9
Friends,
The voices in this issue are women who believe in the centrality of caring for ourselves and others in embodied ways.
The Prayer for Care was written by Jess Anderson, who recently joined the Board of Trustees for Sacred Place. K.C. Ledgerwood shares about unearth®, a somatic Practice of coming home to our own bodies. And Inspire Ranch, the decades-long dream that became a reality for Millie Cline, is a sacred Place.
Our hope is that these rhythms encourage you in your care for yourself, your neighbors, and your neighborhood.
All blessings.
Jared Mackey
PRAYER | CARE
By Jessica Anderson
Thank You for the caregivers in our lives.
For those who make us feel noticed, seen, and loved.
For the spouse who made our breakfast.
For the friend who follows up with a text.
For the neighbor who brings in a package.
For the barista who remembers our name.
For the stranger who extends an act of care.
Forgive us for when we don’t extend care
To the people who live with us,
And the people You’ve placed around us.
Sometimes we’re a bit lazy.
Sometimes we’re self-focused.
Sometimes we fill our minds and our schedules
And don’t make room to care for anyone beyond ourselves.
Would You increase our care for others?
Would You help us notice, see, and love?
A spouse. A friend.
A neighbor. A teenager.
A stranger.
Who could feel loved if we paused?
Who could feel served if we slowed down?
Who could feel seen if we mustered the bravery to say hello?
Who could feel noticed if we picked up the phone to call?
(Or we didn’t let that person’s call go to voicemail.)
Jesus, You are the greatest giver of care.
Guide us into more empathy and sincere acts of care.
Help us to notice who’s hurting, harried, and helpless.
Help us to care when we might not feel up to it.
Help us to know when to back off
In moments we might care a little too much.
May we do for others
As we’d have them do for us,
Strengthened and inspired by the care
You first showed us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Jess Anderson lives in Greenwood Village, CO with her husband Max, four kids, two dogs and cat. In this season, in addition to managing her work as a parent and puppy-trainer, she loves to work in the yard, arrange flowers, and is honored to be a member of the Board of Trustees of Sacred Place as well as Gibney Dance in NYC.
PRACTICE | UNEARTH®
By Jared Mackey
Practice
Listen. Learn more about the practice on the unearthed life® podcast.
Participate. Attend an unearth® class in Greenwood Village. For the class schedule, visit unearthedlife.com.
Invite. Share the practice with someone who could benefit from this practice of care.
“I don’t think anyone can grow unless they’re loved exactly as they are now; appreciated for what they are, rather than what they will be.”
K.C. Ledgerwood is a Licensed Professional Counselor and has worked in community mental health and trauma-informed work since 2011. Her background in mental health, alongside her history in teaching fitness, provided the foundations of a personal practice she developed. The somatic practice was first shared with friends, then formed into classes she began teaching in 2021.
“unearth® is an active, contemplative practice intended to help people return home to themselves. It rests in the belief that the One who made the body is available to be encountered from the inside out.” K.C. shares with joyous passion. She continues with a humble authority, “Utilizing gentle and active movement patterns, music, poetry, and scripture, the practice of unearth® is designed to excavate and give language for the body to speak what often does not have words. The result is a quarry of material that is then able to be felt, witnessed, and integrated.”
“The practice of unearth® was birthed out of a personal season of grief and curiosity. As a counselor and fitness instructor, I saw up close the longing within human hearts for transformational change. I also observed how difficult it was for transformation to become embodied.” At the core of the practice for K.C. is the central question, “How do people move from thinking and knowing to changing?” “The body needs to have a place at the table,” K.C. says with a deep conviction. “Our bodies have so much to say.”
She shares vulnerably, “In my own story, this was the case. I had journeyed through the discovery of new insights, processed emotions, and even changed core beliefs, but my practical life did not reflect these hard-fought revelations. My body needed a way to speak and come into alignment with these realizations. It required my body to be invited to the conversation for lasting transformation to occur.”
K.C. offers an integrated explanation of the science of the practice. “unearth® uses evidence-based methods that support the God-given systems in the body. The arc of the class begins with physical activation through neuro muscular patterning that awaken unexpressed feelings, thoughts, and sensations. It then offers intermittent contraction/release of muscles, enabling the body to speak and surrender unexpressed sentiments.” She continues with care, “after each activation, moments of pause are given, quieting the nervous system and allowing new stirrings to land. The peak of class draws on joint compression and bilateral stimulation opening neural pathways and supporting integration. The arc gently descends into core stability patterns designed to cultivate a sense of safety and calm, concluding with stillness and breath.” The outcomes of the practice K.C. has witnessed include: the unlocking of vital narratives held in the body, the experiential understanding of the goodness of our body, and the reconnection of the body with faith.
“Greater than the reliability of the science, however, is the reliability of the One who made and loves the body. The practice rests in the belief that the One who made the body is available to be encountered from the inside out.” K.C. expresses her embodied faith. “I’ve come to call it ‘Bodily Hospitality™,’ a coming home to ourselves, with secure identity and belonging.” She freely moves between sound theology and secure psychology. “This safeguarding reflects what clinical psychologists describe as a “secure base,” a place you can return to freely—where you are gathered in, reassured, and held. It is this home that ultimately cultivates long-term transformation.”
K.C. developed unearth® as an embodied practice to give and receive care. “At the heart of unearth® is a simple mission: to help people come home to themselves, so they can be fully present in their lives and love their people wholeheartedly.”
Thank you to K.C. Ledgerwood for her contribution to the article and the creation of an embodied practice of Bodily Hospitality™.
PLACE | INSPIRE RANCH
By Jared Mackey
“Sit and be still until in the time of no rain you hear beneath the dry wind’s commotion in the trees the sound of flowing water among the rocks, a stream unheard before, and you are where breathing is prayer.”
Inspire Ranch is a sacred place. Located near Mount Blue Sky, Inspire Ranch is the vision of Millie Cline, a woman who courageously re-risked in her second half of life to create a place for others to be inspired. The word “Inspire,” Millie shares with her effervescent passion, is the story of both the tattoo on her wrist and the story of creating a retreat center. “In-spire is to breathe in,” it is the origin story of God breathing life into humanity. “Inspire Ranch is a place to breathe—to really breathe deeply.” Millie shares her hopes for this place as a place where people come to breathe deeply, as we walk through the dense forest of towering pine and aspen trees.
Inspire Ranch is located on 16 acres outside Idaho Springs, and less than an hour from Denver. “I wanted it to feel like you were 3 hours away,” Millie says wishfully. She purchased the property in December 2023. She wanted property to create a place for people to get away. The first spring and summer, she described as “going on daily walks in a candy store.” The waterfalls and wildflowers were on full display. Chicago Creek gently winds through the property, with its water coming from the top of Mount Blue Sky and connecting to Clear Creek near Idaho Springs. There is a holy wildness to the property. In the summer of 2024, Millie began welcoming day guests. It was a place to be still and to in-spire.
Inspire Ranch has become a reality through Millie’s network of friends and supporters. “I’ve visited retreat centers for 20 years. I spent a year writing and putting the plans together.” A beautiful entry sign, a mile-long meditative trail, and an art shed were all constructed in the first summer. “Inspire Trail” is thoughtfully marked with reminders to be present. It has sitting areas tucked into the rocks and trees to slow down and be still. In 2025, two compact cabins and a yurt were constructed to allow guests overnight stays. The cabins are solar powered and designed for slowing and simplicity. The kitchen includes a mini fridge, a hot plate, and a kettle for coffee and tea. Anything needed has been carefully provided. Nothing unneeded is included. The intention is for every aspect to cultivate presence.
Millie shares why it was important to her how she structured the fees to visit and stay at Inspire Ranch. “I wanted a place people could afford. As a single mother, I understood both the need to get away and how the cost could prohibit it.” Booking a visit, either for a day or overnight, is done relationally. A welcome center in her home’s basement and outdoor gazebo provide a place for groups to gather, while the cabins and trails provide solitude and silence for individual guests. The plans to continue creating a place to be inspired include an outdoor labyrinth to be laid this summer. Millie’s mission for Inspire Ranch is firmly rooted in the Biblical narratives: “We were made for the garden. We were meant to walk with God.”
Inspire Ranch is a unique property that is quintessentially Colorado. It is a place to be present, to slow down, and to breathe deeply. “When we breathe in deeply, we can move into a life-giving rhythm where we can experience ourselves, others, and the beauty of the world around us.”Millie shares her heart beneath the work of Inspire Ranch. “I’ve been blessed with this place, and I want to share it with others.” Inspire Ranch is a sacred place.
Thank you to Millie Cline for her contribution to this article and her creativity and courage in creating Inspire Ranch.
More rhythms to root your faith in place.
Sacred Place provides a beautiful bi-weekly publication to share the rhythms of a Prayer, Practice, and Place as simple ways to help cultivate love for our neighbors and neighborhoods.
