Sacred Space is an Open and Affirming Community

Miriam Palacios,

Hospitality Director

communications manager​

The Tree in the Sacred Space logo is inspired by the Tree of Life symbol in all the world’s mythic traditions and in many cultures. The common theme in Tree of Life imagery is the connection and vitality of all creation. Sacred Space is based on the idea that all of life can realize our connected nature and by extension, care for ourselves, each other and the planet as a sacred whole. 

Sacred Space appreciates how our tree logo can also evoke the image of the Tree of Contemplative Practices, which was designed by Maia Duerr and visually formed by Carrie Bergman. The two roots at the base represent what all of the diverse contemplative practices have in common: connection and awareness. Each branch represents a grouping of contemplative practices, the primary means by which Sacred Space cultivates compassion.

Sacred Space recognizes that personal growth leads to societal growth. We invite you to find your roots in a spiritual path so that we can collectively nurture consciousness that will serve our local community, just as trees are deeply rooted,  nurture the surrounding environment, and are beautiful to behold.​

Keith Gorley,

small group facilitator

Michael Pellegrino, 

small group facilitator

Spirituality in Tucson

Andrew Stocker,

PCIC liaison

Peter Woods,

​small group facilitator

​Jack McDaniel, 

deckhand, bouncer, engineer

​Diane Call,

​associate director

​Maria Parham, chair

Objectives: To be a place where the relationship to the Divine, Self, Others and the natural world...   ...Read More

Mission: To cultivate love that leads to social justice so that all beings can thrive.    ...Read More

Danielle Isabelle-Berrien, co-director of music

Teresa Cowan Jones is an executive and personal coach, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, an instructor at the Center for Integrative Medicine, faculty and associate director of the Charter for Hesychia School for Spiritual Direction, and founder of The Compassion Coalition and the Breakthrough Leadership Institute, a transformational leadership and community development initiative. As such, she directs its premier program, Sacred Space, a secular and interfaith community that builds skills of compassion through contemplative practices to fuel social justice.  A fellow in the Public Voices Fellowship and Harvard University's Spiritual Innovator Cohort, she is also author of over one hundred tools for effectiveness, Teresa holds a B.S. in Psychology and a Master of Divinity with highest honors from Vanderbilt University (1996). A professionally trained coach, Teresa has served as coach and faculty of the Center for Progressive Leadership, a national nonpartisan leadership organization developing high-potential political leaders who can affect policy-making. Teresa also developed and taught university courses in sociology and has twenty years of professional experience in leadership development in both the public and private sectors.

Meet the Sacred Space Team

​The core team that implements the Sacred Space gatherings reflect a variety of world views, spiritual traditions, ethnicities, genders, and ways of life. It includes masters-level teachers and small group facilitators from various wisdom traditions including Buddhism, Sufism, Native American tradition, Kundalini Yoga, non-dual Hinduism, Shamanism, Judaism, and progressive Christianity.