Vaulted ceiling, warm light, forty chairs at most. Some nights it's a songwriter and a room that actually listens. Some nights it's just good conversation among friends, over coffee or tea. Come join us.
What this is
Journey Center is a gathering hall in Ranchlands, on the northwest edge of Calgary. There's no retreat package and no program to enroll in. Most of what happens here is a single evening: a concert, a gathering, a circle, sometimes just good conversation over tea. We like it that way.
What we host
This is where our people meet. Most evenings are ours. Some belong to someone in this community who had something to offer and said so. Forty at the most, usually fewer, and that's on purpose… the room works better small.
Songwriters and instrumentalists, up close. The vaulted ceiling does something lovely with a voice and a guitar, and people actually listen. Floor seating, BYOC (bring your own cushion). Stay after.
Once or twice a month we eat together, then we sit down together. Dinner at 6, circle around 7. Bring a dish, bring yourself, bring whatever the month has been stirring in you. Some nights it is just friends, coffee, and a jam that goes late.
Facilitators in this community hold circles here. Breathwork, integration, sound, sitting with medicine. They bring the practice and their people. We make sure the room is warm and ready when they walk in. Come ready to share honestly, or simply to witness. Both are welcome. Both are needed.
Movement, voice, somatic and creative work. Someone in this room usually knows the thing you want to learn… most of the best days here started with somebody saying they had something to teach.
On the calendar
Doors open half an hour before we start. Say you're coming and the address comes to you.
Same as always. Bring a dish, bring yourself, bring whatever the last month has been stirring in you. We eat first, then we sit down together.
With David Harder and Leanne Jessica
Approach
Mostly we learned these by getting them wrong first.
If you'd rather sit at the back with your tea and not say a word all evening, that's fine. Nobody will call on you.
Breath, a walk, something warm to drink before the work starts. We're not here to lecture anyone.
Good light, a warm floor, and room to breathe. We try not to add much on top of that.
Tea, a few quiet minutes, nobody rushing for the door. It makes a difference, so we protect it.
The place
We sit in Ranchlands on the northwest edge of the city, close to the Rocky Mountains. The room is vaulted, the light is good, and the kettle's usually on.
Who's behind this
We host most evenings ourselves, so ours are usually the first faces you'll see at the door.
David co-founded ATMA Journey Centers, one of the first companies in Canada to offer legal psychedelic-assisted therapy and to train therapists in it. He's spent most of his working life building things, and these days a lot of that energy goes into this room. He opens the doors, sets out the chairs, and makes the tea.
Leanne is a registered social worker and trauma therapist with more than fifteen years in practice. She's EMDRIA-certified, one of the first in Alberta and Saskatchewan trained in EMDR 2.0, and her work runs deep alongside First Nations and Indigenous communities. At the Center she co-hosts circles and intimacy evenings, and keeps the deeper work safe.
Leanne's practiceBring something
Half of what happens in this room came from someone in it saying they had something to offer. A circle, a practice, a set of songs, a thing they know how to teach.
We're not a venue and there's no rate card. We usually want a coffee first, because the room works when the people holding it know each other. Tell us what you're thinking and we'll go from there.
