kids from the Center
Rev. Karyn Allen

Staff Minister; Creative Arts; Bookkeeper; Board of Trustees - Trustee

Rev. Karyn has been in the Science of Mind teachings and at the Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley since 1998, and has served in just about every volunteer position available over the years.  Currently she facilitates the events and/or services that include the arts (music, movement, visual arts, etc…).  She became a licensed minister of the Centers for Spiritual Living in 2011, ordained 2014, and oversees the Creative Arts Ministry of the center.  In addition to her ministry, she is also the center’s bookkeeper.Rev. Karyn has been a dancer since 1974, has been a performing musician since 2003, and her instructing background includes three years as a Teacher’s Assistant in the Saddleback Valley School District and two years as a Creative Dance Instructor for toddlers, and she has been teaching the Science of Mind since 2011.  Her ministry incorporates her knowledge and embodiment of the Science of Mind philosophy with her performing arts and teaching background to create an inspiring method of learning about one’s self through creativity. She believes that everyone has a unique gift to share with the world and it can be revealed through the Science of Mind teachings and the arts.Rev. Karyn was born and raised in Dana Point, CA and currently resides in Mission Viejo, CA.  She has three children and one grandchild, all of whom are the lights of her life.  She is a sports fan, enjoys yummy food, and loves to laugh out loud to her favorite television show, “The Big Bang Theory”.  A favorite quote of hers by Martha Graham reads, “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.”

Claudia Nelson
Claudia Nelson

Executive Suites at Talega Business Manager

Claudia has been coming to our Center since 2010. She started volunteering at the Suites in September 2012. We hired her in December 2013. She views her job to keep everyone happy and make things work properly. She does this with grace. She is extremely well organized, happy, conscientious employee. The personal information she shared is she has two daughters, thirteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She has a wonderful man in her life!

Rev. Alice Reid

Spiritual Director, Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley; Spiritual Director to the Board of Trustees

My purpose in life is to reveal love in everything we do. I’m not talking
about unicorns and rainbows love, but the power of Love to always lead us to
the highest and the best expression of God that we can be.

Maybe you can relate to my experience; the moment I walked into a Center for
Spiritual Living I knew I was home. That first day back in September of
2001 when the world wasn’t making sense, in a Center like this one, I found
not only comfort and solace but a resonance to a way of life that felt both
mystical and practical.

Life can be a mixed bag with all the demands on our time and attention,
sometimes it can be challenging to remember who we truly are and why we’re
here. In spiritual community we support each other as we find our way and
reflect back to each other the things that are real and important that help
us stay in balance with our true nature. That, in my opinion, is what being
in community is all about.

Mary Brogdon
Mary Brogdon

Mary has been a student of Science of Mind for 40 years, beginning with listening to taped recordings of Terry Cole Whitaker in the early 1980s, and then finding our center in San Juan Capistrano after moving to SJC in December of 1984.

Over the years Mary served as a volunteer in our center in many capacities, including Volunteer Coordinator and eight years on the Board of Trustees. She now heads the audio-visual team in the sound booth.

Mary had a 42-year career as an RN. After her retirement from Hospice case management in 2008, she became certified as a Life Mastery Consultant. She is passionate about lifelong learning, end-of-life issues, and the continuation of life after this one.

She loves leading the book study group, and the discussion at Conscious Connection following the Sunday service. During the pandemic, in August of 2020, the longtime office administrator left, rather abruptly, and Mary was hired to fill that position.