Seattle, Wa
Twelve Paths
Cultivate a More Centered Life:
Give your life path meaning & purpose
Build a life that can hold you!
A centered life is a joyful life
Are you currently on a life path that isn’t working for you and want some help awakening to a more joyful, spiritually grounded you? Or are you on a spiritual path you like, but are looking for some inspiration to enhance your journey? If so, we’re here for you.
We provide spiritual counseling, group retreats, wholeness events, enlightened travel adventures to help you energize and nurture your life path as you seek deeper meaning, purpose, and peace. For more details, please reach out and contact us anytime.
All are welcome!
Spiritual Support
Spiritual support provided for Individuals & couples in a confidential, trusting environment, in-person or on-line.
Custom Programs
Custom programs designed for families, private groups, non-profit organizations, and corporations. Our Urban Retreat is designed for an intimate cohort of 6-12 participants.
Spiritual Awakening Travel
Travel adventures designed with the spiritual aspirant in mind, in partnership with ExplorerX
Twelve Paths Programs
The Urban Retreat
The Urban Retreat is a year-long spiritual journey hosted for an intimate cohort of individuals seeking spiritual renewal in bite-sized sessions. We meet just one evening each month for 2.5 hours, from 6:45pm to 9:15pm. Twelve total sessions, grounded in the world's ancient and modern spiritual wisdom. Includes: guided meditations; spiritual teachings; nature-based outings; creative journaling; centering artistic expression; within a loving, communal space. Located in Seattle. (size: 6-12)
Spiritual Support
Spiritual Support is in-person counseling for you to nurture your own growth in a confidential environment. Confront your life challenges & seize life’s unfolding opportunities; improve & sustain loving, wholesome relationships; cultivate your own spiritual path through meaningful & effective spiritual practices. Located in Seattle. (On-line sessions available upon request)
Custom Programs
Custom programs designed expressly for non-profit organizations, companies, and private groups. Whether looking for a single session, a daylong workshop, an ongoing small group program, a speaker or celebrant for a special event, or a spiritually awakening travel adventure, Twelve Paths tailors each engagement to your specific context and goals, drawing on the same wisdom teachings and contemplative practices at the heart of Twelve Paths.
Community Building
Twelve Paths Sangha
Our quarterly sangha is disigned for members to devle more deeply into their own spiritual practice in a loving and supportive space. Through guided, in-depth teachings and shared wisdom, members continue their Twelve Paths journey alongside supportive fellow seekers working for spiritual growth together.
Our Twelve Paths Story
In 2025, we launched our first program, titled "The Urban Retreat," designed for individuals seeking spiritual enlightenment, rejuvenation, and community amidst the demands of contemporary life. Our approach at Twelve Paths draws upon both ancient and modern spiritual wisdom to inspire individuals toward wholeness and to live a more centered life. As we say at Twelve Paths, "Build a life that can hold you!"
Twelve Paths now offers several new programs, grounded in our four foundational principles of love, inclusivity, community, and spirituality. Offerings now include: The Urban Retreat; One-on-one Spiritual Guidance; customized options for you to Bring Twelve Paths to You; and our Twelve Paths Sangha.
For over four decades, Rick Eberhardt, Jr., MA Ed, the founder of Twelve Paths, has dedicated his professional and personal life to serving as a spiritual guide, retreat leader, minister, social worker, and stay-at-home dad. He created Twelve Paths, inspired by the universal wisdom teachings that informed his own spiritual growth and understanding.
Twelve Paths teaches that the essence of Being is at the heart of our deepest inner longing. We discover this truth not in words and thoughts, but in stillness. If this is true and real—which is for each of us to discover—then our longing for meaning and wholeness must draw inspiration from that deep, personal, and yet infinite stillness. We live inside paradox. Only from the depths of sacred emptiness do we discover our soul, deeply nurtured and already firmly planted in the ground of Being.
Seek meaning in your life?
"Calling is that quiet, subtle intuition inside us that seeks to draw out our innermost Being. Our heart‘s inner longing can pull us into a deeper, more meaningful way of life, if we are open to it. But we can’t really tune in and hear what’s calling us if we don’t first seek a deeper understanding of what’s at the center of who we are."
Rick Eberhardt, Jr., MA Ed
Founder of Twelve Paths
Twelve Paths: teacher/guide/Founder
Rick Eberhardt, Jr., MA Ed
My own spiritual journey started in my early 20’s as a seminarian with The Paulist Fathers. The Paulist’s instilled in me the value of maintaining life-long practices of daily meditation, journaling, and an open-hearted pursuit of deeper understanding. I received a Masters in Education at Antioch University, which opened my heart to other ways of knowing and learning, including a deeper appreciation for social justice & equity. My life experiences, professional work, and study enlightened me to the wisdom found across diverse spiritual traditions. I came to recognize the sacred common ground underlying humanity's great wisdom teachings, and I dreamed of creating a program that would draw inspiration from these wellsprings for modern seekers. Our full compliment of spiritual programs now support seekers as they cultivate greater self-awareness, inner-peace, and authentic connection.
I‘ve worked with inner-city youth in LA and homeless families & street youth in Seattle. I designed and led retreats for adults and youth and taught at four different high schools in LA & Seattle. In my role as director of ministry at two high schools in Seattle, I led all spiritual activities including providing one-on-one spiritual guidance.
After 25 years as a teacher, minister, retreat leader, social worker, and spiritual guide, I created The Urban Retreat to offer busy individuals a nourishing, year-long container for deep spiritual growth. Typical retreat experiences require seekers to set aside a weekend or perhaps an entire week to travel somewhere far away from the noise and hustle of city life. Not everyone has the time or inclination for such a commitment. The Urban Retreat became my vision for offering something more accessible.
As a result of the success of our first program offering, The Urban Retreat, I was led to expand my work to include a communal sangha space for those who complete the retreat and were looking for more in-depth and on-going practice with like-minded people. One of our foundational principles is that spiritual growth is both individual and communal, which made creating a space for spiritual community, or what Buddhists call "sangha," a natural off-shoot of the retreat.
Our Bring Twelve Paths to You program grew organically from my first Urban Retreat. Turns out, one of our first participants is the founder of a travel business, called ExplorerX, which crafts meaningful travel experiences that are designed to "change the way we see the world...and how we move through life." In a moment of what I call mindful synchronicity, he and his business partner and I were talking at a "save the cheetah" fundraiser and the idea of creating something that combined my Twelve Paths curriculum with a spiritual travel journey emerged. Another first participant encouraged me in our post-retreat debrief to expand my work to include custom programs for organizations, companies, and groups. I listened. I opened my heart. I trusted my own inner-teacher. And now these ideas have become new progarm offerings.
In developing Twelve Paths I realize even more now that true spiritual transformation is not an exclusive experience only for seekers steeped in a particular tradition. It is something that happens naturally through a combination of intentional, on-going spiritual practice; tapping into our innate creative expression; and sharing our own unique pieces of life-wisdom with others in communal relationship. My approach blends ancient wisdom with modern spiritual insight to help participants access their inner light and become awakened to the original goodness at the core of each of us.
I grew up in Seattle, where I live now—which is why my work is situated in the Northwest. But I hope, if we continue to grow and there's interest, one day we'll offer access to more programs beyond Seattle.
Our Four Foundational Principles
Love is Our Cornerstone
Love is Our Cornerstone
Love is Our Cornerstone
Love is the central hub connecting all other spiritual realities. If spiritual pathways are like the roots of a tree, love itself is like the ecosystem in which those roots are nourished, enabling the tree to be born, to grow, and to flourish.
Spirituality is Natural
Love is Our Cornerstone
Love is Our Cornerstone
All humans are by nature spiritual beings. That is to say humans are all born with innate spiritual potential. All that we need, spritually speaking, is already within us. The process of connecting to that deeper essence is what spiritual practice is for.
Spirituality is Communal
Spirituality is Communal
Spirituality is Communal
Spiritual growth comes out of our heart’s deepest longing. How we grow is our path. Our path is not meant, however, to be a lonely trek. It is meant to intersect with others on their paths, ultimately converging together.
All are Welcome
Spirituality is Communal
Spirituality is Communal
Everyone is welcome to participate in our Twelve Paths programs. All spiritual perspectives, beliefs, philosophies, and ways of knowing are valued and encouraged. When love is the cornerstone, inclusivity is essential. And since spirituality is communal, everyone must belong.
Connect with Rick! Teacher/Guide/Founder
I’d love to connect with you!
If you want to meet in person or connect via email to get any questions answered, or if you want to register for one of our programs, please reach out anytime.
Rick Eberhardt, Jr., MA Ed, Director
