SDI Encounters

EP075 - Poetry as Spiritual Companionship - Pastor Dave Brown

This week, I and Pastor Dave Brown explore poetry as spiritual companionship. Dave shares a bit about how he began using poetry in his services as a pastor, to the ways he incorporates poems as one of the Pacific NW Interfaith Amigos, and through his Blues Vespers concerts, where he intersperses poetry reading with performances by musicians. In our conversation, the poem serves as the sacred text through which our companionship finds common ground, and shared presence.
Pastor Dave Brown retired from Immanuel Presbyterian Church, a growing progressive community where he had served since 2005, in 2018. He is the innovator of award-winning Blues Vespers, a Blues concert with poetry and reflection. While at Immanuel, he led four spiritual pilgrimages to the Island of Iona, Scotland, as well as organizing four Habitat builds in Guatemala. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Pastor Dave has served congregations in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Federal Way, Washington. He also worked as staff for the National Council of Churches Committee on Public Education and Literacy, and the Comprehensive Health Education Foundations‘ Partnership Project.
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Support for this podcast comes from SDI Press – announcing its newly published book, Spiritual Direction Supervision: Principles, Practices, & Storytelling by Lucy Abbott Tucker. An innovative, full-color workbook designed to support the care and growth of your spiritual companionship practice, representing the best thinking of master teacher Lucy Abbott Tucker. We invite you to explore her principles, practices, and stories as you deepen your own approach to spiritual direction, companionship, and the supervision process. Learn more at sdicompanions.org

EP074 - Companionship in the Outdoors - Heather Makowicz

I (Matt Whitney) had a really fun conversation with one of our SDI members, Heather Makowicz, who is the founder of an organization called Peak Encounter Ministries.
As founder and president of Peak Encounter Ministries, Heather Makowicz organizes and leads hiking excursions and other outdoor experiences that integrate prayer, contemplation, and reflection with her enthusiasm while encouraging people to encounter God in his creation.
She is a certified Spiritual Director, retreat director, speaker, and outdoor adventure leader.
Heather has found a calling in speaking with young adults and women, particularly on prayer, healing, discernment, and spiritual accompaniment.
 
Heather holds a Masters Certificate in Spiritual Direction from Neumann University in Aston, PA, and a Masters in Clinical Social Work from Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Peak Encounter Website: https://peakencounter.org/
Video for Peak Encounter: https://youtu.be/lbWT2QnQzeU

EP073 - The Long-Term Benefits of Meditation - Sean Murphy (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of my deep dive conversation on meditation practice with Sean Murphy, Zen Master, Author, and SDI Coordinating Council Member. Here we learn something of the long-term benefits of mindfulness, as it plays out in our work, our creativity, and our relationships. What does it look like to stick with a meditation practice for the long haul, especially when it seems like nothing is happening or nothing is changing? The fact is we are changing, and we are growing. How often have you noticed that, in the early springtime, there are buds on a tree, and then later suddenly the whole of nature is awash in color, and then just as suddenly, the trees are bare again? I think its like meditation - the process seems slow, but the results can be dramatic.
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Sean Murphy teaches meditation, creative writing and literature for UNM-Taos and has taught and presented on Zen practice and meditation for over 20 years.  Sean is the recipient of a 2018 National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Creative Writing, and is a fully sanctioned Zen teacher in the American White Plum lineage. He is the founder of the Sage Institute for Creativity, Consciousness & Environment, and also serves on SDI’s Coordinating Council. You can learn more about Sean’s work at his personal website, murphyzen.com, and at sagetaos.com.

EP072 - Mindfulness as the First Fruits of Meditation - Sean Murphy

I (Matt Whitney) had a wonderful deep dive conversation with Sean Murphy, Zen Master, Author, and SDI Coordinating Council Member. His story is fascinating, and there’s a lot of wisdom gleaned from his 30+ years of meditation practice. My biggest question to him is, what are the results of that practice? We have this understanding that meditation is about mindfulness – being aware of ourselves, our thoughts, our emotions, and the present moment. But listening to Sean, it’s clear that there is so much more than that. Mindfulness, as I learned from Sean, is just the first fruits of meditation.
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Sean Murphy teaches meditation, creative writing and literature for UNM-Taos and has taught and presented on Zen practice and meditation for over 20 years.  Sean is the recipient of a 2018 National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Creative Writing, and is a fully sanctioned Zen teacher in the American White Plum lineage. He is the founder of the Sage Institute for Creativity, Consciousness & Environment, and also serves on SDI’s Coordinating Council. You can learn more about Sean’s work at his personal website, murphyzen.com, and at sagetaos.com.
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Support for this podcast comes from SDI Press – announcing its newly published book, Spiritual Direction Supervision: Principles, Practices, & Storytelling by Lucy Abbott Tucker. An innovative, full-color workbook designed to support the care and growth of your spiritual companionship practice, representing the best thinking of master teacher Lucy Abbott Tucker. We invite you to explore her principles, practices, and stories as you deepen your own approach to spiritual direction, companionship, and the supervision process. Learn more at sdistore.org.
 

EP071 - Talking with Lucy Abbott Tucker about Spiritual Direction Supervision

In this episode, we share a conversation between Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares, and Lucy Abbott Tucker. This conversation was a livestreamed event from SDI, which we are calling Digital Tonw Halls, and you can find the recordings of these videos by visiting the website – sdicompanions.online, or by searching for sdiworld on Youtube. In thier conversation over Zoom, Lucy shares some stories from her life that led her into her calling as a spiritual director and supervisor to spiritual directors, beginning with a mystical experience growing up in New York, and how that experience has motivated Lucy’s lifelong work.
Lucy Abbott Tucker is one of the founders of Spiritual Directors International and she led the task force to write and establish SDI’s official Guidelines for Ethical Conduct for all spiritual directors, regardless of culture or tradition. She has worked in adult formation and the preparation of people for the ministry of spiritual direction for 35 years. Lucy has led in retreats and workshops throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and Canada. 
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Support for this podcast comes from SDI Press – announcing its newly published book, Spiritual Direction Supervision: Principles, Practices, & Storytelling by Lucy Abbott Tucker. An innovative, full-color workbook designed to support the care and growth of your spiritual companionship practice, representing the best thinking of master teacher Lucy Abbott Tucker. We invite you to explore her principles, practices, and stories as you deepen your own approach to spiritual direction, companionship, and the supervision process. Learn more at sdistore.org.
 
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As part of our release for Lucy’s workbook, SDI is offering an online supervision workshop with Lucy Abbott Tucker this June. This 4-part introduction to spiritual direction supervision will touch on all the key themes that make supervision an essential part of the training and on-going professional development of any spiritual companion. And at $79 for SDI members, it’s a remarkable bargain that will introduce participants to key concepts and then give them the chance to put these principles and practices into action in small groups. We call it “A Taste of Spiritual Direction Supervision” and we hope you will consider joining us.
 

EP070 - A Dreamwork Session with Amy Curran - Fishbowl Spiritual Companionship

In last week’s episode of SDI Encounters, we talked with Amy Curran, a Dreamworker, about our dreams and the work of dreamwork and spiritual companionship. As part of my (Matt Whitney) exploration into dreamwork, I went through the typical dreamwork process with Amy, using one of my own dreams for this process. In this case, my dream was about working in a grocery store. So here’s how it went – I had the dream, and Amy invited me to write it out, in the present tense. I sent that to Amy, who then responded a couple of days later with some clarifying questions, such as “you mention so-and-so in your dream, or such-and-such place – describe this person, or this place, in three words.” I responded with my answers and descriptions, and Amy then creates her dream interpretation.
What follows here is our conversation about Amy’s interpretation of my dream. For someone who was admittedly ignorant about dreamwork before these conversations, I found the exercise fascinating, and really revealing. It’s a bit long for our podcasts, and it certainly feels vulnerable to put my own dream out there – especially since it includes a LOT about my work with SDI, but I hope my doing so invites you to more freely explore your own dreams, and get a sense of how dreamwork functions as a form of spiritual companionship.
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Amy Curran is a certified dreamwork facilitator, who received her two-year certification from the Haden Institute in 2019. She also has a BA in Marketing from Western Washington University. A lifelong resident of Bainbridge Island, WA. Amy’s interest in the inner realm of the dream has lead her to seek out groups to help process her own dreams. She has also worked with psychotherapists in the Jungian tradition, both of which have provided her with rich insights. Amy’s desire as a dream worker is to guide those with curiosity and interest in their dreams, through explorations of what the unconscious brings forth. She offers a safe container for deepening relationships to dreams, in her home studio on Bainbridge Island. Learn more about Amy and her work at www.innerdreamwork.com
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Support for this podcast comes from SDI Press – announcing its newly published book, Spiritual Direction Supervision: Principles, Practices, & Storytelling by Lucy Abbott Tucker. An innovative, full-color workbook designed to support the care and growth of your spiritual companionship practice, representing the best thinking of master teacher Lucy Abbott Tucker. We invite you to explore her principles, practices, and stories as you deepen your own approach to spiritual direction, companionship, and the supervision process. Learn more at sdistore.org.
 

EP069 - An Introduction to Dreamwork - Amy Curran

Maybe it goes without saying, but all of us dream, multiple times a night. Some of us are more attuned to our dreams than others, with myself being one who historically has not been attuned to my dreams.
Anecdotally I (Matt Whitney) have heard about people having more recollection of their dreams, and much more vivid dreams, during this time of pandemic. And my anecdotal recalling is backed up by recent news articles on the increased reporting of vivid dreams and their unusual content from people during this time of CoronaVirus. I have included links to a few of these articles below.
So it’s with a good deal of relevance and personal curiosity that I spoke with Amy Curran, a certified dreamwork facilitator. You can learn about her work at her website www.innerdreamwork.com
Have you been dreaming more vividly and extensively during this time, and would like to explore a deeper, more purposeful meaning to your dreams? Or are you a spiritual companion looking for some ways to explore dreams with the people you work with or meet with?  This episode has a lot of practical advice and tools for you to begin to work with.
And in the next episode, I go through the dreamwork process with Amy, so stay tuned for a session of "Fishbowl Spiritual Companionship" - looking into the real-life process of spiritual companionship!
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Amy Curran is a certified dreamwork facilitator, who received her two-year certification from the Haden Institute in 2019. She also has a BA in Marketing from Western Washington University. A lifelong resident of Bainbridge Island, WA. Amy’s interest in the inner realm of the dream has lead her to seek out groups to help process her own dreams. She has also worked with psychotherapists in the Jungian tradition, both of which have provided her with rich insights. Amy’s desire as a dream worker is to guide those with curiosity and interest in their dreams, through explorations of what the unconscious brings forth. She offers a safe container for deepening relationships to dreams, in her home studio on Bainbridge Island. Learn more about Amy and her work at www.innerdreamwork.com
 
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From the Los Angeles Times: You’re not imagining it: We’re all having intense coronavirus dreams https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2020-04-07/coronavirus-quarantine-dreams
From the New York Times: Why Am I Having Weird Dreams Lately? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/style/why-weird-dreams-coronavirus.html
From National Geographic: The Pandemic is Giving People Weird, Unusual Dreams. Here's Why: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/coronavirus-pandemic-is-giving-people-vivid-unusual-dreams-here-is-why/
 

EP068 - Meet Ann Lancaster - SDI Production Assistant

We’re using the podcast here to occasionally introduce you to new faces and voices in the SDI Family – we heard from Desiree Casil a couple of weeks ago who is taking over for Membership Services. This week, we get to meet Ann Lancaster, who has come on as SDI’s Production Assistant, helping us with graphic and layout design, helping me in the SDI Laboratories where we are cooking up many new and exciting offerings for spiritual companions.
Ann tells us about her previous work at Microsoft, her experience so far working with SDI, her own spiritual awakening, being a Reiki practitioner, being a mega-fan of a Danish band called Mew, and how she unwinds by playing odd video games.
Learn more about the amazing Ann Lancaster through her various projects:
http://www.annlancaster.com/
https://www.whitelodgeawakening.com/
http://www.mewx.info/

EP067 - Group Spiritual Direction with Diane Millis (and new offering from SDI!)

SDI is announcing a new series of group spiritual direction sessions, facilitated by Diane Millis and Matt Whitney, beginning May 12th 2020. Learn more and register on our store site, sdistore.org. In this Encounters episode, Diane and I (Matt Whitney) talk about how she developed her methods for group spiritual direction, and what you can expect in the group zoom sessions we have upcoming for May 2020.
SDI's Group Spiritual Direction package will include 4 90-minute sessions over zoom, Tuesdays at 9am Pacific. Our time together will include Centering in shared silence, group spiritual companioning in groups of 4, and Collective Reflection and Meditation.
You can expect to gain familiarity and experience practicing a specific approach to Group Spiritual Companioning;
Co-create an occasion for community building in this period of social distancing;
Increase our sense of solidarity and service as spiritual caregivers in these uncertain times.
Diane M. Millis, PhD, is an inspirational speaker, spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and consultant. She is the author of Conversation—The Sacred Art, and Re-Creating A Life: Learning How to Tell Our Most Life-Giving Story, which was named one of the "Best Spiritual Books of 2019" by Spirituality and Practice. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 
 

EP066 - Meet Desiree Casil - SDI Membership Services

SDI is a member based organization, with over 6000 members worldwide. We have a Membership Services Team that is there to assist our members with anything from renewing a membership to taking a payment to registering for a conference or workshop, or anything else related to your SDI Membership. Desiree Casil is taking over as our new Membership Services Coordinator, and so in this episode of Encounters I had a chat with her about how her training over zoom is going, we do a riveting roleplay in which I pretend to call in as a member with some seriously hardball questions to see how Desiree handles them. In Part 2 we chat about her weekend, some big spiritual questions Desiree is chewing on, and learn a bit about her dog Ava, whose picture is posted in these notes.
You can become a member too, by calling our Office, at 1-425-455-1565, or by going to our online store, sdistore.org.
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I just want to update you on a couple of webinar offerings we have in the next month. First of all, the Remote Spiritual Comapnionship webinar I mentioned in the roleplay is really happening. In fact it is Thursday April 22nd, with Kristen Hobby and Ravi Verma and will offer practical advice and wisdom on how to do spiritual companionship over web conference, phone, email, how to handle scheduling and payment, and some approaches to the kinds of things people are wrestling with during the global pandemic.
The 2nd Webinar I want to mention, this is really exciting, is a four part series with Mirabai Starr, titled Mystic Wisdom in an Uncertain Time, which begins May 8th. Mirabai will be sharing on insights on spiritual companionship through the contexts of St. Teresa of Avila, Ram Dass, Grief and Loss, and The Divine Feminine.
All our webinar offerings can be watched live, and are also recorded so you can watch them at your convenience. You can register for either or both of these webinars by calling our Office at 1-425-455-1565, or by going to our online store, sdistore.org.