SDI Encounters

EP032 - Wild Mercy - Mirabai Starr on Feminine Wisdom

Mirabai Starr writes creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog. She has received critical acclaim for her translations of the mystics, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila and Julian of Norwich. Her latest book is called Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce & Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics. I’ve read it myself, and it is a rich tapestry of Mirabai’s personal spiritual journey, woven with perennial wisdom from across spiritual traditions, and practical methods for invoking the sacred feminine into our lives – and this is wisdom for all of us to practice and to share, whether you identify as male, female, non-gendered or fluid.
We are having an event on November 12th 2019 in Bellevue Washington with Mirabai Starr and Reverend Ann Holmes Redding, celebrating feminine wisdom in community practice, at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellvue, Washington. You can register for it now on our website, sdiworld.org under Events.
SDI also hosted Mirabai at our Bellevue offices for a one-day workshop in March, and she sat down with Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares for this podcast discussion.
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Support for this podcast comes from Spiritual Companionship For Our Times, SDI’s annual gathering of spiritual companions happening in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 23 – 26 2020. Registrations are now open, with Super Early Bird pricing through September 15th. We’ll be celebrating SDI’s 30th Anniversary, and charting the road ahead as we seek to welcome more and more people to the transformational gifts of spiritual companionship, and to make this healing modality available to every person on the planet. 
Learn more now about our annual conference at www.sdievents.org.
 

EP031 - My Boss is a Zen Priest

With this episode we’re starting a new running series called “My Boss is a Zen Priest” – my boss is SDI’s Executive Director, Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares. He’s my manager and he provides oversight on the things I’m working on, and he’s an ordained priest in the Zen Buddhist tradition. We have weekly one-on-one check in meetings, where I tell him about the things I’m working on, and he provides feedback and insight. And because we work at SDI and my boss is a zen priest, that feedback and insight often delves into deep dives around spirituality. I take my notes into his office, he’s often wearing his robes, and our discussion can go from a P&L spreadsheet to being given a koan to meditate on for awhile. Oftentimes I come out of these one-on-one meetings wishing I’d had a recorder because we often have really profound discussions, so I’m going to start doing that, and we’ll see where the conversation goes.
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Support for this podcast comes from Spiritual Companionship For Our Times, SDI’s annual gathering of spiritual companions happening in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 23 – 26 2020. Registrations are now open, with Super Early Bird pricing through September 15th. We’ll be celebrating SDI’s 30th Anniversary, and charting the road ahead as we seek to welcome more and more people to the transformational gifts of spiritual companionship, and to make this healing modality available to every person on the planet. 
Learn more now about our annual conference at www.sdievents.org.

EP030 - The Vitality of Spiritual Companionship - Ravi Verma

We really do believe that spiritual companionship is world-changing. We listen into being the stories of one another, discerning together the ways that Spirit manifests in each of our lives, and cultivating a sense that we all belong, we are all participating in the deep mystery of Divine Life. One of the clearest voices within SDI, speaking of the transformational nature of this work, is Ravi Verma.
In this episode I talk with Ravi, who is a spiritual director based in Los Angeles, and served on SDI’s Coordinating Council for six years, with the past two years serving as the Chair. He’s been a leader and steady presence at SDI for a long time. Ravi has dedicated his life to the work of spiritual companionship and has given much to this organization, living out his belief that this life-changing modality can transform us, and can change the world.
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Support for this podcast comes from Spiritual Companionship For Our Times, SDI’s annual gathering of spiritual companions happening in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 23 – 26 2020. Registrations are now open, with Super Early Bird pricing through September 15th. We’ll be celebrating SDI’s 30th Anniversary, and charting the road ahead as we seek to welcome more and more people to the transformational gifts of spiritual companionship, and to make this healing modality available to every person on the planet. 
Learn more now about our annual conference at www.sdievents.org.

EP029 - Building Community with Bruce Calvin

Bruce Calvin is a spiritual director who trained at Mercy Center in Burlingame California. He is currently working on building supportive communities and opportunities for networking between spiritual companions at the local level, including starting a new gathering in his own community in Northern Virginia. He served on the SDI Coordinating Council from 2013-2019, which included a transition period between Executive Directors. Matt Whitney talked to Bruce at our post-SDI Conference retreat back in March about how he came to SDI and his experiences within the organization. Bruce gives us an intimate look into how the Council, and SDI, has transitioned and is continuing to transition, to being a broadly diverse community of spiritual companionship.
The Leadership and Local Community Intensive that Bruce is facilitating at our 2020 Conference can be found here: https://www.sdievents.org/communities
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Support for this podcast comes from Spiritual Companionship For Our Times, SDI’s annual gathering of spiritual companions happening in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 23 – 26 2020. Registrations are now open, with Super Early Bird pricing through September 15th. We’ll be celebrating SDI’s 30th Anniversary, and charting the road ahead as we seek to welcome more and more people to the transformational gifts of spiritual companionship, and to make this healing modality available to every person on the planet. 
Learn more now about our annual conference at www.sdievents.org.

EP028 - Are You A Spiritual Companion?

We are exploring in this episode the definition of a spiritual companion with Executive Director Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares. Who is a Spiritual Companion? Many world religions have historically honored the role of the spiritual companion. 
SDI extends invitation and welcome to you, as a community of life travelers, to all those who practice spiritual care across expressions and vocations, or if you are curious or interested in discerning further for yourself the work of a spiritual companion.  
Do you see yourself as a spiritual companion? We want you to be a part of our learning community, and we want to nourish you in your transformational heart-work. You’re listening to this podcast, which means you are already dipping your toes in the waters of spiritual companionship. You can also stay connected by subscribing to our monthly email newsletter called Discover, or through our quarterly Listen publication – which you can register for on our website, sdiworld.org. If you do these, then I invite you to take the next step and become a member of SDI, which supports our work in providing resources and community for spiritual companions.
Thank you for providing this urgent work and healing to our world.

EP027 - Rabbi Lauren Tuchman - New Contemplatives

Rabbi Lauren Tuchman received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2018.  As far as she is aware, she is the first blind woman in the world to enter the Rabbinic order. Rabbi Tuchman was named to the Jewish Week’s 36 under 36 for her leadership concerning inclusion of Jews with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish life. She spends her days teaching and companioning young folks involved in social justice work.
In this episode, Rabbi Lauren talks with Lizzie Salsich, our Community Outreach and Program Coordinator. She also manages our New Contemplatives Initiative, which provides scholarships to our annual conference, vocational support and development opportunities for emerging spiritual companions in their first half of life.
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Support for this podcast comes from Spiritual Companionship For Our Times, SDI’s annual gathering of spiritual companions happening in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 23 – 26 2020. Registrations are now open, with Super Early Bird pricing through September 15th. We’ll be celebrating SDI’s 30th Anniversary, and charting the road ahead as we seek to welcome more and more people to the transformational gifts of spiritual companionship, and to make this healing modality available to every person on the planet. 
Learn more now about our annual conference at www.sdievents.org.

EP026 - Spirtual Journey with Kristen Hobby on Bhutan and Australia

SDI's Director of Programs and Events Frederica Helmiere continues her series on spiritual journey. This week she talks to Kristen Hobby, who is facilitating SDI Journeys to Bhutan in 2019, and Mossman Gorge in Australia in 2020. Kristen is also a former SDI Coordinating Council Member, a practicing spiritual companion, and author, who resides in Singapore.
You can learn more about the spiritual journeys that SDI offers at sdijourneys.org.
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Support for this podcast comes from Spiritual Companionship For Our Times, SDI’s annual gathering of spiritual companions happening in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 23 – 26 2020. Registrations are now open, with Super Early Bird pricing through September 15th. We’ll be celebrating SDI’s 30th Anniversary, and charting the road ahead as we seek to welcome more and more people to the transformational gifts of spiritual companionship, and to make this healing modality available to every person on the planet. 
Learn more now about our annual conference at www.sdievents.org.

Ep025 - 2020 Santa Fe Conference Announced - Spiritual Companionship For Our Times

We are excited to announce that we are receiving registrations for our 2020 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 23-26, 2020! In this “house” podcast episode, Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares and Matt Whitney set out to summarize the experience of attending our conferences, and how we manifest the Public Square of Spiritual Companionship. 
It’s going to be our 30th Anniversary Conference and it’s going to be a big one. Presenters include Sister Joan Chittister, Roshi Joan Halifax, Mirabai Starr, Dr. Barbara Holmes, and others. It will be a rich gathering with planned activities including a slate of Thursday Intensives, Friday and Saturday Workshops, and optional explorations of Santa Fe and a post-conference retreat at Ghost Ranch. We are offering a Super Early Bird special, with a deep discount if you register before September 15th 2019. Scholarships are available, sometimes covering the entire cost of the conference - so if the cost is prohibitive to you attending, please do consider applying!
Our conference website is live and you can learn more at www.sdievents.org.
Support for this episode comes from Siena Retreat Center, offering a Spiritual Direction training program in an ecumenical setting and grounded in the principals of the emerging universe story. Siena Retreat Center is located on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee and online at www.sienaretreatcenter.org.
 

Ep024 - Talking about SDI Webinars with Steven Crandell

Steven Crandell is the Director of Content at SDI, and the manager and curator of our SDI webinar series. I brought him into the studio to talk about our webinar series: online educational resources which cover a myriad of topics relating to spiritual companionship and contemplative practice. 
Our Webinars are offered as sources of inspiration, education, storytelling, and wisdom. They are often led by spiritual directors, and they are for anybody interested in spiritual practice and spiritual care. Each webinar is typically four sessions of 75 minutes per session.
All our webinars, past present and future, are available on our online store: secure.sdiworld.org then click on Webinars.
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Support for this episode comes from Siena Retreat Center, offering a Spiritual Direction training program in an ecumenical setting and grounded in the principals of the emerging universe story. Siena Retreat Center is located on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee and online at www.sienaretreatcenter.org.

Ep023 - Spiritual Journey with Valerie Brown and Carol Kortsch

Intro: We’re continuing to explore spiritual travel on this podcast with our Events and Journeys Director, Frederica Helmiere. In this episode she has a conversation with Valerie Brown and Carol Kortsch, the facilitators for our upcoming Journey retreat to Ghost Ranch, a 21000 acre ranch located 65 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Learn more at sdijourneys.org.
Valerie Brown is an international retreat leader, spiritual director, writer, and leadership coach.
Carol Kortsch was born and raised in Africa, educated in Canada, and worked internationally for 20 years establishing intentional, live-in rehabilitation, counseling, and training communities.
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Support for this episode comes from Siena Retreat Center, offering a Spiritual Direction training program in an ecumenical setting and grounded in the principals of the emerging universe story. Siena Retreat Center is located on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee and online at www.sienaretreatcenter.org.
Your comments and suggestions can be sent to: Podcast@sdiworld.org
Our main website can be found at: https://www.sdiworld.org 
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