SDI Encounters

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 
Thank you for tuning in. Please click the [Subscribe or Follow] button so you don't miss an episode.
 

Ep022 - Travel with SDI Journeys - Rev Seifu and Frederica Helmiere

We're mixing up the format of the podcast this week! Our Events and Journeys Director, Frederica Helmiere, is doing a series of episodes on spiritual travel. We begin with this conversation between Frederica and our Executive Director, Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares.
SDI has been facilitating travel experiences around the world for over 25 years. We believe in seeing the world in the most unique way possible, and we want to share our knowledge and passion for travel and spirituality with all of those whom we guide.
To learn more about our Journeys, you can check out www.sdijourneys.org.
We've also got Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares in studio playing guitar!
Remember to hit that "follow or subscribe" button as next week we’ll release part 2 of this conversation. 
Your comments and suggestions can be sent to: Podcast@sdiworld.org
Our main website can be found at: https://www.sdiworld.org 
Thank you for tuning in. Please click the [Subscribe or Follow] button so you don't miss an episode.
 

Ep021 - This Life That is Ours - Parenting and Pilgrimage with Lauren Burdette

Lauren Burdette is a writer, spiritual director, and podcast host. She’s a former SDI New Contemplative and has mentored people through the New Contemplative program. Lauren has written a book called This Life That Is Ours: Motherhood as Spiritual Practice, and her podcast is called “Life as Spiritual Practice” – we talked about her experiences with the SDI community, and finding the Divine within the landscape of raising three young children.  
Remember to hit that "follow or subscribe" button so you don't miss an episode.
Your comments and suggestions can be sent to: Podcast@sdiworld.org
Our main website can be found at: https://www.sdiworld.org 
Thank you for tuning in. Please click the [Subscribe or Follow] button so you don't miss an episode.

Ep020 - Leaning into Holy Hybridity - Karen Erlichman - Part 2

Karen Lee Erlichman provides psychotherapy, spiritual direction and mentoring in San Francisco, integrating spiritual practices and body-centered resources to support healing. 
This episode is part 2 of our conversation with Karen. In Part 1 from last week, Karen shared her personal story, and how she discerned vocational calling. It’s interesting to hear Karen describe her journey as a ‘hybrid’ –– a phenomenon of discerning that one’s true identity is fluid, and moves into, out of, and between, many various categories and vocations, without being pinned down into any of them.
NOTES
https://www.sdiworld.org/seekers - The website Karen says in our conversation that she references frequently. It's full of resources on the work of a spiritual director, how to find a spiritual director, and for those who are curious about spiritual direction in general.
Form Karen:
Tara Mohr - "during our conversation about credentials and feeling like enough. I’ve reviewed Tara’s books for Presence in the past too."
https://www.taramohr.com
 
Mercy Center-Burlingame, CA
http://mercy-center.org
 
Jewish meditation center:
Chochmat haLev (means “wisdom of the heart”)
https://chochmat.org

Ep019 - Vocation and Calling with Karen Erlichman - Part 1

This episode is part 1 of our conversation with Karen Erlichman, with this week’s focus on vocation – the process of discernment around work, life, and identity.
Karen Lee Erlichman provides psychotherapy, spiritual direction and mentoring in San Francisco, integrating spiritual practices and body-centered resources to support healing. She is a senior consultant for Ethics of Care and Resource Development with The Dinner Party and a faculty member in the Jewish Spirituality program at the Graduate Theological Foundation.
Remember to hit that "follow or subscribe" button as next week we’ll release part 2 of this conversation. 
Your comments and suggestions can be sent to: Podcast@sdiworld.org
Our main website can be found at: https://www.sdiworld.org 
Thank you for tuning in. Please click the [Subscribe or Follow] button so you don't miss an episode.
 
LINKS to people and places mentioned during this podcast:
Tara Mohr: https://www.taramohr.com
Mercy Center-Burlingame, CA: http://mercy-center.org
Jewish meditation center: Chochmat haLev (means “wisdom of the heart”): https://chochmat.org

Ep018 - Living a Life of Contemplation with Jan Lundy and Jeanette Banashak (Part 2)

This episode is part 2 of our conversation with Jan Lundy and Jeanette Banashek. Here we talk more about the training program they facilitate, called the Spiritual Guidance Training Institute – which educates and equips people to be spiritual directors and companions. We also get into our own personal practices – mindfulness, taking silent retreats, and a little more on trusting one’s inner wisdom – which lets face it we’re all trying to learn how to do.
Remember to hit that "follow or subscribe" button as next week we’ll release part 2 of this conversation. 
Your comments and suggestions can be sent to: Podcast@sdiworld.org
Our main website can be found at: https://www.sdiworld.org 
Thank you for tuning in. Please click the [Subscribe or Follow] button so you don't miss an episode.
 

Ep017 - Spiritual Fluidity with Jan Lundy and Jeanette Banashak (Part 1)

Jan Lundy and Jeanette Banashak are longtime members of SDI, they are spiritual directors, and founders of a unique training program called the Spiritual Guidance Training Institute – which educates and equips people to be spiritual directors and companions.
This episode is Part 1, with a focus on what it looks like to be a “spiritual independent” or “spiritually fluid”. It doesn’t mean you have no faith tradition (though it might), but in your life’s journey to commune with mystery and the ground of all being, you may find that no one particular tradition has all the answers you seek. What is perhaps most true is that each person’s spiritual journey is unique, and not easily identified by a way of thinking or an ideology. Jan and Jeanette both have been on this journey personally and vocationally. 
Remember to hit that "follow or subscribe" button as next week we’ll release part 2 of this conversation. 
Your comments and suggestions can be sent to: Podcast@sdiworld.org
Our main website can be found at: https://www.sdiworld.org 
Thank you for tuning in. Please click the [Subscribe or Follow] button so you don't miss an episode.