SDI Encounters

Ep012 - Preeta Banerjee on Practicing Sacred Intention

Preeta M. Banerjee, PhD, is an SDI New Contemplative for 2019.  The SDI New Contemplatives Initiative seeks to encourage, understand and engage with spiritual directors in the first half of their lives (aged 40-ish or under).
Preeta is a spiritual companion who draws on a broad and deep range of experience, having spent 20 years in academia, coaching and consulting as an advocate, educator, researcher and author.
She is a strong voice for combining spirituality, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and social change, currently in her work as co-founder and partner at WhiteLeaf Advisors LLC. She has a PhD in Strategic Management from the Wharton School and BS in Computational Biology and Business from Carnegie Mellon. 
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Ep011 - Becky Eldredge on Spirituality and Everyday Life

This week we chat with Becky Eldredge. Becky is a spiritual director, retreat leader, and mother of three young children based out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is a former SDI New Contemplative, and the author of a book called Busy Lives and Restless Souls. We chat about everyday spirituality – weaving contemplative practice and spiritual companioning into the spaces between and within our work, our commutes, raising children, running errands, and perhaps even beginning to integrate all of it as spiritual practice. 
We also talk about the Catholic Mystic St. Theresa of Avila, who wrote about the spiritual life in an incredible allegory called The Interior Castle. The Interior Castle represents the path to Divine Union – by working through several different “rooms” which each represent a state of being, as we journey closer and closer to the Divine - however The Divine lands with you – but this path delineates a journey, and we have to begin at our beginning.
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Ep010 - Ed Bastian, Interspiritual Meditation

In today's episode we interview Ed Bastian. Ed is the founding president of the Spiritual Paths Foundation, which provides programs, books, and websites for the study of meditation and the application of contemplative values and insights in the world. He has a doctorate in Buddhist Studies and Western Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and as a Fulbright Scholar spent nearly a decade in monasteries in the US, India, and the Himalayas, studying Indian philosophy and translating Buddhist scriptures.
Ed worked previously as a Director at the Smithsonian Institute, where he produced the first interactive multimedia production with LucasFilm and Apple Computer. He’s produced award winning television programs for the BBC, PBS, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.  
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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Ep009 - Diane Millis, Re-Creating a Life

Dr Diane Millis is an inspirational speaker, teacher, writer and spiritual director. She's one of the most deeply respected and most popular workshop presenters at SDI's annual conferences. Diane asks us: 
Is your life what you thought it was going to be?  
Do you ever find yourself comparing the story of the life you wished you had lived with the life you are actually living?  
Each of us has a story that we tell ourselves about ourselves.  Becoming aware of our inner narrative is crucial, because the story we tell ourselves, both consciously and unconsciously, has tremendous power over our thoughts, feelings, and actions. In many ways, this story defines our lives.  
In this podcast, Diane talks about her her book titled Re-Creating A Life: Learning How to Tell Our Most Life-Giving Story and the inspiration behind it.
This book is also the first offering of SDI Press – a new publishing arm of Spiritual Directors International. 
Your comments and suggestions can be sent to: Podcast@sdiworld.org
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Ep008 - Mona Haydar Interview

Mona Haydar is a Muslim chaplain, performance artist, activist, and rapper. She grew up in Flint, Michigan as a Syrian American, and practices a life of sacred activism, poetry, contemplation, and advocacy for living gently upon the Earth. Mona was kind enough to record a greeting and introduction for us in anticipation of her presence at the SDI Conference, Seeking Connection Across Generations, in March 2019 in Bellevue, Washington, USA. Her song “Hijabi (Wrap My Hijab)” has been watched more than 5 million times on Youtube.
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Ep007 - A Universe of Stories - Imam Jamal Rahman

Imam Jamal Rahman is a popular speaker on Islam, Sufi spirituality and interfaith relations. Since 9/11/2001 Jamal has been collaborating regularly and actively with Rabbi Ted Falcon and Pastor Don Mackenzie. Affectionately known as The Interfaith Amigos, they travel the country sharing a message of inclusive spirituality. 
Along with his Interfaith Amigos, he has been featured in the New York Times, on CBS News, the BBC and various NPR programs. Co-founder and Muslim Sufi minister at Interfaith Community Sanctuary and adjunct faculty at Seattle University, he is a former host of Interfaith Talk Radio and travels nationally and internationally, presenting at conferences, retreats and workshops.   
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Ep006 - Justice and Spiritual Companionship - Rabbi Amy Eilberg

SPECIAL BONUS EPISODE!!!
In this special episode, SDI Executive Director Reverend Seifu interviews Rabbi Amy Eilberg.
Rabbi Amy Eilberg is the first woman ordained as a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.  She serves as the Coordinator of Jewish Engagement for Faith in Action Bay Area, a multi-faith, multi-racial social justice organization in the San Francisco Bay Area. She teaches Jewish civil discourse to a variety of rabbis, synagogues and Jewish organizations. Rabbi Eilberg also serves as a spiritual director and interfaith activist and as Senior Faculty for The Mussar Institute. She has a book titled From Enemy to Friend: Jewish Wisdom and the Pursuit of Peace. She received her Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in 2016. 
This conversation was recorded using web conferencing software, so fair warning that the audio may sound a little squeaky at times. 
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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Ep005 - Nonviolence as Religion - Reverend Felicia Parazaider

In this week’s podcast, SDI Executive Director Reverend Seifu interviews Reverend Felicia Parazaidar. Reverend Felicia is an ordained interfaith minister and a radical sacred activist, rooted in nonviolence philosophy. She founded a ministry called the Revolution of Love. Based on the Vision Statement – Revolution of Love is a “bold ministry of spiritual renewal and outreach dedicated to peace, transformation, and love.”  
Please note that the interview was recorded over web conferencing software, and the audio can be a little squeaky at times. Hopefully it’s not too distracting. 
One of the questions we’ve been receiving from people lately, is just what does InterFaith dialog look like. And we’ve found that the simplest way to describe this, is that those who engage in spiritual practices acknowledge that these are “forms” – holy words and names, rituals, sacred texts, and that these diverse and beautiful forms point us toward awareness and communion with a deeper Essence – which some call Love, God, Spirit, The Universe, Beyond the Beyond, or The Ground of All Being. However it is named, this Essence gives our lives meaning, and purpose, and dignity.  
How do you know and understand that Essence. How do you “come home to God?” as Reverend Felicia puts it? SDI deeply appreciates and respects the various and diverse “forms” that each of us brings to our Public Square of Spirituality. 
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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Ep004 - Abbot Genjo Marinello on Otherness and on being "The Stranger"

In this episode Rev. Seifu Anil Singh-Molares interviews Abbot Genjo Marinello.
They chat about a variety of topics including Listening, Otherness, and on being “The Stranger” and the tools used to address both internal and external prejudice.
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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Ep003 - The Contemplative Activist

This episode is the third and last part in our initial 3-part series about the meaning of Spiritual Direction/Companionship and this episode focuses on contemplation and immersing ourselves in silence. We also chat about activism and how these two seemingly dissimilar activities can be merged and intertwined into one.
A round table discussion lead by our Executive Director Rev. Seifu and hosted by Matt Whitney with the rest of the SDI staff commenting.
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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