SDI Encounters

Ep016 - Experiential Companionship with Sharon Seyfarth Garner

Sharon Seyfarth Garner, a spiritual companion, retreat facilitator, and director of Belly of the Whale Ministries.
Sharon facilitated a participatory art project called the Prayer Mandala Wall, which incorporated coloring and companionship as forms of prayer at the SDI annual conference in 2019. Listen in on our conversation with Sharon about this project and using coloring as a form of spiritual practice – a means of quieting ourselves and attuning ourselves to deeper presence - what we refer to in this conversation as God, but also known by other names such as the ground of all being.
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Ep015 - Receptivity and Connection through Singing Bowls - Stacy Au Coin and David Summerfield

Stacy Au Coin and David Summerfield facilitated a workshop at our Annual Conference this past March 2019 called “Seeking Connection Through Sound, Meditation, and Creative Exploration." The description of their workshop states, “Singing bowls during meditation help carry folks into stillness by slicing through the chatter of the mind. From this place of stillness we find the connection with our inner Self, our intuition, our connection to the Divine (or Creator), and we prepare the way to authentic open engagement with others.” They stopped by for a podcast conversation with host Matt Whitney during the Conference. To learn more about Stacy and David's work, visit passagesandpathways.com
Your comments and suggestions can be sent to: Podcast@sdiworld.org
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Ep014 - Remember Yourself with Rev. Seifu Anil Singh-Molares

This week’s episode features an ‘in-house podcast’ conversation with our Executive Director, Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares, about a quarterly publication we produce called "Listen".
Listen is described as “A Seeker’s Resource for Spiritual Direction”, which offers art and illustration and a written reflection. For our April issue of Listen, Reverend Seifu titled his reflection “Remember Yourself”, which reflects on how we consider the spiritual journey to be about striving towards new insight and discovery, but might actually be about striving towards remembering, or recalling.  
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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Ep013 - Dani Forbess on Embodied Spirituality

Dani Forbess is a pastor and spiritual care provider in the Seattle area, and was a presenter at our Post-Conference Retreat in Seabeck Washington. She studied at Seattle Pacific University and Princeton Theological Seminary, and has served in pastoral roles in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Cape Town, South Africa, Los Angeles, and now in Seattle.
In this episode we went deep into how Dani lives out Christian spirituality in her work as a pastor and a mother.
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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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. 
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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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.
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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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
Our main website can be found at: https://www.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.
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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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.   
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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