SDI Encounters

EP108 - Marian Sorensen and Holistic Approaches to Spiritual Companionship

In this week's episode, SDI's creative director Matt Whitney chats with Marian Sorensen, an English spiritual companion based out of Ibiza, Spain. Marian uses a holistic approach to her integrative practice, which includes the modalities of spiritual direction, holistic health coaching, and life coaching. You can find out more about Marian at her website Growing Edges: http://growing-edges.com.
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SDI Encounters is supported by:
EXPERIENCE AN INTERFAITH LEARNING CENTER, A SACRED COMMUNITY, AND A SPIRITUAL HOME AT ONE SPIRIT, TO BE OF SERVICE IN TODAY’S RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD. EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES IN SEMINARY, AND INTERSPIRITUAL COMPANIONING AND COUNSELING CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS, AND EXPERIENTIAL COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. VISIT 1SPIRIT.ORG/ENCOUNTER TO DISCOVER WHAT’S POSSIBLE.

EP107 - Q&A With the Executive Director from the SDI Renaissance Conference (and bonus questions!)

Traditionally, on the last day of an SDI Annual Conference, our Executive Director Reverend SeiFu Anil Singh-Molares will deliver something of an Annual Report, going over the finances and operations of our non-profit organization. Afterwards there is a Question and Answer session in which he dialogs with members in the audience. On the last day of our 2021 Renaissance Virtual Conference, this presentation was delivered over Zoom, and thanks to its robust Q&A and Chat technology, this session became supercharged, with lots of great questions about a variety of topics. In this episode, we’re replaying that Q&A Session. As a bonus, Rev. SeiFu and I (Matt Whitney) recorded an additional Q&A conversation where I ask a few more questions that we didn’t have time to get to during the Conference session. We really enjoy being in dialog with SDI Members, and we’re grateful for your curiosity, participation, and engagement with the organization.
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SDI ENCOUNTERS IS SUPPORTED BY:
The Spiritual Habits Group course is for people who have an interest in spiritual things but struggle to actually apply them to their lives or people who find it hard to be consistent with their spiritual practices.
Highlights include:
Connecting with a community of like-minded others who are seeking to actually practice mindfulness, acceptance, and kindness to themselves and others as a way of daily life.
Applying behavior science to spiritual principles
Teaching you how to build and sustain a meditation practice that works for you—in your unique life for your unique preferences. 
You can learn all about it at: spiritualhabits.net
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EXPERIENCE AN INTERFAITH LEARNING CENTER, A SACRED COMMUNITY, AND A SPIRITUAL HOME AT ONE SPIRIT, TO BE OF SERVICE IN TODAY’S RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD. EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES IN SEMINARY, AND INTERSPIRITUAL COMPANIONING AND COUNSELING CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS, AND EXPERIENTIAL COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. VISIT 1SPIRIT.ORG/ENCOUNTER TO DISCOVER WHAT’S POSSIBLE.

EP106 - Highlights from the SDI Renaissance Conference - Sr Joan Chittister, Fr Richard Rohr, Roshi Joan Halifax, more

If you regularly listen to this podcast, you have heard the advertisements for our SDI Renaissance virtual conference. We hosted this virtual gathering a couple of weeks ago now, and we as a staff are still processing, debriefing, discerning. We do know that overall, we feel like it was really successful – we’ve heard from a lot of participants that they were really glad for the time together, surprised that it could work virtually – and I will say for myself, even though we were on our devices and meeting over zoom, that it FELT like a conference. This is my third SDI conference, having been in St Louis in 2018, and Bellevue in 2019 – and this one had the same energy, and the same tiredness frankly! But it was a really rich time, with a broad diverse representation of the public square of spiritual direction and spiritual companionship. I wanted to offer you a few highlights from our time together, and also inform you that we are offering for sale the recordings of our conference keynote presentations and all our workshops -which is over 90 hours of video content on spiritual direction – via our website, sdicompanions.org. But here we’re offering a couple of minutes from each keynote presentation as something of a recap.
 
If you missed SDI Renaissance, it's not too late - we are offering for sale recordings of all our keynote presentations and our 40 workshops - over 90 hours of video content on spiritual direction and spiritual companionship - available from our website, sdicompanions.org. Recordings are only accessible until July 25, 2021, so act soon!
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SDI Encounters is supported by:
EXPERIENCE AN INTERFAITH LEARNING CENTER, A SACRED COMMUNITY, AND A SPIRITUAL HOME AT ONE SPIRIT, TO BE OF SERVICE IN TODAY’S RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD. EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES IN SEMINARY, AND INTERSPIRITUAL COMPANIONING AND COUNSELING CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS, AND EXPERIENTIAL COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. VISIT 1SPIRIT.ORG/ENCOUNTER TO DISCOVER WHAT’S POSSIBLE.
 

EP105 - Reflections on Awakening and Maturity for Spiritual Companions - Genjo Marinello

Our latest book release from SDI Press is now available – Reflections on Awakening and Maturity for Spiritual Companions, by Genjo Marinello. Genjo’s fascinating book chronicles his lifelong and ongoing commitment to spiritual growth, through thick and thin, as well as a courageous embrace of many difficulties, shortcomings and flaws.
Genjo composts all of these into assets, establishing them as the building blocks for his own ongoing spiritual growth and evolution. And by extension, for ours.
In the process, he engages with numerous spiritual companions and models, most notably the Buddha, St Teresa of Avila, and the Zen Oxherding pictures. They reveal insights and challenges both easy and joyful, along with some quite difficult and painful.
In this conversation, Genjo and Rev. Seifu Anil Singh-Molares discuss the new book.
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SDI Encounters is supported by:
EXPERIENCE AN INTERFAITH LEARNING CENTER, A SACRED COMMUNITY, AND A SPIRITUAL HOME AT ONE SPIRIT, TO BE OF SERVICE IN TODAY’S RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD. EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES IN SEMINARY, AND INTERSPIRITUAL COMPANIONING AND COUNSELING CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS, AND EXPERIENTIAL COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. VISIT 1SPIRIT.ORG/ENCOUNTER TO DISCOVER WHAT’S POSSIBLE.
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Genjo Marinello Roshi began his Zen training in 1975. He moved to Seattle in 1976 to serve as a VISTA community organizer in the central district of the city. In 1980 Genjo was ordained as a Zen monk, and in 1981-82 trained in Japan at the Zen temple Ryutaku-Ji. In 1999 Genjo succeeded Genki Takabayashi Roshi as the second abbot of the Seattle Zen temple, Chobo-Ji, and became a Dharma Heir in his lineage of Rinzai Zen in 2008. Genjo has been a member of the University Friends Meeting (Quakers) since 1983. In 1989, Genjo completed a certificate program in Spiritual Direction (The Pacific Jubilee Program). For several years Genjo was the volunteer Buddhist pastor of the Twin Rivers Correction Center in Monroe Washington and has served as adjunct faculty at the Seattle campus of Antioch University.

EP104 - Roshi Joan Halifax - The Landscape of Compassion

In this week's episode, SDI's Executive Director Reverend Seifu speaks with Roshi Joan Halifax about confronting mortality and The Landscape of Compassion as a lead up to her keynote address at our SDI Renaissance 2021 virtual conference, which kicks off at the end of April.
Roshi Joan explains that the questions that arise in people who are at the terminus of their lives are also fundamental questions for every stage of living. What is my life about? Have I met - and taken care of - important relationships? Have I mattered in this world? In her plenary address at the SDI Conference, Roshi Joan will explore why spiritual directors and spiritual companions fulfill one of their most important roles by holding space so people can respond to questions like these.
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Roshi Joan Halifax is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and pioneer in the field of end-of-life care. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Institute and Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 
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Join us at SDI for an unprecedented virtual conference in April 2021 which we are calling Renaissance – the meaning of the word being, “rebirth”. This season of pandemic, and political uncertainty in many countries around the world, have been difficult for all of us. But for every season, there are new beginnings, and out of the mulch and the compost, new life can grow.
This conference is going to be a gigantic sandbox for spiritual companionship and contemplative community. No travel costs, no hotel or meal expenses. Attend from your home, participate from anywhere, around the world. Live, or on-demand. This promises to be the biggest and most extensive gathering of spiritual companions in SDI history.
Registrations for SDI Renaissance 2021 are now open. Everyone is welcome to attend, and be nourished, by this conference. Go to sdicompanions.org for the details and registration options.
 

EP103 - Father Richard Rohr - A Call to Contemplative Solidarity

In this week's episode, SDI's Executive Director Reverend Seifu speaks with Father Richard Rohr, a keynote speaker for our SDI Renaissance 2021 virtual conference, which kicks off at the end of April. Father Richard talks about how spiritual direction helps us to find firmer ground to stand upon, particularly in these difficult and unpredictable times. He is keen to be in conversation with us all about the issues at the heart of spiritual companionship. We are planning a highly interactive session with him at Renaissance 2021. 
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Father Richard Rohr is a globally recognized ecumenical teacher bearing witness to the universal awakening within Christian mysticism and the Perennial Tradition. He is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he also serves as Academic Dean of the Living School for Action and Contemplation. Fr. Richard’s teaching is grounded in the Franciscan alternative orthodoxy–practices of contemplation and self-emptying, expressing itself in radical compassion, particularly for the socially marginalized.
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Join us at SDI for an unprecedented virtual conference in April 2021 which we are calling Renaissance – the meaning of the word being, “rebirth”. This season of pandemic, and political uncertainty in many countries around the world, have been difficult for all of us. But for every season, there are new beginnings, and out of the mulch and the compost, new life can grow.
This conference is going to be a gigantic sandbox for spiritual companionship and contemplative community. No travel costs, no hotel or meal expenses. Attend from your home, participate from anywhere, around the world. Live, or on-demand. This promises to be the biggest and most extensive gathering of spiritual companions in SDI history.
Registrations for SDI Renaissance 2021 are now open. Everyone is welcome to attend, and be nourished, by this conference. Go to sdicompanions.org for the details and registration options.
 

EP102 - Andre van Zijl on Art and Spiritual Companionship

In this episode, Matt Whitney talks with Rev. Andre van Zijl about art and spiritual companionship. Andre is a cofounder and codirector of All Paths Divinity School, an online interfaith seminary promoting and nurturing sacred community through the arts. He is a spiritually inspired, award-winning artist, poet, published author, and non-dual philosophy teacher. Andre is also the founder and director of Van Zijl Art and Design Studios.
Andre's art, poetry, and prose is highlighted in his article entitled "Sacred Companioning by Making Art" in the March 2021 issue of Presence Journal. 
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SDI's creative team has been hard at work bringing a new version of Presence to the web. Our new enhanced edition features audio and video recordings by artists, authors, and poets, as well as bonus media reviews, all packaged in an easy-to-read format which can be accessed anytime, anywhere, on any device. 
To celebrate the launch of this new initiative, SDI is offering the March 2021 issue of Presence to everyone for FREE! Just go to sdicompanions.org/presence to check it out!
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Join us at SDI for an unprecedented virtual conference in April 2021 which we are calling Renaissance – the meaning of the word being, “rebirth”. This season of pandemic, and political uncertainty in many countries around the world, have been difficult for all of us. But for every season, there are new beginnings, and out of the mulch and the compost, new life can grow.
This conference is going to be a gigantic sandbox for spiritual companionship and contemplative community. No travel costs, no hotel or meal expenses. Attend from your home, participate from anywhere, around the world. Live, or on-demand. This promises to be the biggest and most extensive gathering of spiritual companions in SDI history.
Registrations for SDI Renaissance 2021 are now open. Everyone is welcome to attend, and be nourished, by this conference. Go to sdicompanions.org for the details and registration options.
 

EP101 - Presence Journal Online - Enhancements, Features, and a FREE ISSUE!

In this episode, Ann Lancaster and Matt Whitney (SDI's creative team) discuss all the new enhancements and features of the online version of Presence and the labor of love that goes into producing our flagship publication in a new format.
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SDI members tell us that Presence is one of the best things about membership. They say it offers them a way to stay current on our calling and learn from the leading voices of our contemplative community. Now, Presence is evolving to become the enhanced Presence Online. The printed quarterly will still be mailed to Jupiter and Cosmos members. But starting this month, all members, including students, will be able to access Presence Online with bonus and enhanced features:
Audio & video recordings by artists, authors, and poets
Bonus media reviews
Reduce footprint on the environment
Access to the content sooner than the print version
Easy-to-read content
To mark the occasion, we are making the new March 2021 issue FREE for everyone! 
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Join us at SDI for an unprecedented virtual conference in April 2021 which we are calling Renaissance – the meaning of the word being, “rebirth”. This season of pandemic, and political uncertainty in many countries around the world, have been difficult for all of us. But for every season, there are new beginnings, and out of the mulch and the compost, new life can grow.
This conference is going to be a gigantic sandbox for spiritual companionship and contemplative community. No travel costs, no hotel or meal expenses. Attend from your home, participate from anywhere, around the world. Live, or on-demand. This promises to be the biggest and most extensive gathering of spiritual companions in SDI history.
Registrations for SDI Renaissance 2021 are now open. Everyone is welcome to attend, and be nourished, by this conference. Go to sdicompanions.org for the details and registration options.
 

EP100 - Sunyata Kopriva - Providing Culturally Congruent Trauma Care For Young People

Here at SDI we have an initiative that brings emerging spiritual companions in the first half of life to our community, helping us weave a web of intergenerational wisdom and practice, which we call the New Contemplatives initiative. These New Contemplatives enrich the SDI community with new forms and paradigms of spiritual care, bringing their voices to the center of the organization and the broader field of spiritual companionship.
In this episode, our New Contemplatives Coordinator, Lizzie Salsich, talks with one of the 2021 New Contemplatives, Sunyata Kopriva. Sunyata talks about their spiritual journey and practice of spiritual companionship.
Sunyata is a global integrative trauma psychotherapist, and founder of Healers Hive, LLC, which specializes in providing culturally congruent trauma care to individuals, communities, and families. They are a gender varied, queer, Buddhist, yoga teacher, meditation teacher, and clinical social worker with Irish/Dutch/Czech ancestry. You can learn more about Sunyata’s work at www.sunyatakopriva.com and www.healershive.com
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Join us at SDI for an unprecedented virtual conference in April 2021 which we are calling Renaissance – the meaning of the word being, “rebirth”. This season of pandemic, and political uncertainty in many countries around the world, have been difficult for all of us. But for every season, there are new beginnings, and out of the mulch and the compost, new life can grow.
This conference is going to be a gigantic sandbox for spiritual companionship and contemplative community. No travel costs, no hotel or meal expenses. Attend from your home, participate from anywhere, around the world. Live, or on-demand. This promises to be the biggest and most extensive gathering of spiritual companions in SDI history.
Registrations for SDI Renaissance 2021 are now open. Everyone is welcome to attend, and be nourished, by this conference. Go to sdicompanions.org for the details and registration options.
 

EP099 - We Need Elders In Our Lives - Nathan Bettger and Lizzie Salsich - New Contemplatives

Here at SDI we have an initiative that brings emerging spiritual companions in the first half of life to our community, helping us weave a web of intergenerational wisdom and practice, which we call the New Contemplatives initiative. These New Contemplatives enrich the SDI community with new forms and paradigms of spiritual care, bringing their voices to the center of the organization and the broader field of spiritual companionship.
In this episode, our New Contemplatives Coordinator, Lizzie Salsich, talks with one of the 2021 New Contemplatives, Nathan Bettger. Nathan talks about the importance of having elders, and how people in the first half of life need to be in community with those in second half of life – and allowing wisdom to flow.
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Nathan Bettger is a board-certified hospital chaplain and spiritual director from Oshkosh, WI, where he lives with his wife (Kat), his two sons (Brendan Arthur and Owen Raine) and his Welsh Terrier (Wendell). Nathan is committed to nurturing connection and community, through our relationships, our bodies, our sense of self, the land that we live on, and our experience of the Divine. Deeply grounded in contemplative and mystic Christianity and nature-based spirituality, Nathan seeks to consistently invite others into more unitive and loving life, whether it be through spiritual companioning, caring for those in the hospital, advocating for more natural earth keeping, caring for his honey bees and his garden, or writing. Nathan has led community groups for many years focused on spiritual integration, conversations on death and dying, grief support, and men’s spirituality. He received his Masters in Divinity from Bethel Seminary in St Paul, MN and Certificates of Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Direction from George Fox Seminary in Portland, OR. Nathan served on the founding board for the men’s spirituality non-profit, Illuman and is a graduate scholar of the Orphan Wisdom School, led by teacher, story teller and author, Stephen Jenkinson.
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Join us at SDI for an unprecedented virtual conference in April 2021 which we are calling Renaissance – the meaning of the word being, “rebirth”. This season of pandemic, and political uncertainty in many countries around the world, have been difficult for all of us. But for every season, there are new beginnings, and out of the mulch and the compost, new life can grow.
This conference is going to be a gigantic sandbox for spiritual companionship and contemplative community. No travel costs, no hotel or meal expenses. Attend from your home, participate from anywhere, around the world. Live, or on-demand. This promises to be the biggest and most extensive gathering of spiritual companions in SDI history.
Registrations for SDI Renaissance 2021 are now open. Everyone is welcome to attend, and be nourished, by this conference. Go to sdicompanions.org for the details and registration options.