SDI Encounters

EP091 - A Gratitude Meditation for Spiritual Companions

Please enjoy this short (10 minute) guided meditation, which I (Matt Whitney) wrote and recorded this week as an offering to spiritual companions. It offers a few specific gratitude prompts, each related to key aspects of our service as spiritual companions. Each prompt is followed by 30 seconds of silence, with a chime sounded to move between each phase.
Gratitude is a universal practice of orienting ourselves towards the fact that everything is a gift. Gratitude is, essentially, a posture or a lens through which we see the arrangements and circumstances of our very existence. Do we view the world with a sense of scarcity, and lack, and pessimism? Or do we view it as a place of abundance, and beauty, and hopefulness?
We practice gratitude for the good things in our lives, but also for the challenges. Because by being challenged, we are stretched, we soften, and we grow in our capacity to be more compassionate, and we grow in the wisdom of what it is to be human.
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Thank you for supporting the work of spiritual companionship around the world. Learn more at www.sdicompanions.org
 

EP090 - Announcing the SDI 2021 Renaissance Virtual Conference!

We at SDI are so excited to announce an unprecedented virtual conference for 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.
Here’s a quick conversation for the podcast with Rev. Seifu Anil Singh-Molares, our Executive Director, about the intentions and hopes for this conference. We've also produced a shorter video on YouTube that you can watch.
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.

EP089 - Dimensions of Spiritual Companionship - Accountability

Who is a spiritual companion? A spiritual director is a spiritual companion, as is a life coach, a chaplain, a hospice nurse, really anybody in a caring vocation. But it can also be a type of person who lives and listens in ways that embody this type of caring. That is, a spiritual companion need not do it as a job. Some of us are spiritual companions in the way we honor our relationships to family, friends, neighbors, the land, our ancestors, and the cosmos.
So there are lots of ways the role of spiritual companionship manifests, and SDI celebrates the diversity of practices and people who identify as one. But, how does one identify or see themselves and others as a spiritual companion?
In April 2020’s Listen publication, Executive Director Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares wrote a reflection on the Dimensions of Spiritual Companionship - a series of characteristics and skills that a companion lives into.
What are the characteristics of a spiritual companion? Rev. Seifu’s various Dimensions invite us to consider this. And I think it’s important to note that one need not embody ALL of these dimensions at once - but each one should give us some pause, in which I might consider - how do I practice this? How do I embody this dimension?
In an ongoing series of episodes, Rev. Seifu and I will have conversations around each of these dimensions, as a way to unpack and get to know each of them in depth. And as you listen, I invite you to consider each for yourself. The way you understand each dimension need not reflect how we understand it, but I hope these conversations spark either a deep knowing within you, or a good curiosity.
I hope this conversation has awakened or stirred something in you. Take a moment to reflect - how do you identify with this dimension of spiritual companionship? Does it feel natural? Does it feel elusive? How does this dimension manifest for you? Is it something you desire to increase for yourself? I invite you to take a few breaths, and tend to that stirring.
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Do you want to be part of a global contemplative movement that contributes to peace, justice, and living in right relationship with all creation? Your membership supports networking opportunities, publications, educational programming, outreach, and more.
Together we are changing the world through the contemplative action of spiritual companionship. Everyone is welcome to become a member of SDI.
The SDI global learning community is a group of compassionate listeners who are committed to peace and justice. Become a new member or renew your membership on SDI’s secure online store.
Membership benefits include:
Being part of a worldwide contemplative movement
Global and local networking
Listing in the Find a Spiritual Companion Guide: A Worldwide Resource of Available Spiritual Companions
Access to Group Spiritual Direction sessions and exclusive online Town Halls and Gatherings
Subscription to Presence, Listen, and ConnectionsDiscover newsletter
Discounted liability insurance
Discounts on all educational events and gatherings
Discounts on SDI brochures and resources

EP088 - Dimensions of a Spiritual Companion - Mutuality

Who is a spiritual companion? A spiritual director is a spiritual companion, as is a life coach, a chaplain, a hospice nurse, really anybody in a caring vocation. But it can also be a type of person who lives and listens in ways that embody this type of caring. That is, a spiritual companion need not do it as a job. Some of us are spiritual companions in the way we honor our relationships to family, friends, neighbors, the land, our ancestors, and the cosmos.
So there are lots of ways the role of spiritual companionship manifests, and SDI celebrates the diversity of practices and people who identify as one. But, how does one identify or see themselves and others as a spiritual companion?
In April 2020’s Listen publication, Executive Director Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares wrote a reflection on the Dimensions of Spiritual Companionship - a series of characteristics and skills that a companion lives into.
What are the characteristics of a spiritual companion? Rev. Seifu’s various Dimensions invite us to consider this. And I think it’s important to note that one need not embody ALL of these dimensions at once - but each one should give us some pause, in which I might consider - how do I practice this? How do I embody this dimension?
In an ongoing series of episodes, Rev. Seifu and I will have conversations around each of these dimensions, as a way to unpack and get to know each of them in depth. And as you listen, I invite you to consider each for yourself. The way you understand each dimension need not reflect how we understand it, but I hope these conversations spark either a deep knowing within you, or a good curiosity.
I hope this conversation has awakened or stirred something in you. Take a moment to reflect - how do you identify with this dimension of spiritual companionship? Does it feel natural? Does it feel elusive? How does this dimension manifest for you? Is it something you desire to increase for yourself? I invite you to take a few breaths, and tend to that stirring.
---
Do you want to be part of a global contemplative movement that contributes to peace, justice, and living in right relationship with all creation? Your membership supports networking opportunities, publications, educational programming, outreach, and more.
Together we are changing the world through the contemplative action of spiritual companionship. Everyone is welcome to become a member of SDI.
The SDI global learning community is a group of compassionate listeners who are committed to peace and justice. Become a new member or renew your membership on SDI’s secure online store.
Membership benefits include:
Being part of a worldwide contemplative movement
Global and local networking
Listing in the Find a Spiritual Companion Guide: A Worldwide Resource of Available Spiritual Companions
Access to Group Spiritual Direction sessions and exclusive online Town Halls and Gatherings
Subscription to Presence, Listen, and ConnectionsDiscover newsletter
Discounted liability insurance
Discounts on all educational events and gatherings
Discounts on SDI brochures and resources

EP087 - Non-theistic Companionship with Joe Sehee

This week’s episode is a conversation I had about companionship with Joe Sehee. I very intentionally refer to ‘companionship’ here, as Joe approaches this work from a non-theistic, non-religious perspective. We discuss topics around finding meaning and universality in suffering, human connection, using silence to be in conversation, compassion fatigue, and remembering to have a sense of humor.
Talking with Joe, I thought of the famous line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. At SDI, we talk about the healing modality of spiritual companionship. You can call it companionship, or spiritual direction, guidance, friendship. Call it what you like – it’s about the relationship, the listening work, and the meaningful story of the others we companion.
Joe Sehee is the Executive Officer of Social Health Australia based in Melbourne. Social Health Australia brings forward innovative approaches to companioning people in crisis and combating the growing problems of social isolation and loneliness. Their mission is to make times of transition, uncertainty and loss not only less debilitating, but also opportunities for building resilience and creating community.Joe has a wide range of experience as a non-theistic spiritual director and pastoral caregiver including serving four years as Associate Director of Campus Ministry at the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco. A Peabody Award-winning journalist, Joe is founder of the Green Burial Council, director of EarthFunerals, chairman of the Bendoc Cemetery Trust and a senior fellow at the Environmental Leadership Program.
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Support for this podcast comes from the Siena Retreat Center. Are you passionate about the spiritual growth and transformation that comes from the practice of spiritual guidance? Siena Retreat Center, located on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee, is seeking an experienced leader in the area of spiritual companioning. The full-time position of Spiritual Guidance Coordinator involves the collaborative leadership of the Center’s Two-Year Spiritual Guidance Training Program. We invite you to explore the job description at www.sienaretreatcenter.org.

EP086 - Apollo's Lyre - Spirituality and Psychoanalysis with Dr. Kenneth Porter

This week, Frederica spoke with Dr. Kenneth Porter, author of the book Apollo's Lyre: The Art of Spiritual Psychotherapy. Dr. Porter is a spiritual psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He has taught Buddhist Insight Meditation at the New York Insight Meditation Center, was a long-term student of the Kundalini Master Chandrasekharanand Saraswati, was President of the Association for Spirituality and Psychotherapy, and is an ordained Teacher/Minister of the Diamond Approach, the work of A.H. Almaas. He currently practices and lives with his wife in New York City.
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About Apollo's Lyre:
"Where does spirituality belong in psychotherapy, and in our lives? Drawing upon thirty years of experience with meditation, spiritual practice, and the art and science of psychotherapy, Dr. Kenneth Porter demonstrates how spiritual practices and psychotherapy inform and enhance one another in helping therapists, clients, and all of us in simply living our lives to find our fullest, most authentic, and loving selves. Utilizing a balance of personal experiences and established psychological theory, this book is an essential resource for psychotherapists and patients, presenting a compelling case for spirituality’s place in therapy, and explaining in detail how practitioners may incorporate spirituality into their practice. But Apollo’s Lyre is also a crucial resource for all of us, establishing how we are all spiritual beings at our core, and revealing how spirituality reveals incredible possibilities for loving self-discovery and transformation in our lives."
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Support for this podcast comes from the Siena Retreat Center. Are you passionate about the spiritual growth and transformation that comes from the practice of spiritual guidance? Siena Retreat Center, located on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee, is seeking an experienced leader in the area of spiritual companioning. The full-time position of Spiritual Guidance Coordinator involves the collaborative leadership of the Center’s Two-Year Spiritual Guidance Training Program. We invite you to explore the job description at www.sienaretreatcenter.org.

EP085 - Somatic Healing and Vulnerability with Angie Fadel

This week, I spoke with Angie Fadel - a spiritual director who engages in somatic methods of healing by teaching archery to her companions. Among other things, we discuss the necessity of opening up to being vulnerable in our spiritual journeys, feeling anger and even rage, privilege and identity, and the work of deconstruction in spiritual companionship, and how that can open us to excavating our traumas and to engage the work of healing our souls.
 
Angie Fadel is a certified spiritual director with an MA in spiritual formation, but don’t let that scare you. She spends most of her time specializing in somatic methods of healing archery, hiking, meditation, and mindfulness. She is always looking for ways to empower and connect the mind, body, soul, and spirit. She is the founder and creator of Soul Care and Meditative Archery and co-founder of collaborative arts troupe. Agents Of Future.
 
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Support for this podcast comes from the Siena Retreat Center. Are you passionate about the spiritual growth and transformation that comes from the practice of spiritual guidance? Siena Retreat Center, located on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee, is seeking an experienced leader in the area of spiritual companioning. The full-time position of Spiritual Guidance Coordinator involves the collaborative leadership of the Center’s Two-Year Spiritual Guidance Training Program. We invite you to explore the job description at www.sienaretreatcenter.org.
 
 
 

EP084 - Sacred Music and Conversation with Simon de Voil

Enjoy this lovely conversation between Frederica Helmiere and Simon de Voil. Simon is an interfaith/interspiritual minister, sacred musician, youth worker and wooden boat builder. In all these vocations, he uses music and carpentry as a means to help individuals and groups connect sacred presence with everyday life. He is also a very accomplished musician; Simon has toured internationally as a singer-songwriter and storyteller and released four solo albums over the past decade. His music explores themes of the inner landscape of the soul, the enchantment of the natural world and a personal journey to follow an unexpected calling. Simon lived as a resident of the Iona community in Scotland for many years, and now lives in Vermont. His unusual life and music are the focus of the award-winning documentary film ‘Funny Kinda Guy.’
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SDI Members are the lifeblood of our organization, which exists to advocate for and equip spiritual companions across traditions, orientations, and around the world. This work begins with you: whether you are a fellow spiritual traveler (as we all are), or work as a spiritual director, life coach, chaplain, or religious leader. We all have a sacred story to tell. The world needs compassionate listeners to bear witness to and to honor these stories.
Whomever you are, and wherever you are in your spiritual journey, there's never been a better time to join our global family of spiritual companions.
We've put together a video featuring a few friends from the SDI Community as they share about the benefits of membership. And we have more on the way! If you haven't done so, please consider joining our Public Square of Spiritual Companionship: https://www.sdicompanions.org/shop/membership-features/

EP083 - Dimensions of Spiritual Companionship - Exploration of the Unknown

Who is a spiritual companion? A spiritual director is a spiritual companion, as is a life coach, a chaplain, a hospice nurse, really anybody in a caring vocation. But it can also be a type of person who lives and listens in ways that embody this type of caring. That is, a spiritual companion need not do it as a job. Some of us are spiritual companions in the way we honor our relationships to family, friends, neighbors, the land, our ancestors, and the cosmos.
So there are lots of ways the role of spiritual companionship manifests, and SDI celebrates the diversity of practices and people who identify as one. But, how does one identify or see themselves and others as a spiritual companion?
In April 2020’s Listen publication, Executive Director Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares wrote a reflection on the Dimensions of Spiritual Companionship - a series of characteristics and skills that a companion lives into.
What are the characteristics of a spiritual companion? Rev. Seifu’s various Dimensions invite us to consider this. And I think it’s important to note that one need not embody ALL of these dimensions at once - but each one should give us some pause, in which I might consider - how do I practice this? How do I embody this dimension?
In an ongoing series of episodes, Rev. Seifu and I will have conversations around each of these dimensions, as a way to unpack and get to know each of them in depth. And as you listen, I invite you to consider each for yourself. The way you understand each dimension need not reflect how we understand it, but I hope these conversations spark either a deep knowing within you, or a good curiosity.
I hope this conversation has awakened or stirred something in you. Take a moment to reflect - how do you identify with this dimension of spiritual companionship? Does it feel natural? Does it feel elusive? How does this dimension manifest for you? Is it something you desire to increase for yourself? I invite you to take a few breaths, and tend to that stirring.---
Do you want to be part of a global contemplative movement that contributes to peace, justice, and living in right relationship with all creation? Your membership supports networking opportunities, publications, educational programming, outreach, and more.
Together we are changing the world through the contemplative action of spiritual companionship. Everyone is welcome to become a member of SDI.
The SDI global learning community is a group of compassionate listeners who are committed to peace and justice. Become a new member or renew your membership on SDI’s secure online store.
Membership benefits include:
Being part of a worldwide contemplative movement
Global and local networking
Listing in the Find a Spiritual Companion Guide: A Worldwide Resource of Available Spiritual Companions
Access to Group Spiritual Direction sessions and exclusive online Town Halls and Gatherings
Subscription to Presence, Listen, and ConnectionsDiscover newsletter
Discounted liability insurance
Discounts on all educational events and gatherings
Discounts on SDI brochures and resources

EP082 - Dimensions of Spiritual Companionship - Deep Listening with Rev. Seifu

Who is a spiritual companion? A spiritual director is a spiritual companion, as is a life coach, a chaplain, a hospice nurse, really anybody in a caring vocation. But it can also be a type of person who lives and listens in ways that embody this type of caring. That is, a spiritual companion need not do it as a job. Some of us are spiritual companions in the way we honor our relationships to family, friends, neighbors, the land, our ancestors, and the cosmos.
So there are lots of ways the role of spiritual companionship manifests, and SDI celebrates the diversity of practices and people who identify as one. But, how does one identify or see themselves and others as a spiritual companion?
In April 2020’s Listen publication, Executive Director Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares wrote a reflection on the Dimensions of Spiritual Companionship - a series of characteristics and skills that a companion lives into.
What are the characteristics of a spiritual companion? Rev. Seifu’s various Dimensions invite us to consider this. And I think it’s important to note that one need not embody ALL of these dimensions at once - but each one should give us some pause, in which I might consider - how do I practice this? How do I embody this dimension?
In an ongoing series of episodes, Rev. Seifu and I will have conversations around each of these dimensions, as a way to unpack and get to know each of them in depth. And as you listen, I invite you to consider each for yourself. The way you understand each dimension need not reflect how we understand it, but I hope these conversations spark either a deep knowing within you, or a good curiosity.I hope this conversation has awakened or stirred something in you. Take a moment to reflect - how do you identify with this dimension of spiritual companionship? Does it feel natural? Does it feel elusive? How does this dimension manifest for you? Is it something you desire to increase for yourself? I invite you to take a few breaths, and tend to that stirring.
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I want to tell you about SDI’s very first online course, called Exploring Spiritual Companionship Across Traditions. Join SDI for a twelve week survey course of spiritual companionship’s expression in various authentic forms: Judaism, Buddhism, Indigenous traditions, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, contemporary Shamanism, eco-spiritualities, and more — guided by the very best in the field offering their expertise and personal experiences. 
This course is for anyone who desires to broaden their understanding and practice of spiritual companionship beyond a single tradition or approach. It is for anyone who is considering becoming a spiritual companion and seeks an inclusive pluralistic introduction to the craft. And it is for anyone who is curious about what spiritual companionship is in our pluralistic modern world.
The live course begins September 9th, but you can register anytime to watch the recordings, and learn at your own pace. Register now at our website, sdicompanions.org.