In today's episode, Creative Director Matt Whitney continues his podcast series entitled "My Boss is a Zen Priest". Matt speaks with SDI Executive Director Reverend SeiFu about the Zen Buddhist practice of Zazen.  Zazen, or seated meditation, is a contemplative practice used to still our mind, ground ourselves, and allow ourselves to connect deeply and mindfully with everything surrounding us.    ---   Rev. SeiFu Anil Singh-Molares is the Executive Director of SDI and an ordained Zen Buddhist priest, as well as a practicing spiritual director/companion and motivational speaker. He is a veteran of numerous interfaith and interspiritual efforts over the years, including Seeds of Compassion in Seattle in 2008, where he was one of the chairs, and as founder and executive director of the Compassionate Action Network. He has a Master’s in Theological Studies from Harvard University. Rev. Seifu is an accomplished speaker and university lecturer and is a key contributor for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. In a previous life, he was also an executive at Microsoft, where he successfully grew international groups and divisions and provided leadership to multi-cultural teams around the world.

SDI Encounters

EP114 - My Boss is a Zen Priest - How to Sit

In this week’s episode, Creative Director Matt Whitney speaks with Imam Jamal Rahman, about their July 2021 webinar series “The Fragrance of the Beloved”, built upon new revealings and discoveries in the poetry of Rumi, through the lens of spiritual companionship. In the truest tradition of spiritual directors and spiritual companions, Rumi asks open-ended questions that lead us to ask penetrating questions of ourselves. He accepts us as we are and opens the way for us to explore what our lives can be in contemplative union with the Beloved. Jamal has been studying Rumi most of his life. Sitting in Jamal’s circle of love as you contemplative Rumi’s mystic brilliance is a chance to broaden and deepen your concept of spiritual companioning. Learn more about this offering on our website at: https://www.sdicompanions.org/product/the-fragrance-of-the-beloved/ ------- Imam Jamal Rahman is a popular speaker on Islam, Sufi spirituality, and interfaith relations. Along with his Interfaith Amigos, he has been featured in the New York Times, CBS News, BBC, and various NPR programs. Jamal is co-founder and Muslim Sufi minister at Interfaith Community Sanctuary and adjunct faculty at Seattle University. He is a former co-host of Interfaith Talk Radio and travels nationally and internationally, presenting at retreats and workshops. Jamal’s passion lies in interfaith community building. He remains rooted in his Islamic tradition and cultivates a “spaciousness” by being open to the beauty and wisdom of other faiths. By authentically and appreciatively understanding other paths, Jamal feels that he becomes a better Muslim. This spaciousness is not about conversion but about completion.

EP113 - Taste of the Divine Garden of Rumi - Imam Jamal Rahman

In this week’s episode, SDI’s Creative Director Matt Whitney poses a variety of questions to SDI’s Coordinating Council in a special “State of SDI” gathering, which was recorded during our Renaissance 2021 Conference from April of this year. The Coordinating Council (Board of Directors) is the governing body of Spiritual Directors International. With the role comes fiduciary, visionary, strategic planning, and personnel oversight responsibilities. Council members serve three-year terms, and new members are appointed as members of the council complete their terms of office. The year following each coordinating council member’s name indicates the year they complete their term of service on the council. 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 accessible for 120 days after purchase.

EP112 - SDI Coordinating Council and the State of SDI

In this week's episode, we hear from our New Contemplatives.  The New Contemplatives Initiative is a container of vocational support and development opportunities for emerging spiritual companions in their first half of life. 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. Together, we work to weave a web of intergenerational wisdom and practice, and to seek answers to: what is spiritual companionship for our times?  This session was recorded during our Renaissance 2021 Conference from this April and features the voices of our program leader Lizzie Salsich and her group of New Contemplatives: Ufra Mir, Sunyata Kopriva, Nathan Bettger, Meissan Chan, and Sarah Zaltash. This episode is a continuation from last week's episode, so please have a listen to part one to put things in context. --- Join SDI for a 8-night / 9-day transformational journey to one of the most mystical places in the world - Iona, Scotland.  Ritual, community worship, poetry, body prayer, meditation, journaling, music and movement will be our tools to deeply listen to the voice of The Great Mystery. Led by retreat leader and Iona native Reverend Simon de Voil, we will walk the landscape of Iona together as pilgrims, wandering to special places on the island to embrace the wilderness and to pray with nature. Learn more at sdicompanions.org.  

EP111 - Renaissance 2021 - New Contemplatives - Part 2

In this week's episode, we hear from our New Contemplatives.  The New Contemplatives Initiative is a container of vocational support and development opportunities for emerging spiritual companions in their first half of life. 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. Together, we work to weave a web of intergenerational wisdom and practice, and to seek answers to: what is spiritual companionship for our times?  This session was recorded during our Renaissance 2021 Conference from this April and features the voices of our program leader Lizzie Salsich and her group of New Contemplatives: Ufra Mir, Sunyata Kopriva, Nathan Bettger, Meissan Chan, and Sarah Zaltash. This is part one of a two part series - please tune in again next week for the second half of their presentation. --- Join SDI for a 8-night / 9-day transformational journey to one of the most mystical places in the world - Iona, Scotland.  Ritual, community worship, poetry, body prayer, meditation, journaling, music and movement will be our tools to deeply listen to the voice of The Great Mystery. Led by retreat leader and Iona native Reverend Simon de Voil, we will walk the landscape of Iona together as pilgrims, wandering to special places on the island to embrace the wilderness and to pray with nature. Learn more at sdicompanions.org.  

EP110 - Renaissance 2021 - New Contemplatives - Part 1

We are very excited about the new "feast" of experiences and resources SDI has on offer for spiritual directors and spiritual companions. And we wanted to invite our community to partake of this feast. Thus, "The Invitation Sale" was born. 10 percent off everything in the SDI Store. For 5 days. Please consider this your invitation to join us at our feast. Iona. Rumi. A new enhanced issue of Presence. Christian Mystics. Books. SDI Courses, SDI membership. Renaissance 2021 video recordings. Yes, everything we have in our SDI Store. All 10 percent off. From now, until 12 noon Seattle time on Wednesday June 2. If you have been considering one of our offerings, now is an ideal time to sign up. Here are some of the possible ways to save: Rumi - A New 4-part webinar series on the great contemplative poet  led by Sufi spiritual director Jamal Rahman.  Register here. Iona - An SDI Journey -  March 18- 26, 2022. Led by spiritual companion and mystic musician Simon de Voil. Watch video | Learn more. New Enhanced Issue of "Presence" - Our creative staff says the June issue is "amazing." As a special bonus for those in our community who aren't members yet, the online issue is free to everyone for this weekend only. Start exploring the issue now. Find your Niche as a Spiritual Director or Spiritual Companion - New Webinar taught by spiritual director and digital marketing professional Rev. Larry J. Morris III.  Register now. Christian Mystics & Spiritual Companionship - 4-part SDI webinar series led by author Carl McColman. Learn more. Recordings of the 2021 Conference - Access for 120 days - Learn more. SDI Courses - In-depth, 12-session on-line courses. Learn at your own pace.  Companionship Across Traditions and Feminist Perspectives. SDI Press - 10 percent off all our best-sellers.  Explore now. 

EP109 - The Invitation Sale - 10 percent off All SDI Membership, Resources, Books, etc until June 2

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. --- 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.

EP108 - Marian Sorensen and Holistic Approaches to Spiritual Companionship

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. --- 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 --- 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!)

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! --- 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.  

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

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. --- 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. --- 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.

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

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. --- 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.  --- 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.  

EP104 - Roshi Joan Halifax - The Landscape of Compassion

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.  --- 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. --- 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 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.  --- 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! --- 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, 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. --- 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!  --- 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!

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 --- 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

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SDI Encounters

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