Engage 2022 Conference Recordings – Package C

Package C includes the following recordings from the SDI Engage 2022 Conference:

Plenary speakers:

Dr. Cornel West

Dr. Cornel West is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary. Dr. West teaches on the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as courses in Philosophy of Religion, African American Critical Thought, and a wide range of subjects — including  the classics, philosophy, politics, cultural theory, literature, and music. Dr. West is the former Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. Cornel West graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton. He has written 20 books and has edited 13. He is best known for his classics, Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and for his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud.

Pat McCabe

Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) is a Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, spiritual companion, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth and global healing. She draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about spirit, sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women’s Nation and Men’s Nation, in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life” and upholding the honor of being human.

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Workshops:

Dreams and Creativity: Touching the Liminal with Allen Proctor & Sheila Petruccelli

Images that arrive during the Dreamtime are doorways into both the soul and the psyche. Working creatively with these images during the Awaketime allows us to walk through those doorways, crossing a threshold into greater wholeness and understanding. Come explore ways to work with images in a variety of expressions including visual journaling, collage, altar building, found poetry, movement and more. Led by Allen Proctor and Sheila Petruccelli of the Haden Institute.

Divine Creativity & Flow with Allyssa Jomei

Allyssa has a deep passion for the crossroads of spirituality and psychology, especially relating to the impacts of individual and collective traumas. She believes trauma, which we all likely have experienced on some level, takes us out of our bodies and away from our abilities to listen to the creative wisdom within. When we are able to comfortably listen to the wisdom of our whole body, we find the voice of Spirit is creatively communicating with us all the time.

 Creatively Engaging End of Life with Christy Marek

It may seem strange to consider, but embracing death makes a richer and fuller life available to you. When we don’t have a whole relationship with the end of life, the full range of gifts of living that life are inaccessible – and vice versa, when we aren’t living the fullness of our life, we miss out on the beauty and joy available as that life unwinds into death. As spiritual companions, we have the unique opportunity to offer those we serve a broader way to be in relationship with the wholeness of their lives, whatever phase of life they are in. In this session, we will explore how creatively engaging our collective fear of impermanence, change, loss, and grief increases our capacity for holding what is hard as illness, decline, and dying come closer – ultimately enabling us to live more fully now, until our last breath.

The Mutuality of Individual & Collective Healing: Implications & Invitations for Community Companions with Colleen Sharka & Debra Johnson

In communities throughout the world, there are people struggling with grief, loss, trauma, and pain of all kinds. Many of them are unaffiliated with or disconnected from spiritual and religious communities, often further wounded from fragmented systems of care, disparities, inequities, and/or racism. This workshop will explore how Community Companions can offer spiritually based accompaniment that equally contributes to individual and collective healing. This profound mutual healing process unfolds in ripples of growth and transformation. Community Companions, peers living in the very communities they serve, provide unique abiding presence and trusted connection meeting people where they are in the healing process. This workshop is offered by two members of a community trauma and healing support program in Boston, MA. Individual and collective healing examples and models, personal and contemplative reflection, one-on-one mutual listening experience, and a collective group experience will be offered.

Shinrin Yoku (Forest Bathing): Spiritual Companionship With Trees with Jeanette Banashak

Forest bathing is a series of invitations designed to awaken the senses in an intentional way and facilitate aliveness of life. Slowly and mindfully, we attune our senses in a natural setting and cultivate awareness, relationship, and appreciation for the intelligence of things both living and non-living. Forest bathing is an evidence-based practice that nurtures health and happiness through engagement with the forest or natural surroundings. Though the name was coined in Japan in the 80s, people have nourished relationships with the natural environment since the beginning. In Japan, forest bathing is a foundational practice for health and well-being and can be prescribed by a doctor. In this workshop, we will learn about shinrin yoku (forest bathing) and spend most of the time taking a forest bath in a nearby park. We will invite the trees to be either our seekers or spiritual directors and practice holding space for them or being held by them (all with permission).

ABC’s of Spiritual Direction with Lucy Abbott Tucker

Using the alphabet as a template, I will talk about qualities and skills, gifts and challenges that spiritual directors, companions, deep listeners, etc. face as they engage in this critical work with others. The workshop will have input, discussion, and personal sharing.