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Workshop Details
Our workshops will be held on Thursday, May 4, and Friday, May 5, 2023 between 2:30 PM and 5:45 PM.
Workshop durations run from 90-180 minutes each. We will have a 15-minute break starting at 4:00PM.
Day 1 Workshops (A)
Thursday, May 4, 2023 - (2:30 PM - 5:45 PM)
All times listed are in CDT. To convert to your own timezone, refer to this timezone converter.
A1
Shmutz Sweeping: Waking Up to the Light and Dark Shadow of Ourselves, Life, and the Divine
2:30 - 4:00 PM (90 minutes)
Never has the call to awaken been so urgent. There is much darkness in our world. We are learning more all the time how becoming aware of and integrating our shadow serves humanity. What are the spiritual practices that help us to wake up? How can spiritual direction, working with our dreams, and reflection on ourselves and our lives assist us? In this workshop, participants will be invited to consider ‘shmutz-sweeping’ and awakening to our light shadow as sacred spiritual practice. We will learn more about those aspects of ourselves we don’t like. Our less-than-wonderful characteristics are revealed in dreams, through the messes we make in our lives, and through our obsessions. We will also learn about our light shadow, those wonderful aspects of our psyches calling for integration. We will reflect on shmutz sweeping as a daily practice.
Jinks (Jennifer) Hoffmann
Jinks Hoffmann is a spiritual director, psychotherapist and grandmother to 19 beloved grands and twelve great-grands. Poetry editor of SDI, Jinks has had two books published. The first was published by WIPF and Stock and is called It’s All God, Anyway: Poetry for the Everyday. The second, The Light of God’s Shadow: Musings, Stories and Poems on Waking Up was published in 2022 by SDI Press. This workshop brings together the themes of Jinks’ book and explores them through poetry, conversation and experiential invitations. Jinks served on the Coordinating Council from 2008-2014.
Kristen Hobby
Dr. Kristen Hobby is a spiritual director, author and meditation teacher based in Singapore. She has been an active member of SDI since attending her first conference in Vancouver in 2004. Kristen has helped to present workshops at the Parliament of the World’s Religion in Melbourne, served for six years on the SDI Coordinating Council and written Spiritual Direction in Australia: Research and Practice. In 2018, Kristen completed her doctoral thesis on the topic of the spirituality of young children.
A2
Sufi Mystics and Practical Spirituality
2:30 - 4:00 PM (90 minutes)
In this workshop we shall glean wisdom from Sufi sages like Rumi, Hafiz and Rabia to help us live a life of meaning, joy and fulfillment. We shall explore insights and practices that we can weave into our daily life. The aspiration is to expand mind, enlighten heart and create a circle of spiritual companions in our life.
Jamal Rahman
Imam Jamal Rahman is a popular speaker and author 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 Imam at Interfaith Community Sanctuary in Seattle, Washington, and adjunct faculty at Seattle University. He travels nationally and internationally, presenting at retreats and workshops. Jamal’s passion lies in interfaith community building and activism.
A3
Companioning Mother Earth
2:30 - 5:45 PM (180 minutes)
Those working as spiritual companions/counselors/directors may have seen significant and escalating changes in what our companions are bringing in—angst relating to climate crises, mass extinctions, ecogrief, fear of bringing children into this world. A common response is to rely on how we have dealt with natural disasters in the past. But the risks today are far greater than any we have ever experienced—and that for the first time in the history of the earth, our entire global ecosystem, including us, is in danger of collapse. To hold space for this, we need to be able to reconnect with our deep love of Gaia, explore cosmic and microbial perspectives, redefining how we see our role as one species among many. Participants will be guided through experiential practices designed to rekindle our love of Nature, seeing Spirit throughout, all while immersing our souls in the Natural World.
Ed O'Malley
Rev. Dr. Ed O’Malley is an ordained Interfaith/Interspiritual Minister, trained Shaman, certified Nature Awareness Trainer and former Senior Dean in the One Spirit ISC Program. Rev. Ed offers programs designed to foster direct experience of Spirit, through instilling a deep, abiding awareness of the Immensity of the Natural World. He has a profound appreciation, respect and love for Nature.
As an ordained Interfaith/Interspiritual Minister, Shaman and Naturalist, Ed helps people to expand their spiritual awareness by reacquainting them with their own Divine Nature through practices centered on “Meeting Soul in Nature”. His current role is as creator and Facilitator of the new Interspiritual Companioning and Counseling program at One Spirit.
A4
Spiritual Companionship with People in Prison
2:30 - 4:00 PM (90 minutes)
Have you felt called to offer spiritual companioning to people in prison, but weren’t sure if you had what it takes, or didn’t know where to begin? This workshop will help you discern your call and give you the knowledge you need to take the next steps. We’ll begin by looking at the particular qualities needed to be a spiritual companion inside a correctional facility. Then we’ll explore what it’s like to work inside the prison, where and how the interactions take place, and the particular challenges and ethical considerations. We’ll look at useful skills to have or develop. Along the way there will be a lot of stories, and plenty of time for questions and discussion.
Baya Clare
Baya Clare has a Master’s in Theology and a graduate certificate in spiritual direction from St. Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She began teaching courses, giving workshops, offering retreats and providing spiritual direction in federal and state prisons, county jails and juvenile facilities in 2011. In 2016 she co-founded a non-profit prison education organization, Free Inside Prisoner Education, and she has worked as its Program Director, creating workshops and retreats for use by volunteers since then. In addition to her prison work and spiritual companioning practice, Baya is also an artist.
A5
Essence and Enneagram
4:15 - 5:45 PM (90 minutes)
There is increasing interest in using the Enneagram for Spiritual Direction. Whether a novice or expert in Enneagram studies, our time together will offer experiences of both type and Essence, to understand more fully, who we are and who we are not.
We begin and explore presence as a first step toward Essence. Observing how easily Essence disappears, we discuss the Ego Ideal; what we believe is our best self, but it’s a false narrative that distances us from Essence. Understanding the ego ideal sets up our understanding of how we engage in “othering,” where we’ve decided that others are different from us! This awareness takes us into DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging) conversations that are currently front and center in our lives.
Yet, we are one. So, a discussion of our Holy Virtue and Holy Idea bring us to an experience of our Essence and concludes the workshop.
Sandra Smith
Sandra Smith, MDiv, is a Spirirtual Director, Certified Narrative Enneagram teacher and an International Enneagram Association Accredited Professional. For over 20 years, Sandra has taught the Enneagram internationally as a tool for personal, professional and spiritual development. She co-hosts the podcast, “Heart of the Enneagram” and offers spiritual direction with the Enneagram. Her life experiences as a female, identity as a lesbian, love for Earth, and commitment to equity and inclusion shape her teaching and consulting.
Erlina Edwards
In addition to being a graduate of All Faiths International Seminary in New York, Erlina is a licensed Minister, fully accredited Spiritual Director, and a certified International Enneagram Professional. Her training and skills served her well as Director of Human Resources at Intuit and, later, as Senior Vice President at Community Brands. Currently, she is Board Chair for The Narrative Enneagram, an international educational non-profit. Erlina resides with her husband in Tucson, Arizona.
A6
Created for Joy: Joy as an Act of Sacred Resistance
2:30 - 4:00 PM (90 minutes)
Teilhard has written, “Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God,” and Dorothy Day pointed out, “How necessary it is to cultivate a spirit of joy. I believe we are called to the duty of delight.” Especially in times when it is easy to become overwhelmed by the enormous suffering in our world, when the forces of violence, hatred, and despair threaten to tear us apart, choosing and cultivating joy becomes a powerful act of sacred resistance in the face of these forces. In this workshop, we will be guided by two great exemplars of joy – His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu – to learn about what they called the “8 Pillars of Joy” – qualities of heart and mind that open us to the deep joy that is both our true nature and our gift and blessing to the world.
Diane Berke
Rev. Diane Berke is the Founder and Spiritual Director of One Spirit Learning Alliance, based in New York City. Ordained in 1988, she is a widely respected pioneer in the field of interfaith and interspiritual education. Diane has frequently taught with Andrew Harvey in his Institute for Sacred Activism, is a certified facilitator of the Circle of Trust® work of the Center for Courage and Renewal, and is a member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle. In 2020, she was invited by Contemplative Life and Prosocial World to co-develop and facilitate a training program in Prosocial Spirituality through a grant from the Templeton Religion Trust. Diane maintains a private practice in spiritual companionship and has led retreats and workshops on spiritual development throughout the United States and internationally. She is also a licensed mental health counselor in New York State.
A7
Knowing our Bias to Know the All
2:30 - 5:45 PM (180 minutes)
The mystic seeks union with the All. But what if implanted biases block our access to experiencing the real truth of the All? How might we dissipate the clouds of projection, warped by cultural prejudices, that cloud our view of the All?
We’ll engage embodied and imaginal methods to unearth our hidden mental frameworks and gain opportunities to be more inclusive with ability, gender, and race. Local Zen dharma teachers will lead us in sacred chant; Sufi musicians will play for our Dance of Universal Peace (all body adaptations welcome), and Shannon will guide a meditation in nature (this workshop will go outside). During each spiritual practice, mind-body awareness prompts will help us examine and expand our knowing of the Essence of the All. We’ll reflect on how our experience informs our intentions moving forward with our own spiritual journey, our faith group, and/or our directees.
Note: The presenter invites you to take a few Harvard implicit bias tests (of your choice) before the workshop, if you wish to come with a more personal understanding.
Shannon Gorres
Shannon Gorres, MDiv, MA, BCC, is a spiritual director, board certified chaplain, and nature therapy guide on Kanza lands near Lawrence, Kansas. She companions people through pain and disconnection into an integrative and loving relationship with themselves and the world. She engages embodied spiritual practices, nervous system science, trauma-healing techniques, imaginal and nature elements. She works on a continuum between therapy and spiritual awakening, honoring the ancient and orienting toward the present sacred beauty. A mother, poet, and queer, she is deeply embracing a hurting world and mending the ruptures that deter us from knowing divine love. Her roots and practices are: Catholic, Progressive Protestant, Yogic, Buddhist, and Universalist Sufi. http://www.DivineNatureTherapy.com.
A8
The Heart of Resilience
2:30 - 5:45 PM (180 minutes)
Our world is undergoing a significant transformation — and with it, an increasing hardships are piling one on top of another. Yet, a powerful question is present within each of them: How do we maintain an open heart when all it wants to do is close and be safe? This workshop intensive will provide an experiential journey into many of the most difficult elements of life. We will experience those challenges within the sacred expansiveness of the heart. We will also engage with the multiple hearts that we experience: the individual heart, the shared relationship heart, the group heart, and the global heart. And what will result is an experience of how the open heart is the space where our resilience is found.
Khadijah Matin
Rev. Dr. Khadijah Matin has established a solid record of commitment to education and faith-based organizations, serving in multiple leadership roles. Building upon her interests in her family history and social justice work, Khadijah’s work looks at the role family and faith history plays as identity and transformation models. Along with her experience in nonprofit governance, and in recognition of her works in intercultural dialogue and civic engagement she was appointed as an Ariane de Rothschild Fellow. Khadijah has an MS from Fordham University; certificates from One Spirit Seminary (2006); ISC Program (2010). She earned her D.Min. In 2012, from New York Theological Seminary, in Multi-faith ministry. Always inspired by her children, Khadijah is called by some as a “woman who walks through walls” and calling as a continuation of her family’s traditions, fulfilling the social justice dreams of her ancestors.
Nathan Brisby
Rev. Nathan Brisby is an ordained Interfaith Minister and Interspiritual Companion. He co-leads the Interspiritual Counseling and Companioning program at One Spirit Learning Alliance. As a spiritual teacher, he focuses on the depth of the heart, leading workshops on a variety of topics, including building spirituality in the workplace, self-care practices, Biblical studies for the LGBTQIA+ experience, mindful leadership, leading change, compassion fatigue, giving and receiving feedback, meditation as social change, mindful leadership, high impact communication, dismantling white supremacy, and many others. He has worked professionally in the performing arts, organizational development, human resources, and animal welfare spaces. Nathan founded a not for profit, Broadway Gives Back, which connects non-profit organizations with the Broadway community. He is also a certified grief counselor He grew up in a deeply evangelical Christian home, going back for generations. He currently lives in Montrose, NY with his husband, Stephen, and their two chihuahuas.
A9
Bardic Blessing: Song as Prayer
2:30 - 4:00 PM (90 minutes)
According to Greek mystic Pythagoras, “The highest goal of music is to connect one’s soul to their divine nature.” More than mere entertainment, music is a powerful agent for transformation, both personal and collective; song can call us into opening, attune our hearts to a shared rhythm, and stir us to deepen our connection with self, other, and the divine.
In the Celtic Bardic tradition, music is understood to be a divine gift, intrinsically linked with community-based rituals and with individual spiritual practice. Music belongs to and arises from each of us, regardless of our training—we all carry soul-songs.
This participatory workshop will consist largely of shared music and shared contemplative silence, including the opportunity to experience audio divina, deep listening as a form of prayer, and to optionally join in chanting and song, exploring the power of breath and voice to awaken the soul and foster deep connection.
Simon de Voil
Reverend Simon Ruth de Voil is an interfaith/interspiritual musical minister, trained to be a sacred presence outside the conventions of traditional religion. As a musician, spiritual mentor and worship leader he incorporates chant, ritual, poetry, storytelling, and mindful practice to create a space for profound connection and sacred witness.
Simon is an accomplished musician and songwriter with 20 years of experience as a performer. For the last 15 years, though, Simon’s focus and calling has been in sacred music. This grew out of his work at Iona Abbey, and has since led him to provide music for worship, ceremony, and prayer in a wide variety of churches and non-religious spiritual communities. He particularly loves to create music for meditation, healing services, and rites of passage.
A10
Remembering, Reckoning, Renewing: Spiritual Innovation for our Collective Flourishing
2:30 - 4:00 PM (90 minutes)
What will it take to share and reimagine historic faith and wisdom traditions for today’s spiritual directors and companions?
In this in depth follow on to their morning keynote, Michelle Scheidt, Uvinie Lubecki and Alicia Forde will further plumb how seekers, explorers, and wayfarers are all trying to find new pathways for meaning, to connect with mystery and spirit, and to embody love, liberation, and human flourishing in a time when fewer people feel connected to institutions. The Fetzer Institute has initiated a project called Sharing Spiritual Heritage to explore this question with BIPOC spiritual innovators — including spiritual directors and companions, clergy, spiritual entrepreneurs, and other leaders within and outside historical traditions and institutions.
This workshop exploration will give all participants more room to explore the question of how to get to the depth of what we’re seeking in a world that’s full of surface structures. What would serve all of us to build the spiritual infrastructure, and spiritual direction and companion practices, of the future?
Michelle Scheidt
Michelle Scheidt, Senior Program Officer at the Fetzer Institute, is leading an effort focused on field building and network development among spiritual innovators. She and her advisors are asking: How will we hold onto the rich teachings of our historic faith and wisdom traditions while applying them creatively in today’s time? How will we reimagine roles and institutions as the spiritual and religious landscape dramatically shifts? Join her and Uvinie Lubecki, founder of Leading Through Connection, and advisor to the Institute to learn more about this invigorating body of work.
Uvinie Lubecki
Uvinie Lubecki is an organizational consultant and coach who is passionate about designing spiritual practices for secular audiences. She has worked with leaders from over 20 organizations including Macy’s, Johnson & Johnson, GoPro, Volvo Cars, the California Department of Justice, and Google. In 2017, she founded Leading Through Connection, an organization focused on Compassionate Leadership. She currently brings her experience in spiritual innovation to the Sharing Spiritual Heritage project at the Fetzer Institute, where she supports a learning cohort of BIPOC spiritual innovators who are advancing spiritual innovation. Uvinie was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Nigeria, Jordan and New York. She holds a BA in Neurobiology & Behavior from Cornell University and a MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. In her free time, she writes young adult fantasy novels. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and feral cat, Norbu.
Rev. Alicia Roxanne Forde
The Reverend Alicia Roxanne Forde serves with the Unitarian Universalist Association as the Director of the International Office. Alicia is passionate about engaging individuals and communities in discerning what they most care about and working alongside others as they seek to enact Love and Justice in this world. She has developed a profound appreciation for self-care, spiritually grounded leadership/organizational development, and the crucial importance of meaningful connections in establishing sustainable lives.
Alicia was born and spent her formative years in Trinidad and Tobago. She identifies as an African-descent, queer, cis-gender female with deep roots in Tobago. She considers herself bi-cultural and is grateful that her formative years – and ongoing education – enabled her to cultivate a transnational feminist perspective. Alicia is a certified Spiritual Director and has a strong interest in health and wellness. When she’s not hiking, you can find her reading, working-out, or walking with her favorite podcasts. She is a graduate of The Iliff School of Theology (MDiv ’03) and currently lives with her partner in Boulder, Colorado.
A11
Writing Workshop #1: Creation and Contemplation: Explore Your Path as a Writer
4:15 - 5:45 PM (90 minutes)
This session will focus on the process of writing and how to establish a steady writing practice.
Do you feel like you have stories to tell but you don’t know how to get them out? Perhaps you even have a book in you and don’t know where to start. Or maybe you want to explore writing as a contemplative or mindfulness practice, for yourself and your directees?
Through writing exercises and discussions we’ll explore how to free our natural flow of expression, bypass writer’s block and our inner critics, find our most authentic writing voices, and discover what is most alive in our stories.
We’ll also have time for Q&R in this practical session filled with tips, encouragement and inspiration. Just bring your questions, a pen and notebook, and be ready to write!
Learn more about Tania as Writer-in-Residence at Essence 2023 and sign up for 1:1 consultations.
Tania Casselle
Tania Casselle has been a writer and editor for 30 years, published in books, magazines, newspapers and online media in the US, Europe and Asia. Her nonfiction, fiction, poetry and radio work have been recognized in numerous awards and anthologies. A former magazine editor, she is now mainly a book doctor and developmental editor and is hired by publishers and agencies to help their authors write wonderful books! As a writing coach and teacher, she works with people individually and in online and in-person seminars. She helps writers on every level, teaching not just the craft and business of writing, but also exploring the deeper creative and spiritual impulse, helping writers free their natural writing voices and navigate internal blocks.
Tania is a former committee chair for the American Society of Journalists & Authors and a senior teacher and mentorship director for the Sage Institute online Meditation & Mindfulness Leader training program. She holds a Masters in Transpersonal Psychotherapy, follows a contemplative path in the Zen Buddhist and Christian mystic traditions, and is an alumnus of Fr. Richard Rohr’s Living School for Action and Contemplation. A Brit from London, Tania lives in New Mexico with her author and Zen teacher husband, Sean Murphy.
A12
Spiritual Direction Educational Leaders Gathering
4:15 - 5:45 PM (90 minutes)
If you are teacher or educator of spiritual directors and/or spiritual companions, please sign up for this gathering to connect with others in the field, exchange ideas, ponder the future of educational and training programs, and consider the many rapid developments challenging and inviting educational leaders.
Ravi Verma
Bernadette Miles
Dr. Bernadette Miles, B.Theol., M.App.Sci. (Organizational Dynamics),
Ph.D., is co-founder and co-director (with Dr. Marlene Marburg)
of Kardia Formation P/L based in Melbourne, Australia. Kardia was
established in 2015 as a response to the increasing number of people
who desire spiritual formation outside current institutional settings.
Kardia offers companionship of empowerment for women and men
through spiritual direction, Spiritual Exercises, supervision, and various
formation programs, including the Heart Wisdom Program. The
Heart Wisdom Program is a contemporary spiritual direction formation
program which is grounded in Ignatian spirituality and the Spiritual
Exercises and is recognised by the Australian Ecumenical Council
for Spiritual Directors. Bernie is passionate about developing the
ministry of spiritual direction and enabling the work to be relevant in
a multitude of settings, particularly the workplace. Her first book,
which emanated from her recent Ph.D. research, Strengthening Spirit–
Releasing Potential: Spiritual Direction for Leadership and Organizational
Development, was released in February 2021.