This article authored by SGTI co-founder Janice Lundy is currently being featured on the Spiritual Directors International blog: 

"Many years ago when I was training to be a spiritual director, the kindly Sister who led the program made it very clear to us that spiritual guidance over the telephone was not acceptable. More specifically, that good spiritual guidance could not happen unless two people were face-to-face and the “third chair” was physically present in the room.
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Today, I know better and do offer spiritual guidance via Skype or over the telephone. I have found it to be a very useful modality benefitting some seekers, in some situations, but not all.  Without a doubt, it can have a providential outcome as I have experienced with seekers outside the U.S. (my home), homebound seekers, and those whose lives present varied and difficult circumstances in terms of travel, child-care needs, or work schedules. Grace can move through the ethers across telephone lines and satellite networks. Who are we to say it can’t?" ...

Read the article in its entirety here. 

According to the Pew Research Center (Religion and Public Life), approximately 40% of millennials do not consider themselves religious and are not affiliated with any form of tradition religion. But does this mean that millennials are not spiritual? Or religious? Not necessarily.

Phil Couseneau, director of the Global Spirit series that airs on Public Television, presented a program recently titled, "The Power of Community - The New Monastic Movement."

In this powerful video segment, we see millennials, along with kindred others, forming dedicated contemplative communities, exploring their inner lives in a more interspiritual way. And, at the same time, bringing these values to the street, literally, through acts of altruism. 
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Learn more about the Global Spirit TV series here. 

We are pleased to announce that Drs. Banashak and Lundy have been invited to present an all-day "Interspirituality Institute" at the Spiritual Directors International Conference in St. Louis, MO, in April 2018. 

Their program titled, "Interspiritually Present: Exploring the One Heart of Spiritual Direction" will be offered as a pre-conference institute on April 26. 

Institute Overview:
In recent years, there’s been a dramatic rise of seekers who identify themselves as “interspiritual”—meaning, having direct spiritual knowledge of the Divine beyond one tradition; embracing the universality of religious experience.
 
What does this growing trend invite us to as spiritual directors? How can we embrace perennial wisdom, yet stay faithful to our identity, to our tradition? How do we transcend personal bias to offer pure presence to seekers of all persuasions? Exploring these questions, we will learn skills and engage in practices that have the potential to build bridges where once were impasses."

(The conference is open to members of Spiritual Directors International.)

Spiritual Directors International is a 7,000 member strong body of spiritual directors, guides, and companions who learn, grow and come together once a year to explore ways to expand our knowledge and practice of holding presence for others on their spiritual journeys. SDI is "...an inclusive, global contemplative movement that contributes to peace, justice, and living in right relationship with all creation ... changing the world through the contemplative action of spiritual direction."