 What does it mean to offer “pure presence” to someone? According to James E. Miller, author of The Art of Being a Healing Presence, presence is "the condition of being consciously and compassionately in the present moment with another or with others, believing in and affirming their potential for wholeness, wherever they are in life." I cite Miller’s definition here because, in my view, it perfectly aligns with our understanding and practice of presence in the purest sense. His definition states that this type of presence is something we create within ourselves. It also makes very clear that whenever we intersect with anyone in this way we have the opportunity to affirm their essence—their divinity as well as their deep humanity. Our conversational efforts become the practice ground for viewing the individual in a wholesome way. This can be our highest hope as well as the intention that guides us throughout this training: to have open-hearted conversations that can lead to enhanced relationships and positive outcomes with whomever we meet. It is presence without agenda. It is presence that welcomes each individual who steps across our threshold (mental or physical) with wholeheartedness and compassion. This is not any easy thing to do today given our ethnic, religious and political differences. For our purposes here, we can think of presence as a calm, openhearted space of welcome and service. When we offer someone presence, we invite him or her into our circle of care for conversation and the sharing of life experiences. We hold presence and we offer presence for the benefit of the other. We are here to serve. “Pure Presence”, as presented in the SGTI curriculum, is a unique protocol for sacred listening that can enhance and deepen one’s ability to offer presence to clients and seekers of any tradition. It is uniquely designed for caring professionals to be used in a myriad of settings, ministry formats and private practice. Pure Presence allows an individual to listen deeply; to offer the deepest empathy and spiritual care to whomever they are with. ©2017 Janice L. Lundy Pure Presence: A Workbook and Journal  This post is in honor of one of SGTI's most luminous students, Bijayananda Singh, who departed this earth one month ago. Bijay was a graduate of our "Interfaith and Interspiritual Wisdom Training" program and was much loved by all who studied with him. He lived in India, a devoted son, husband and father. He will be dearly missed. Bijay had a heart of service and enormous love for young people. He was Secretary/Executive Director of the NFP, "Solidarity for Developing Communities" (www.sfdc-org.in/institutionalbased). He headed up a residential school for marginalized students, especially those considered to be "untouchable", instilling in them the skills and values to be "human harmonizers." "Human Harmonizers are expected to grow physically, mentally and spiritually in a balanced manner. As they grow holistically, they are expected to influence others by their thoughts and actions leading to ushering transformational changes within and outside their own communities." Bijay's heart of compassion lives on through his colleagues at SGTI. He penned many beautiful poems as part of his SGTI learnings and submitted them for assignments. With his family's permission, we share one of them here. His words convey the essence of Interspirituality which he believed was necessary for world peace, and the commonly held value of compassion. We hope you will be moved by it as we were. Bijay, your spirit of service, unconditional love and respect for others of all religious traditions, is something we can all aspire to. We are honored to have walked the earth with you. Thank you for being a way-shower for us. Peace be upon you. Shalom. Om Shanti, dear friend. Compassion Compassion is to be avatars as Buddha, Christ, Krishna, Moses, Muhammad, Nanak and the like Compassion is striving to find the way outs by the avatars for the sufferings of the humankind Compassion is avatars’ desire to pass their wisdom to their next generations Compassion is infinite manifestation of the Unmanifest Compassion is infinite names of the Nameless Compassion is infinite forms of the Formless Compassion is the attraction of man and woman Compassion is the potential on a seed to produce infinite seeds Compassion is a plant not germinating with ripen fruits with it Compassion is an untaught bird weaving nest for its kids Compassion is a baby fish able to swim instantly Compassion is a caterpillar taking time to become a butterfly Compassion is roots of trees on the sunshine and on the shed sharing food secretly Compassion is my mother’s ability to not eat after her children eat up everything Compassion is our school peon’s love that donated one of his kidney to his son Compassion is missionaries leaving their land for another country Compassion is trees breathing out oxygen Compassion is Mother Teresa’s desire to document her aridity of God’s love Compassion is father burping his baby putting on his shoulder Compassion is trees dropping their ripen fruits gently down on the ground Compassion is our country supported by other countries during this pandemic Compassion is Creator creating infinite emptiness to house infinite things Compassion is getting in touch with our own hearts and functioning from it Compassion is watching the tongue lest it slip a bad word Compassion is Nature’s food cycle Compassion is meeting of your eyes with the eyes of your dog Compassion is praying for know and unknown, asked or unasked Compassion is loving-kindness or kindness plus love Compassion is Dalai Lama’s pet name Compassion is mother’s milk ready when baby is on the way Compassion is birth pain Compassion is the worms forming on the dead body for it to decompose Compassion is silence understood without speaking a word Compassion is death in God’s time Compassion is wondering what is not compassion? Compassion is Sun’s desire to evaporate water to form cloud in the sky Compassion is cloud’s desire not to hold the rain up in the sky Compassion is willing to write a book on the compassion Compassion is jasmine’s wish not to hide its fragrance inside Compassion is Earth’s ability to nurture its infinite plants, on its womb, with sweet, bitter and sower milks Compassion is being compassionate to the compassionless Compassion is cooperation of an iron to be modeled as a tool Compassion is patience of a reed flute to be holed to produce a melody Compassion is empathy, sympathy and mercy, all put together Compassion is heart’s ability to feel the feelings of ‘others’ Compassion is intuiting, everyone and everything is One Compassion is not surplus of compassion, but deficiency of it Compassion is gratitude, sometimes, overflowing Compassion is innumerable births as Bodhisattva Compassion is common to all the faiths without which it is not a faith Bijayananda Singh Module 10 Buddha Purnima 2021   Guest post. Words and image by SGTI alumnus Christine Hiester “If your everyday practice is to open to all your emotions, to all the people you meet, to all the situations you encounter, without closing down, trusting that you can do that–– then that will take you as far as you can go. And then you will understand all the teachings that anyone has ever taught.” ~Pema Chödrön What if this practice of opening– this discomfort, this deep presence with exactly what is in each sacred moment (and they are all sacred) – is the only work? What if understanding “all the teachings that anyone has ever taught” can be summed up in the everyday encounters with our inner responses to the mysteries, struggles, frustrations, and quiet joys experienced in the midst of this very human life? What if trusting the moment-by-moment unfolding within us is the path that will also take us outward, to the edges of the cosmos, and the great insights of existence? Or maybe these questions are too lofty. Maybe they remove us from our lives and place us in an ideal that is all too easy to ponder rather than live out. Maybe with feet on the ground, in the messy reality of life, we instead ask these questions: Whom will we meet today? What interruptions will derail our plans? What conflicts will arise at work, or at home, that will push every button we have? What physical pain will distract us as we go about the tasks of our day? What if stubbing a toe, getting cut off on the highway, receiving a phone call with bad news, or being caught in a downpour which makes us late to an important meeting are each divine opportunities to open, open, open our hearts fully to the journey that will make us whole? What would it feel like to resist the closing, and instead open to everything– everything! – with soft heart and deep breath? How are you living into your holy “What ifs?” today? How can you invite others to do the same? Christine Hiester is an interspiritual spiritual companion, retreat facilitator, artist, and musician. She finds her home in spacious places where contemplative and creative practice meet deep connection in community. You can find her on her website www.shapingtheriver.com and on Instagram at @shapingtheriver
 As a follow up to our previous post, Jeanette Banashak has just had an article published by Spiritual Directors International for their blog. Her article guides you through a complete practice of inviting a tree to be your spiritual director: "Trees as Spiritual Directors/Companions."
https://www.sdicompanions.org/trees-as-spiritual-directors-companions/
This wisdom by Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr holds an interesting view of who or what could serve as a spiritual director/guide/companion to us. Inspirational pieces like this one are the kind of inspiration that SGTI sends out every week in our FREE "Universal Wisdom" offering. Have you subscribed yet?
Enjoy this sample and allow yourself a few minutes of gentle contemplation as you sit with the Reflection Questions. "I must share with you a story about a particularly barren time in my life when I used a tree for a spiritual director. I learned so much that year because I listened in silence... Because it was small I couldn't lean on it but could only sit beside it. That taught me a lot about what the role of spiritual guide should be. Even though it was small, it had the ability to give me a certain amount of shade. You don't have to have a lot of leaves to give shade. Because it was silent I listened deeply. You don't need a lot of words to connect with God. When it got thirsty I watered it. The miracle of water is a little like the miracle of God's love. That little sycamore taught me a lot about foot washing. Watering it was a great joy. A soul-friend relationship never works only one way. There is a mutual giving and receiving. I learned from my tree that being transplanted is possible. I can always put down roots again, connect with the Great Root, and grow on." -Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr, A Tree Full of Angels Reflection Questions: 1. How have trees been your companions? 2. Is there a particular tree that you have connected with? What was it about that tree that drew you to it? 3. You may want to take a walk with the intention of finding a tree to sit by and with and invite it to be your spiritual director. Or alternatively, perhaps the tree is inviting you to be its spiritual companion.  This spring, SGTI, SGTI students and alumni, as well as 1600 others, participated in Spiritual Directors International’s first virtual conference. We asked the SGTI community the following questions as a way to serve as a debrief of the conference, learn from each other, and share with our readers: What insights did you gain from this year's SDI conference? How might those insights inform your current or future practice of spiritual companionship/spiritual direction?
One alumna offered this response (used by permission): I need sustained belonging within a contemplative learning community. Yet, strong communities of deep-diving seekers actively engaged in the world are truly hard to find. For me, SGTI is such a community. Yet, since this January, after graduating from the 18-month training in inter-spiritual guidance, I’ve feared that my experience of belonging within my cohort would weaken and fade over time, until I was once again without the community nourishment I relished as a SGTI student and need now, more than ever. As winter shifted toward spring, I lived inside this fear, confused and unsettled as I continued discerning how to fit my new growth as spiritual director into my already full life as art therapist and teacher of graduate art therapy students. In this unsettled place, I considered cancelling my registration for the Spiritual Directors International virtual conference. I doubted I would feel nourished, or connected to other attendees, by spending yet more hours in front of a computer screen. But this would be my first time attending an SDI conference, and I hoped it might offer ways to see more clearly where I am and where I am headed. And so, I showed up, living my questions, hoping to be touched in some way. I now am at a loss for words to describe how much I was touched by during the conference. Simply put, I no longer feel afraid. Instead, I feel like the little boat of belonging within which I sailed as part of our intimate SGTI cohort has been taken on board the much larger vessel of SDI, within which I can continue to grow, learn, and find connections to fellow seekers who are as engaged as I am. Deeply inspired by Father Adam Bucko’s workshop and keynote presentation, I am now reading his book on new monasticism and I feel affirmed that I have been a modern-day monastic literally my whole life. Through SGTI and SDI, I have found my fellow monks. On the first day of the SDI conference, I woke to find a wet, heavy snow coating April’s greening new life with strange winter garb. This snow continued off and on all day. As I sat in my home in Indianapolis attending the day’s virtual offerings, I grieved for the spring-growth I was sure would be frozen and ruined. Instead, when the snow melted, to my surprise, most everything survived and kept blooming. As I returned to my normal routine after the conference, my delight at spring recovering from winter’s last blast has been co-mingled with my delight at having found connection to SDI’s abundant community of contemplative learners. A grouping of yellow, purple and white pansies is how nature conveys for me these overlapping delights. As I look into the faces of these flowers, I see brightly dressed monks with wide-eyed singing expressions. And I feel like one of them, not alone. This is how I felt throughout the entire 4-day SDI conference and how I continue to feel after it. Like pansies surviving frosts and snows, we contemplatives live amidst the suffering caused by humanity’s frozen-heartedness, and willingly serve it, again and again, helping hearts thaw and spirits bloom. And we find each other. Somehow in this non-contemplative, struggling world, we keep seeking until we find each other. Thanks to SGTI, and in new ongoing ways through SDI, I have truly found belonging within a vibrant community of beautiful, flowering, hardy, courageous spirits who are committed to strengthening each other so that we can live authentically in this suffering world and serve with love.” Another alumna shared this in response (used by permission): "A sense of belonging was a big take home for me, too. The strongest sense for me was what felt like a palpable urge for the SDI community to respond to the blights that have plagued our larger social landscape more than ever, especially since COVID struck. This sense of purpose came across much stronger to me than it had when I went to the previous two SDI conferences. I felt that within this culture of SD (spiritual direction) and Interspirituality, there’s a unique contribution we can make and all want to make together. I also felt a sense that we’re learning as we go. One participant shared that SDs have up till now mostly concerned themselves with the inner life of their companions and their immediate social circles. But there has not been sufficient concern for the collective in SD practice. And it’s that concern that I felt many of the keynote speakers and much of our community express. I was really impressed and heartened that it’s possible to align my love of contemplative practice and Interspirituality with a crying urgency to do our parts to hold up the values of democracy, empirical truth and decent regard for all people walking our streets.” We heard other comments and reflections that all spoke to the richness and depth of this year’s conference. We echo these reflections and continue to be grateful to SDI for the many ways it supports us and our communities. We are forever changed."  Written by: SGTI Student Eric Budzynski I give thanks to native and Indigenous traditions for teaching me to know myself as earth, water, fire, and air; to remind myself to live in harmony with these elemental forces and to allow the constancy of their universal language to guide my own actions in responsible and sustainable ways. Brother Wind, Sister Moon, Grandmother Tree, Grandfather Bird, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I give thanks to the ancient messages of the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita as a gift from beyond just as the sacred waters of the Ganges flows from the height of the Himalayas. Not needing to limit the Oneness to an archetype of form but a vast explosion of divine, opulent and generous expression allows those sacred and timeless messages to speak to all hearts of all beings. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I give thanks to the followers of the Covenant in trusting the might and power of the One God and the willingness of that god to touch and intervene with the humanity of the world created in its own image. In giving daring and bold proclamation to thrilling and prophetic voices, those heralds still echo clearly throughout the ages as a message of promise and hope to a New World yet to be known or seen by the children of Adam & Eve. Adonai, Abba, Moses, Noah, David, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I give thanks to Siddartha for offering the Middle Way as a path to peace and awakening and a realization that to live fully is to live in acceptance and awareness of all that life affords and offers each of us. May I dwell with you in the divine abodes of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity and continue to know, recognize and understand my own humanity in that of all beings. Tathagata, Guanyin, Buddha, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I give thanks to Christ and his beloved community of saints as witnesses to the impenetrable power of love as victor over death and hatred. Centuries of inspired art and expression have given my own life purpose and meaning to know, touch, taste, see, smell, and hear the invitation to share in your creative reckoning as a faithful believer in your own incarnation. Gregory, Cecilia, Paraclete, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I give thanks to the author of mercy and to the willing harbinger of his message of peace in a humble prophet. You ask us to surrender, soften, and break open ourselves time and time over to learn your love so that we may never be removed from it again. Faith, prayer, offering, fasting, and pilgrimage show us the path to the essence of your being. Allah, Muhammad, the Merciful One, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. I have now arrived nearer to the other shore where You wait patiently with my own resistance and unknowing. This is the place where words fail and end and lose meaning. Sound gives way to the complete and unshakable wisdom of silence and Presence. You offer patience, curiosity and love as a way to ultimately see my own Youness radiantly reflected in You and in everything around me. All You that have gathered to help me bear witness, hear my message of welcome and gratitude. Now our minds and hearts are as one. Now our minds and hearts are as one. Now our minds and hearts are as one. (Inspired, with gratitude & humility, by the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. In partial fulfillment of Certificate In Interfaith/Interspiritual Direction/Companionship.)  As we are in the middle of admission season for our next 18-month cohort for spiritual companionship training, we thought we’d write a bit about what is going on behind the scenes at SGTI. Lifelong activist, educator, and researcher, Dena Simmons encourages, challenges, and inspires us: "If we don't apply SEL [social and emotional learning] with an anti-racism lens, SEL risks turning into white supremacy with a hug." While her statement is not about spiritual companionship, we could easily substitute spiritual companionship for SEL: If we don't apply spiritual companionship with an anti-racism lens, spiritual companionship risks turning into white supremacy with a hug.
As a priority and practice, we are committed to being an anti-racist and anti-oppressive institution that continually strives to identify and dismantle inequity and unjust systems. We are committed to the process of interrogating and decolonizing our curriculum, policies, practices, and procedures and to the ongoing professional and personal development that supports and amplifies compassionate-sacred activism, respect, equity, and hospitality. We, the co-founders/co-directors, acknowledge that we live on the appropriated homelands of Indigenous peoples. We are committed to building relationships with Indigenous peoples and nature of their homelands. It is important to us that we increase our spectrum of perspectives: We acknowledge that we are in process with all of our commitments, and as an interfaith and interspiritual institution, we will strive to build sustainable relationships with BIPOC and the land in which we live. It is our deep desire to have ongoing conversation about race, class, ability, gender and other identities as well as their intersections and to incorporate critical discussions within our curriculum. In addition, we strive to practice contemplation, reflection, and self-examination related to these issues, opportunities, and our commitments. And we continue to nurture prior relationships within our communities and seek out new ones for collaboration and connection.  Today, we are pleased to offer a sampling of poetry and artwork submitted by one of our students in the "Interfaith and Interspiritual Wisdom" training program. Students are always offered the opportunity to express their learnings in creative ways. Enjoy this entry by Deb W. in completion of the module on Islam. "Curious and Afraid" |
About this blogDeepening the understanding, practice and importance of spiritual guidance-companionship across traditions. 
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