SGTI's Unique Curriculum for Sacred Listening:
"Pure Presence®"
Pure Presence® was developed by SGTI co-founder and co-director Dr. Janice L. Lundy and is rooted in both the Eastern and Western traditions of body-mind science and contemplative spirituality. It serves and benefits the spiritual guide (or director) as well as the seeker (or client) simultaneously. Pure Presence® allows an individual to listen deeply; to offer the deepest empathy and spiritual care to whomever they companion. This interfaith and interspiritual approach to formal presence training is the most comprehensive way we know to both deepen and advance spiritual understanding and care in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces and religious communities. SGTI students use the Pure Presence Workbook and Journal in their studies.
Pure Presence® is praxis based. It requires deep intention and a strong desire to eliminate what separates us one from one another, particularly in light of theological differences. It also requires practice, consistent practice in self-awareness, because our thoughts and feelings about those who may be different from ourselves are deep seated, and it takes time to uproot beliefs or actions that do not serve us well. With transparency and good self-awareness, we can transform limiting beliefs through the practice of self-compassion. Fully integrated self-compassion ultimately leads to compassion for all beings with whom we interact. And when mutual compassion is present, barriers are overcome, wounds are healed, and all who sip from its cup are made better from the partaking.
Pure Presence® contains these foundational teachings, beginning with learning how to cultivate presence for oneself. Without this element, deep empathetic (non-judgmental) listening is nearly impossible. Without it, we will continue to listen through the filter of perceptions that keep us distanced from one another physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Pure Presence® with oneself
• Establishing and holding attention in the body; mindfulness of body and Sacred Breath
• Cultivating inner space, developing the witness (observer) to transparently notice thoughts
and feelings, especially that create separation
• Applying self-compassion principles and practices (rather than guilt or shame) to what is
discovered
• Ongoing and consistent contemplative practice of choice to deepen self-awareness
• Fostering a deeper understanding of self and spirit; deepening one’s relationship to the
sacred as it is uniquely understood and experienced
Once a foundation of presence for oneself has been established, the guide is invited to expand the practice outward to use with others.
Pure Presence® with others
• Understanding who “the other” is to you and who you are to them
• How to be a welcoming presence; preparing sacred space; holding peace
• Compassionate witnessing of self and other simultaneously
• Expanding the “heart-mind” for deeper listening
• Asking the right questions for clarification and self-awareness; choosing the compassionate
response
• Witnessing the movement of the sacred in the other; cultivating gratitude and appreciation
for the seeker’s journey; finding the gifts and invitations within the spiritual guidance
relationship
• Moving beyond “other”, beyond duality, to celebrate the Oneness of experience
Pure Presence® is therefore a systematic method for spiritual guides, companions and ministry professionals to be fully and compassionately present to anyone of any spiritual persuasion, ethnicity, or belief system. The “burden” of establishing presence, if you will, falls upon us, first and foremost, to do the good work of self because without having done so, we will always be dominated by ego—the volatility of the false self, that convinces us of the superiority or rightness of our view. Presence dwells in the ‘spiritual heart’, as yogic sage Ram Dass calls it; within the ‘true self’ as Christian contemplative Thomas Merton explained it. Indeed, it is the journey of a lifetime to empty oneself, to eliminate one’s own small idea of what someone should believe or how they should live; to bear loving witness to the wonder and Mystery of an individual’s spiritual formation and unfoldment.
Pure Presence® is praxis based. It requires deep intention and a strong desire to eliminate what separates us one from one another, particularly in light of theological differences. It also requires practice, consistent practice in self-awareness, because our thoughts and feelings about those who may be different from ourselves are deep seated, and it takes time to uproot beliefs or actions that do not serve us well. With transparency and good self-awareness, we can transform limiting beliefs through the practice of self-compassion. Fully integrated self-compassion ultimately leads to compassion for all beings with whom we interact. And when mutual compassion is present, barriers are overcome, wounds are healed, and all who sip from its cup are made better from the partaking.
Pure Presence® contains these foundational teachings, beginning with learning how to cultivate presence for oneself. Without this element, deep empathetic (non-judgmental) listening is nearly impossible. Without it, we will continue to listen through the filter of perceptions that keep us distanced from one another physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Pure Presence® with oneself
• Establishing and holding attention in the body; mindfulness of body and Sacred Breath
• Cultivating inner space, developing the witness (observer) to transparently notice thoughts
and feelings, especially that create separation
• Applying self-compassion principles and practices (rather than guilt or shame) to what is
discovered
• Ongoing and consistent contemplative practice of choice to deepen self-awareness
• Fostering a deeper understanding of self and spirit; deepening one’s relationship to the
sacred as it is uniquely understood and experienced
Once a foundation of presence for oneself has been established, the guide is invited to expand the practice outward to use with others.
Pure Presence® with others
• Understanding who “the other” is to you and who you are to them
• How to be a welcoming presence; preparing sacred space; holding peace
• Compassionate witnessing of self and other simultaneously
• Expanding the “heart-mind” for deeper listening
• Asking the right questions for clarification and self-awareness; choosing the compassionate
response
• Witnessing the movement of the sacred in the other; cultivating gratitude and appreciation
for the seeker’s journey; finding the gifts and invitations within the spiritual guidance
relationship
• Moving beyond “other”, beyond duality, to celebrate the Oneness of experience
Pure Presence® is therefore a systematic method for spiritual guides, companions and ministry professionals to be fully and compassionately present to anyone of any spiritual persuasion, ethnicity, or belief system. The “burden” of establishing presence, if you will, falls upon us, first and foremost, to do the good work of self because without having done so, we will always be dominated by ego—the volatility of the false self, that convinces us of the superiority or rightness of our view. Presence dwells in the ‘spiritual heart’, as yogic sage Ram Dass calls it; within the ‘true self’ as Christian contemplative Thomas Merton explained it. Indeed, it is the journey of a lifetime to empty oneself, to eliminate one’s own small idea of what someone should believe or how they should live; to bear loving witness to the wonder and Mystery of an individual’s spiritual formation and unfoldment.