Whether you have been doing it for awhile now or have needed to switch due to the Covid-19,  most spiritual companions have been using Zoom, Skype, or the phone to meet with our clients/seekers/companions. One of the things we are promoting now is using the phone more than Zoom or Skype. This may seem like the opposite of what you might have thought.  After all, if we are in the service of relationships, shouldn’t we want to see our clients (especially those of us who were meeting in person up until mid-March)?
 
In an article entitled Why Is Zoom So Exhausting, Beckie Supiano explains several issues with the platform: “The body language and other cues that we expect but can’t access; the way we monitor our own appearance; the stimulation of staring into faces at close range; the inability to take a break, move, or change our surroundings.” Where Zoom used to be an opportunity – and still is – now it is an obligation in professional and personal relationships. Many of us are suffering from the void that we feel after the calls and meetings. 
 
Supiano suggests that using Zoom is exhausting because we have constant access to monitoring our own non-verbal cues. When we talk on the phone with our seekers, we obviously still lack the non-verbal cues, but we do not feel a need to self-monitor, and we are less distracted by our client’s movements. This frees us up to access our intuition and trust the knowing in our own bodies without the distraction of our seeker’s face. On Zoom there is little physical distance between you and your screen, which may have implications related to intimacy. On the phone, we do not have a face right in front of us, allowing space for proper intimacy. Talking on the phone also allows us to move; we can change locations or even walk and talk.
 
There are certainly benefits to each of the ways to connect in spiritual companionship. The questions we are discerning right now are which ways promote deeper connection, integrity, and attention, and which ways might hinder deeper connection?

Submitted by Jeanette Banashak

Drs. Banashak and Lundy discuss their individual calls to become spiritual directors-guides and wonder if you may be experiencing something similar. Have you heard or felt a call to serve others by being a spiritual companion? 

SGTI's next 18-mo. training program to become a spiritual director/guide with an interfaith-interspiritual focus begins August 27.

Note: This cohort will begin on time as SGTI is primarily an internet-based program. If the presence of Covid-19 makes the first Chicago Residential Institute unlikely, it will be rescheduled as soon as possible, but online learning will begin anyway. We are currently accepting applications and filling the cohort. We hope you will consider joining us! Contact us for an application. 

We recently had a casual Zoom conversation about our thoughts on what it means to be a spiritual guide/companion/director during challenging times, especially these times of pandemic. Take a listen!

May peace be upon you,
Jan Lundy & Jeanette Banashak

And if you have a desire to serve others in this way as a spiritual guide, contact us. We're happy to talk more about it with you. We are now accepting applications for the 2020-2022 cohort which begins in late August. Learn more here. 

We are currently living in times that have been called unprecedented, uncertain, difficult and ripe with opportunity. What can we do to engage with these trying times, rather than deny or withdraw or disconnect? What assumptions are confronting us that we can look at and possibly change if change is needed? 
 
The times are calling us to access our spiritual resources, including emotional, physical, mental, etc. and consider what tools and relationships we have to buffer against harm (e.g. stress) that may be caused to ourselves or others. 
 
Pir Zia teaches us that when we suffer from illness we can attend to what is needed by getting in touch with patience, slowing down, ceasing to take for granted, watching the breath, breathing to be held by God, and becoming close to those who are dearest to us. We hold these truths in our heart-minds and bodies as we hope for transformation on a global scale. 
 
The following are healing words and prayers from an interspiritual collection of the Sufi Healing Order. You may want to memorize some parts of these, read them multiple times aloud or silently, and/or hold them in your hearts and minds. 
(language may be altered to reflect modern thought and practice)
 
Short One Line Sufi Prayers (located in the Mysticism of Sound) 
Help me to serve your cause. 
 
Oh Spirit of Guidance, throw your  Divine Light on my path.
 
Open my heart, that your spirit I may reflect. 
 
My life is changing and taking a better turn. 
 
My mind is still, my thought is steady, my sight is keen, my life is balanced. 
 
Harmonize my soul, God, with all people and with all conditions. 
 
My body is healed, my mind is fortified, and my soul is illuminated by the grace of God. 
 
Hindu Prayer 
Lead us from darkness to light 
Lead us from sickness to health 
Lead us from death to immortality 
Om, Peace, Peace, Peace. 
 
Buddhist Prayer-  Brahma Viharas 
With the thought of LOVE let me contemplate the world and may this 
LOVE extend to its four horizons. 
And then with the thought of LOVE increasing beyond measure, 
let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. 
With the thought of COMPASSION let me contemplate the world and may this 
COMPASSION extend to its four horizons. 
And then with the thought of COMPASSION increasing beyond measure, 
let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. 
With the thought of JOY let me contemplate the world and may this 
JOY extend to its four horizons. 
And then with the thought of JOY increasing beyond measure, 
let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. 
With the thought of PEACE let me contemplate the world and may this PEACE 
extend to its four horizons. 
And then with the thought of PEACE increasing beyond measure, 
let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. 
Amen.
  
Jewish Prayer/Affirmation -Shema
Sh’ma Yisrael               Listen and hear 
Adonai Eloheinu        The Divine is God 
Adonai Ehad               The Divine is One 
Amen
 
Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi 
God, make me an instrument of your peace: 
Where there is hatred, let me sow love; 
Where there is injury, pardon; 
Where there is doubt, faith; 
Where there is despair, hope; 
Where there is darkness, light; 
Where there is sadness, joy. 
O divine Creator, grant that I may not so much seek 
To be consoled as to console, 
To be understood as to understand, 
To be loved as to love. 
For it is in giving that we receive, 
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. 
 
The Hopi Elders Speak 
By Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation 
You have been telling the people that this is the eleventh hour. 
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the hour. 
And there are things to be considered: 
Where are you living? 
What are you doing? 
What are your relationships? 
Are you in right relation? 
Where is your water? 
Know your garden. 
It is time to speak your truth. 
Create your community. 
Be good to each other. 
 
Rachel Naiomi Remen, MD 
The purpose of life is to grow in wisdom and to learn to love better. 
If life serves theses purposes, then health serves these purposes. 
And illness serves them as well, because illness is part of life.

~ Jeanette Banashak, PhD, EdD

In light of the Coronavirus health warnings, we have all become more aware of the importance of hand washing. ​

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann from Mishkan Chicago, one of SGTI's partners in interfaith learning, shared a beautiful Jewish blessing with her congregation about hand washing.  We thought it was lovely and so timely, of course.

With this prayer, we can reorient even the most mundane and repetitive task toward the sacred. We can bring what might cause duress to spiritual practice. Imagine yourself washing your hands and viewing this as prayerfulness, or as an opportunity to take a deep breath and receive a beautiful blessing.

https://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/blessing-washing-hands-during-pandemic?fbclid=IwAR02zucjQ22Y4vhl4nJxqw7K3Ht5I3duKsTvY4y7ybFd-Dxi6fz60HiFoI8&mc_cid=68cae03973&mc_eid=67f093db45

​We send blessings of good health to everyone! May inner calm and clarity be yours. 

In the next few weeks, a new feature will appear on the SGTI website. We are excited about spotlighting our current students and alumni and have plans to do both beginning in February. We feel that our new features, "Student Spotlight" and "Alumni  Spotlight," will help you get to know the Institute better, especially when it comes to the kinds of students we attract, why they take SGTI's unique training, and how they hope to serve others once their training is complete. 

In the meantime, one of our current students, Matthew Whitney, has been featured as a guest on the Spiritual Directors International podcast, "SDI Encounters." Matt is usually the host of this wonderful series, but this time the tables were turned and he is interviewed about his life as a contemplative artist and a student of spiritual companionship. We hope you will take a listen!

Visit this main page for SDI podcasts:
https://www.sdiworld.org/podcasts
then look for Matt's podcast:
"Art, Creativity, and Spiritual Companionship" 

You can also listen here:
https://sdiencounters.podbean.com/
On Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/2ufeZhwf9z6WuBi5pZEeNn
On Apple Podcasts  https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sdi-encounters/id1451231142?mt=2
On Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/sdi-encounters

It's not unusual for any of us here at SGTI to be asked by someone, "What is spiritual guidance anyway?" Wonderful question!

In one of our early learning modules in the 18-month training program, students are asked a similar question: What is spiritual guidance? Here are some of their answers:

• Spiritual guidance is a form of helping relationship in which together, one is guided in the discernment and development of intimacy with the Divine. Through deep listening and in creating and holding sacred space, the spiritual guide listens into being the Divine Story of the seeker. (M.W.)

• Spiritual direction is a dedicated container for exploration of the inner life through the lens of the sacred or the deeply meaningful. A spiritual companion’s role is to hold safe, nonjudgmental space for your questioning, healing, and deepening in your spiritual life and your relationship with the Divine as you understand it, with the understanding that you are the authority on those topics. (C.O)
 
• "Seeker and guide create an interconnected orb in sacred space and time – an orb in which the Divine is invited to join.  In this sacred human/Divine triad intimacy between seeker and Divine grows.  Often the guide strengthens her own intimacy with the Divine." (C.R.)

​In a publication offered by Spiritual Directors International, "Portrait of a Spiritual Director," one gets a more complete picture of who spiritual companions are and the purpose they serve, their "call" and skillset, along with their hopes for the people they companion. It says:
 
"Spiritual directors or companions support the unique spiritual journey of every individual. They are welcoming and present with those they companion, listening and responding without being judgmental. They are contemplative and honor silence as a spiritual practice. They are intuitive spiritual friends—accountable and compassionate, hospitable and open, loving yet independent."

To read the essay in its entirety, visit this page.
Locate the link which says, "Click here for a printable pdf version of the "Portrait"

If you feel the call to explore spiritual companionship/guidance training yourself, we'd love to chat with you. We are already accepting applications for the 2020-2022 training program which begins in August. You can contact us here. 

​At the Spiritual Guidance Training Institute, we value and celebrate the power of story. Being able to tell your story to a trusted companion can heal, inspire, nourish, connect, and transform us. The first time I told a difficult part of my story to a mentor, he responded, “Well, everyone sins…”. I spent years unpacking that one. Not only is that not my worldview, but his response could have sent me back into a state of fear and mistrust. 
 
A little while later, with the guidance of both a spiritual director and therapist, I continued to share my stories over and over again - until I got to the point where I did not expect my spiritual director or therapist to be the ones to heal me, inspire me, nourish me. Rather, with self-compassion, I learned to connect with a deep inner teacher that ultimately helped me to see me for who I was and am. That is something to celebrate!
 
One of our current students from our third cohort is an art therapist, poet, writer, and emerging spiritual guide. She recently wrote three poems that we’d like to share with you because they speak deeply to the influence of meeting ourselves again and again through each telling of a part of our story.
 
A Celebratory Chant
 
I am a woman who dances.
I am a dance of a woman.
I am a dance of the Dance.
 
I am a woman who dreams.
I am a dream of a woman.
I am a dream of the Dreamer.
 
I am a woman who sings.
I am a song of a woman.
I am a song in the Song.
 
I am a woman with a story.
I am a story of a woman.
I am a story in the Story.
 
I am a woman who loves.
I am the love of a woman.
I am love inside Love.
 
 
100 Stories Each Human Has to Tell
 
The story of:
loss      love     fear     betrayal       failure         success
labor    grace   birth    worth      faith             fidelity
faithlessness   mess    illusion         confusion     hurt
healing       doubt        longing      belonging
home               homelessness
mother            father      lovers     children
poverty      wealth
remembering  forgetting    hunger     abundance
gratitude         complaint       grief      joy
pain     illness    health      stealth
time   youth    aging   refusal    acceptance
internals          externals
roots   culture      wildness     domesticity
ancestry          land     politics
generations        history          colonization
slavery             trauma      violence
peace  brokenness    wholeness
trust        distrust        anger
balance           imbalance
possessions        knowledge        wisdom
questions        change     growth   seasons
hatred        loneliness
solitude    community    family   tribe
war      famine    harvest
song       mirth      creativity
falsity  truth   dreams     beauty
cruelty             compassion
hiding      revelation    dying
greed         generosity      redemption
 
 
Each Time I Tell My Story
 
Each time I tell my story,
it is different,
seen through the hundred
different facets
or ways of being human.
 
And there is a listening spirit
(that some call God)
listening to each telling,
and all hundred names and ways of God
hear and respond,
until my story becomes
a hundred times a hundred stories,
or ten thousand stories.
 
And you, my fellow human,
are also listening,
and you are hearing and responding
with all your stories
within the hundred names and ways
of being human
and my story becomes
a hundred times ten thousand
or a million stories,
just between the three of us,
you, me, and God.
 
And I carry within me
these million responses,
and to each,
from all my human ways,
I respond within,
and so, my story becomes
a hundred times a million,
or a hundred million stories
 
each of which can then be told 100 ways
and be responded to by God’s 100 ways
and by each living person’s 100 human ways,
times seven billion people,
 
and these responses,
can be taken in and lived by me
and then stories told
from that living
on and on until so very soon
infinity is reached
 
because the story
never was my story.
 
It is always our story.
 
And always one story.
The endless and
eternal story of All.
That being said, 
now again,
let me tell you my story…
 
-Poems by Liza Hyatt

Jan and Jeanette take a few minutes to talk about the upcoming "Interfaith/Interspiritual Wisdom Training" which begins January, 2020. 

This one-of-a-kind training program is for people in the caring professions: spiritual directors, clergy and lay servants, educators, social workers, therapists, life coaches, chaplains, spiritual and secular community leaders, and more. Completion of the 5-month, online program results in a certificate in Interfaith/Interspiritual Competence. This will prepare you to companion and serve seekers of various religious, spiritual and ethical traditions. 

Learning Format: Online and via Zoom
Dates: January 13-May 26, 2020
Optional Interfaith Urban Pilgrimage in June, 2020 in Chicago
Applications now being accepted

We hope you will consider joining us!