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Thursday, April 16, 2020
Friday, April 10, 2020
Next Saturday: Learn to Reframe Fear: bit.ly/reframefear
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Thursday, April 09, 2020
Interrupting Fear: Reframing Our Stories
Interrupting Fear: Reframing Our Stories
with Niambi Jaha-Echols:
April 18, 8 am PT/ 11 am ET/ 5 PM CET or check your timezone
Across the globe, we are experiencing a massive paradigm shift as Covic 19 moves through the planet like a hurricane – disrupting every sense of normalcy we know. Now more than ever we are in need of a new narrative to counterbalance our fears. How can we stay in a place of peace when the world as we know it is rapidly changing?
As a hurricane, we are taking shelter – waiting for the moment we can come out and access the damage. Meanwhile, as we find ourselves caught up in the chaos with fee and lings of fear, unrest and uncertainty, join us as we move ourselves and our attention to the eye of the storm. In the eye, it is calm because the surface winds that surface towards the center never reach it. In the eye, we have the opportunity to recalibrate, reset, and re-imagine a new normal as we wait.
Join us virtually as we Interrupt Fear and Reframe Our Stories. sharing 10 Steps You Can Take to move towards the eye of peace in this pandemic.
About the Facilitator:
Cultural Agility Strategist Niambi Jaha-Echols is the Principal and Lead Consultant for Cross-Cultural Agility, LLC where she trains, coaches and consults individuals and corporations on issues supporting cultural intelligence and new pathways to inclusion.
She is the Founder of The Butterfly Movement, where she utilizes the symbolism of the caterpillar/butterfly metamorphosis to foster emotional and spiritual transformation in women and girls, and the author of What Color is Your Soul and Project Butterfly, Inspiring The Souls of Our Girls, Her work has been featured in Essence and Ebony Magazines, MSN.com and Oprah’s Angel Network for her work with teen girls.
How to Participate:
Preregister: Send us a blank email for priority access OR
Show up “at the door”: It takes place on the Zoom platform. Follow the instructions below:
> Join us online: https://zoom.us/j/293138919 Or iPhone one-tap :US: +16699006833,,293138919# or +16465588656,,293138919# Or Telephone:Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 293 138 919International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/apPbvogYK
Read the full article
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Interrupting Fear: Reframing Our Stories
Interrupting Fear: Reframing Our Stories
with Niambi Jaha-Echols:
April 21, 8 am PT/ 11 am ET/ 5 PM CET or check your timezone
Across the globe, we are experiencing a massive paradigm shift as Covic 19 moves through the planet like a hurricane – disrupting every sense of normalcy we know. Now more than ever we are in need of a new narrative to counterbalance our fears. How can we stay in a place of peace when the world as we know it is rapidly changing?
As a hurricane, we are taking shelter – waiting for the moment we can come out and access the damage. Meanwhile, as we find ourselves caught up in the chaos with fee and lings of fear, unrest and uncertainty, join us as we move ourselves and our attention to the eye of the storm. In the eye, it is calm because the surface winds that surface towards the center never reach it. In the eye, we have the opportunity to recalibrate, reset, and re-imagine a new normal as we wait.
Join us virtually as we Interrupt Fear and Reframe Our Stories. sharing 10 Steps You Can Take to move towards the eye of peace in this pandemic.
About the Facilitator:
Cultural Agility Strategist Niambi Jaha-Echols is the Principal and Lead Consultant for Cross-Cultural Agility, LLC where she trains, coaches and consults individuals and corporations on issues supporting cultural intelligence and new pathways to inclusion.
She is the Founder of The Butterfly Movement, where she utilizes the symbolism of the caterpillar/butterfly metamorphosis to foster emotional and spiritual transformation in women and girls, and the author of What Color is Your Soul and Project Butterfly, Inspiring The Souls of Our Girls, Her work has been featured in Essence and Ebony Magazines, MSN.com and Oprah’s Angel Network for her work with teen girls.
How to Participate:
Preregister: Send us a blank email for priority access OR
Show up “at the door”: It takes place on the Zoom platform. Follow the instructions below:
> Join us online: https://zoom.us/j/293138919 Or iPhone one-tap :US: +16699006833,,293138919# or +16465588656,,293138919# Or Telephone:Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 293 138 919International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/apPbvogYK
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Friday, March 27, 2020
Lucid Dreaming as a Pathway to the Divine
Ryan Hurd’s first experiences with lucid dreaming – the experience of being awake while dreaming – were the nightmares he experienced as a child. After watching the 1982 film Poltergeist, he’d have these repetitive dreams of tentacled monsters escaping from his television set and coming after him.
Eventually, he learned to confront these monsters and tell them they weren’t real, causing them to sink back into the television set and go away.
These early nightmares were a precursor to Hurd’s lifelong fascination with dreams. He’s since studied and written about the phenomena of nightmares, how to experience lucid dreams, and how dreams can be portals to the expansion of consciousness.
In this podcast, Hurd describes his early training as a field archaeologist and his ventures into dream archaeology; how he’s used dream incubation to gain insight into issues affecting his waking life, and his experience with dream mentors.
“Part of this (the study of dreams) is realizing that in waking life we’re not always as lucid as we think we are. It’s waking up to the dream of waking life as well, and just appreciating the ups and downs of consciousness throughout our day,” Hurd says.
In addition to describing his own experience, Hurd explains how anyone can begin the process of working with their dreams, his studies on the impact of galantamine paired with meditation and dream reliving on subsequent dreams, and how dreams can be portals for expanding consciousness.
Hurd is the editor of DreamStudies.org, and the author or co-author of several books on dreams. He’s an adjunct lecturer at John F. Kennedy University. is currently serving as Director of Spiritual Development at Unitarian Society of Germantown in Philadelphia, PA.
Links:
- Hurd’s Dream Studies Portal
- His book: Lucid Immersion Guidebook: A Holistic Blueprint For Lucid Dreaming
- The Committee of Sleep: Book that describes how artists, scientists and others use dreams for creative problem solving
- The Sacred Inclusion Network's site
- Provoked by this episode? Record a response!
- Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!
Check out the Diversity and Spirituality’s newest podcast
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Friday, March 20, 2020
[Last Call] Rituals for Resilience Saturday: https://bit.ly/2xcQVhA
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Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Monday, March 16, 2020
Healing Toxic Masculinity
Men who exhibit toxic “Me Two” behavior are not just predators, but victims, says leadership coach and spiritual teacher Wendy C. Williams.
They are victims that unconsciously act out society’s unacknowledged expectations for their gender. Because of these unspoken norms, they subjugate both women and the female aspect of themselves. They simply haven’t learned to express emotions in appropriate ways, she says.
“As a society, we’ve put men in a box that says that in order to be masculine, you have four acceptable emotional states: angry, neutral, happy (for short periods of time and for good reasons), and sad (for short periods of time and for good reasons). Men are not allowed to otherwise express themselves, and if they do,” they’re vilified.
“The fact that woman are not safe in society is related to this topic. What I see happening in society is that there is an unspoken societal norm that says that certain bad behavior by men should not be talked about, acknowledged or punished. That’s why the Me Too movement is so radical and polarizing.”
In this podcast, Williams shares how taking an inventory of her own relationships with men broadened her understanding of the difference between what she calls Divine Masculinity and Toxic Masculinity.
She shares her belief that this is a “humanity problem,” and not just a male one.
“Work needs to be done by both men and women. Women need to be stronger and step out of the victim role.” They also “need to stop supporting ridiculous social norms for men that are both inappropriate and harmful.”
Links:
Links:
- this interview on YouTube
- Wendy C. William’s site
- The Sacred Inclusion Network’s site
- Provoked by this episode? Record a response!
- Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!
Check out the Diversity and Spirituality’s newest podcast
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Friday, February 14, 2020
Sound, Healing and Spirit
Musician Jonathan Adams eight years ago was suddenly stricken with a crippling form of depression and anxiety. It was then he discovered a new way of experiencing music and sound. Instead of using these tools to entertain others, he used them instead to calm himself down. Over time, he realized that music and sound could became a gateway of transformation and a means for expanding consciousness.
For the past several years, Adams has become less of a performer and more of teacher and sound therapist. His passion these days is helping others use sound and music for healing and spiritual upliftment.
In this podcast, Adams (aka, The Sonic Yogi) shares his origin story, the concept of brain wave entrainment, and how sound and music are used in religious and spiritual traditions. “Nearly every culture and many if not all of religious traditions use some sort of sound” as a way to transform consciousness,“ he says.
"The first form of brain wave entrainment was drumming. Indigenous cultures around the world have used drumming as a ceremonial act to get the brain to a different place.”
In addition to explaining how sound and music affect the brain, Adams here shares an original composition, improvises with drum and Tibetan bells, and explains how certain frequencies stimulate the focal points in the subtle body or chakras.
Adams started his career as a professional musician, recording albums for classical guitar with albums for Pamplin, Intersound Records and his own label.
As the Sonic Yogi, he’s put his focus into the exploration of the healing potential of music, and has given talks and workshops on sound therapy at Tedx, national spiritual living conferences and elsewhere. His vibrational sound therapy tracks can be streamed on Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, Youtube and the Insight Timer app.
Links:
- The Sonic Yogi website
- Adams on YouTube
- The Sacred Inclusion Network's site
- Provoked by this episode? Record a response!
- Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!
Check out the Diversity and Spirituality’s newest podcast
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Sunday, February 09, 2020
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Indigenous Spirituality, New Age Spirituality
Is there anything in common between how indigenous people experience of esoteric, spiritual phenomena and the contemporary New Agers who presume to be their heirs?
If anyone is qualified to begin to answer this question it’s Michael F. Brown, a cultural anthropologist who’s done a deep dive into both of these worlds.
Back in the mid-1970s, Brown spent a year living with the Awajún also known as the Aguaruna),an indigenous people of the Peruvian jungle, whose ancestors had a reputation as fearsome headhunters and whose cosmology includes beliefs in shamanism and sorcery.
Peru’s Shining Path insurgency in the 1980s forced Brown to refocus his work elsewhere, to the study of the New Age phenomena of channeling, which was peaking around this time. Just as he immersed himself among the Awajún, Brown spent a season with the channels, their clients and audience. He documented what he discovered in his aptly titled book, The Channeling Zone: American Spirituality in an Anxious Age.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Brown discusses his fieldwork in both of these milieu; sorcery and shamanism among the Awajún, cultural appropriation; and the work of the School for Advanced Research (SAR). where he’s been president since 2014.
SAR advances creative thought and innovative work in the social sciences, humanities, and Native American arts.
Links:
- Michael F. Brown’s blog and Upriver site
- School for Advanced Research
- The Sacred Inclusion Network’s site
- Provoked by this episode? Record a response!
- Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!
Check out the Diversity and Spirituality’s newest podcast
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Friday, January 17, 2020
Talking Across Differences (free Saturday online event): http://bit.ly/talkdiff
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Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Talking Across Difference
When I confessed to Jim Brown that I routinely block the loudest political voices from my Facebook stream, he told me that my approach was misguided and that I should engage them instead.Brown, who facilitates our Saturday Online Community Exploration, is one of a growing number of bridge-builders who thinks it’s high time, as the title of his book opines, to end our uncivil war. He’ll share how he came to this point of view, how he manages the minefield of social media, and strategies to bridge the them-versus-us divide.It’s an undisputed fact that there’s a higher degree of polarization than ever before. Differences in Ideology, race, and religion mean that many people live in “look-like-me” or “think-like me” silos: crossing divides only when forced to do so. This polarization exists not just in the United States but across the globe, from Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil to Boris Johnson’s United Kingdom to Recept Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey. Jim Brown and a growing numbers of individuals and organizations are working to reverse this trend. Groups like Better Angels bring people together across partisan divides, while AllSides seeks to cover news from all sides of the political spectrum.In our podcast interview, Brown talks about the four strategies he favors to bridge them-versus us divides: service commitment, spiritual renewal, scholastic independence and systematic government reform. This Saturday, we’ll focus on the first two strategies plus practice how to depolarize potentially polarized situations. I hope you’ll join us.You can learn more about Brown by going to his website.Here’s how to participate this Saturday.When: Saturday, January 18, 11 AM EST. Check your timezone here.Where: Online, see belowHow to Participate:
Preregister: Send us a blank email for priority access OR
Show up “at the door” by joining us online: https://zoom.us/j/293138919 at exploration time or Or iPhone one-tap :
Or iPhone one-tap :US: +16699006833,,293138919# or +16465588656,,293138919# Or Telephone:Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 293 138 919International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/apPbvogYK
Here’s hoping to see you online,
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Friday, January 10, 2020
Wednesday, January 08, 2020
Improvisation and Spirituality: Beginnings
Back in 2013, Ted DesMaisons assembled a group of improvisors at a San Francisco Zen monastery to explore the many connections between spirituality and improvisation. Before long there was a worldwide group of people who were tracing the same pathways that DesMaisons and his colleagues explored during that Bay area event.Many were part of the improvisation community, and included people who saw improvisation as a practice that transcended its theatrical roots. And some were part of what Time magazine’s January 2014 cover story dubbed the “mindfulness revolution,” and were using mindfulness to help them rewire and channel their emotions.As this post points out, there are several points of intersection between mindfulness practice and improvisation: Perhaps the most obvious is their joint emphasis on being present, or in the moment. Another is the importance of embracing uncertainty and observing what’s present without trying to change it.Other points of intersection, which I think are more apparent in improvisation than in conventional solo mindfulness practice, are interdependence, and the spirit of Lila or divine play. In my podcast interview with DesMaisons last year, we explored the idea that improvisation was not merely a way to enhance meditation practice but a way of enhancing our ability to live life to the fullest. This spring, in scenic Sonoma County, we’ll give participants a number of ways to do just that, drawing from the traditions of contemplative practice and improvisational theater. If you register for our event before January 15th, you’ll receive a 15% discount by selecting Early Bird on checkout.We’ll also send you a signed copy of Ted’s new book, Playful Mindfulness. Plus, if you live in the Bay area, and recruit two or more workshop participants to do this with you, one of us one of us will come to your home or site to facilitate a post-conference integration event. The residential workshop will be held at Bishop’s Ranch, a lovely retreat and conference center nestled in a spot amidst the lush valleys, redwood forests, organic farms and world-class vineyards of Sonoma County, about 85 miles north of San Francisco.Workshop tuition includes lodging and meals, Some of the food served will be grown on the ranch property itself, and may include recipes featured in Bishop’s Ranch’s cookbook, The Abundant Table.You can find more information by going to our event site. Here’s hoping to see you in northern California in Spring.
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Sunday, January 05, 2020
A Transgender Journey
Growing up in a traditional southern church, Christina King quickly learned that she wasn’t accepted. That’s because her church saw her and people like her as anathema: living embodiments of sin. King at an early age knew that she was a transgender woman.
But to verbalize how she felt about herself wouldn’t have been received kindly by her conservative Lutheran Missouri Synod congregation. Their attitudes were informed by the so-called “clobber passages,” verses some use to justify the belief that any deviance from heterosexual norms is sinful.
King spent much of her youth estranged from the church. She came to a place, she said, “where she had to be herself or kill herself.” That separation was painful because even though she felt ostracized, a part of her missed the congregation’s sense of community.
Her estrangement ended because of the influence of a pastor at the First Lutheran Church of Galesburg, Illinois, the city she moved to after growing up in the south. This pastor accepted Christina for who she was, but also encouraged her to reach out to others who because of their LGBTQ+ orientation had felt victimized by the church.
King did so and shortly after the 2016 presidential election started a group called Safe Space. The group has been meeting regularly since then.
In this podcast, King shares her evolution as a transgender woman, common misconceptions people have about trans people, and how a life of prayer helps her stay upbeat in a challenging political climate.
King last year was named Miss Trans Illinois.
Links:
- The Sacred Inclusion Network's site
- Provoked by this episode? Record a response!
- Like the podcast? Support us on Patreon!
Check out the Diversity and Spirituality’s newest podcast
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Saturday, December 28, 2019
Improvisation, Spirituality and Me
As a long time meditation practitioner, I’d had begun to suspect that there was something missing from my practice. What I was doing each morning felt a bit too solemn, private, and serious. It lacked what Hindus call Lila, or divine and joyous play. What was missing was revealed to me unexpectedly two summers ago when I met Jules Munns and Heather Urquhart of the London-based improv company, The Nursery. As part of a conference I was attending, Munns and Urquhart led us each morning through a series of improv exercises. The icebreaker-type activities brought an element of high play and spontaneity to the more serious proceedings of the conference.In my later conversations with Munns and Urquhart over the breaks between conference activities, it began to dawn on me that the aims of improvisation and the mindfulness practices were complementary. Each emphasizes an intense focus on the present moment, explores interdependence and paradox, and - albeit in different ways - provides a vehicle through which to explore the Shadow, that unconscious aspect of ourselves. Although you have to squint to find it, certain forms of improvisation can be found in a range of spiritual practices, mostly involving movement. For example, meditation teacher Shinzen Young, the author of The Science of Enlightenment, has a system of “auto-think,” “auto-chance” and “auto-walk” exercises which are formal means of uncovering spontaneity. Similar activities can be found in certain forms of qigong, the Chinese mind-body-spirit practice, and in the the Japanese art of katsugen or spontaneous, regenerative movement. What separates improvisation from these practices – and indeed from most forms of spiritual exercise – is its emphasis on fun. Although sages of most faith traditions encourage us not to take ourselves too seriously, the “too-serious” disease seems built into many devotional or contemplative activities. As June Maffin writes in the Soulistry blog, “Like prayer, laughter and play can be healing to the body, mind and soul. Laughter and play are holy things When we play, we leave behind the daily stressors and allow our spirit to breathe and re-create.” With this perspective in mind, I’ve joined forces with Ted DesMaisons and Cindy Franklin to create Yes to Life!: The Improvisation and Spirituality Weekend. It’ll take place March 13-15 at the beautiful Bishop’s Ranch retreat and conference center in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco.The three of us are very excited about this and hope you'll join us. Read more about what we have in mind by going to our event site. And register by January 15th to get our best rate. Get our best rate by selecting Early Bird during checkout (you must register before January 15th).We’ll send you a signed copy of Ted’s new book, Playful Mindfulness. If you live in the Bay Area and recruit two or more workshop participants to do this with you, one of us one of us will come to your home or site to facilitate a post-conference integration event. Want to gift someone an experiential gift? Drop us a note at info@divspirit.comafter you register and give us the person’s name. We’ll then send you a gift certificate. Hoping to see you in Sonoma County in Spring! Angelo
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Monday, December 16, 2019
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