InterSpiritual Mentoring

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InterSpiritual Meditation (ISM) Facilitators

Jeanette Banashak

Jeanette Banashak, EdD, PhD is the co-founder and co-director of The Spiritual Guidance Training Institute. She is an interfaith/interspiritual bilingual spiritual director and supervisor who loves to incorporate creativity and ISM into her sessions as well as teachings. Jeanette is also a senior instructor at Erikson Institute, where she teaches core child development courses and social and emotional learning, and a visiting professor of spiritual direction at the Graduate Theological Foundation. When she’s not facilitating communities of practice, Jeanette is hiking and laughing with her fabulous partner or playing board games and telling stories with friends and family. 

Matt Whitney

Matthew Whitney is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and pedestrian. He lives and works in Seattle, Washington, and enjoys going for walks with his family. 

He is the Creative Director for Spiritual Directors International, a learning community for people who provide spiritual care, engage in the vocation of spiritual direction, and for all who seek to connect with spiritual companionship and deep listening. Matt provides oversight on visual communications, art and illustration, and is host of the weekly podcast SDI Encounters which engages in conversations around spiritual direction, contemplative practice, and spiritual care. 

Matt is a Certified ISM Facilitator and is completing an 18 month training to become a spiritual guide through the Spiritual Guidance Training Institute, an interspiritual program sourced in the Perennial Tradition, which explores, recognizes, and celebrates the deep mystery and wisdom that arises out of all the world’s mature spiritual traditions.  He has taught art courses at Seattle Pacific University, Seattle Central College, and Northwest University. 

Nancy Rushlow Bray

Nancy is an enthusiastic and compassionate champion for the human spirit and contributes her success to her insatiable appetite to engage. Recognizing each person’s inherent worth and appreciating their individuality is her trademark. Nancy is an Emmy award-winning producer and recipient of several Clio Awards for excellence in advertising. She excels in her ability to combine business prowess and the creative experience. She began her career producing visual effects for the acclaimed PBS series Cosmos and continued on as the executive producer/producer for academy-award winner, Robert Blalack, (Star Wars) also becoming the studio’s vice-president of operations & business development.

Nancy has studied meditation and spiritual development for many years with Transcendental Meditation, Self Realization Fellowship and the Spiritual Paths Institute. She strongly values the inclusive nature of the interspiritual teachings, practice and collaboration made available through Spiritual Paths Institute and is pleased to participate as one of the Institute’s certified facilitators. 

Nancy also serves as an education advisor for the Charter For Compassion Education Institute and lives in Orange County, CA.

Fabio Capano

Fabio vive en Uruguay y dedica su vida a ayudar a las personas a hallar sanación principalmente a través de la sanación energética y otras técnicas. Además desde 2015 contribuye como Tutor-Docente con el curso de 2 años de Sanación Energética Argentina. Criado y educado en el cristianismo y en los últimos años ha estado estudiando el camino místico sufí, y halló en la Meditación InterEspiritual los cimientos para profundizar su llamado interespiritual. Fabio desarrolló una exitosa carrera profesional de más de 30 años en la industria farmacéutica donde trabajó por más de 20 años en el laboratorio suizo Boehringer Ingelheim en diferentes posiciones culminando como presidente de los países hispanos de Sud América. Luego dirigió su propio laboratorio farmacéutico y presidió varias cámaras de asociaciones de la industria farmacéutica. 
Siempre creí que al ayudar a otros a encender aún más la chispa de lo Divino en ellos mismos, no solo hacemos un servicio a las personas sino que servimos a lo Divino mismo. Encontré en la Meditación InterEspiritual el enfoque respetuoso y compasivo que me permite llevar a cabo tan sensible misión, con la que me comprometo. 
 
Fabio is Argentinean and lives in Uruguay.  He devotes his life to helping people find healing mainly through energetic healing and other techniques. In addition, since 2015 he has been serving as Tutor-Teacher for the 2-year Argentinean Energy Healing Program. Raised and educated in the Christian religion, for the past several years he has been following the mystical Sufi tradition, and found in ISM a great foundation to answer and deepen his interspiritual call. For more than 30 years Fabio developed a successful professional career in the pharmaceutical industry. He worked for over 20 years for the Swiss laboratory Boehringer Ingelheim in different positions culminating as president of the Hispanic Latin American countries. Later he directed his own pharmaceutical laboratory and became president of several chambers of associations of the pharmaceutical industry. 
I always believed that by helping others to light brighter the spark of the Divine in themselves we not only serve people but the Divine itself. I found in ISM the respectful and compassionate approach that allows me to carry out this mission to which I am committing.
 
Sandra Loda
 

Vivo en Buenos Aires Argentina , tengo cuatro hijos adultos , soy abuela de Simón y de Matilda. Hace más de 26 años que trabajo en una empresa líder textil  que se dedica a la fabricación de ropa para niños . Soy coordinadora de Alianzas Corporativas y Eventos. Mi tarea en la empresa es la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial, entonces tengo como meta las alianzas corporativas dónde ayudamos a la comunidad a través de organizaciones como Unicef, Hospital Garrahan entre otras. Mi tarea siempre estuvo relacionada al servicio de otros, desde mi trabajo en barrios muy  carenciados  a acompañamiento espiritual como coach en diferentes grupos. Estudié  a lo largo de mi vida varias terapias y técnicas para acercarme al autoconocimiento. Fue en la Meditación InterEspiritual, en la profundidad de sus  siete pasos, y la guía de Alejandra Warden, que encontré la Unión de lo aprendido, contacto con el momento presente, y la verdad dentro de mi corazón, lo que me llevó a desear compartir lo aprendido, regalarle al mundo y a mi misma, palabras y acciones de amor que tanto se necesitan hoy.

I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have four adult kids and two grandchildren,  Simon and Matilda. For the past 26 years I have been working for a leading textile company that manufactures children’s clothing. There, I serve as a coordinator of the Department of Corporate Alliances and Events. My job in the company is to promote corporate social responsibility, so my goal is to make corporate alliances where we help the community through organizations such as Unicef and  the Garrahan Hospital, among others. My work has always been in relation to the service to others, from my job working in slams and with disadvantaged communities, to spiritual companionship as a spiritual director and coach of groups and individuals. Throughout my life I have studied various therapies and techniques to develop self-knowledge and self-development. It was in the InterSpiritual Meditation, in the depth of its 7 Steps and the guidance of Alejandra Warden that I found the union of what I learned, the contact with the present moment, and the truth within my heart, which led me to want to share what I learned, to give the world and myself words and actions of love that are so needed today.

Rev. Tim Sexton

My background includes being an Aerospace Engineer, building and operating a horse boarding stable, driving a truck, and teaching in a private school.

I recently celebrated my 44th anniversary of ordained ministry, having served Episcopal congregations and on Bishop’s Staffs in the Dioceses of Central Florida, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Utah, Olympia, Hawaii, & New Mexico. Over the course of my ordained life I have experienced many of the different contemplative practices. At different times different ones have appealed more to me. After spending a week with Thomas Keating, Centering Prayer became my “go to” practice.

 In 2016 I came to The Mandala Center, a retreat center in NE New Mexico, as Director. Shortly after coming here I read an article about InterSpiritual Meditation. I was draw to it first because of the name connections and then more because of the vision and emphasis that Ed Bastian had for what this was becoming. I have taken the InterSpiritual Mandala, InterSpiritual Meditation, and Facilitator Training courses. I have also facilitated a couple of InterSpiritual Meditation weekends at The Mandala Center and have created a Mandala Walk based on the seven steps, with a video of the Mandala Walk. I believe that the InterSpiritual approach is a great way for all who are on, and those who want to be on, a spiritual journey which brings together their own path with the paths of others, both present and past.

  I am blessed with a wonderful and supportive wife, 7 children and 11 grandchildren. Life has been and is truly a grand adventure!

Judith Whetstine

I grew up in a small Iowa farming community and became a member of the local Methodist Church.  I attended a small women’s college and majored in philosophy.  It was the 60s and I was an occasional protester with no religious commitment.  I returned to Iowa and obtained an MA from the University of Iowa’s College of Education and a JD from the law school.  

I began my government trial attorney career in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  In 1978 I then transferred into the United States Attorney’s Office practicing in federal court.  I remained with the Department of Justice until retirement in 2007 working in Iowa and San Francisco.  I loved trying federal criminal and civil cases; but I recognized that the work, which also required supervising attorneys, had a negative impact upon my view of the world.  Again, I did not participate in a religious tradition.

I then met my husband’s friend Ed and learned about Spiritual Paths.  I was fortunate to attend some of his early inter-spiritual retreats and have continued to participate in courses.  I have achieved a 180 degree change in my attitude toward spirituality through an inter-spiritual meditation practice.  What a gift to realize this spiritual growth. The brilliance of the ISM path is its universal assistance to any religious or non-religious tradition seeker and our opportunity to walk along this path with others, assisting them and therefore our own practice.

Anna Wolfe

I grew up in Illinois, was raised an Episcopalian. Through early travels my mother opened my eyes and heart to learning about and connecting with people of other cultures and religions. After graduating from Yale, I settled in Washington, D.C. where I worked on Capitol Hill for my Congressman.  I began to raise my family in Virginia, and I started to take courses in spiritual subjects, getting an adult education certificate in religion from Georgetown University, completing the Education for Ministry program for lay people from the University of the South, and I became a Stephen Minister. In 1996 I founded a retreat center, the Mandala Center, on the high plains of New Mexico.   My family moved to New Mexico, where we lived for about 15 years to serve those who came on retreat.  Over the years the Mandala Center has had programs on meditation, yoga, healing, Buddhism, and many of the arts, as well as personal growth.  I now live in Carpinteria, California. On our Center’s 20th anniversary I learned about InterSpiritual Meditation, and I have practiced this daily ever since.  I have taken the ISM course several times, and I am now certified as a facilitator. 

Gena Davis

I grew up in Kingsville, a small town in South Texas, where I developed my deep love for desert spirituality. With a graduate degree in business, I worked as a human resources director in the financial services, healthcare, and higher education industries. As I began to explore Christian spirituality, I became a certified Spiritual Director, answered the call to ordained priesthood, and became a Benedictine Oblate in the World Community for Christian Meditation.

Upon ordination and while leading Grace Episcopal in Houston, I began the integration of yoga into my ministry. In 2015, upon receiving my yoga teacher certification, I founded and co-created YogaMass—a blend of yoga, breathwork, meditation and Holy Communion. 

Interfaith relations is a key component of my ministry, and when I discovered Interspiritual Meditation, it deeply resonated with my work to integrate yoga, meditation, and respect for people of all faith traditions. ISM is a tool that will help many to integrate the wisdom teachings into their own spirituality and to find their unique styles that deepen their spiritual path. ISM supports my work in helping others discover wholeness within and to discover their true essence and I am honored to be a facilitator of ISM.