MIDWAY THROUGH THE PSYCHOSPIRITUAL WHOLENESS JOURNEY

The 23^rd Sumedha Sadhana – Psychospritual Wholeness Journey - begun on July 4 is half way through.

During this period participants journeyed through three different modules – Psychological Dynamics on the Spiritual Journey, Trauma and Healing, and Befriending Our Emotions.

Jose Parappully, the Programme Director, facilitated the “Psychological Dynamics on the Spiritual Journey” – the three–week Foundational module.

Parappully helped participants experientially re-live their developmental experiences following Erik Erikson’s developmental scheme and connect these to their current personality features and relational style.

Following this Parappully explored with the participants their Midlife Journey. He explained the significant Dynamics of Midlife and the Transformational Processes and helped them journey into their past to reconcile with unresolved issues and journey into the future to plan how they want to live out the rest of their lives.

Agnes Panikulam facilitated the “Trauma and Healing” module. Through many real life examples Panikulam presented the nature and consequences of emotional trauma and provided the participants various exercises in self-healing.

Maria Goretti Kanakrathinam facilitated the “Befriending Our Emotions” module. Kanakarathinam presented the meaning of emotions and emotional maturity and helped participants explore and understand some of their major positive, negative, hidden and dominant emotions through research-based data presentation and to process them through art, music, imagery, role play and experiential group exercises. They were introduced to various healing and relaxation techniques.

Celebrations and outings were also part of the Journey Together at Sumedha Centre.

The next Sumedha Sadhana is scheduled for September 29 – November 30, 2014. A few seats are still available. For more information and registration, contact sumedhacentre@gmail.com

COMING PROGRAMMES

The 9-week Sumedha Sadhana - A Psychospritual Wholeness Journey  -- will be offered again on the following dates.

SS-27: September 29 - November 30, 2014

SS-28: March 15 - May 16, 2015

SS - 29:  June 1 - August 2, 2015

SS - 30:  October 2-December 3, 2015

For further information and Registration Form, please contact: sumedhacentre@gmail.com  

26th SUMEDHA SADHANA – THE FIRST WEEK.

The 26^th Sumedha Sadhana – A 9-Week Psychospritual Wholeness Journey – commenced on July 4^th. Participants come from India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The beginning module, entitled “Psychological Dynamics on the Spiritual Journey,” is facilitated by Jose Parappully, the Director of Sumedha Centre. This is a foundational module on which other Resource Persons will build and expand.

The first week was focused on the Spiritual Journey. Parappully helped participants explore the realities of the “Now Period” of their lives, discover all that is going with them, how they are being affected by them and discern what God might be telling them through all these.

He used the Intensive Journal Meditation, along with Expressive Writing and Drawing in this process of discovery and discernment.

Parappully introduced the participants to Process Spirituality and Centering Prayer – a simple approach to contemplative prayer and discussed ways to cultivate deeper prayerfulness.

Somatic Meditations every morning helped participants to move toward greater integration of body, mind and spirit.

Each day’s activities culminated in the Eucharistic celebration in which participants were able to bring before the Lord their experiences of the day and further process and integrate them.

Beginning of the Day and End of the Day Journalling also helped to integrate the weeks’ experiences.

Friday evening and Saturday morning was spent in silent “Recollection” during which particpants had time to further assimilate and integrate the week’s experiences in prayer and through Expressive Writing and Drawing.

At the end of the week, participants reported that they have already begun to re-frame their experiences and beginning to experience greater serenity and meaningfulness on their Psycho-Spiritual Journey.

Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday participants have the leisure to organize their time the way they want. Many of them use the weekend to visit the nearby tourist attractions.

25TH SUMEDHA SADHANA – A PARTICIPANT APPRECIATION

Psychospiritual Wholeness Journey of self-discovery and self-transformation – the course offered here -was very useful for me as it enabled me to understand my true self and thus to continue working on my psychosexual and psychospiritual integration.

The Mature Spirituality for today and the seventeen characteristics of it gave me the guidelines to live a meaningful, purposeful and a more fulfilling life.

Learning about Process Spirituality is a great help for me to recognize the Presence of God in everyday reality of my life.

Midlife Dynamics, Sexuality, Celibacy & Intimacy, and the Psychological Dynamics of the Spiritual Journey helped me to understand ‘me’ clearly at this stage of my life.

The topics: “Spirituality and the Evolving Cosmos,” “Stories: Ours, Jesus’, and the Universe’s” helped me to understand that the Universe is God’s Body and everything in the Universe is inter-connected, inter-dependent, and is evolving.

A careful study of the Gospel of Mark threw light on my understanding of Jesus.

Group Therapy helped me to see my shadow side and continue working on it to integrate it. The weekly recollections, writing of response papers and the intensive journal enabled me to integrate the week’s experiences.

Spiritual retreat and integration was the vital aspect of this programme. Retreat experience of “Wilderness and Paradise” strengthened me to surrender myself to God’s workings and to experience His Presence in my life. An eagerness is developed in me to know more about Jesus of Nazareth. The individual help I received here helped me to open myself up for healing.

For me Group Therapy experience was the most useful. I encountered my true self here. It was painful and frightening. Yet, I could look into myself and see the real me with the help of the therapist and the group.

The therapist’s timely interventions and guidance with understanding and personal care was great help for me to understand my self-destructive beliefs and to break them down and to reframe my experiences/events of the past, developing a new behavioural pattern, and to continue exploring myself.

It gave me a great desire to come to a new life pattern with new attitudes and thus to increase my life satisfaction and to bring about fulfilment in my ministry. My decision to engage in continuous self-exploration is the outcome.

I felt that I could have come here for a little longer programme of nine weeks. Within the given time, however, I have gained the maximum. I don’t think that something more could have made the programme more useful because the time was utilized in the most effective manner, arranging it meticulously aiming at the participants’ benefit.

I felt warmly welcomed to Sumedha Centre and without any difficulty I became part of it. I enjoyed the hospitality of Fr. Jose, Fr. George, Br. Binit and the supportive staff.

Accommodation, Food, Services and Facilities were excellent.

This is my overall view of the programme.

DG

SUMEDHANS PICNIC AT THE LAKES

It is customary for participants of the Sumedha Sadhana (Psychospritual Wholeness Journey) to go on a picnic to the Lakes (Bhimtal, Naukuciatal and Sat-tal) the day after completion of Group Therapy and before beginning the Spiritual Retreat.

Group therapy, facilitated by Jose Parappully and Maria Goretti K, concluded yesterday (25/6/14). Today we went for the picnic and had a great time together.

After a day of rest tomorrow, on 28th we begin the Spiritual Retreat, facilitated by Jose Parappully, that brings the Sumedha Sadhana to its conclusion.

APPRECIATION FOR THE 24th SUMEDHA SADHANA

The 60-day Sumedha Sadhana (September 25- November 23) was highly appreciated by the 15 participants (9 women and six men).

Some representative comments:

“It was the best course I ever attended, especially for my spiritual and religious life… Experience with God during the retreat was the most useful for me at the moment since I had come here with the feelings of unhappiness and meaninglessness of my religious life. One reason could be my disordered life of prayer. Therefore retreat was my renewal of love for God again.”

“It was a wonderful experience here. A well-integrated course. The experience of inward journey through the process of each module, drawing, responding, dancing, exercising, sharing and praying…. The retreat was the most useful. I have never had the experience of God’s love like this before.”

“It was a wonderful experience for me. … The methodology used is excellent. Everything was well presented, explained, discussed with such a lot of clarity…”

“My stay here for 60 days was a new life for me. With brokenness I came, with wholeness I am going back…. I found the midlife dynamics the most useful. Many things about the second half of life was made clear to me…”

“Received timely aid in midlife transition. Also resolved some very critical and sensitive personal problems”

“The climax was the retreat where I experienced the Lord’s presence. It was a rich experience for me.”

“The programme on the whole was excellent, very meaningful, useful, informative and enriching for my personal growth. The modules, the facilitators and the process couldn't be better. ‘Celibate integration at midlife and beyond’ was very informative and enriching for my personal life.Group therapy followed by the desert experience of the Retreat was what was most beneficial for me. It was a time of personal renewal, inner healing and blessing.

“The retreat was really an awesome experience for me.”

“Enjoyed my stay over here with beautiful panorama around.”

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A 6-week Sumedha Sadhana with 19 participants (13 women and 6 men) is currently running at the Centre. It concludes on July 2^nd.

A 9-week Sumedha Sadhana commences on July 4^th. A few seats are available.

25th SUMEDHA SADHANA

The 25th edition of Sumedha Sadhana: A Psychospiritual Wholeness Journey commenced on May 22 at Jeolikote. This 6-week long programme will conclude on July 2.

There are 19 participants - 13 religious women and 6 priests. Ten religious congregations and 2 dioceses are represented.

Sumedha Sadhana is a programme of inner journeying together with fellow seekers in quest of greater healing and wholeness, so that we can live our lives in more fulfilling and satisfying ways and be more effective in our service to others. A variety of approaches and techniques are used to reach these objectives.

We begin from where we are, looking at what is happening in our lives at this juncture on our psycho-spiritual journey. We try to discern what God might be telling us through all that is happening in our lives. Jose Parappully helps us explore these current realities, as also our spirituality in the context of changing paradigms.

A major portion of the programme is devoted to the exploration of the psychological dynamics affecting our spiritual journey. We look at the quintessential midlife dynamics of identity (who we are), intimacy (the role of affectivity and sexuality in our lives) generativity (how we work and nurture future generations), and integrity (how we make sense of the whole of our life). Jose Parappully uses insights from various psychological theories, as well as tools and techniques from Psychosynthesis and Expressive Arts to help us explore these issues.

In Storied Word: Ours, Jesus’ and the Universe’s Gerard Alvarez offers a Spirituality of the Word for our times with symbols and rituals that breathe new life. He helps us integrate our spirituality and our sexuality through the power of the Word. This involves: Journeying through the Jesus Story, The Universe Story, Our Own Story, in an effort to quest for the Living God; seeing Mission as Healing and ourselves as healers on this journey.

Drawing from ancient wisdom traditions and evolving spiritual practices, Alba Rodrigues offers us tools, ancient and new, to awaken the deep wisdom lying dormant within us and reconnect with the capacities of our body, mind and spirit and experientially deepen and expand our spirituality in alignment with the evolving cosmos.

We are provided opportunity for healing and transformation through group therapy. In the atmosphere of freedom, caring and trust that the group provides, we are helped to face our brokenness and our fears, our defences and our unhelpful patterns of living and relating, and to move toward greater healing and wholeness by adopting and practising healthier attitudes and behaviours. K. Maria Goretti and Jose Parappully facilitate this process.

We conclude our Sumedha Sadhana with a short spiritual retreat in which we are able to bring together and integrate all our experiences in prayer and reflection around the Word of God. Jose Parappully facilitates this process.

Sumedha Sadhana provides theoretical input as well as opportunities for us to reflect on our experiences and to share them with one another and for personal and common prayer. It is hoped that through this four-fold dynamics of Input, Introspection, Interaction, and Intercession we gain a deeper feel for the psychological dynamics operating on our spiritual journey and integrate these to develop a healthier self so that we can experience greater serenity, wholeness and fruitfulness as we continue our journey into the Mystery that we know and experience as our Triune God. 

A longer (9 week) Sumedha Sadhana is offered from July 4 to September 4 and again from September 29 to November 30. Registrations are open.