23rd SUMEDHA SADHANA CONCLUDES

The 23^rd edition of Sumedha Sadhana concluded today. This 6-week-long programme commenced on May 25^th.

Sumedha Sadhana is an intensive inner journey in quest of greater healing and wholeness.

Using insights and practices from spiritual traditions and psychology participants were helped to gain a deeper insight into the psychological dynamics operating on their spiritual journey and integrate these in healthy and meaningful ways to live more satisfying and fruitful lives.

The major module of the programme was “Psychological Dynamics on the Spiritual Journey” which focused especially on healthy spirituality, early life experiences and midlife dynamics.” This module also explored human sexuality and affectivity and their healthy integration in the context of the participants’ celibate lifestyle. It was facilitated by Jose Parappully, the Director of the Centre.

In the module “Befriending Our Emotions,” M. Goretti Kankarathinam presented the meaning of emotions and emotional maturity and helped participants to explore and understand some of their major positive, negative, hidden and dominant emotions and to process them through art, music, imagery, role play and experiential group exercises.

In the related module “Core Transformation” Jose Kuttianimattathil helped participants experience healing of painful experiences and emotions and learn to live from the core state within them which radiates peace, love and harmony.

The Sumedha Sadhana experience concluded with Group Therapy facilitated by Jose Parappully and Peter Lourdes. Group therapy provided participants opportunity to face their brokenness and woundedness, their defences and unhelpful patterns of living and relating, and to move toward greater healing and wholeness.

The programme received excellent ratings from the participants. Some representative comments from the participants will be posted in our next blog.

A longer (9 weeks) Sumedha Sadhana begins on September 25. Facilitators: Ajoy Fernandes, Alba rodrigues, Gerard Alvarez, Joe Mannath, Jose Parappully and  MC Abraham, Registrations for the same are on. Those interested can contact the Centre at sumedhacentre@gmail.com

SUMEDHA OUTREACH – SOUTH CITY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL KOLKATA

The Director of Sumedha Centre, Jose Parappully PhD, was invited to do another workshop for the teachers of the secondary section of South City International School, Kolkata on June 14-15. He had done a workshop there last year.

Last year the theme of the Workshop was “Enhancing Institutional Effectiveness.” This year the Workshop focused on one of the significant dynamics that contribute to  Institutional Effectiveness, namely, Relational (Communication) Networks.

Accordingly, the workshop was labelled “Enhancing Interpersonal Communication.”

Of the 48 participants this year, 15  had joined the school since the last workshop.  Hence, the facilitator briefly referred to the concepts explored last year to acquaint the new teachers with these foundational concepts. He then introduced Howard Gardner’s concept of Personal Intelligences and their role in effective interpersonal relationships and communication.

A major obstacle to effective interpersonal relationships is unaddressed conflicts. Teachers were helped to discern current conflicts between Management and Teachers and conflicts among themselves and introduced to tools that help address and work through conflicts in an effective and helpful manner.

The focus of exploration on the second day of the Workshop was Interpersonal Relationships among the teachers. The role of Assertive Communication was pointed out and teachers were helped to understand and practise it in a series of experiential exercises.

Video clips, songs, introspection and group interaction and processing were some of the tools used, besides insights from organisational psychology presented by the facilitator.

Teachers found the Workshop very useful to enhance their interpersonal and, consequently, work relationships. The Workshop especially provided them, they observed, opportunity to come to understand more deeply one another and the issues that affect them, which in turn has contributed to increased desire to work toward greater cohesion and collaboration.

SUMEDHA OUTREACH: SEMINAR ON PSYCHOSEXUAL INTEGRATION AT HYDERABAD

The Director of Sumedha Centre, Jose Parappully, was the main presenter at a Seminar in Hyderabad on “Psychosexual Integration and Celibate Maturity” – the theme of the book he recently co-edited.

The Seminar was organised by the Salesian Psychological Association in collaboration with the Salesian Province of Hyderabad. It was held at the Salesian Provincial House, near Himmatsagar.

Around 50 Salesians (Rectors, leaders of communities, and the Delegates of various Commissions) and around 25 catholic nuns from around Hyderabad, as well as from far away New Delhi, participated.

This was the third Seminar on the theme that the Salesian Psychological Association organised. The first was in February in New Delhi, and the second in April in Bangalore.

Parappully had presented at the previous two seminars as well. At Hyderabad he made four presentations: Emotional Maturity and Psychosexual Integration Across the Life Span; Sexual Orientation and Sexual Behaviours; Healing from the Effects of Sexual Abuse; and Psychosexual Integration, Celibate Maturity and Spirituality.

The other presenters at the Seminar were Jose Kuttianimattathil (Co- Editor of the book) on Psychosexual Integration, Celibate Maturity and Formation; John Tharakan on Boundary Violations, Gender and Legal Issues; and Anton Paul on Canon Law and Sexual Boundary Violations. Sr Gracy and Fr. John Sebastian (both Novice Masters) joined the presenters in a panel discussion.