38th SUMEDHA SADHANA CONCLUDES

The 38^th Sumedha Sadhana – A Psychospiritual Wholeness journey - concluded on August 2^nd. This 9-week programme had begun on June 1.

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

A major portion of the programme was devoted to the exploration of the psychological dynamics affecting one's spiritual journey.

Sumedha Sadhana provided theoretical input as well as opportunities for reflection on experiences and to share them with one another and for personal and common prayer. The serious work of introspection and working thorough of issues affecting one was enlivened by outings and picnics, weekly recreation together and celebrations. Creative liturgies integrating the day's experiences was a prominent feature of the programme.

There were five major modules in this programme: Psychological Dynamics on the Spiritual Journey (Jose Parappully PhD); Unconscious Dynamics and the Spiritual Journey (Johny Dominic, PhD), Cosmic Spirituality (Alba Rodrigues MA, BEd), Group Therapy (Johny Dominic and Jose Parappully), Spiritual Retreat and Integration (Jose Parappully).

The programme was much appreciated by the participants and found immensely useful. Four of the 13 participants gave a perfect 10 out of 10 on the Degree of Usefulness, and five gave a 9.

Some representative comments:

“Everything was excellent!”

“The programme is very well planned and wholesome. All the facilitators are very well versed in their fields.”

“Everything had a great impact on me.”

“It really helped me to renew myself and my religious commitment.”

“I feel I have become a better human being than before.”

“I came gloomy. Go back happy.”

“I came with confusion, loss of meaning and direction in life…I go back healed, hopeful, heart filled with love.”

“I came here caught up in much darkness. Wanted to be a different person. I had doubts if the programme would help. It did. My goals are fulfilled.”

“The classes were very, very, very good.”

 “A mountain experience. Mission accomplished.”

“I had a beautiful time at Sumedha.”

“Very conducive atmosphere and very beautiful surroundings.”

 “I experienced lot of freedom here, Could go anywhere. No restrictions.”

“Food was very good and nice. Cooks very hospitable, welcoming.”

“Beautiful scenery. Healing atmosphere.”

 “I felt this was a very welcoming community. I felt very much at home.

“I enjoyed my stay here.”

The 39^th Sumedha Sadhana begins on October 1, 2018. Registration open.

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

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.