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Weaving Community A trio of women artists will weave our sacred community with the threads of voice and movement. Our individual expressions will unite in a gorgeous tapestry of song and silence, stillness and motion. Discover new depths in yourself and joy in diversity during these playful, full-group sessions. Michele George is an actor, singer, director and corporate communications consultant. A voice specialist with a private practice based in Toronto, Canada, she has helped thousands to reclaim their natural voices. Zuleikha is a worldwide performer of story and dance who has worked with women and healing movement for many years. Based in Santa Fe, she has a background in classical dance styles from around the world, especially northern India, Afghanistan and Bali. Zuleikha’s appearance is made possible by Eileen Fisher, Inc. Hanna Tiferet Siegel is a Jewish spiritual teacher, composer and liturgical artist. She has recorded six albums of original Jewish “soul music” and her melodies are sung in synagogues and homes around the world. She is currently the spiritual co-leader of B’nai Or in Boston, Ma. Nurturing Compassion 
Sharon Salzberg “We are so trained to disparage and belittle ourselves despite
our capacity to come into a genuine experience of our own enormous
potential. Meditation teaches us how to trust and nurture its unfolding
with compassion toward ourselves and others.” Let Sacred Circles’ resident teacher Sharon Salzberg guide you on a journey to the center of your faith. Her most recent book, Faith, grapples with learning to trust our own deepest experiences. During the conference, Salzberg will unite our community in a universal practice of lovingkindness, one of the “tools” illuminated by the Buddha, a great sage who gained penetrating insights into the power of mind and heart. (bio) Sharon Salzberg is an internationally recognized meditation teacher and cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Massachusetts, with more than 30 years of study and practice of Buddhism. She is the author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness and A Heart As Wide As the World. Four Faces of Faith: The Heart Wisdom of Experience Allow the stories of four spiritual leaders illuminate your deepest experiences of the Divine. Four keynote speakers---Jewish, Seeker, Muslim and Christian---unite in heart-inspired presentations about their personal spiritual journeys and trust in traveling without road maps. Tirzah Firestone “In every instance, spirit speaks to us in the unfolding truth of
the moment. What is meaningful and authentic enters into dialogue with
our ancient traditions. One informs the other. It’s hard work that
demands personal integrity and listening inside ourselves and to what
comes from outside. The reward is a living conversation with all
generations of wisdom.” Tirzah Firestone rediscovered her ancient Jewish lineage through an interfaith marriage. Accompany her on a journey to your root traditions, saying yes only to the deepest beliefs. Consider the true meaning of bringing holiness into the world. Tirzah Firestone is a rabbi in the international Jewish Renewal movement and a Jungian therapist who teaches and speaks widely on Jewish traditions of meditation and feminine spirituality. Her writings include a spiritual autobiography, With Roots in Heaven; The Women’s Kabbalah, an audio course of guided meditations; and The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women’s Wisdom, an upcoming title on feminine lineages deleted from male accounts of history. Michel Martin “Women are forced to continually reassess where we are in our lives.
The power in a lot of faith practices is that transformation can happen
every day, all the time, everywhere. Although I grew up outside a
specific faith tradition, I’ve always had a prayer life. Now I
experience it as a path to joy instead of only a relief from grief.” National recognized broadcast journalist Michel Martin grapples with the tension between her journalistic skepticism and Christian faith. Her first religious experiences at boarding school cultivated a spirituality of service. In recent years, major family crises and a leadership role at the school challenged her to revive her spiritual commitment. Martin studies at Wesley Theological Seminary and continues a reconciling quest for authentic faith. Michel Martin is an award-wining correspondent for ABC News on primary assignment to Nightline, where she contributes to the ongoing series, “America in Black and White.” She is a regular panelist on the PBS program Washington Week in Review and host of PBS’s Life 360. 
Mahnaz Afkhami “My religion has always been a rock for me to lean on. Although my
practice may be less structured than other traditions, my spiritual
life is a sacred bridge between my inner world and the beauty of nature
that promises harmony, happiness and the continuity of the life cycle.”
From Mahnaz Afkhami’s earliest childhood in an Iranian desert town, strong women modeled independence and a home-centered Muslim faith of prayer, folk rituals and spiritual connection to the community. These powerful influences have guided her life even when forced out of a top cabinet position and into sudden exile as Iran’s most visible feminist during Ayatollah Khomeini’s rise to power. A tireless advocate for the rights of women, Afkhami now works with women activists in Muslim societies to ensure women’s participation in the leadership of their communities. Mahnaz Afkhami is the founder and president of the Women’s Learning Partnership and former Minister of State for Women’s Affairs in Iran. In exile in the U.S. since 1978, she has been a leading advocate for women’s political and religious rights. Her numerous writings include Faith &Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World and Women in Exile. 
Kathleen Norris “My writing and life are very story oriented. What moves me the most is
hearing dialogue others share and the stories they bring with them. We
receive such pleasure in hearing evocative, heartfelt language in a
world flooded with television talk and hollow verbiage.” Hymn singing formed the core of Kathleen Norris’s childhood worship. When she later returned to the church as a trained poet, she first recognized hymns as her earliest experience of poetry. Let the music of her stories immerse you in a refreshing economy of language and silence. Kathleen Norris is an award-winning poet and bestselling author of the New York Times bestsellers, The Cloister Walk, Dakota and Amazing Grace. Born in Washington, D.C., she divides her time between Hawaii and South Dakota. She has served for many years as an oblate at a Christian Benedictine monastery in North Dakota. |
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