We're In This Shift Together
As a rabbi, Matthew Ponak knows the significance of community in the good times and the bad. We’re in this Shift Together explores the meeting place between ancient spiritual teachings, cutting-edge research and innovation, and the needs of our era. The conversations cover insights and experiences that improve our world and give us hope during these tumultuous times. In our secular society, millions of people are dedicating themselves to the work of innovation. Simultaneously, camps of traditionally religious people are tending the fires of insights and practices which have sustained them for thousands of years. Leaders and thinkers from all arenas benefit from cross-pollination and there is much more common ground between these two camps than is often acknowledged. When approaching any new problem today, religious and spiritual insights can offer a sense of how our ancestors grappled with similar issues. At the same time, inherited wisdom is, by definition, from a prior era. In dialogue with scientific expertise and new circumstances, the storehouses of human knowledge inevitably grow and mature. Together these different perspectives help us navigate our transitioning world. Host Rabbi Matthew Ponak is a teacher of embodied mysticism, a spiritual counsellor, and the co-founder of the Mekorah Institute — an online spiritual centre. Also holding an MA in Contemplative Religions from the Buddhist-inspired Naropa University, Rabbi Matthew weaves world wisdom with ancient Jewish insights. He received ordination from Hebrew College where he specialized in the study of Hasidic spirituality and Kabbalah. Visit matthewponak.com to learn more.
We're In This Shift Together
Somatic Spirituality with Emma Sartwell
In this episode, we discuss embodied transformation, spiritual entrepreneurship, Jewish Mysticism, and the current state of modern religious life.
Emma Sartwell is the founder and owner of Somatic Spiritual Counseling, a collective of body- and mindfulness-based therapists and coaches. She grew up in a reform Jewish household in Baltimore, MD. After a spiritual crisis in college, she found Buddhist meditation, which led her to Naropa University, a Buddhist-based graduate school in Boulder, CO, where she studied Buddhist and interfaith spiritual care. While there, she met some teachers who helped her return to her Jewish roots and see the intersection of meditation, psychology, and Jewish practice. She worked as a chaplain in a hospital and taught Hebrew school at a Renewal synagogue, but soon realized that she wanted to go deeper with one-on-one healing. She decided to study nervous system regulation and trauma integration through Somatic Experiencing International. Now, she ties together all of these mind-body-spirit threads into her work with clients, and supports her team of seven diverse practitioners to offer their service to others.