SDI Encounters

Aimee Bostwick - Community and Spiritual Life at Kanuga Conference Center - Forest Bathing Journey with SDI

SDI Encounters

Show Notes

Hi! Matt Whitney here – Creative Director, and one of the Guides for the Nature Immersion and Deep Listening Journey we have put together for all spiritual directors, companions, and wayfarers. In this episode, I have a conversation with Aimee Bostwick, who is Coordinator of Community and Spiritual Life at Kanuga Conference Center (our hosts for this retreat) in North Carolina about what it's like to live and work there, being in the landscape, and what retreat participants can expect. We still have spots for YOU! As I write this, we are a little more than three months away. Our retreat dates are March 19-25, 2023. This is the perfect time to register. Right now, SDI is having its Solstice Sale, with 15 percent savings across all our offerings. A single room reservation saves $375! This is my dream retreat. I designed it the way I would want a retreat to be. What would I need to find deep rest and reconnection? Where would I want to be? What would the flow of a day look like? Who would I want to share this with? All are welcome. 🌲🌳

More from SDI Encounters

Aug 18, 2026

What happens when we step away from the noise of ordinary life and enter a landscape that invites us to listen more deeply? In this conversation, Executive Director Rev. SeiFu Singh-Molares, and author Mirabai Starr, explore the contemplative life through the powerful images of striving, yielding, and returning. Drawing on the metaphor of a salmon pushing upstream, they consider the tension between effort and surrender—and the surprising possibility that both are essential to the spiritual path. And, they share about facilitating SDI's upcoming six-day retreat at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, April 4-9, 2027. What does it mean to “push the river” when life asks more of us than we feel capable of giving? When is it time to stop striving and listen for the current beneath us? And how might presence, even in the midst of difficulty, become an expression of love? Together, we’ll consider what our spiritual practices are really for—not to protect us from the difficulties of life, or to help us rise above them, but to teach us how to remain present and responsive when life asks more of us than we imagined we could give. Through contemplative practices, teachings, silence, writing, time in nature, conversation, and community, we’ll explore the wisdom of multiple spiritual traditions and the possibility that even our struggles can become part of the path. And we’ll do it together. You are invited to join Mirabai, Rev. SeiFu, and other spiritual companions in Ghost Ranch, April 2027! Learn more, including registration details, at https://www.sdicompanions.org/product/ghost-ranch-retreat-2027/

Jul 20, 2026

On this brief episode we talk about SDI's upcoming webinar series, The Tao and the Art of Spiritual Companionship.

Jan 30, 2026

Dear Community, During these deeply disturbing, harrowing and convulsive times, what are spiritual directors and companions to do? How can we respond? Please listen to this episode for a special message I wanted to share with all of you. We need to stand together as a community, faithful to our calling and practice, because spiritual direction and companionship heal, and are needed now more than ever. Warmly, Rev SeiFu, and the SDI Team

Dec 16, 2025

Cinema Divina is the creative, contemplative practice of media artist and writer M Freeman. M re-imagines the ancient ritual of sacred reading or lectio divina in today’s audiovisual vernacular as Cinema Divina—a contemplative screening process designed to increase access to one’s deeper wisdom, healing, and peace.

Dec 9, 2025

In this episode hear from Christina Roberts, author of My Spiritual Journey, a new children’s activity book designed to help kids explore wonder, stillness, and the gentle presence of Divine Love. Christina shares the inspiration behind the book, why children are naturally attuned to the sacred, and how simple practices like drawing, gratitude, and quiet reflection can nurture a child’s inner life. Whether you work with children, care for children, or simply want to reconnect with your own sense of wonder, we hope this new activity book from SDI invites you into a deeper appreciation of the spiritual wisdom children carry and the gentle ways we can help it bloom.

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