Can commissioning public art ensure a happy afterlife? Many wealty merchants in medieval Italy sure hoped so! Dr. Brian Pollick opens a window for us into their worldview and how it can enrich our own.   Brian was born in England in 1946 but grew up in Toronto after his parentsemigrated in 1952. After getting his BA from York University in 1967 heembarked on multiple careers that included teaching, correctional services,community and family justice services, and Information Technologydevelopment. He has been a senior executive manager for the federal andBC governments, as well as the non-profit and private sectors. He left paidemployment in 2007 and spent a year in France and Italy with his wife,Heather Lindstedt, where he developed a passion for medieval art.Brian returned to University in Victoria in 2009 and has since obtained hisMA and PhD in Art History. His particular area of research is how artcommissioned by wealthy merchants in 14 th C Italy was used by them as away of affirming and broadcasting their identity as honest business personsand honourable civic and Christian citizens who were worthy of salvation.He has presented numerous papers at Canadian and internationalconferences and published several articles on this subject.Brian has one son, Ian, and is the proud grandfather of two boys, Austinand Logan who live in Toronto. Brian’s next major undertaking will bepursuing another PhD at the University of Victoria, this time in historylooking at the institution of the Grand Tour.

Being of service to the world means more than just working for a cause you believe in: it's also about striving to live harmoniously with who you truly are.In this episode, Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman describes her own journey to becoming a climate activist and spiritual leader. Through many years of seeking and searching, she discovered the best ways her talents could be utilized to help a planet which is struggling. In this conversation, Rabbi Shoshana and Rabbi Matthew also delve into the benefits of spiritually-based activism and Rabbi Shoshana shares some personal lessons from parenting a neurodiverse child.Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman is a writer, mother, and climate activist in Boston. She serves as a rabbinic ambassador for Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, and as the Director & Co-Founder of The Artist Beit Midrash of Hebrew College and JArts. Rabbi Shoshana’s song “The Tide Is Rising,” which she co-wrote with her husband Yotam Schachter, has spread widely as an anthem in the climate justice movement. Her writing has been published in various venues including The New York Times, Tablet Magazine, YES! Magazine, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, and Rooted & Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). Her original album Guesthouse is available on streaming platforms. She is currently at work on a book of essays, a picture book version of “The Tide Is Rising,” and a project with Sunrise Movement to build out a new fundraising initiative.Rabbi Shoshana is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, JOIN For Justice, and Oberlin College where she was also a Henry David Thoreau Scholar. She was ordained by Hebrew College in Newton, MA and lives in Boston with her husband and son. She spends much of her time humbly doing her best to parent through a creative and neurodiversity-affirmative lens.Her essay "Becoming a Mom During the Climate Crisis" is available at: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/becoming-mom-climate-crisis

Four contemplatives  share, reflect and face challenging questions. Christian, Buddhist and Muslim healers and teachers join Rabbi Matthew Ponak to discuss the gifts that our traditions can offer the world in these changing times — and the ways in which these traditions are (or ought to be) changing  as well.Charlotte Z. Rotterdam is a Buddhist teacher, meditation instructor and contemplative educator. She received the title of Magyu Lopön, lead teacher of the Mother Lineage at Tara Mandala Retreat Center, by Lama Tsultrim Allione in 2016. She is the Director of the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education at Naropa University and an Instructor in Naropa’s Core College, World Wisdom Department, and Graduate School of Psychology. She co-developed and teaches Naropa’s Mindful Compassion Training, a secular program to cultivate compassion in personal, professional and societal contexts. Charlotte received a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. The mother of two boys, she has published essays on the intersection of spiritual practice and daily life in Lion’s Roar, Buddhadharma, Mandala and Fearless Nest, an anthology. www.skymind.us.Sameera Qureshi, MS OTR, is an Occupational Therapist and Sexual Health Educator. For the last thirteen years, she’s worked at the intersections of mental and sexual health education within Muslim communities, both in Canada and the United States. After working in non-profit spaces for the majority of her career, she founded her own business in the Fall of 2020, titled Sexual Health for Muslims. The goal of her work is to revive Islamic traditions of the soul for online sexual health education and therapeutic services for Muslims. Sameera regularly facilitates professional development opportunities for sexual and mental health providers who intersect with Muslim clients. You can learn more her work on Instagram @sexualhealthformuslims, and through her website www.sexualhealthformuslims.com. Gordon Peerman, D.Min., is an Episcopal priest, psychotherapist, and mindfulness meditation teacher living in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of Blessed Relief: What Christians Can Learn from Buddhists about Suffering, and his most recent book, The Body Knows the Way: Coming Home through the Dark Night. He teaches at One River Wisdom School Nashville, an interspiritual gathering, and leads retreats and workshops on the intersection of contemplative practice and psychological growth. He has taught mindfulness practices at Vanderbilt’s Osher Center for Integrative Health, and at Vanderbilt Divinity School he taught courses in pastoral theology and Buddhist-Christian Dialogue. His website is www.oneriverwisdomnashville.org

We're changing things up in this episode! Our guest Rabbi Joel Goldstein asks the questions — challenging Rabbi Matthew about the experimental home ritual "Oasis Time." This innovative practice is inspired by Shabbat but not bound by its traditional customs. Rabbi Matthew and his family have been testing it out in an effort to capture the essence of spiritual refreshment in a shareable way for our time. Join us for thought-provoking dialogue about the edges of religious evolution between two scholars who come from very different places along the spectrum of Jewish practice. We are also briefly joined by Joel's dog!Rabbi Joel Goldstein is a former engineer turned Rabbi who brings his love for Torah, education, curiosity, and deep Jewish knowledge to all aspects of life. Rabbi Joel received ordination from Hebrew College and from Rabbi Daniel Landes. He is currently an instructor in Jewish legal codes for semikha (ordination) students at Yashrut. He is the former Campus Rabbi at Syracuse University and spent his last year in Rabbinical school serving as the Rabbi of the only year round synagogue in Hull, MA. In his free time, Rabbi Joel loves spending time with his family and creating source sheets on various Jewish topics.This episode was recorded on April 7, 2022. 

Promoting spiritual health for individuals, churches and organizations of all kinds is Rev. Sandra  Summers' speciality. She lays out what it is, why we need it and how to bring it into our lives. We also delve into The Great Resignation's effects on clergy, being authentic, balancing our use of technology and the surprising relationship between pregnancy and intuition. Sandra is a Christian pastor's kid who attempted to stay in college forever before answering her call to ministry. Currently, Sandra serves in a variety of ministry settings including in hospitals, activist organizations, and private practice. Sandra’s call is to help others stay in love with who and what is theirs to love in these exhausting times. As a Spiritual Coach she partners with individuals to assess their Spiritual Health and create compassionate accountability. In addition, she partners with churches and non-profit teams to engage in workshops and presentations so that helpers are helped. Sandra is ordained in the United Church of Christ, with dual standing in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She currently lives in Memphis, TN with her husband, Rev. Sam Teitel, her son Gideon, and their rescue dog Tommy.Check out Rev. Sandra Summers at sandrasummers.com 

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.

This episode features Rev. Dr. Ian Mevorach talking about the historical Jesus. Rev. Dr. Ian Mevorach is the founding minister and director of the Common Street Spiritual Center in Natick, MA, a love-centered community that values many spiritual paths and is a hub for environmental justice and peace activism.  He is an ordained American Baptist minister and holds an M.Div., and a Ph.D. in Ecological Theology and Ethics, from Boston University School of Theology. He is a life-long environmental and social justice activist and practitioner of interfaith dialogue and community-building.  He is also a facilitator of the Work That Reconnects, a form of eco-spirituality rooted in the teachings of Joanna Macy. Check out commonstreet.org to learn more.

This episode features Dr. Piers Steel, one of the world's leading experts in the study of procrastination.Piers Steel is a professor in the Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources area and is the Brookfield Research Chair at the Haskayne School of Business. He is a recognized authority on the science of motivation and is known internationally for his productivity research, receiving widespread media coverage.Piers’ particular areas of research interest include culture, motivation and decision-making. He is also currently driving a systematic review of ethical research with the goal of identifying what is known and where knowledge gaps lie and sharing the knowledge in a practical and accessible format. He has expertise in systematic review and meta-analysis, having published over 25 scholarly articles on the topic, and is a member of the Society of Research Synthesis and Methodology (http://www.srsm.org/). He has published several methodology papers on how to improve meta-analysis.To learn more about Dr. Steel's work on procrastination visit https://procrastinus.com If you want to use his online meta-analysis tool, visit https://hubmeta.com

This episode's guest is Dr. Beth Hedva who lives in Calgary, Canada. Author of Journey from Betrayal to Trust and the award-winning Betrayal, Trust and Forgiveness, she is an internationally recognized healer, counsellor and teacher. A past Director of the International Council of Psychologists and current Co-Chair of the Canadian Institute for Transpersonal and Integrative Sciences, Dr. Hedva was invited to train local recovery workers in the two deadliest disasters of this century. A licensed Psychologist and Marriage and Family Therapist who holds certifications in somatic sexology, Dr. Hedva has a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology, a Masters Degree in Transpersonal Psychology and a PhD in Psychology.Known for integrating contemporary best practices in psychology with ancient spiritual healing traditions, in this podcast Dr Beth Hedva discusses six distinct forms of TRUE LOVE found in every culture around the world. Dr Hedva was the On-Line “Ask an Expert” for Reader’s Digest Canada, and integrates intimacy enhancement, and sacred sexual practices into addressing sexual issues in therapy. You can find a link to her recently released university curriculum entitled 'Embodied Awareness’, hosted by the World Continuing Education Alliance, on-line at www.hedva.com  

Are you cautiously optimistic about the world’s future? I am. My name is Rabbi Matthew Ponak and I’m the host of a brand new podcast: : “We’re in This Shift Together.” Like you, I’m concerned about the well-being of our families, our planet, and our internal realities. As a student of Jewish wisdom, I know that even in the most uncertain times, there is always hope through communal effort and opening ourselves up to new potentials. Today, no single discipline or approach has all the answers for our seemingly endless list of challenges. To quote my teacher Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi - “The Only way to Get it together, is together.” Join me as I interview thought leaders, creatives, healers, and spiritual teachers to understand what it means to evolve and grow- on the inside and the out - for the sake of all of us. Whether we’re religious or secular, dreamers or doers, we all play a part in this transformation. Subscribe to “We’re in this shift together” as we harness insights old and new, building bridges towards an adaptive future.