Personal Transformation Resources

Spirituality/Meditiation

Episcopal House of Prayer – http://www.ehouseofprayer.org/
The mission of the Episcopal House of Prayer is to:

• assist in the ongoing work of discerning God's voice, both within ourselves and in the world
• provide guidance in the search for wisdom
• teach forms of contemplative prayer
• offer training in the inner work of the spiritual life.

The Scriptures speak of a humanity created in "God's image". In keeping with this vision, the House of Prayer sees the ongoing work of the Christian as a spiritual revolution which involves detaching from the false illusions of "self", in order to take hold of the new, True Self, that has been created in God's likeness. Recognizing that the wisdom of recreation through spiritual transformation is often lost to our cultures and societies, the vocation of the House of Prayer is to support individuals and groups as they seek to be "formed into Christ". (Galatians 4:19) The Episcopal House of Prayer is situated on five acres of wooded land provided by St. John's Abbey, a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery in Collegeville, Minnesota. This is a mere 76 miles west and north of the Twin Cities via I-94 (Exit 156 "St. John's University") and 90 minutes from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

Center for Action and Contemplation – http://www.cacradicalgrace.org/
The Center for Action and Contemplation, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was founded in 1987 by Richard Rohr, a Roman Catholic Franciscan. Rohr saw the need for a training/formation center that would serve as a place of discernment and growth for activists and those interested in social service ministries. There they would come, be still, and learn how to integrate a contemplative lifestyle and compassionate service. They would live a social spirituality. This center would serve a dual purpose as not only a radical voice for peaceful, non-violent social change but also as a forum for renewal and encouragement for the seeking individual who sought direction from and understanding of God's will and love. Today, the CAC is that place of discovery and much more.
The CAC attracts people from around the world who seek peaceful, positive alternatives and solutions to the difficult challenges of our often materialistic, irrational and violent world. Its bi-monthly publication, Radical Grace, has a readership in every state and in 24 countries.
The CAC is not a new age center or a typical retreat center. People of all faiths share the CAC vision and understand the constructive message of the Gospel that crosses boundaries of religion, ethnicity, social class and gender. The CAC is envisioned as a faith alternative to the dominant consciousness, offering hope, inspiration and challenge to a despairing world.
Tepeyac, the Center's guest house, is located two doors down from the Center and is home to interns, guests/retreatants, and temporary shelter residents. Located in the largely Hispanic South Valley section of Albuquerque, Tepeyac is an older adobe home which can accommodate 10-12 people overnight. Following the mission of the CAC, Tepeyac seeks to embody values of simple, sustainable living and environmental sensitivity. It serves vegetarian meals and maintains different types of organic gardening projects.

Contemplative Outreach Ltd. – http://www.centeringprayer.com/
Contemplative Outreach is a spiritual network of individuals and small faith communities committed to living the contemplative dimension of the Gospel in everyday life through the practice of Centering Prayer. The contemplative dimension of the Gospel manifests itself in an ever-deepening union with the living Christ and the practical caring for others that flows from that relationship. The purpose of Contemplative Outreach is to share the method of Centering Prayer and its immediate conceptual background. The group also encourages the practice of Lectio Divina, particularly its movement into Contemplative Prayer, which a regular and established practice of Centering Prayer facilitates. Contemplative Outreach identifies with the Christian Contemplative Heritage. While the group is formed by the respective denominations, folks are united in the common search for God and the experience of the living Christ through Centering Prayer. Contemplative Outreach affirms solidarity with the contemplative dimension of other religions and sacred traditions, with the needs and rights of the whole human family, and with all creation.

Enneagram Spirituality

Sacred Art of Living Center (SALC) – http://sacredartofliving.com/
SALC offers spiritually focused educational programs and retreats to those seeking a contemporary school for spiritual studies. Their unique work as pastoral counselors and hospice chaplains has led them to believe that “the dying become our teachers” through offering unique opportunities to be present to life with enhanced meaning, spirit and purpose. SALC is an education and retreat center with programs which encourage people to trust and deepen their spiritual experience and to challenge and transform life’s priorities.

• Spirituality in everyday discernment: the importance of integrating spirituality into every dimension of human activity
• Death and grief: the Sacred Art of Dying as a compelling teacher of life’s most important priorities.
• Common ground with the community: working collaboratively to establish common ground with persons of all faith traditions
• Wisdom traditions: reclaiming the wisdom inherited through the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The Authentic Enneagram – http://www.authenticenneagram.com/
The enneagram is a powerful and dynamic personality system that describes nine distinct and fundamentally different patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting, provides the answers to these questions and much, much more. It tells us what motivates us, what basic coping strategies we adopt to survive and thrive, and what causes our relationships to flourish or flounder. In addition, the enneagram provides a specific path of personal development and enrichment for each of the nine types -- ways to discover our highest qualities and purpose in life. The purpose of the Authentic Enneagram website is to bring high quality information on the enneagram that is reliable, trustworthy, and authoritative. To further this purpose, the site presents the enneagram in the Narrative Tradition developed by Helen Palmer and David Daniels of the types speaking for themselves from their own experience. This is why the site has the Tour of the Nine Types speaking for themselves! Take it now, if you like. If you are new to the Enneagram, the site suggests that you start with the Introduction to the Enneagram. Even if you are not new to the Enneagram, you will find this useful in refreshing your understanding of the many values and insights the Enneagram brings to the world and the use of this site.

The Enneagram Institute – http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/
The Enneagram Institute is dedicated to the work of human liberation and transformation. For thousands of years, spiritual teachers from many different traditions have reminded us of the richness of the human soul and its spiritual gifts. But without real self-knowledge, it is not possible to awaken to the deeper truths of the soul or to sustain whatever degree of realization we have attained. One of the most powerful tools for understanding ourselves is the Enneagram, an ancient symbol of unity and diversity, change and transformation. This is the home site of Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson, two of the leading teachers and developers of the Enneagram system in the world today.

LifeCycles – http://www.leaderresources.org
This process of ministry formation has grown out of the experience of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan, which has been a pioneer in renewing the life and ministry of its congregations by empowering them to call and train from their own membership local ministry support teams. Each congregation identified the ministry to which God called them and identified specific people to lead them in various roles. After a time of preparation, the entire team was commissioned in a liturgy which also included the renewal of baptismal vows by the entire congregation and the ordination of those called to ordained roles.

People from around the country and the world were drawn to the simplicity, the empowerment of every member and the renewal of the congregations inherent in this process. Responding to the requests of many around the globe, the diocese decided to revise their curriculum, building on their experience.

The Episcopal Diocese of Nevada also had years of experience in local ministry development. They and the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming, active participants in the national movement in ministry development known as ''Living Stones,'' joined the project along with Harvesters -- a ministry development partnership of the Episcopal dioceses and seminaries of New England.

This program draws from the experience and insight of people who have been engaged in the process of ministry development for many years. LifeCycles is being written and continually supplemented by a team of people from these dioceses working with LeaderResources as the editor and publisher. On one hand, it has been written for ourselves -- it is another of the ongoing revisions we do to improve our materials and keep the process fresh and relevant. On the other hand, we are sharing our experience with you. We do not presume that what works for us will necessarily work for you. So, this program is being published electronically to enable you to adapt and revise it to fit your needs. In fact, we believe this process will work best when you make it your own. So, we encourage you to see what we did, try it out, change it and send us your improvements. We would love to learn from you as we hope you will learn from us. Welcome to LifeCycles -- a process of ministry development that has, is and will continue to improve as a now global learning community lives and works with it, continually sharing with one another ideas and resources to enrich it.

LifeCycles generally is used in one of three ways:

• As a foundational program of spiritual formation and education for
  adults -- especially in congregations seeking to deepen their members' faith lives and increase their members' participation and leadership in the life and mission of the church.
• In the context of that process, as a way to prepare and train local ministry support teams, some of whom will be commissioned to specific roles, some ordained.
• To support the ongoing process whereby such local ministry support teams continue to build skills, gain knowledge, increase understanding, develop spiritually and support one another in the exercise of their mutual ministry.

Myers-Briggs

Type Resources – http://www.type-resources.com
Creating greater awareness of others and ourselves is more important now than ever before. In the face of new and greater challenges, working to develop and maintain relationships - both professional and personal - will be the mark of our success. Type Resources is the original agency authorized by CPP, Inc. to qualify you to purchase the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®. Type Resources provide MBTI® Step II training workshops on MBTI® applications in Leadership Coaching and Team Development, a unique program on Integrating the MBTI® and FIRO-B™ instruments, and more. Type Resources is best known for its business and organizational experience which underlies a practical, real-life perspective on psychological testing.

The Spiral Dynamics Group – http://www.spiraldynamics.net/
Spiral Dynamics Integral, or SDi for short, concerns itself with the deep complexity codes that shape our many worlds. The model describes and makes sense of the enormous complexity of human existence, and then shows how to craft elegant, systemic problem-solutions that meet people and address situations where they are. Conceived and led by Dr. Don Beck, a leading global authority on value systems, societal change, and stratified democracy, SDi is an advanced extension and elaboration of the biopsychosocial systems concept originated by the late Dr. Clare W. Graves of Union College, New York, and later developed as Spiral Dynamics - a model that Canada’s Maclean’s Magazine rather grandly dubbed “The Theory that Explains Everything.” Spiral Dynamics™ reveals the hidden complexity codes that shape human nature, create global diversities, and drive evolutionary change. These dynamic Spiral forces attract and repel individuals, form the webs and meshes that connect people within groups, communities and organizations, and forge the rise and fall of nations and cultures. Spiral Dynamics meshes the new science of memetics with Gravesian value systems to form “value memes” or ”vMemes” to craft a model of transformational change. By exploring and describing the core intelligences and deep values that flow beneath what we believe and do, the model offers a profoundly incisive, dynamic perspective on complex matters such as
HOW people think about things (as opposed to “what” they think)
WHY people make decisions in different ways
WHY people respond to different motivators
WHY and HOW values arise and spread
The nature of CHANGE
This powerful conceptual system has been field-tested in some of the most complex environments on the planet, from inner-city Chicago to racially plagued South Africa. Since the focus is on the deeper vMemetic foundations, Spiral Dynamics suggests ways to move more quickly in the direction of deep dialogue and comprehensive, integral solutions.

Integral Naked – http://www.integralnaked.org/index.html
Integral Naked is a multimedia doorway to the world of integral awareness. Conversations, performances, live events—all involving the most influential, provocative, and important thinkers and leaders in the world. Often these are moderated by Ken Wilber, considered the most influential integral theorist today, and his colleagues at Integral Institute. “Integral” simply means comprehensive or inclusive. The core of Integral Naked is a series of intense, raw, straightforward discussions that cover a full sweep of contemporary issues—from business to personal growth, from education to meditation, from politics to ecology, from sexuality to spirituality. What would all of those look like if they were integral instead of partial, whole instead of fragmented, balanced instead of broken?
We supplement the weekly dialogues with video clips of teachers-in-action. Whether covering the finer points of a theory of mind, or giving pointing-out instructions for your own Big Mind, these bite-size clips will put a face to those extraordinary voices. Integral Naked is also a platform for the artistic avant garde. Through video, concerts, readings, and experimental journals, the voices of the future are being heard today. Integral artists are often a part of IN-Live events, which are open only to members of Integral Naked. We feature their cutting edge work in the Avant Garde section of the site. Finally, Integral Naked is a lifestyle. It’s the expression of body, mind, and spirit in self, culture, and nature. Integral Naked exists for you. It’s your access point to the community, the conversations, the art, and the vision that is defining what it means to be fully aware in today’s world.