Conference Schedule

(Subject to Change)

Friday, March 4

Welcome & Opening Session

Rev. Cynthia Brix and Lucille Meyer, Ed.D. ~ Moderators
Special guest: Chaya Pamula
Poet: Kainyu Njeri
Musican: Vuyo Koyana

Plenary presenters:

~ Swami Ambikananda
~ Chief Luisah Teish, Ph.D
~ Carol Lee Flinders, Ph.D.

Awakening to the Divine Feminine

~ Alejandra Warden
~ Neela Bhattacharya, Ph.D.
~ Seemi Bushra Ghazi
~ Dena Merriam
~ Alka Arora, Ph.D.

Sound Bath Sanctuary: Deborah Koff-Chapin

Breakout Sessions:

~ Lynnaea Lumbard, Ph.D
~ Tschika McBean, J.D.
~ Rev. Adele Ahlberg Calhoun
~ Desireé English

Saturday, March 5

Plenary presenters:

~ Sr. Lucy Kurien
~ Ven. Pannavati, Ph.D.
~ Suad Younan
~ Karambu Ringera, Ph.D.

Voices of Young Women Spiritual Leaders

~ Sarah Oliver
~ Rev. Clare Morgan
~ Tschika McBean
~ Becca Tarnas, Ph.D.
~ Naomi Mwangi

Musician:  Shirsten Lundblad

Throughout the conference we will also have community engagement through small groups, interactive activities, and breakout sessions

Teachers and Presenters

Swami Ambikananda Saraswati is a Hindu monastic and student of the celebrated Swami Venkateshananda of Rishikesh. She founded the Traditional Yoga Association in Reading, UK, and is author of several books, including new translations of Hindu scriptures.

Alka Arora, PhD, is Core Faculty in the Women’s Spirituality program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). Her research and teaching interests include feminist spirituality, ecofeminism, feminist pedagogy, and spiritual activism. She lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Chaya Pamula is President and CEO of PamTen, SheTek, and SOFKIN. She is founder the Global Women’s League, a networking organization that creates a platform to inspire, influence, and empower women with leadership skills through affiliation with successful leaders and similar organization. Chaya is currently serving as a trustee on the board of MAHER, and Satyana Institute, and as a board member on many professional and women empowerment associations.

Karambu Ringera, PhD is a GERI Trainer, Facilitator, and Coordinator in Meru, Kenya. She earned her Ph.D. in Intercultural Communication from the University of Denver and a Master of Theological Studies from the Iliff School of Theology. Recipient of many awards, she founded the Tiriji Foundation in Meru, Kenya, which empowers orphans, women living with HIV/AIDS, survivors of violence, and other vulnerable community members via education, advocacy, and leadership development.

Seemi Bushra Ghazi is a lecturer in Classical Arabic at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She has a special interest in Islamic literature, culture and spirituality, as well as Islam and Gender. Seemi is a student in the Rifa`i Ma`rufi spiritual lineage. Her interviews and performances have been featured on BBC, CBC, NPR and PBS. Her Qur’anic recitation is on the PBS documentary “Islam, Empire of Faith.” She is a founding Board Member of the Rumi Society of Vancouver and the Vancouver Interspiritual Centre Society.

Becca Tarnas, PhD, is a scholar, artist, and editor of Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology. She received her doctorate from the California Institute of Integral Studies, with her dissertation titled The Back of Beyond: The Red Books of C. G. Jung and J. R. R. Tolkien. She teaches at both Pacifica Graduate Institute and CIIS, and is the author of the book Journey to the Imaginal Realm: A Reader’s Guide to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Dr. Daisy Khan is an award-winning speaker, author, activist, media commentator, and the founder of Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality & Equality (WISE). She is a recipient of twenty awards for promoting Muslim women’s rights and enhancing interfaith relations. She is an author of a spiritual memoir, Born with Wings, Wise Up: Knowledge Ends Extremism and two new publications,  30 Rights of Muslim women and WISE Up- White Supremacy.

Desireé English is a Senior Trainer and GERI Director of Training in South Africa. She is Chair of the Board of GenderWorks, GERI’s affiliate in South Africa.  As an Integrative Trauma Healing Practitioner and independent learning and development consultant, Desireé is strongly grounded in her purpose of facilitating healing and empowerment within communities, especially working with women and youth.

Lynnaea Lumbard, Ph.D., is an Interfaith Minister, Transformational Psychologist, Wilderness Guide and Evolutionary Leader. She is Co-Creator and Board Chair of NewStories, a Washington State non-profit offering transformational resources for a regenerative culture, helping individuals, groups and communities to Change the Story, Change What’s possible. She is also producer and curator of Great Transition Stories, a virtual hub for illuminating the deeper archetypal stories that can guide us in Co-creating a Life Affirming Future. 

Dena Merriam worked in the inter-faith movement in 1990s & was Vice Chair of the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious Leaders at the UN. She convened a meeting of women spiritual leaders also at the UN & founded the Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW) in 2002. For 45 years she has been a student of Paramahansa Yogananda & practitioner of meditation. She holds a MS from Columbia Univ. In 2014 she won the Niwano Peace Prize for her interfaith peace efforts. She is the author of My Journey Through Time – A Spiritual Memoir, The Untold Story of Sita,  When the Bright Moon Rises, & Rukmini and the Turning of Time.

Yeye Luisah Teish, PhD is an initiated elder (Iyanifa) in the Ifa/Orisha tradition of the African diaspora. She is the author of six books, most notably Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals, a women’s spirituality classic. She is a member of The Fountain, the Center for Sacred Studies, and the Mother Earth Delegation of United Indigenous Nations. She serves as a consultant who specializes in racial healing through ancestral storytelling and ritual. She has lectured and performed at universities and in theaters worldwide.

Emily Nielsen Jones is a donor-activist engaged in promoting human equality, justice, and peace around the world. She is particularly passionate and engaged in the nexus of faith, gender, and development and working to mobilize our faith traditions to more fully and unambiguously embrace gender equality. Emily is actively engaged in women-led philanthropy movement, and is a trained Spiritual Director and is the author of numerous articles.

Lucille Meyer, D.Ed, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Chrysalis Academy, based in South Africa. She has a M.Ed., MBA, MPhil in Management Coaching and a D.Ed. She is very intentional about a healing centred and holistic approach to development. She is a Certified Trauma Release Exercise provider, a Yoga Therapy teacher and currently serves as Trainer for the Gender Equity and Reconciliation International. In 2017, she was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Youth Development. Lucille seeks to cultivate the Yogic spirit of Love and Service in her daily life and social interactions, and has a daily meditation practice.  

Máire Callan, M. Div. is a GERI Facilitator and serves as administrative support with both GERI and Satyana Institute. She is a certified spiritual director, yoga teacher, and graduate of the Iliff School of Theology. She is also a facilitator of the Alternatives to Violence Project, where she has served as Volunteer Coordinator for many years.

Rabbi Silvina Chemen, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a Rabbi and a Communications Sciences graduate. From these two passions stems her dedication to dialogue, by weaving “micro-worlds” of unity. Silvina Chemen is known, among other things, for being a Rabbi who sends Christmas greetings to Christians and prepares Ramadan suppers for her Muslim friends. A Hebrew language and biblical scholar, with a degree in Communications Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, in 2018 she was declared an “Outstanding Figure in the field of Human Rights” by Buenos Aires City Legislature.

Natalia Margarita Cediel Becerra, Ph.D. has been a consultant for GERI network for the last 12 years in Colombia. She has fourteen years of experience working in multi-disciplinary health teams and intercultural workplaces on public health. Her current  academic work is focused on gender-based One Health, the implementation of a One Health approach in Colombia and Latin America.  Currently, she is professor and researcher at La Salle University, Colombia. She has several publications on gender equity, health and social inequalities of Colombian rural populations and the 2030 Agenda on sustainable development.

Naomi Mwangi is a strong feminist with world change passion, working at International Peace Initiatives (IPI) as the Executive Director. Naomi co-founded Kila Dada Initiative (Kila Dada meaning Every Sister) to work with young vulnerable women and girls from rural communities on menstrual hygiene and empowerment. She is a facilitator with Gender Equity and Reconciliation International as well as with the New Generation Leaders Program. Naomi is also the founder of Ubuntu Voices International (UVI) that works with young people to heal their ancestral wounds through the ubuntu philosophy.

Rev. Cynthia Brix, PhD (hon), is co-founder of Gender Equity and Reconciliation International, which has organized 280 intensive trainings in twelve countries for healing and reconciliation between women and men, and people of all genders. She is an ordained interfaith minister and Co-Director of Satyana Institute. She is contributing author of Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation between Women and Men (Hohm Press, 2007), and co-author of Women Healing Women: A Model of Hope for Oppressed Women Everywhere (Hohm Press, 2009).

Sarah Oliver is the Associate Director of Global Programmes for Youth Engagement for the United Religions Initiative (URI). Based in South Africa, she works to support, connect and inspire young people as interfaith activists and peacebuilders around the world. Sarah has worked in the interfaith sector for the last 10 years, running youth camps, workshops and skills-trainings, both locally and globally. As an experienced facilitator, she is passionate about connecting issues of interfaith dialogue, youth leadership, peacebuilding and social justice.

Shirsten Lundblad, M.Div., attended Harvard Divinity School in the early 80’s where she focused on women’s studies in religion and feminist theology, and began her work with GERI in 2001.  She makes her living doing massage therapy, sound healing, teaching yoga, and teaching drumming.  She has performed with numerous a cappella groups, choral groups, and with the women’s vocal and percussion ensemble, Inanna, Sisters in Rhythm.  For Shirsten, music is a spiritual practice.  

Ven. Dr. Pannavati is a Buddhist monk ordained in Theravada and Chan traditions, and a former Christian pastor.  She is co-founder of  Embracing-Simplicity Hermitage  and Co-Director of  Heartwood Refuge  in Hendersonville, NC, and president of the  Treasure Human Life Foundation. She leads retreats nationally at over 50 centers and churches, for the dual cultivation of wisdom and compassionate action.

Tschika McBean, J.D. is the Human Rights Officer for the Baha’i Office of Public Affairs,  she works to defend the rights of persecuted Baha’i communities around the world; to advance international religious freedom; to promote U.S. ratification of international human rights treaties, and to engage with colleagues and partners in discourse around human rights issues, including human trafficking, racial justice and race unity.

Thu Nguyen is a trauma informed leadership coach at Nusqool who helps people navigate uncertainty with authenticity and purpose. She is a facilitator of Gender Equity and Reconciliation International (GERI) and of Positive Intelligence and Body Intelligence workshops. She was trained as a Computer Engineer at the University of Waterloo and spent most of her first career in tech as a multi-time founder until her body said no. She has spent the past decade navigating the unknown, re-orienting towards living from the inside out and supporting others in their transformation.

Naima Dido is a human rights and gender activist with 20 years of experience working with refugee and immigrant communities in the USA and Africa. She founded Threads For Wellbeing, a wellness project for activists and survivors of traditional harmful practices. Born into the Oromo tradition of Kenya/Ethiopia and raised Muslim, her family emigrated to the United States when she was a child. Naima created the video poem Unspoken about the trauma of female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C), as part of her advocacy to end this practice.

Judy Connors, MA (Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies), is a Trainer, Facilitator, and Consultant for GERI and a consultant in the field of violence prevention and conflict resolution in South Africa. She has over 25 years’ experience in nonprofit management, and is a leader in the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP). Judy was raised Catholic in a home that embraced interfaith traditions. Through studying Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism, and by practicing and teaching Kundalini Yoga, she has come to appreciate the mystical roots of her own tradition, which she shares with others in spiritual retreats.

Kai Njeri is a regenerative systems thinker whose explorations as a teacher/facilitator, through farm & food systems design and seed protection, her work as a doula and adornment medicine crafter are held up by three principles: heal, regenerate, thrive. The flavours of it don’t escape her poetry and moon dancing

Antonia Porter is a Facilitator and Consultant for GERI in Cape Town, South Africa. A Conflict Resolution Practitioner, she spent four years as Project Officer at the Center for Conflict Resolution, Africa’s most internationally recognized think-tank, based in Cape Town. Antonia has published book chapters on gender, masculinity, peacebuilding, and articles in International Peacekeeping in various South African newspapers.

Deborah Koff-Chapin originated Touch Drawing in 1974. She teaches this simple yet profound process internationally. Her deck Portals of Presence features faces drawn in sacred settings around the world. Deborah is creator of SoulCards 1&2 and SoulTouch Coloring Journals. She is author of Drawing Out Your Soul. Deborah has served as Interpretive Artist at many events including The Parliament of the World’s Religions. She holds Song Bath Sanctuary with voice, crystal bowls and drum. www.touchdrawing.com

Rev. Adele Ahlberg Calhoun is an author, speaker, retreat leader, pastor, spiritual director, pilgrimage leader, and a certified enneagram trainer. She currently serves as Co-Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Highrock Church in the Boston, Massachusetts. A trained spiritual director, she has taught courses at Wheaton College and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. Adele is the author of several books, including Invitations from God and she is co-author on Spiritual Rhythms for the Enneagram. Adele’s sweet spot is giving people tools to help them make space for God in their lives.