Anam Cara: Spiritual Mentor Training

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Anam Cara, soul friend in Gaelic

“The anam cara was a person to whom you could reveal the hidden intimacies of your life. This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging… The human journey is a continuous act of transfiguration. If approached in friendship, the unknown, the anonymous, the negative and the threatening gradually yield their secret affinity with us.” - John O’Donohue

Who is an Anam Cara mentor?

Spiritual Journey

Someone who is committed to serving as a spiritual mentor in a reciprocal and intergenerational manner to support the journey of awareness and liberation, individually, relationally, and collectively.

Deep Listening

Someone with the skills to listen to themself and to deeply listen to others, building the skill of presence and embodiment as we relate with others, human and non-human.

Sustainable Change

A mentor who is committed to developing safe spaces as they weave and build community centered around the reality of the world while applying spiritual wisdom.

What makes this training unique?

Focus on embodiment

Learning your nervous system and how to regulate it. Explore trauma resiliency and grow your capacity to hold space for others.

Explore safety and co-regulation

Establishing safety in the group and exploring how “who am I” is in service to the we. Learn to co-regulate in community and in 1:1 experiences.

Co-imagination

Explore how significant relationships serve the whole, as we weave our journeys together in support of a liberated world.

Program details

Timing

  • September 26 to December 5, 2024

  • Every other Thursday from 12–2pm ET

Pricing

  • Full price: $675 USD

  • Three installments: $225 USD per month

  • Scholarships are filled, applications no longer accepted

  • Registration closed September 18

Format

  • Live and on-demand with sessions recorded

  • Partner practice

  • Special events between sessions

Meet your teachers

  • Dr. Peggy Rowe Ward

    PRIMARY TEACHER

    Dr. Peggy Rowe Ward (she/her) is the co-founder of The Lotus Institute, a senior teacher in Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village tradition of Engaged Buddhism, and the author of Love’s Garden: A Guide To Mindful Relationships. She has her doctorate in adult education and an MA in counseling psychology. Through meditation, movement, and art, Peggy offers a path of deep insight that enables her students to discover and embody their most creative and authentic selves.

  • Dr. Larry Ward

    CO-TEACHER

    Dr. Larry Ward (he/him) is the co-founder of The Lotus Institute, a senior teacher in Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village tradition of Engaged Buddhism, and the author of America’s Racial Karma: An Invitation to Heal. Dr. Ward holds a PhD in Religious Studies with an emphasis on Buddhism and the neuroscience of meditation. As a spiritual teacher, Dr. Ward interweaves insights with personal stories and resounding clarity that express his Dharma name, “True Great Sound.”

  • Chenxing Han

    CO-TEACHER

    Chenxing Han (she/her) is the author of Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists (2021) and one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care (2023). A frequent speaker and workshop leader at schools, universities, and Buddhist communities across the nation. She is a founder of Listening to the Buddhists in Our Backyard; May We Gather: A National Buddhist Memorial for Asian American Ancestors; and Roots and Refuge: An Asian American Buddhist Writing Retreat.

  • Tamara Cress

    CO-TEACHER

    Tamara Cress is a certified trauma-informed yoga and meditation teacher, life coach and speech-language therapist. She is a nomadic yoga teacher, who brings mindfulness based practices to community spaces including schools, churches, support groups, community centers, football fields and family reunions. Her teachings help people connect to their own inner wisdom and to each other through fun, movement, stillness, and the breath. Tamara understands the transformative power of rest, joy, community and compassion to renew, recharge and restore us.

  • Mona Abutaleb

    CO-TEACHER

    Mona's practice as a Somatic Therapist focuses on touch and the power of co-regulation and safety that can happen from being in contact with one another. She trusts and believes that healing always happens in community. What moves her is curiosity and a belief that ancient wisdom is held within our bodies and that by using practices guided by the wisdom of our bodies, we can actively heal and bring the collective back to a place of harmony.

FAQs

  • We will move through six different modules:

    • Module 1: Who am I?

    • Module 2: Who are we?

    • Module 3: The spiritual journey

    • Module 4: Wise attention and deep listening

    • Module 5: The art of holding sacred space

    • Module 6: Singing each other home

    Between each module, there will be some special offerings and opportunities to meet with other students and to practice the learnings. There will also be homework throughout the modules.

  • Open to all ages

    For people who feel called to become a mentor or spiritual guide.

    For people who have an existing coaching or spiritual practice and wish to explore and deepen their understanding and knowledge in new ways.

    For those who are interested in weaving/building a community centered around our current world reality.

    For anyone wishing to develop the skills of sincere friendship and applying those in a practical level to their workplace, how they show up as a leader, practitioner, neighbor, or friend.

  • From self-discovery to creating sacred spaces and navigating grief, each module offers a transformative journey towards new understandings of identity. Through story-catching, deep listening, wise attention and contemplative practices, participants will look within to uncover their inner selves, ultimately learning how to become a spiritual mentor and inspire within others a passion and motivation to create places, digital and in-person, where we can all experience mutual support, belonging, justice and liberation.

  • You are expected, although not required, to attend each teachng live. All teachings will be recorded. You also will be expected to participate in the community, work with your peers, and complete the homework in advance of the live lessons.

    You are expected to show up with grace and consideration for all other participants involved, regularly exploring your own patterns and biases.

  • This training program to applicable is relationships at work, with family members, friends or people in our community where we sense we could go deeper in supporting them and learning from one another. While the course has been designed for a mentorship with a focus on engaging with someone at a pivotal moment in their life, the skills learned and practiced in our time together can strengthen connections in all areas of your life

  • All gatherings are live and online. No in-person gatherings are associated with this program currently.

  • We are no longer accepting scholarships.

    We had a limited number of partial and full scholarships. As of August 2024, all of those are fully filled.

    Scholarships were reserved for young people (35 and under), BIPOC, and those from Latin America, Africa and Asia.

  • Please share this program with anyone else in your community and network.

“The source of love is deep in us and we can help others realize a lot of happiness. One word, one action, one thought can reduce another person’s suffering and bring that person joy.”

- Thich Nhat Hanh