Spiritual Direction Groups
with Rabbi Shir Meira Feit and Ashley Plotnick, MEd, MAJS, LCSWFour 90-minute sessions. Three groups to choose from:
Group 1: November 4, 11, 18, 25
Group 2: December 2, 9, 16, 23
Group 3: January 15, 29, Feb 12, 26
Grow in your awareness and experience of the sacred dimension of life in the company of others.
Space is Limited! Sign Up Today
Spiritual Direction Groups provide the unique opportunity to be part of an intimate group for spiritual growth facilitated by a seasoned Spiritual Director. Spiritual direction is a contemplative practice that invites you to grow in awareness of the sacred dimension present in every moment.
For many of us, having spiritual companions in our lives helps cultivate our ability to stop and pay attention to “the still, small voice within.” To hear that voice, members of your group will accompany you with heartfelt listening, help you connect with your spiritual longing, explore your inner wisdom, and strengthen your attunement to the sacred.
CONNECT to your inner knowing and wisdom.
OPEN your heart to an awareness of the sacred dimension of life
NURTURE your capacity for resilience, compassion, and well-being.
CULTIVATE insight and wise action in response to the challenges of our world.
JOIN with others as you learn from and strengthen one another’s journeys.
Join a group to support your journey. Together, we’ll grow in our awareness and experience of the sacred dimension present in every moment.
Each Spiritual Direction group will include 5-6 people who will meet with either Rabbi Shir Meira Feit or Ashley Plotnick, MEd, MAJS, LCSW, both of whom are well-known to the IJS community and experienced Spiritual Directors.
Our three Spiritual Direction groups will meet on the following dates and times. Additional groups may be added if there is enough interest.
With Shir Meira Feit:
Tuesdays, 11:00-12:30pm ET
- Group 1: November 4, 11, 18, 25
- Group 2: December 2, 9, 16, 23
With Ashley Plotnick:
Thursdays, 2:30-4:00pm ET
- Group 3: January 15, 29, Feb 12, 26
Join Us For A Free Preview
Follow Your Spirit: A Taste of Spiritual Direction
Tuesday, October 28, 7:30-9:00 PM ET, live on Zoom.
We encourage all who are interested in the Spiritual Direction Groups to join us for a free, one-time session led by Rabbi Nicole Auerbach. Attendees will learn about the art of spiritual direction and engage in experiential exercises to get a taste of what the groups will offer.
You will also learn about IJS’s 18-month program for those wishing to receive intensive training: Kol Dodi: Jewish Spiritual Director Training. Rabbi Auerbach is a member of the Kol Dodi faculty.
These Spiritual Direction Groups are a wonderful way to see if Kol Dodi might be for you!
Testimonials
The Spiritual Direction Groups will give participants a chance to experience this transformative practice with IJS for the first time. We are pleased to share some thoughts from graduates of IJS’s 18 month cohort program, Kol Dodi: Jewish Spiritual Director Training:
“[I want to express] My deep, deep appreciation for this opportunity, which has unleashed a path and a deepening that is such a blessing. Honestly, someday I would love to think that I could craft words that I feel would properly describe the gifts of this program and of spiritual direction!”
“I’ve loved Kol Dodi. It is one of the very best things I’ve ever done for myself, and that is thanks to you and the beautifully conceived and executed program you provided. Thank you!”
Meet Your Instructors
Rabbi Shir Meira Feit
Rabbi Shir Meira Feit is a musician, composer, ritual facilitator, and spiritual director. They have released several solo and collaborative albums of sacred music and has facilitated countless circles of communal ritual and song, helping people of all backgrounds connect with their inner wisdom and joy. Shir worked as a serial spiritual entrepreneur for twenty years in the Jewish Renewal movement, and in the Zen Peacemakers Order, co-facilitating their Bearing Witness Retreats in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Today, Shir offers their teachings as an independent educator and musician and as a spiritual director, helping others to grow and flourish at the dynamic edge of spiritual emergence. In the last several years, Shir’s work and life have been heavily influenced by the spiritual practice of parenting three children, interpersonal neurobiology, somatic psychology, and neuroqueer theory. They live with their family in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Ashley Plotnick, MEd, MAJS, LCSW
Ashley Plotnick, LCSW, MAJS, M.Ed., is a psychotherapist, spiritual director, and Jewish educator with extensive experience in the Jewish community. Ashley completed training in spiritual direction through the Morei Derekh program and is a spiritual director for HUC-JIR rabbinical students, as well as a mentor for the Kol Dodi spiritual direction training program at IJS. Additionally, Ashley works with clergy through the CCAR as a spiritually oriented counselor. She is also completing a Doctor of Ministry degree in contemplative practice, spiritual renewal, and strategic leadership at Claremont School of Theology, where her research focuses on the Shekhinah in the practice of spiritual direction. Concurrently, she is completing training in compassion-based spiritual direction supervision, through the lens of internal family systems. Ashley’s extensive training in mindfulness practice enables her to hold each person’s story with compassion and to meet them with presence. She lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband and three children, her greatest loves and most important spiritual practice.