Our Spiritual Spa Day programs are now offered on-line through Zoom
Personal Transformation and Courage Institute (PTCI) offers programs for individuals seeking to transform their lives by deepening their awareness of spiritual principles and awakening a new sense of themselves and their place in life. This process is informed by the perspectives of one or more of The Three Paths to Personal Transformation:
- Discerning what you identify as the “best” in the wholeness of yourself,
- Recognizing, facing and releasing — with compassion and courage — obstacles along your path,
- Reclaiming and befriending what still holds you back, by transforming it into what truly liberates you.
Each of the four upcoming PTCI Spiritual Spa Days programs incorporates distinct PTCI perspectives and approaches with the expertise of the facilitators. Each of the programs presents concepts and practices which are reinforced through experiential activity and practical application. We hope you will join us to explore Being, Belonging, and Becoming.
Register for PTCI Spiritual Spa Days 2021 programs either consecutively — so that you may build on them in sequence — or separately, as stand-alone units. All are offered exclusively in scheduled Zoom sessions. Registration opens three weeks before each program.
Engaging the Natural World:
Reveal the Journey that Belongs to You
Date: Sunday, May 2, 2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. EDT
Facilitator: Sharon James Fazel, M.F.A., M.Div.
“Hear me, four quarters of the world – a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand, that I may be like you. With your power only can I face the winds.”
– Black Elk Speaks, as told through John G. Neihardt
In the realms of both classical myth and shamanic vision, we as human travelers-through-life begin an intentional journey, dreaming of or seeking an ideal vision of our future. Striking off in confidence, encountering supreme challenges, and taking cues from our environment that awaken us to greater strength and wisdom, we learn to overcome a host of unexpected obstacles. We emerge from this iconic journey stronger, clearer-minded, more open-hearted, and more closely aligned with who we really are than before we began. The same progression is true in exploring our own individualized path to personal transformation.
In our time together, you will
- Use active imagination to unearth wisdom deep within yourself,
- Respond to images from the full range of the natural world — in a bold and playful approach,
- Rely on the intelligence of your body, as much as of your mind, to connect with your imaginative vision,
- Identify ideals and values that describe what your vision represents within yourself.
Sharon James Fazel M.F.A., M.Div.
Sharon’s work and career reflects a lifelong journey of synthesizing creative interactive communication, spiritual and theological study, and meditation practice — into practical life. Having begun pursuits in professional theatre first as an actor then later as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theatre at Hamline University, she has also done conference planning, facilitating and speaking. Ultimately, she was led to a career as a seminary trained, ordained UCC minister. She and her spouse Christopher retired together from fulltime shared co-ministry in 2015. In 2017, they relocated from the Midwest to Coastal Virginia. Sharon currently serves on the Board of Trustees for A.R.E., Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA. Additionally, she has been privileged to become involved in the transformative work of PTCI — as an authorized presenter and a dedicated student, having most recently completed Energy Constellations and the Three Paths of Enlightenment.
Claiming Your Gifts of Belonging:
Family Constellations and Ideals
Date: Sunday, May 23, 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. EDT
Facilitator: Jane Buyers, B.A.
“When we look at our parents, then we see that behind them are their parents, and behind their parents are other parents and so on through many generations. The same life flows through them all until it reaches us.” – Bert Hellinger
How do we belong to our families? What can we gain from acknowledging the ways we carry forward positive attributes and values from our parents, even if our circumstances were difficult?
One of the key tenets of family constellations is that in order to move forward, we must honor those who gave us life, our biological parents.…just for the basic fact of giving us life, regardless of whatever else may have happened in our lifetimes.
One way to do this is to find and accept the gifts that we carry forward from our parents and families. When we can see our connection to those family gifts, we have the freedom to move forward in the wider world with more ease and spaciousness.
In this Spiritual Spa Day, you will learn a little bit about the theory of Belonging as it pertains to Family Constellations. You will also participate in a reverie and constellation experience to allow you to see your unique gifts that may be part of your spiritual Ideal and which have their roots in your family system.
Our hope is that participants will gain a greater awareness of the positive ways in which they belong to their families and a greater appreciation for who they are intentionally becoming by claiming these ancestral gifts.
Jane Buyers, B.A.
Jane Buyers co-founded IDEALS@WORK in 2011 with Mary Elizabeth Lynch, President of PTCI, and Wendy Rains, a former PTCI facilitator and curriculum developer, and has subsequently become the Lead Facilitator. Jane is a natural and experienced leader who brings warmth, integrity, humor and compassion to her workshops. She is a graduate of the Personal Transformation and Courage Institute (PTCI) and a life-long student of transformational psychology and spiritual philosophy. Jane has studied with internationally recognized facilitator Suzi Tucker, protégée of Bert Hellinger, assembler of the Family Constellation work. Jane believes that people lead more satisfying lives when they are aligned with what matters most to them and have the freedom to navigate their choices in a healthy and balanced way.
Jane was previously a Managing Director and senior banker with JP Morgan Chase and currently serves as a Trustee of Simmons University, where she chairs the Student Experience Committee and sits on the Audit, Executive Development & Compensation, and Executive Committees. She has previously participated as a board member for Intersections International and the Collegiate Church, the Center for Hearing and Communication, the Robert Toigo Foundation and C. Brewer & Co, Ltd., and has volunteered extensively in a variety of leadership roles with both the West End Collegiate Church and the Association for Research and Enlightenment.
Creating Space for Your True Being to Awaken:
Knowing the Power of NO
Date: TBD
Facilitators: Patricia Carretta, M.A., M.A.; Rochele Kadish, M.A., C.P.C., P.C.C.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness That most frightens us. We ask ourselves Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.”
– Marianne Williamson
Along the Path to Transformation and Wholeness, we encounter many parts of ourselves – the positive values and strengths, as well as the negative and limiting beliefs, feelings, and behaviors that have power over us and stand in the way of being “powerful beyond measure.” All aspects of ourselves – the positive and the negative – are a part of us and have served a purpose in the development of our nature, personality, and Being. But at this moment in our life, as we encounter these many parts of ourselves, we might ask:
- What no longer serves us?
- What are we ready to let go of?
- How do we use the courage and power of our Being to say “no” to and release the burden of these limiting attitudes, emotions or behaviors?
In this program, we will introduce concepts and practices for working constructively with your limiting voices, patterns, and feelings that stand in your way. The program will focus on ways to increase awareness and understanding of how these energies operate in and on you. You will discover how the energies of your values and strengths awaken the power to say “No” and to release negative energies in healthy ways.
Patricia Carretta, M.A., M.A.
Patricia Carretta has been a student of Personal Transformation and Courage Institute principles and practices since 2013. She has served in a support or assistant facilitator role for PTCI courses since 2015. She completed the PTCI Somatic Intelligence Professional Training Program, including a supervised practicum, to earn authorization as an Ideal Constellation Facilitator.
Throughout her career, Patricia has looked for ways to maximize individuals’ awareness and understanding of their strengths and to support them in pursuit of their goals. Patricia has over 45 years of experience in higher education/student affairs, including as director of university career services (1971-2005) and assistant vice president of university life (2005-2014) at George Mason University. She holds an M.A. in Counselor Education with an emphasis on career development and higher education from the University of Iowa. Patricia has served in leadership roles on boards and councils for professional associations in higher education at the national, regional, and state levels.
Rochele Kadish, M.A., C.P.C., P.C.C.
Rochele Kadish has been actively involved with the personal transformation and mindfulness community since 2008. Rochele believes finding your true purpose in life is key to personal happiness. Rochele’s own journey to happiness began with becoming an accredited Executive Coach in 2008. She has been associated with PTCI since 2012, completing all the coursework, assisting in courses and culminating in becoming an Authorized Personal Ideals Constellation Facilitator. Additionally, Rochele participated in the 2017 Year of Living Mindfully taught by Jonathan Foust of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington.As an Authorized Personal Ideals Constellation Facilitator, Rochele brings together all of her experience in coaching and mindfulness. Her coaching skills help her to support her clients through the asking of powerful questions, which leads them to find their own answers. Her mindfulness practice guides her in creating an open, inviting space for her clients where all their wisdom – their analytical mind, emotional intelligence and body intelligence work together to support them.
Awakening the Ally:
Transforming Your Wounds into Vital Friends
Date: Monday, TBD, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., EDT
Facilitator: Mary Elizabeth Lynch, M.A., J.D.
An important – and challenging – part of your journey to Becoming Whole is about facing, understanding, and creatively engaging something about yourself that troubles you.
This is the Path of Alchemy – the path of taking something you would usually reject or resist in yourself and finding a way to connect with and befriend it so that it changes into a helpful companion and ally.
In this presentation, you will:
- Learn key principles about the process of transformation – the way in which a quality or energy that seems threatening or disturbing is actually something that has a positive potential to be a helpful, supportive influence,
- Discover tools to positively engage parts of yourself that often feel wounded, broken, or afraid,
- Experience the innate, creative power that resides in many personal energies that may initially confuse, disturb, and unsettle you,
- Awaken a hopeful spirit that resides within you.
You can learn an orientation and process for tuning in and transforming energies within and open up to a new way of Being in your life. This workshop is designed to awaken a hopeful spirit in you and give you tools to positively engage parts of yourself that often feel wounded, broken, or afraid.
Join us for an evening of opening up to a new way of Being with yourself and Being in your life.
Mary Elizabeth Lynch, M.A., J.D
Mary Elizabeth Lynch is a co-founder and president of the Personal Transformation and Courage Institute, a non-profit organization which specializes in personal growth and development course offerings. She brings to her course leadership 40 years of personal application of values clarification, mindfulness and meditation practices. She believes mindful awareness training creates the foundation for sustainable change – building personal and professional well-being, strengthening analytic and intuitive reasoning skills, and fostering enhanced capacity for resilience.
