An in-person program led by Mica Estrada
January 24-26, 2025
Where do we begin?
Begin with the heart.
What does it mean to be well – even when all does not feel well? Let us gather and engage in experiential exercises, discussion, contemplation, and reflection to connect ourselves to inner wisdom. Let us create a context in which heart, mind and soul connection can deepen as a result of nurturing relationships with soulful wisdom and then explore the question of how “all will be well” when all does not feel well.
Readings from Quaker Thomas R. Kelley, St. Julian of Norwich, and Mexican/ Native traditions will be provided that are relevant to the exploration of what it means to be well in the midst of a dynamic time in history.
Sandy Kewman will serve as Elder for this program.
Register here!
About the program leader. Mica Estrada (above) is a member of Strawberry Creek Friends meeting (Pacific Yearly Meeting) and serves on the Quaker United Nations Committee for Geneva. In her professional life, she is an Associate Dean of Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach and Professor at the University of California at San Francisco. Her research and writing focuses on ethnic populations that are historically underrepresented in higher education, are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and have the potential to provide diverse and creative solutions to the pressing challenges of our day. As a Latina, raised with awareness of white American, Native American, and distinctly Chicano values and culture, she has felt called to bridge wisdom traditions that are both mystical and scientific in their approach to kindness, inclusion, and community building. She continues to ask the insistent and persistent question: How do we simultaneously address the great challenges of our time concerning structural racism, climate crisis, and the shifting spiritual needs of our soul?
About the program elder. Sandy was raised in the Catholic Church in central Minnesota and educated through college by Benedictines and lay faculty. In her early 20’s she took a sabbatical from Catholicism and then met her future husband, Don, who was a Quaker and began attending in 1982. In 2003 she became member of Grass Valley Friends Meeting by which time she had become active in College Park Quarterly Meeting in northern California. She has served as an elder, a member of a number of committees in Grass Valley, a member of the Racial Justice Subcommittee of Pacific Yearly Meeting, as well as the clerk of Pacific Yearly Meeting from 2019 to 2022. Her marriage, contemplative prayer, listening practice, social justice issues and grandchildren are her priorities at this time.
Click here to register.
