New Women's Leadership for an Emerging World Conference in Madison Ct.

    MADISON, CT, September 16, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Mercy by the Sea Conference and Retreat Center is offering a weekend to explore Women's Emerging Leadership: Prophets of Hope, September 25 -27. The retreat will be led by Marina Illich, Ph.D. who trained for more than twenty years with Buddhist leaders, learning how to build self-awareness to develop greater capacity for resilience, strategic thinking and influencing in socially and politically charged environments.

The weekend is open to all women who share a commitment to serve the common good and are willing to help lead their communities, workplaces, and families into a life-affirming future. This new way of leading calls us toward inclusiveness, collaboration, synchronicity, expansiveness, abundance, wholeness, mutuality, intuitive knowing and compassion. Participants will explore key practices of an Emerging Women's Leadership that enable breakthrough to a fresh intelligence, unleash creativity, strengthen resiliency and help to cultivate presence and community.

The weekend will include self reflection, communal dialogue, gentle body work and contemplative practices. According to Illich, these practices are key to experiencing leadership as a way of being so that the "doing" springs forth from a deeper source.

"America is in the throes of a 'mindfulness revolution,'" notes Illich, "in every sector from business to politics, education, parenting and the military." She agrees that this is offering us skills to slow down and reconnect, but cautions against mindfulness being equated with stress reduction or learning how to center under pressure to enhance performance.

"The intention of mindfulness is not to make us more 'chill' with the insanities and inanities of our post-modern lives," believes Illich. "The purpose of mindfulness is to wake us up. It's designed to reconnect us with our intrinsic ingenuity and our indestructible, innate excellence." "We are wired to tolerate what feels intolerable to become fearless in making the world a better place...and we are wired to kindle greatness in others through our generosity of spirit."

Illich is an executive coach and leadership consultant dedicated to helping leaders develop the agility, vision and authenticity needed to lead with excellence in uncertain times. She is a former scholar and professor of Religion specializing in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism with a Ph.D. from Columbia University. She serves on the faculty of New Ventures West, a coaching institute based in San Francisco and was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to serve on the State of California's Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.

Single room and all meals $245. Double room and all meals $185 per person. For more details and reservations, visit http://www.Mercybythesea.org; or call (203)245-0401. Limited scholarships are available particularly for students. Please inquire by phone.

Mercy by the Sea Retreat and Conference Center is located in Madison, CT, along the Long Island Sound. A sponsored work of the Sisters of Mercy of the Northeast, the Center's programming is grounded in the community's tradition of discerning and serving critical unmet needs of its particular time and place. Day and weekend programs include creative expressions of the Spirit, contemplative practices, sustainable co-creation, finding the sacred in the everydayness of life, and human development.

About Mercy by the Sea
Mercy by the Sea is a nonprofit retreat and conference center. We welcome all to this quite and serene place. You can unplug from the busyness of life and fine peace and natural beauty. We are located along the Connecticut shoreline. We are directly on the Long Island Sound and have over 1,000 feet of private beach for you to enjoy.

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