Where The Light Meets 1 - Introduction

Give this NEW podcast a listen! A spin-off of Everyday Buddhism: Making Everyday Better, our goal for Where The Light Meets is to share the light of self-knowledge, faith, and a spiritual foundation that shines brightly from all wisdom traditions.

In this podcast, Wendy Shinyo Haylett, Holly Rockwell, Levi Shinyo Walbert, and Christopher Kakuyo Ross-Leibow meet to learn from each other and share how to discover and harness the light found in Buddhist and Christian teachings for everyday reflection and practice.

In the first episode, we introduce our hosts and jump head-first into the swirling soup of traditions, texts, and practices. We each share  our own spiritual and religious background, where we find ourselves today, and what we hope to learn from each other as we share our "discoveries" with our listeners.

Introducing our hosts:

Wendy Shinyo Haylett is an author, Buddhist teacher, and lay minister with The Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism. She conceived, developed, and produced the podcast, Everyday Buddhism: Making Everyday Better and this new podcast, Where The Light Meets.

Wendy has 30+ years as a Buddhist practitioner and 25+ years of coaching experience. She reads deeply in Christian traditions, primarily mystic and Franciscan writings and teachings, in addition to Buddhist traditions, mainly Mahayana.

She calls herself a Christian-infused Buddhist and practices primarily from a Shin Buddhist center.

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Holly Rockwell is a Buddhism-infused Christian. She was raised as a Roman Catholic and is an Ignatian prayer guide. But after a winding spiritual journey, she now considers herself non-denominational. She also has a deep and abiding love for nature and finds God in all of creation.

She is currently a certified spiritual director in private practice through Estuary Soul Care. She works primarily with the spiritually curious; those who wish for a deeper connection to the divine than their religious experience has provided as well as those who are unchurched and seeking.

Until recently, she was Program Manager/Outreach Coordinator at Mercy Spirituality Center in Rochester, New York. She is a graduate of the Haden Institute for Spiritual Direction, holds a Juris Doctorate from SUNY Buffalo School of Law, and in 2015 was certified as a Master Naturalist by Cornell University's Conservation Education and Research Program.

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Christopher Kakuyo Leibow is the founder of the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship. His journey to Buddhism started in the Catholicism of his youth, and 6 years as an active Latterday Saint and then through Thomas Merton and Sufism before finding home in the Buddha Way. He is fascinated by the idea of praxis and ritual in both Christian and Buddhist traditions and what that looks like for the average person in their everyday lives.  He is also fascinated by the power of the imaginal found in the great myths of all religions. 

Christopher currently is the leader of a growing Sangha in Salt Lake City, which focuses on the idea that all are welcome to come just as they are, on deep listening,  and on the teaching of the Buddha, that that whole of the Buddha way is spiritual friendships (community).  He is an inducted Lay Minister of Bright Dawn Way of Oneness in addition to visual artist and poet with a MFA from Antioch. 

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Levi Shinyo Walbert is a Buddhist Minister, Seminary Student, and Contemporary Wizard. He was raised in a largely non-practicing Christian household, yet at a young age found interest and wonder in the religion and mythology of the world. This curiosity would lead him to experience both the positive effects of religion and faith in the world as well as the toxic and harmful side of organized religion.

Though, since finding Buddhism as his spiritual home at a young age, he still finds value and joy in learning from the spiritual traditions of the world. From his experience in working within interfaith and non-faith communities, he has begun to experiment with new ways of introducing spirituality as a personal voyage and narrative through one’s life. In doing so he has taken up the mythical role and archetype of the “Wizard” in hope to introduce what he feels are neglected elements of spirituality that is needed in today’s world: Levity and Fun.

He is currently a student at a Theological Seminary in which he is working towards a master’s degree in theology and accreditation in chaplaincy. His academic focuses are split between interfaith dialogue between Christianity/Judaism and Buddhism as well as an extended study on the history and modern interpretation of Satan.