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 By Stephen Dinan, founder and CEO of The Shift Network
It's an intense time in the world as we track the news, with violence and struggle across the Middle East and the Ukraine. I believe our calling is to fully feel and work to heal such conflicts while also building a sacred global culture that makes such violence a thing of the past.
In the Summer of Peace we are highlighting a wide range of speakers who link inner peace with practical action. This is one way we are bridging ancient spiritual wisdom, emerging sciences of consciousness and effective peacebuilding. (See Summer of Peace free recordings below.)
With this in mind, we are launching The Future of Yoga to complement the Summer of Peace. This free online summit is from August 4–6 and designed to help all of us marry spiritual practice with positive action in the world. (To register, click here.)
To draw out the relationship between yoga, inner peace and practical action, we are featuring articles by Bidyut Bose, who is introducing yoga to youth in Oakland, and Laura Cornell, who talks about yoga and peace at home. We also are featuring an amazing interview with Seane Corn who passionately talks about yoga helping with personal transformation, including healing trauma.
Congressman Tim Ryan, who is an advocate for meditation, yoga and alternative healthcare practices, has written a featured article about legislation he introduced to the United States Congress to assist veterans and active duty armed forces. Congressman Ryan is asking all of us to join him in this effort by signing a petition – click here.
Jane Hughes Gignoux shares the inspiration behind the Universal Day of Peace. Our member profiles include Lia Mandelbaum with the Compassion Games in Los Angeles; Tom Etzel who became a peaceubilder after losing a niece and friend in the 9-11 attacks; Doug Martin Sturomski who is helping the Hudson Valley become a valley of peace; and, Cynthia Shepherd with The Heart Of Humanity Speaks project.
Also, I wanted to draw your attention to the fact that today is the International Forgiveness Day. To celebrate we are featuring the video trailer of the riveting film Beyond Right and Wrong. We featured filmmaker Lekha Singh earlier in the Summer of Peace. Lekha partnered with The Arbinger Institute to create The Reconciliation Project – the film inspires people to look at forgiveness and reconciliation in their own lives and Arbinger provides readers with a study guide to better understand the process of reconciliation witnessed in the film.
I also encourage you to watch the International Forgiveness Day livestream broadcast featuring Marshall Rosenberg and other peacebuilders today at 7:00 pm Pacific – to learn more, click here.
Finally, I invite you to join me and millions of people around the world in observing the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing on August 6 at 8:15 am Japan / August 5 at 7:15 pm Eastern. You can participate in these events hosted by our partners – The 22nd World Peace Prayer Ceremony in Hiroshima (live stream from Hiroshima) and Universal Peace Day (ringing of bells around the world). (See Movement News below for details).
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 The Conversation Continues Beyond Right & Wrong
Beyond Right and Wrong filmmaker Lekha Singh presents the stories of people who have experienced loss and the stories of people who have caused that loss. From the Rwandan Genocide, to fighting in Northern Ireland, to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, people from different sides of the violence have entrusted all of us with their stories — their anger or remorse, their pain, their paths to recovery.To help viewers continue the conversation after the film, The Arbinger Institute has created the Beyond Right & Wrong: Group and Self-Study Guide to accompany the film. To learn more, click here.
Featured Summer of Peace Recordings –
FREE
The Summer of
Peace is our commitment to peace in the world. The free summit provides
tangible skills you can apply in your daily life. Here are three recent
sessions.
• Esperanza Universal – How to Instantly Create Love and Peace, Within Yourself, and with Others
• Ben Hart, Barbara Arredondo and Yuka Saionji – Welcome to the Next Generation of Solutions
• Genevieve Simperingham – The Way of the Peaceful Parent
Register to listen to over 70+ FREE interviews – click here!
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 Military Mental Health Caucus
By Congressman Tim Rayan
(He will be a featured speaker at the 10X Summit)
The wounds of war affect millions of our veterans and their families on a daily basis, and I believe that one of my greatest responsibilities as a Member of Congress is to ensure our veterans are getting the benefits and care they have earned . . . [read more]
 Mindful Yoga: A Catalyst for World Peace
By Bidyut K. Bose, PhD
"Darnell" was presenting his senior thesis in front of the whole school – Street Academy, an alternative high school in Oakland - and he had everyone spellbound . . . [read more]
 Yoga: Off the Mat – Into the World
Special Interview with Seane Corn
Seane Corn is an internationally celebrated yoga teacher known for her impassioned activism, unique self-expression, and inspirational style of teaching that incorporates both the physical and mystical aspects of the practice of yoga . . . [read more]
 Yoga ~ Peace at Home
By Laura Cornell, Ph.D.
My 7-year-old niece Sarah is visiting for the week, and my husband and I are getting a crash course in the joys and also the challenges of child-rearing. I love this little girl so much, but managing all of her needs right before I launch a major project ~ The Future of Yoga Summit ~ is a lot! . . . [read more]
 Is a World Without War Possible?
By Jane Hughes Gignoux
Cynics scoff at the notion of a world without war. Yet every year more individuals and groups in different parts of the world demonstrate their belief in universal peace by commemorating Universal Peace Day (UPday) – August 5/6 . . . [read more]
For submissions and recommendations, email
editor@theshiftnetwork.com.
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 Survival of the Kindest: Stories of Compassion
By Lia Mandelbaum
This past January I had written an article for the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) newsletter about a profound intervention taking place around the globe, called the Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest, and how they were implemented for the first time at a prison, the California Institution for Women (CIW), located in Corona . . . [read more]
 Rising from the Ashes
Submitted by Tom Etzel, republished from My MasterPeace Moment competition
On a frigid Sunday morning in January 2014, Tom Etzel drove along Interstate 70 from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. He was eager to meet with Melanie Greenberg of Alliance for Peacebuilding, headquartered in Washington, and a partner of Tom's 4 year-old organization, Global Peace Building Foundation . . . [read more]
 Rotary/WW Peace Bell Foundation/Peace Prayer Society Collaboration
By Doug Martin Sturomski
Greetings of Love and Peace to All!
Besides being the Founder/CEO of the World Wide Peace Bell Foundation I am now the Peace Chair of Rotary District 7210, 64 Clubs that straddle the Hudson River Valley. I am also the Initiator of Vision 2020 – Making the Hudson River Valley the World's First Peace Valley! . . . [read more]
 The Heart of Humanity Speaks
By Cynthia Shepherd
True peace is a state of the heart, not of the mind. Too often we experience our world, from the space of our head, when our whole being is yearning to experience it fully, which requires that we engage our hearts . . . [read more]
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Upcoming Conferences, Co-Sponsored by The Shift Network:
- The Economics of Sustainability – Emerging Models for a Healthy Planet – October 6–9, 2014 – Fort Mason, SF, CA – The Economics of Sustainability conference is looking 50 years into the future. Our challenge is to bring forth a transformation of cultural and economic relationships so that environmental sustainability, social justice, and economic democracy become our way of life. To learn more, click here.
- 10XSummit – Igniting Change – Los Angeles – October 10–12, 2014, produced by PeaceLink Live. The 10X Summit is calling together like-minded leaders, organizations and celebrities from 10 social activist movements. For three days groups will unite causes and implement innovative solutions to global challenges and develop the sustainable systems, legislation and initiative that will actualize change. (Shift Network members receive a 40% discount when registering by August 18. To register click here and use this coupon code: Shift Network).
Upcoming Global Peace Events
International Forgiveness Day – On August 3, join the livestream broadcast featuring Marshall Rosenberg and other peacebuilders today at 7:00 pm Pacific – to learn more, click here.
The 22nd World Peace Prayer Ceremony in Hiroshima - Every year on August 6, there is a World Peace Prayer Ceremony in front of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome. In this ceremony, people joined in the prayer for the peace of more than 190 countries in the world while raising the national flags. You can participate in person or online.. The ceremony starts on Japan: August 6 at 9:00 am – in NYC August 5 at 8:00 pm. To watch the livestream broadcast, click here.
RING & SING FOR PEACE – Join a Clarion Call for PEACE & A WORLD WITHOUT WAR by ringing bells WHEREVER YOU ARE at the exact time of the Hiroshima bombing (Japan: August 6 at 8:15 am – in NYC August 5 at 7:15 pm), followed by a minute of PRAYERS FOR PEACE and a worldwide singing of John Lennon's IMAGINE. Join Universal Peace Day's 30th anniversary commemorating the 69th Anniversary of the bombing. Please share where you will ring bells and send your videos and photos to: ringbells4peace@gmail.com. For more information, click here.
August 17th – Join this free online Global PeacePrayer Summit with spiritual and thought leaders and world musicians, to raise the barometer on world unity and sacred living. Every person's prayers and participation are urgently needed to help create this shift. This Peace initiative is hosted by Rev. Dr. Swan Montague with guests Lama Lobsang Topgyal, Lobsang Penbar, Arun Gandhi, Tony Samara, Martha Reich Braden (musician) live from an event with Gregg Braden singing "God's Eyes", Shawn Gallaway ( I choose Love), Lama Surya Das, Joanne Shenandoah with many more luminaries and performances to be finally confirmed. Aug 17th 2014 2:00 pm EST To join, click here.
Summer of Peace – Featured Speakers Resources:
- Esperanza Universal – Special FREE Transformational Gifts from the S.O.U.L. Institute – discover four powerful steps to instantly transform your life – click here.
- Acharya Mangalananda is the author of OM MA: Anandamayi Ma, a short life sketch of one of the twentieth century's greatest saints.
- Mirabai Starr offers numerous books, events and a free newsletter that explore mystical teachings as applied in daily life – click here.
- Philip M. Hellmich – Publications exploring inner and international peacebuilding:
International Day of Peace Activities:
- Join BeThePeace
and The Peace Pole Project for synchronized meditations around Peace Poles on
the International Day of Peace (September 21, 2014)
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Peace Pole Project – where to order your Peace Pole, how to make one,
youth project, translations, etc. – click here.
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BeThePeace - Find or create a meditation – click here.
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The International Day of Peace – click here.
- JOIN the Compassion Games and make your community
safer, kinder, more just and a better place to live. By participating, players
are called upon to perform acts of service and kindness in our neighborhoods,
on the job, in service-providing agencies, and wherever their daily journey
takes them. The acts of service are organized projects or simple acts of
kindness to aid a neighbor in need or just for the pure joy of it! The 2014
Games will run from September 11 through September 21, 2014 and involves people
around the world. You can join now by clicking here!
- JOIN the Peace Day Global Broadcast – September 20–21 – Organizations and individuals can submit brief videos (3 to 4 minutes in length) for consideration by our selection committee. The quality of the videos must be in alignment with the overall quality of the Peace Day Global Broadcast. A Preview of the 2014 Peace Day Global Broadcast can be viewed at www.unityfoundation.org. The process is to send the links for the videos to unityfoundation1@aol.com by August 21, 2014. All submissions will be reviewed by September 1. A response from the selection committee will be sent to the senders by September 10.
Help your community become
an International City of Peace and together
we can reach the Goal 2020: 1000 Cities of Peace. For more information:
click here.
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The Facebook page: click here.
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The Global Feast for Peace: click here.
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The Eugene City of Peace organization has many resources for communities
working toward a culture of peace: click here.
Breath Immersion – From Science
to Samadhi – August 24–29 – Breath Immersion to
explore leading-edge research and learn how to integrate and advance the power
of breath into our modern world. Those new and experienced in breath practice
are invited to participate in building a healthier world together. To learn
more, click here.
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2014
Catalyst: (#15, 8/3) (#14, 7/20) (#13, 7/4) (#12, 6/15) (#11, 6/1) (#10, 5/18) (#9, 5/4) (#8, 4/20) (#7, 4/6) (#6, 3/23) (#5, 3/9) (#4, 2/22) (#3, 2/8) (#2, 1/26) (#1, 1/12)
2013 Catalyst: (#22, 12/14) (#21, 11/30) (#20, 11/16) (#19, 11/3) (#18, 10/20) (#17, 10/6) (#16, 9/21) (#15, 9/8) (#14, 8/25) (#13, 8/4) (#12, 7/21), (#11, 7/7), (#10, 6/16) (#9, 6/2) (#8, 5/12) (#7, 4/28) (#6, 4/14) (#5, 3/24) (#4, 2/24) (#3, 2/9) (#2, 1/26) (#1, 1/13)
Birth 2012 Catalyst: (#15, 12/9) (#14, 12/1) (#13, 11/22) (#12, 11/10) (#11, 11/3) (#10, 10/20) (#9, 10/6) (#8, 9/16) (#7, 9/8) (#6, 8/25) (#5, 8/16) (#4, 8/4) (#3, 7/28) (#2, 7/21) (#1, 7/14)
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Congressman Tim Ryan calls for support of legislation to ensure veterans and active duty armed forces are getting the benefits and care they have earned – click here. (See Featured Article)
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 Advanced Teachings for Truly Loving Yourself: Deepening Unconditional Love and Self-Worth Through Inner Bonding Learn how to go beyond platitudes and consoling words into deep, abiding, unconditional love for yourself — including the parts you feel ashamed of.
A free virtual event featuring renowned psychologist Margaret Paul.
August 6, 5:30 pm Pacific
 Kissed by the Goddess of Bliss:
Reclaiming the Subtle Eros of Life Through the Hindu Goddess Lalita Experience the delight of opening to a sensuous relationship with life that goes beyond human sexuality into a bliss that is without boundaries.
With author and spiritual teacher Sally Kempton.
August 13, 5:30 pm Pacific
 Mastering Your Inner Matrix: How to Access Your Spiritual Depths to Achieve True Fulfillment New 7-week live training with Spiritual Teacher and Founder of Conscious Transformation Inc. Joey Klein.
Integrate your deepest spiritual insights into your everyday life so that you can experience lasting success, peace and fulfillment.
Begins August 12, 2014
More Upcoming Events: (all subject to change)
August
• Future of Yoga mini-summit
• Laura Cornell 8-week course
• Sally Kempton 7-week course
• Ken Page 7-week course
• Margaret Paul 9-month intensive
September
• Tim Kelley 7-week course
• Barbara Marx Hubbard 12-week course
• Miranda Macpherson 4-month course
• Lisa Schrader 9-month intensive
• Enneagram 9-month intensive
October
• Enlightened Business Summit
• Christian Wisdom Summit
• James O'Dea 7-week course
• Andrew Harvey 7-week course
• Enlightened Business Academy 6-month intensive
• Robert Moss 6-month intensive
November
• Sandra Ingerman 7-week course
• Joan Borysenko 10-week course
• Mirabai Starr 7-month course
December
• Andrew Harvey 7-week course
• Gangaji 7-week course
• Peace Ambassador Training 14-week course
• Patricia Albere 4-month course |
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Off the Mat – Into the World uses the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and to ignite grass roots social change. To join the movement, click here. (See Featured Article.)
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 James Twyman
By Philip M. Hellmich
James Twyman has a heart, soul and voice of pure peace. When I talked with James about speaking in the Summer of Peace, I was immediately aware of a deep presence saturated with peace. James lives and sings peace. In 1994 he put the peace prayers from the 12 major religions to music and began traveling the world as "The Peace Troubadour," often being invited by world leaders and peace organizations to perform the concert in countries at war. There is so much to love about the music that flows through James as it awakens our universal desire for peace. Please, please, please enjoy James' music and join us for the interview in the Summer of Peace on August 12. To listen to James' music, click here.
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