|
 By Stephen Dinan, founder and CEO of The Shift Network
The Ebola crisis in West Africa has been breaking my heart, as I am sure it is with you. I have felt compelled that The Shift Network must serve as a catalyst to mobilize our community to step up, assist our brothers and sisters in West Africa and help stop this terrible crisis.
With that in mind, I reached out to the Evolutionary Leaders and Shift faculty. Together, we agreed to launch the Shift Campaign for Ebola to support the efforts of Médecins Sans Frontières's (Doctors without Borders) in their brave efforts to provide assistance to people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
We chose Doctors without Borders because of their tireless and courageous efforts to bring healthcare to people living in the most destitute situations. Doctors without Borders are on the frontlines of the Ebola crisis (See video below) and they received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
The Shift Network is donating $10,000 to Doctors without Borders in the Shift Campaign for Ebola. We are being joined by Deepak Chopra, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Andrew Harvey and many of our faculty, partners and staff for a one-day push today (November 1st) to raise $100,000.
It is with all the love in our hearts that we ask you to join the Shift Campaign for Ebola – click here. Pledge what is meaningful for you (however big or small) and then please invite your family and friends to join the campaign.
The Ebola crisis shows us once more that the world is more interconnected and interdependent today than ever before. What happens in one part of the world affects all of us. This is why the Shift Network is committed to helping you and all our members to self-actualize — to become our highest expression of divinity/humanity and to become awakened global citizens serving humanity and all of life on Earth. The Shift Campaign for Ebola is one expression of our collective compassion in action.
Given the privileges many of us enjoy (safe drinking water, access to health care, etc…) we must continue to strive to embody our highest wisdom in every aspects of our life — mind, body and spirit — and then to take action. To help you take care of yourself so you can be a better global citizen, we are launching the Your Optimal Diet summit on Nov. 5, 2014. This summit is being hosted by Dr. Joan Borysenko, one of the leading voices for conscious wellness. (Register free for Your Optimal Diet by clicking here.)
In this edition of The Catalyst we have incredible articles by John Robbins and Ocean Robbins, Geneen Roth, Dr. Joan Borysenko, Dr. David Perlmutter, Dr. Pamela Peeke and Dr. Will Tuttle. These articles provide profound insights on diets for personal health and lifestyles that can improve life on Earth.
Our Member Profile from Billie Dean in Australia provides a beautiful example of extending the circle of compassion to animals (be sure to watch Billie Dean’s video embedded in her article). We also have a special announcement from our friends at the Dalai Lama Foundation about the Living History initiative, a multimedia experience celebrating the life and milestones of His Holiness. (See Member Profile)
Can you feel how our daily lives affects others around the world? Can you feel how our individual shifts can join collective global Shifts? As Chief Phil Lane, Jr. says, “This is a time for unprecedented unified action.”
|
|
|
 Ebola outbreak: On the frontline of the fight against the epidemic in Liberia
Médecins Sans Frontières's (Doctors without Borders) Stefan Liljegren tells of the impossible choices and inhuman decisions he is forced to make everyday as they try to tackle the Ebola outbreak sweeping West Africa.
 Bryant Terry – Urban Farms
Chef Bryant Terry discusses the rise of urban farming and its importance in building healthy communities, engaging young people, and bringing fresh, homegrown food to cities. Bryant Terry is an author and food activist in the San Francisco Bay Area. To learn more about Bryant, click here.
|
|
  Food that's Healthy for People and for the Planet
By By John Robbins and Ocean Robbins (Excerpt from their Healthy Kitchen Guidebook)
At the Food Revolution Network, we want to help you eat more real, organic, sustainable, plant-strong, non-GMO, humane, locally grown, and fair trade food. Here's why . . . [read more]
 Freedom from Self-Loathing (and Who Doesn't Want That!)
By Geneen Roth
Last month, as I was walking along a beach in Monterey, CA, I came upon a lone seagull making a huge amount of noise. Then I noticed that he was standing beside another gull — a dead one — and I thought, Oh, he's crying seagull tears because he lost his mate. His cherished partner. The love of his life. Maybe gulls are like swans; maybe they mate for life and when they lose their one and only, they are bereft, desolate, inconsolable . . . [read more]
 Five Steps to Eating for Better Health
By Joan Borysenko, PH.D
Ever since President Dwight D. Eisenhower was diagnosed with heart disease in 1961 and put on a low-fat diet, reducing dietary fat — while increasing carbohydrate intake — has become nutritional dogma, in spite of some sketchy research. Yes, the rates of heart disease have gone down, but experts don't think that diet was involved. Less smoking, better emergency medicine, more long-term care, fewer cases of rheumatic fever, and healthier moms who bore higher birth-weight babies are the likely causes of the decrease in heart disease over the past 50 years.
To learn more, click here.
 Why We Can and Must Focus on Preventing Alzheimer's — The Daily Beast
By Dr. David Perlmutter
Last week, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed how levels of blood sugar directly relate to risk for dementia. The investigation followed over 2,000 elderly individuals for an average of 6.8 years and found that even small elevations of blood sugar translated into a significant increased risk for dementia, even among persons without diabetes.
The implications of this report are profound. While the correlation of dementia risk, and specifically Alzheimer's disease, with diabetes has been established, this new finding throws a much wider net in terms of defining an at risk population for an incurable brain disorder. But despite the potential public health impact of these findings, this correlation received almost no media attention.
To read more, click here.
 You Are What Your Grandparents Ate
By Dr. Pamela Peeke
At some point, you've learned that "you are what you eat." Consume junk food and your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer skyrockets. Grab an apple instead of a Twinkie, and your body rewards you with a strengthened immune system, as life-giving phytonutrients flood your tissues and organs. You feel empowered by your lifestyle choices. You are what you eat.
But this belief was challenged and expanded upon when, in 2008, Duke University's Randy Jirtle, PhD, published a groundbreaking study proving that you're not only what you eat, but also what your parents ate.
To read more, click here.
 Is Veganism a Religion?
By Dr. Will Tuttle
Some people may deny that veganism is a religion, because a religion must, as defined for example by Merriam-Webster, "relate to or manifest faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity," and we don't see this typically as part of being vegan, at least in the beginning stages. However, as our veganism deepens, we begin to realize that it is an authentic, demanding, and rewarding spiritual path that not only positively transforms ourselves, but also positively transforms our society, as a religion should.
To read more, click here.
|
|
|
 The Dalai Lama — Living History Project
The Dalai Lama Foundation announces fundraising campaign for Living History, a multimedia experience celebrating the life and milestones of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama . . . [read more]
 My Commitment to Peace — Urgent Animal Messages for the Human Heart
By Billie Dean
In 2013 my husband Andrew and I founded the Billie Dean Deep Peace Trust, a global not -for-profit founded on ancient principles of non-violence, promoting deep peace for all species through the arts, education and compassionate action. I also run a school, Rainbow Fianna, teaching The New Shamanism, again based on the spiritual principles of non-violence. My belief is that peace is not just anti-war, it is about how we live our lives and that we can't live our lives promoting peace, when we still make violent acts every day through the way we eat and act in the world. We have to consider both nature and animals in our circle of compassion . . . [read more]
|
|
|
Film screenings of Awake: The Live of Yogananda are being extended in Theaters across the United States. To find a showing near you or to arrange for a screening, click here. (The filmmakers were interviewed in the Summer of Peace, the recording is available for free.)
Living History of the Dalai Lama — Since entering the world stage, the Dalai Lama has become one of the most recognizable leaders and advocates for world peace. Among his many honors and awards, 25 years ago, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. With your generous help and support, the Dalai Lama Foundation is thrilled to begin development of the Living History of the Dalai Lama — a comprehensive online interactive experience highlighting the Dalai Lama's lifelong journey to advance the cause of world peace. To learn more and to support this project, click here.
Joan Borysenko’s new book, The PlantPlus Diet Solution: Personalized Nutrition for Life (Hay House, September 2014) is now available. Joan writes, “I’m excited to share what I’ve learned and help people design the diet that works best for them. I’m just beginning to share this material in other formats. For information, interviews and classes, please check this website and my Facebook page – click here.”
The Alliance for Peacebuilding is excited to share the latest report published by member organization, The Institute for Economics and Peace, on whether religion is the main cause of conflict today. Five Key Questions Answered on the Link Between Peace & Religion uncovers the empirical link between peace and religion and finds that economic factors contribute more heavily to the existence of today's conflict.
Upcoming Global Peace Events/Initiatives
FREE Live Stream — Israeli and Palestinian Narratives in Peacebuilding and Peace Obstruction. Dr. Julia Chaitin, AICE Visiting Israeli Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, will present a conceptualization of four different kinds of personal narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, two of which usually hinder peacebuilding efforts between former enemies, and two that have the potential to support peacebuilding and reconciliation if they are undertaken in a supportive, dialogical group space. Saturday, November 8, 2014; 9–11 AM (PT). The event will be streamed live – click here. The event also will be recorded and made available afterwards.
FREE Teleseminar — Learn about the Connection Practice with founder Rita Marie Johnson in this 1-hour teleseminar scheduled for Saturday, November 8, 2014 — 12:00–1:00 pm Central Time (10:00–11:00 am PT, 1:00–2:00 pm ET). Rita Marie also will share with you information about BePeace tours in Costa Rica and the many ways BePeace and the Connection Practice are being implemented throughout the United States. To sign up, send an e-mail to info@rasurinternational.org and the call in information will be sent to you.
2014 Common Ground Awards featuring inspiring peacebuilders from around the world – November 13, 2014 in Washington, DC and FREE live streamed globally. To learn more, click here.
ThanksGiving for Peace — Gainesville, Florida — The Saturday November 15, 2014 from 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm EST — a fun-filled evening including a Thanksgiving Feast, Music, Dancing, Silent Auction, Raffle, Drinks, Surprises, Photo Ops, Fun-Raising, Family, Friendship and an opportunity to contribute to the work of the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding as we work together for a safer community. To learn more, click here.
Upcoming Conferences, Co-Sponsored by The Shift Network
|
|
|
2014
Catalyst: (#22, 11/1) (#21, 10/19) (#20, 10/5) (#19, 9/21) (#18, 9/14) (#17, 9/01) (#16, 8/17) (#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)
|
|
|
|
 The Divine Ordinariness of Saint Teresa of Avila:
What You Can Learn from the West's Most Provocative, Practical & Ecstatic Mystic with World-Respected Scholar-Mystic Mirabai Starr.
Learn why St. Teresa's luminous pathway is just as relevant to modern seekers of the Divine as it was in the 16th century.
November 5th, 5:30pm Pacific
 The Healing Power of Shamanic Journeying: How to Access Inner Guidance from Helping Spirits featuring shamanic teacher Sandra Ingerman.
Learn about the practice of shamanic journeying to access higher guidance from helping spirit-allies in higher realms who are here to help you navigate your life with more wisdom and clarity.
November 12, 2014, 5:30 pm
 The Wisdom Goddess Empowerment Part 2
Unfolding the Goddess Within: Kundalini & the Awakening of the Divine Human with Author and Spiritual Teacher Sally Kempton.
New Live Training Starts Tuesday, November 4, 2014
 Dreaming Your Soul into Life:
A Deep Journey into Active Dreaming for Healing, Creativity and Courageous Living with shamanic dream teacher and the creator of Active Dreaming
Robert Moss.
New Live, 6-Month Training Starts Thursday, November 6, 2014
 Knowing God: Beyond Metaphysics to Direct Experience and Embodiment of the Divine. A Course in New Thought Teachings and Practices for the 21st Century,
with Rev. Jim Lee of Renaissance Unity, Detroit.
New Live Training Starts Tuesday, November 11, 2014
More Upcoming Events: (all subject to change)
November
• Your Optimal Diet summit
• Global Indigenous Wisdom Summit
• Sandra Ingerman 7-week course
• Chief Phil Lane, Jr. 9-week course
• Joan Borysenko 10-week course
• Mirabai Starr 7-month course
December
• Shift 2014 Planetary Birthday
• Gangaji 7-week course
• Andrew Harvey 12-week course
• Peace Ambassador Training 14-week course
• Patricia Albere 4-month course
January
• Winter of Wellness summit
• Scilla Elworthy 7-week course
• Thomas Huebl 9-week course
• Enlightened Business Academy 6-month intensive
• Barbara Marx Hubbard 6-month intensive
• Devaa Haley Mitchell & Elayne Doughty 7-month program |
|
The Shift Network is very concerned about the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa. We are organizing a campaign today only (Nov. 1, 2014) with leaders such as Deepak Chopra, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and Andrew Harvey to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders to stop the spread of Ebola. The Shift Network is making a $10,000 contribution to Doctors Without Borders and we're aiming to raise $100,000 today. Please, join us as we stand with our brothers and sisters in West Africa by donating and sharing with friends (instructions are on the campaign page – click here). Thank you!
|
|
The Food Revolution Network is committed to healthy, sustainable, humane and conscious food for all. Guided by John and Ocean Robbins, with more than 150,000 members. The Food Revolution Network aims to empower individuals, build community, and transform food systems to support healthy people and a healthy planet. To learn more, click here.
|
|
Ishq
By Jeffrey Kihn
Matt Hillier and Jacqueline Kersley live in the idyllic English countryside near St. Ives in Cornwall — home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the British Isles, and clearly a well of inspiration for the duo that is known to the musical world as Ishq. Ishq means "love" in Persian and Hindi, and is a word used by masters such as Rumi to express love of the Divine and all Creation.
Matt and Jacqueline have been making music together since about 1995, including the classic Orchid (2001), and also run Virtual, a limited-edition CD label which releases their full catalog of sonic landscape paintings. Says Matt, "Visual art is a big part of what I do.... I see ambient music as a landscape painting and everything I do has a visual world. I write visual music which paints an image of what Terence McKenna called the invisible landscape, the inner worlds and planes. So I guess I always wanted to be a landscape painter, painting in the invisible world.... And I also like the idea of music as healing and transformative — I think most humans are in a process of healing and transformation anyway."
Ishq embrace a deep spiritual perspective which extends through their audio and visual art, infusing their New Age signatures with a refreshing honesty. And Matt's subtle, fascinating sound design gives the music a singularly vivid sense of place and state of mind.
Click here for a special 90-minute introduction to Ishq's extensive discography, and you can visit their website here.
|
|
