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 By Stephen Dinan, founder and CEO of The Shift Network
My beloved wife Devaa Haley Mitchell, our Director of Peace, Philip Hellmich, and I, along with 11 wonderful allies, recently returned from A Sacred Pilgrimage into into the Heart and Soul of India — one of our first “Shift trips.”
It was truly an amazing experience! It is hard to put into words the profound effect of being on the banks of the sacred Ganges River in the Himalayas — the birthplace of yoga! Saints and sages of been meditating and praying along the Ganges for thousands of years. The presence is powerfully transformative.
We participated in the annual International Yoga Festival, which had over 1,200 people from 85 countries. Seeing the impact of yoga and meditation on people from around the world was awe inspiring. We gathered inspiring interviews with saints, world-renowned yoga teachers and yoga practitioners from many countries. We will share these videos with you in the Inspiring Women Summit (May 1–8) and the second annual Yoga Day Summit (June 21). Stay tuned for more information on those summits!
Two of our dear trip participants, Felicity Robinson and Ava Schlesinger, wrote beautiful articles about their experiences in India (see Profiles). (If you'd like to stay informed about future Shift trips to India and other locations, click here.)
Coming back from India, I feel renewed, energized, and ever more committed to sharing the world’s wisdom traditions with our global community.
With that in mind, it is a delight to give you beautiful articles written by our team to help you celebrate the Spring season by revitalizing your body-mind-spirit. (For our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, we hope these pieces will be uplifting for you during the Autumn season too!)
In this edition, we have an inspiring video from Mingtong Gu: Discover 3 Qigong Practices to Awaken Joy & Healing from Within [with Videos] (See Featured Media). We also have beautiful articles from Phil Bolsta with Andrew Harvey, Mark Matousek and Donna Eden. (See Featured Articles)
We would love to know: What Spring (or Autumn) rituals or practices renew your body, mind and soul? Please post a few sentences on this topic on our Facebook page and read what other Shift Network community members are sharing too – click here.
In Shift Philanthropy, we are highlighting the Divine Shakti Foundation in Rishikesh, India. We had the delight of meeting some of the beautiful people served by these projects and in helping to introduce to an elementary school water filters funded by many of you, thank you!
I do want to give a heartfelt request to assist our dear friend Rochelle Marmorstein, the Producer/Director of www.TheShiftMovie.com. Rochelle has supported The Shift Network from the very beginning. She is a generous soul, passionate activist and loving mother. Rochelle recently contracted West Nile virus and is having a health crisis. We encourage you to join us in supporting Rochelle – click here to learn more. (see Partner Spotlight).
Finally, our Featured Artists are the stunningly talented Lulu and Mischka from Australia.
From all of us at The Shift Network, we hope you have a wonderful Spring (and Autumn) season!
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  Spiritual but not religious? Discover the true spiritual power of Christ’s Teachings.
By Phil Bolsta with Andrew Harvey
Do you agree with the pundit who said that sitting in church and thinking you’re spiritual is like sitting in a garage and thinking you’re a car?
If so, you may be one of the more than 20% of the population who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR)....
So what’s the difference between many organized religions and spirituality anyway?
To read more and listen to a message from Andrew Harvey, click here.
 7 Essential Steps to Freeing Your Soul Through Writing
By Mark Matousek
Writing is a path of profound self-awareness, a spiritual practice as powerful as meditation, yoga, prayer and psychotherapy….
When we learn to tell the whole truth about experience — to discern our own soul’s odyssey — we come to understand the mythic dimension of our personal struggles, triumphs, confusions, longings, digressions and so-called mistakes.
To read more, click here.
 Which 10-Minute Morning Routine Do Energy Medicine Experts Recommend for Supercharging Your Life?
By Donna Eden
How do your days begin? Do you wake up alert and alive, ready to go and anticipating the people, events and activities to come?
Or is your mood a bit grey... your head filled with an endless to-do list, and your heart heavy?
If so, I would like to share a set of simple energy exercises with you below which can enliven your sense of vitality, your resilience and your joy.
To read more, click here.
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 Journey into the Heart and Soul of India
By Felicity Robinson
When The Shift Network email arrived titled “Journey into the heart and Soul of India” it felt like a calling to my own soul. I hadn’t planned on travelling to India, but just knew I had to go on what was to become a life changing journey into my own heart and soul. I was one of only two Australians in the total fourteen taking the journey, including Stephen Dinan, Devaa Haley Mitchell and Philip Hellmich from The Shift Network.
To read more, click here.
 My India Experience
By Ava Schlesinger
I was left speechless. We communicate with language, so after a rather impulsive two-week spiritual journey to Rishikesh India with a group of complete strangers, my friends and family naturally wanted and deserved to hear my story; but there were no words.
I tried. “It was interesting…dirty…the dustiest place I have ever been…the food was awful…the people I traveled with were fabulous…the crowds were abundant, relentless, vibrant, overwhelming…the room smelled like mothballs…
To read more, click here.
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Gender Leadership Group is bringing together both men and women to create safer, more productive and balanced dynamics in teams, organizations, families and communities at the Better Man Conference! Discover the business case for gender partnership in the workplace at this groundbreaking event which will include hundreds of professionals from many levels and industries for interactive leadership training, networking, and inspiration. Hear from influential male and female leaders in business, sports, media and entertainment who are walking the walk as responsible inclusionary leaders in the 21st century.
The Better Man Conference takes place in San Francisco on April 8. Learn more and register for the early bird ticket rate now at www.BetterManConference.com.
Join us for a weekend yoga retreat with meditation and talks about nonviolence. Where: Mount Madonna Center, Watsonville, CA. Hosted by a team of peacebuilders from the Metta Center: Michael Nagler, Stephanie Van Hook, Stephanie Knox-Cubbon, Kimberlyn David. To learn more, click here.
Community Peacebuilder Residential Immersion Training — Week 1: May 6–14 — Week 2: October 14–22 — Gainesville, Florida
This two week immersion training takes place at a 30 acre lakefront rustic retreat center near Gainesville Florida. Imagine...you...further developing essential skills, knowledge, confidence, perceptions, sensitivities and new understanding for your own personal development as well as contributing to a cultural shift in your community. Come join us for this innovative approach to community peacebuilding with a small group of like minded and committed individuals. Share in meaningful dialogue, new challenges, discoveries and fun. To learn more, click here.
 Praxis/Mondragón Study Tour — May 22–28, Mondragón, Spain — Praxis Peace Institute offers the most comprehensive study/tour available at the Mondragón Cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain. Developed over nine years, this program includes in-depth lectures at Mondragón Educational Center (Otalora), visits to Mondragón cooperative businesses, an R&D center, Mondragón University, Mondragón Bank HQ, the Basque Culinary Arts University (part of Mondragón University), the Basque Parliament where we have a special session with the Director of the Department of Peace, and much more. Details on our website – click here.
 Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP) 2016 Annual Conference — May 24 to 26, 2016 — Washington, DC — AfP’s 2016 Annual Conference will examine the newest developments in the peacebuilding field, and will capture the “view from the edges,” where peacebuilding is innovating, “looking around corners,” and scanning the horizon to revolutionize the field. The Annual Conference serves as dynamic space for AfP members to network with the broader peace and security community, including funders, policymakers, members of the military, and professionals from a broad range of related disciplines, such as development, human rights, and environmental protection. The conference provides unique opportunities to exchange ideas, reflect on international crises, discuss the most important issues in the peacebuilding field, and develop collaborative projects. To learn more, click here.
 New Book: Memoirs of Nepal: Reflections Across a Decade by John Paul Lederach
This book chronicles the decade that Lederach spent working with peacebuilders across Nepal — from government leaders to community mediators — in a process notable for its systemic and holistic approaches to social change. The book takes as a starting point the question of what a peacebuilding approach would look like if you started with a “decade” perspective. The result — told in stories, reflections, portraits of peacebuilders across Nepal, and gorgeous photographs, all in a striking coffee table book format — breaks the mold of peacebuilding narratives. The book is a treasure, with the richness of the text and the beauty of the photographs combining to create a very moving experience for the reader. To learn more, click here.
 Brown is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority — Bestseller In Stores Now — A searing indictment of the Democratic Party and a compelling call to action for the entire progressive movement, Brown is the New White takes an unvarnished look at the history of whites and people of color in America and reveals how the past has created current conditions that have revolutionary implications for US politics in 2016 and beyond. To learn more, click here.
 Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart; by James Doty, MD. Extraordinary things happen when we harness the power of both the brain and the heart.
Growing up in the high desert of California, Jim Doty was poor, with an alcoholic father and a mother chronically depressed and paralyzed by a stroke. Today he is the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, of which the Dalai Lama is a founding benefactor. To learn more, click here.
 The Happiness Track — Drawing on the latest findings from the fields of cognitive psychology and neuroscience — research on happiness, resilience, willpower, compassion, positive stress, creativity, mindfulness — Dr. Emma Seppälä, science director of Stanford University's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, shows that finding happiness and fulfillment may, in fact, be the most productive thing we can do to thrive professionally. Filled with practical advice on how to apply these scientific findings to our daily lives, The Happiness Track is a life-changing guide to fast tracking our success and creating the anxiety-free life we want. For more information, click here.
 The Spiritual Life TV Channel features free wisdom teachings from many spiritual traditions and gives a practical focus that shows how a person can use these teachings to live a more spiritual life. New videos feature: James O’Dea, Edgar Mitchell, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Marilyn Schlitz, Gleen Mullin, Stephen Dinan, Philip Hellmich, and more! To learn more, click here.
 Awake: The Life of Yogananda — Now available on Netflix, Amazon and other livestream programs. Plus, DVDs available with subtitles in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch and Japanese. Plus there are new film showings in Australia and United States! You also can bring Awake to your yoga studio or community. To learn more click here. (The filmmakers were interviewed in the Yoga Day Summit, the recording is available for free.)
 World Peace Library — Free Resource — Be sure to take advantage of the World Peace Library, a wide-ranging resource on peace newly compiled by the Shift Network: It contains more than 300 inspiring talks and mini-workshops from individuals such as Archbishop Tutu, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, Jane Goodall, Deepak Chopra, James O'Dea, Karen Armstrong, Chief Phil Lane and many more. With neuroscientists and lamas, faith-based activists and political leaders, this Library offers something for all in their peacebuilding efforts. The Shift Network has made the World Peace Library a free resource for all and encourages its use to promote peace in your families, schools, and wider community.
If you have an announcement to share, please write: editor@theshiftnetwork.com.
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2016 Catalyst:
2015 Catalyst:
| (#25, 12/20) |
| (#24, 12/6) (#23, 11/23) (#22, 11/8) (#21, 10/25) |
| (#20, 10/11) (#19, 9/27) (#18, 9/12) (#17, 8/30) (#16, 8/16) |
| (#15, 8/2) (#14, 7/19) (#13, 7/5) (#12, 6/20) (#11, 6/7) |
| (#10, 5/24) (#9, 5/10) (#8, 4/26) (#7, 4/5) (#6, 3/21) |
| (#5, 3/15) (#4, 2/22) (#3, 2/8) (#2, 1/25) (#1, 1/11) |
2014 Catalyst:
| (#26, 12/28) |
| (#25, 12/14) (#24, 11/30) (#23, 11/16) (#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) |
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Take an inventory of ways that help you to rejuvenate body, mind & soul and then look at how you can create habits to support you in doing those practices on a regular basis..
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 The Gift of Laughter Medicine
Accessing the Power of Humor to Liberate Your Soul — A Free Virtual Event
With Steve Bhaerman.
Experience greater health, wellbeing and freedom by bringing more joy and laughter into your life.
April 5, 2016 at 5:30pm Pacific
 Transforming Stress & Disease Through Qigong
Release Old Blockages & Heal Your Body, Mind & Emotions — A Free Virtual Video Event
With Qigong Master, Teacher & Healer
Mingtong Gu.
Learn the fundamentals for effectively working with energy to create physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health and wellbeing. April 6, 2015 at 5:30pm Pacific
 Quantum Dreaming
Shamanic Dreaming, New Science & Ancient Keys to Healing & Thriving in the Multidimensional Universe —
A 6-month Adventure
With Dream Shaman & Bestselling Author
Robert Moss.
Discover cutting edge dreamwork practices for manifestation, healing and spiritual transformation.
New Live Training Starts
Thursday, April 7, 2016
 The Trickster Training Mystery School
Playfully Animating Your Life & Our World with Creativity, Story & Astrological Magic
— With Visionary Activist Astrologer
& Chief Trickster at Coyote Network News
Caroline Casey. Free yourself from outdated stories and become a more joyful agent of change by opening to mythological magic, unpredictable wisdom and your trustworthy intuition.
Our Coyote Council of Cultural Influence Starts
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Writing as a Spiritual Practice
7 Essential Steps to Personal Freedom —
A 7-week Transformational Journey
with Bestselling Author, Teacher and Speaker
Mark Matousek
Access your sacred depths with a powerful, transformative writing practice to cultivate an expansive mind, open heart, authentic relationships, liberated creativity — and a freer soul.
New Live Training Starts
Thursday, April 14, 2016
More Upcoming Events: (all subject to change)
April
• Earth Day Summit
• Mingtong Gu 7-week course
• Steve Bhaerman 7-week course
• Donna Eden 12-week course
May
• Inspiring Women Summit
• David Crow 7-week course
• Devaa Haley Mitchell 7-week course
• Arden Reece 7-week course
• John Perkins 7-week course
• Bob Stahl 7-week course
• Terry Patten 8-month program
• Andrew Harvey 9-month program
June
• Enneagram Global Summit
• Yoga Day Summit
• Summer of Peace
• Dawson Church 6-week course
• Andrew Harvey 7-week course
• Lion Goodman 7-week course
• Sandra Ingerman 12-week course
• Tim Kelley 12-week course
• Patricia Albere 12-week course
• Miranda Macpherson 14-week course
July
• Lisa Schrader 7-week course
• Enneagram 10-week course
• David Crow 6-month program
• Mirabai Starr 9-month program
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Divine Shakti Foundation (DSF) — The Divine Shakti Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Rishikesh, India which has a goal to holistically provide for the wellbeing of women, their children, and orphaned and abandoned children. DSF is also engaged in activities for the preservation of Mother Earth, especially protecting the Holy Ganga River and providing a safe and natural environment for India’s revered cows. To learn more, click here.
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Lulu and Mischka
By Eleanor Tara
Lulu & Mischka are an Australia based duo whose music transmits a message for us to move away from separation and deeper into our Truth. They combine ancient mantras and english lyrics with modern melodies and magical harmonies, leading all who hear and sing along to their gorgeous songs into greater peace of mind and inner joy. Their second and most recent album, Hearts Wide Open, was produced by the incredibly talented Murray Kyle, and features personal favorites like "Coming Home," "Aad Gureh Nameh," and "Om Mani Padme Hum." This album is a new favorite. To learn more and listen to their music, click here.
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