By Phyllis Anne Douglass, co-host of the Sound Healing Summit

Did you know that in this present moment you could alter your mood, slow your heart rate, alleviate the symptoms of stress and anxiety, cultivate a sense of peace and wellbeing, or even enter into a deep state of meditation... just by humming?

Most of us do not consider sound beyond the music that we enjoy listening to, or the intrusive sounds we hear throughout the day such as a police siren, blaring music, or the sudden and shrill ringing of a telephone. The sounds we hear can set our mood by how they are associated within our minds, and have a powerful effect on how we feel throughout the day. We react differently when listening to heavy metal music versus a new age classical piece meant to calm and soothe the spirit.

Whether or not we are consciously focused on the sounds we hear, our body and mind will reflect what we hear within our environment through tension, relaxation, and emotion. Sound stimulates or triggers our senses, and can serve as a powerful catalyst for transformation physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually!

Everything has a specific vibrational frequency and sound, whether it is audible to the human ear or not. And it is through this natural resonance that we can tell a great deal about how sound affects the body and the mind, and how to tap into the higher wisdom and innate healing source that resides within each of us.

I invite you to join us for the free online Sound Healing Summit, taking place August 9-13, with my fellow co-hosts Alec Sims and Christine Stevens. We have gathered some of the greatest visionaries and pioneers making new headway in the field of sound...

... as vanguards of original research and study, sound creation with the power of our own voices, weaving sound into the structure of community gatherings and activism, digital sound creation, sound in spiritual practice, and creating sound with Indigenous and sacred instruments such as drums, singing bowls, tuning forks, and gongs.

I’m honored to be featured alongside sound healing visionaries Jeralyn Glass, Andi and Jonathan Goldman, Dr. John Beaulieu, Danielle Hall, Russill Paul, Masankho Banda, David Gibson, and many others — as they share the latest science and leading-edge techniques in the use of sound and vibrational medicine.

You will learn and experience the many variations and benefits of working with vibrational sound, and multiple ways that you can activate the power of sound within your own life!

This includes using sound to promote self-healing, relieve stress, enhance mindfulness and meditation, transform and uplift negative circumstances, and clear and elevate the energy within your home and private spaces.

The voice is an instrument accessible to everyone, and the music we play and the songs we sing transcend all boundaries. Since ancient times, sound has been used as an element of creation, for self-expression, for storytelling, and as a healing methodology within all cultures. It is medicine for the soul.

Join us and register for this free summit. Be prepared to embark on a journey through vibrational sound — and discover the power that resides within you to create and nurture a new way of being.

The uplifting stories in this issue’s “The Nicest Thing” section come from summit speakers Jeralyn Glass and Eileen McKusick.

A Personal Invitation to the August 9-13 Sound Healing Summit From Co-Host Christine Stevens

Hi, I’m Christine Stevens. I’m a faculty at The Shift Network and I want to invite you to the Sound Healing Summit online. This is a place where you can learn tools of sound for your own self-care, your own evolution. Sound really is the stream, an ancient lineage full of healing properties and spiritual upliftment.

To watch this 2-minute video and read the rest of your invitation from co-host Christine Stevens, click here.

In this special video series, prominent authors, thought leaders, and others answer the question, “What is the nicest thing a non-family member has ever done for you?”

Jerlayn Glass’ Story
Crystal alchemy sound healer and a featured speaker in the Sound Healing Summit

EXCERPT: My son was 19. His name is Dylan, Dylan Sage, and he loved the mountains. And he was a ski racer. And he and I got to travel to visit two of his best friends in Nepal and in India. And so we got to see Mount Everest. And one of our goals was to see some of the highest peaks and most famous peaks in the world, and that was just a monumental experience to share that with him. And also on our bucket list was to see Machu Picchu. And so after my son passed away and I recognized that life was never going to be able to be the way it was, he started to communicate with me through sound vibration.

To watch the video and read the transcript of Jeralyn’s profoundly moving 12-minute story about loss, love, and healing, click here.

Eileen McKusick’s Story
Founder of Biofield Tuning and a featured speaker in the Sound Healing Summit

EXCERPT: When we moved to Vermont in 2002, my kids were little, they were two and five, and we had gone through a very devastating experience where my husband had been in a car accident. He was hit by a drunk driver, and he wasn’t able to work for a few years, and this combined with some other things caused us to lose everything. We went into a complete and utter financial meltdown.

To watch the video and read the transcript of Eileen’s humbling 3-minute story, click here.

The Healing Power of Inspiration, Intention, and Coherence
By Kathleen Riley, PhD, a featured speaker in the Sound Healing Summit

Do you remember the first time you were really inspired to begin something, like play an instrument, dance or draw? What called you to it? Is it still present with you? Here are some messages and keys for you to reconnect with your higher Heart and Soul’s inspiration.

I’ve been playing piano since I was four years old. There was a piano in the house and my mother played. As a little girl, I would go to the piano and touch the keys. I was in awe of the sound. It spoke to my heart. What inspired you? Where did it start? Was it in your mind? Or was it in your heart? Let’s examine what often happens to it as we get older. To read more, click here.

 

Sound & Immunity Part I: Humming As An Anti-Viral Agent
By Jonathan Goldman, a featured speaker in the Sound Healing Summit

Several years ago, my wife Andi and I wrote a book called The Humming Effect. To our knowledge, this is the first professionally published book that deals exclusively with the subject of humming. [We] wanted to find some sound that everyone could do — some sonic activity that people would not judge themselves about — something that would allow everyone to experience the power of sound to heal and transform. We were talking about this, trying to see if we could figure out a sound that would be inclusive, not exclusive — and allow everyone the power to use their own self-created sounds as tools for healing. To read more, click here.

 

The Yoga of Sound And Mental Health
By Russill Paul, a featured speaker in the Sound Healing Summit

Over many millennia, humans have used sound and music for healing in cultures around the world. Shamans are the perfect example. With their rattles, drums, and vocalizing, they invoke a spirit or take the person in need of healing into a dimension not known in ordinary states of consciousness. In the 1600s, the western world learned of such conditions through trance-induced yogis who could sleep on a bed of nails and offered cures to various ailments. Later, in the 60s, non-ordinary states of consciousness were associated with psychedelic drugs such as LSD used by hippies. Unfortunately, neither of these examples does justice to the healing power of non-ordinary states. At the same time, we need to take care not to be quick to assume that any non-ordinary state achieved by any means can be helpful to our healing. To read more, click here.
 

Physics of Mantra Divinization
By Dr. Christie Smirl, a featured speaker in the Sound Healing Summit

Every human is a manifestation of God. Each person has a source of divinity that emanates from within. Sound healing practices coupled with multi-faceted interdisciplinary sciences can reawaken this inner divinity. Mantras are capable of purifying the subtle and physical body as well as removing obstructions that blot out divine intelligence. Modern life and stress can disengage a persons’ inner Soul alignment. People are bombarded and conditioned by radio, television, politics, social and cultural groups, and insidious egregores. As people react, vibrational thought waves result in positive or negative shifts in a persons’ subtle anatomy, organ systems and overall vitality. To read more, click here.
 

Music for Yoga And Meditative Environments: Concepts, Tips And Techniques
By Lynda Arnold, a featured speaker in the Sound Healing Summit

Meditative or New Age music has been making quite a comeback over the past few years, due the evolution of the Sound Healing field and the growing popularity of Sound Baths around the world. This evolution has spawned dozens of new meditative musicians, or “sound healers” who are complementing yoga classes and leading extended meditation sessions where participants lay down on comfy mats and blankets, close their eyes, and listen to the soundscapes played on acoustic or electronic instruments live. To read more, click here.

Cross-Racial Partnering: Let’s Grow Our Togetherness

A note from Rev. Dr. Aliah MaJon, Chief Inclusion Officer for The Shift Network:

This is an exciting moment! Perhaps for the first time in history people are genuinely coming together across race, nationality, culture, background, and various schools of thought to work together on dismantling racism. There is a tremendous amount of goodwill in our collective lives as people think about and act upon what they can personally do to heal the harmful divisions that have far too often kept us apart — and experiencing different realities.

I am truly grateful for this climate, even though it is still unfortunately unfolding in the midst of some people going in the opposite direction. I am a realist, so I am very much aware of the fact that the news reports have not stopped reporting acts of hate, inequalities, and the threat of irreconcilable differences politically. Yet, such stories only make me more motivated to do everything that I can to bring about healing and to help facilitate positive change. I am not alone in this.

By virtue of reading this, it’s likely that you are either already a partner or you are wondering if you can become a part of this very important movement. What is being called for is “Cross-Racial Partnering,” and it behooves all of us to pay careful attention to how we will grow our togetherness so that we are the most effective. Depending on who we are we will have a certain kind of work to do.

To share more about what I mean, I personally have to learn about as many tools as I can that are designed to build bridges and support genuine human interaction. To use a simple description to get my point across, I have become a connoisseur of anything “restorative” and of the body of knowledge called “Truth & Reconciliation.” Then there is my personal work, which requires that I actively work on releasing the trauma that I have experienced, overcoming any anger that I have, and constantly making an effort to reverse the messages I have received about my inadequacies as a Black woman. There is more that I could say, but what really excites me are the “tools” that I wish to share!

Many of the materials that people and/or organizations have created to provide us with the “equipment” we will need to bring about Racial Healing are some of the most circulated and re-posted things in our lives right now. As I shared in the previous issue, my intention from this point forward is to provide you with “how-to” and action-oriented materials and offerings in this section.

The first two items below align with my intention to provide you with helpful takeaways. Each one of these highlighted tools are accompanied by a brief explanation as to why I chose them. I am also including three other key resources that contain more tools or valuable information to help us all to strengthen our preparedness for the arduous journey we're on to heal the racial divide. It behooves us to identify every tool at our disposal to learn to be together well. 

Highlighted Tool #1:
The first tool I’m highlighting is from a surgeon, Andrew M. Ibrahim, MD, MSc, who has produced one of the best images I have seen recently about what people can become aware of at this time. He wrote the following words on Twitter when he released it last June: "Learning a lot and striving to be better. Created this visual mental model as a way to help keep myself accountable (Adapted from one I had seen for #COVID a couple months ago.)" This is a useful tool to share with others to engage in meaningful discussions. And, let me mention here that I love that this graph came from a doctor who modeled it after information about COVID-19 since, in my opinion, racial divides that plague us are also a pandemic.

Highlighted Tool #2:
The second resource I’m offering is a powerful catalyst for healing from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, the film production company behind Star Trek, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Alias, Lost, and a number of the Mission Impossible films. They created and released a 20-page employee guide titled “Bad Robot’s Guide to Dismantling White Supremacy at Work” — an exemplary piece of changemaking, action-inspiring wisdom. With this guide, Bad Robot said, they’re “committed to dismantling white supremacy at work and at large. We are following leading academics, activists, and artists and have compiled an evolving set of resources that we are sharing with friends and colleagues. Onward!”

More Resources:

Anti-Racism Toolkit / Stanford University

Looking to learn? Here’s a list of anti-racism resources

WKKF CLN: Racial Healing and Solidarity
2-minute video from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

For Teens: Darius Simpson & Scout Bostley: Lost Voices
This is an example of “partners” learning to speak on behalf of each other via poetry and the spoken word. Each knows the other’s needs and how to support them.

Mixed-race children are simply the blending of two people with different skin colors and ethnic backgrounds. Yet, their very existence debunks the myth of race. This episode of Shift’s Liberating Race podcast explores Mixing Race and reveals the economic and divisive roots of mixed-race identity, how the spiritual dilemma of these origins persists today, and how we can start to think differently about ancestral healing.

Special guest Dr. Nicole Haggard of CIME joins hosts Aliah MaJon, Gillian Shelley, and Joy Donnell to dive into how TV and film have taught us to view the mixing of race, also referred to as miscegenation, and mixed-race children. Darryl Finkton, Jr. shares his insight as a scientist and his work to course-correct part of his ancestors' legacy through End Poverty. Make Trillions., Darryl’s movement for universal basic income.

This podcast is an invitation to all those who are willing to take this journey and be architects of the process of racial healing. Evolution is a stretch, but our convictions matter.
— Aliah MaJon

Listen on Spotify, Apple, or anywhere you get your podcasts.

432 Hz~ Hathor Energy~ A Magnificent Crystalline Guided Chakra Meditation of Integration & Wholeness
By Jeralyn Glass, a featured speaker in the Sound Healing Summit

When I created this beautiful crystal alchemy sound-healing immersion, we were not yet in a pandemic. The meditation is even more meaningful now as the integration of our authentic selves and the vibrational frequency of wholeness are crucial to our health and stability. The importance of our very personal connection to the universal flow has become even more relevant, including the need to increase our ability to allow higher frequencies to express through us. Sacred, healing sound helps us reveal this gateway and to walk the new path with strength and grace.

The bowls in this set have played in Chile (on retreat with Dr. Sue Morter), and in front of the majestic Moai statues — timeless, ageless, and emanating the energies of mystery and wonder. They have also played in New Mexico on sacred land in a program with Gregg Braden.

This is a 432 Hz tuned Chakra set containing the precious alchemies of Blue, Purple and Pink Gold, Moldavite, Andara (a green volcanic stone to strengthen the heart and ground loving presence), Egyptian Blue, Indigo, Palladium, and Platinum. The alchemies are balancing, strengthening, activating joy, increasing the power of our high brain centers, connecting us through a star bridge to ancient Egypt and other dimensions of consciousness.

Plus, the infusion of the energies of these magical spaces around the globe give this set a unique resonance, a powerful musical gift. The 432Hz tuning connects us deeply, at our very cellular level, to Mother Gaia. In combination with a stunning binaural at the heart with my son Dylan’s bowl (St. Germain Sky alchemy) and the Hathor bowl, you are in for some pure magic. Click here to watch this 12-minute video.

Intention: The Power of the Heart
Documentary by By Kathleen Riley, PhD, a featured speaker in the Sound Healing Summit

Dr. Kathleen Riley’s new documentary, Intention: The Power of the Heart, is a story of her discovery of living with intentionality and her journey as a musician, researcher, and Certified HeartMath® Trainer. The documentary discusses results from her most recent research study conducted with the HeartMath Institute, which shows significant, revealing new evidence of the power of a shared group intention among musicians — and its effects on the audience.

Click here to watch the trailer.
Click here to watch the full 14-minute documentary.

Infused with visionary power, this book by Stephen Dinan, Shift Network’s co-founder and CEO, is a manifesto for our country’s evolution that is both political and deeply spiritual. It offers profound hope that America can grow beyond our current challenges and manifest our noblest destiny, which the book shows is rooted in sacred principles that transcend left or right political views. To order your copy, click here.

Sacred America, Sacred World is so crucial to the times we’re in that we are serializing it in every issue of Catalyst. You can read the fourth installment (as well as the previous one) here.

Women in Training

When 12-year-old Brooke Bennett learned a few years ago that there are girls who “spot” on their clothing because they cannot afford sanitary pads, she was very sad. “That’s not right,” Brooke told her twin sister, Breanna. “Every girl needs menstrual items to stay clean and healthy during their period.”

Together, the girls started Women in Training, Inc. (WIT), a youth empowerment organization. WIT’s signature program is the WITKITS Campaign to help alleviate period poverty among the 25% of American young people who skip school or miss work because they cannot afford menstrual products.

WIT provides monthly donations of WITKITS to underserved girls, women and nonbinary youth. WITKITS are branded canvas bags full of menstrual, hygiene and dental products. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we include personal protective equipment in the WITKITS, such as bottles of WIT hand sanitizer, masks and pairs of disposable gloves.

For more information, click here.
To make a donation, click here.

The Humming Effect: Sound Healing for Health and Happiness
By Jonathan and Andi Goldman, featured speakers in the Sound Healing Summit

This accessible guide to the practice of conscious humming, winner of the COVR Visionary Gold Award for "Best Health Book":

• Details conscious humming and breathing exercises from simple to advanced, including online access to examples of these practices
• Examines the latest studies on sound, revealing how humming helps with stress levels, sleep, and blood pressure, increases lymphatic circulation, releases endorphins, creates new neural pathways in the brain, and boosts blood platelet production
• Explores the spiritual use of humming, including its use as a sonic yoga technique and its role in many world traditions

I highly recommend The Humming Effect for all those impacted by the stress of the modern world. It is a powerful non-pharmaceutical prescription for self-healing that has only positive side effects, such as harmony, health, and happiness.
— Bruce H. Lipton, PhD, bestselling author of The Biology of Belief.

To order your copy, click here.

Chakra Alignment: A Transformational Guide and Journal to Reclaim Control Over Your Chakras and Life
By Dr. Christie Smirl, a featured speaker in the Sound Healing Summit

Higher levels of health and wellness can be unlocked and obtained when we realize that we are so much more than just a brain and biochemical physical body. For thousands of years, ancient scholars and physicians from civilizations across the globe have known about the subtle energy systems and their integral importance to our existence and health. The functionality, vibrational frequency, and health status of these energy centers determines the quality and quantity of available life force and vitality. To order your copy, click here.

Through God’s Eyes: Finding Peace and Purpose in a Troubled World
By Phil Bolsta of The Shift Network

Through God’s Eyes is a roadmap for living a more peaceful, beautiful life. It’s the only book that shows you how dozens of spiritual principles interact, how to weave them together into a cohesive worldview, and how to practically apply this spiritual wisdom to bring joy and vitality to your daily life.

For more information and to order your copy, click here.
To access a free sample chapter on forgiveness, click here.

Through God’s Eyes is a superb book, a truly enlightened piece of work that is an essential read for all people who are truly devoted to the care and refinement of their soul. Phil is a contemporary mystic, a man whose life is a living commitment to spiritual service. I am honored to know him.
— Caroline Myss, author of Intimate Conversations with the Divine, Anatomy of the Spirit, and Defy Gravity

One of the most important books I’ve ever read. An incredible compilation of spiritual wisdom and insight. It’s the owner’s manual God should give you when you’re born.
– Robert Peterson, author of Answers Within

For several years, The Shift Network has hosted Indigenous leaders from around the world and invited them to share their sacred knowledge, rituals, and practices to guide us in a way of living that is sustainable, healthy, and just. We’re thus delighted that the Global Indigenous Wisdom Library makes this “virtual council” of leaders and their wisdom available for everyone, everywhere for free.

The Global Indigenous Wisdom Library is a collection of audio and video interviews featuring Indigenous leaders from around the world sharing prayers, sacred songs, prophecies, spiritual teachings, and pathways to healing, as well as concrete examples for birthing a new era — one in which all members of the human family are treated with respect, understanding, compassion, and justice. This sacred wisdom is important medicine for us all.

The production of The Global Indigenous Wisdom Library is a gift from The Shift Network, designed to inspire, inform, and involve you by highlighting the voices and important messages of Indigenous leaders from around the world. We want to give a heartfelt thanks to Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr. (“Brother Phil”) for his partnership in helping create this Indigenous Wisdom collection. And we thank all the speakers who have contributed to this body of knowledge. To discover more, click here.

World Peace Library. Designed for the layperson and professional peacebuilder alike, the World Peace Library has over 425 audio and video interviews with some of the most remarkable, inspiring peacebuilders in the world available to you at NO COST. You’ll find hundreds of hours of inspirational, peacebuilding, compassion-spreading talks and trainings at your fingertips with this FREE global resource. There’s no way you can’t come away from the World Peace Library deeply inspired, transformed — and part of the solution. Click here to find out how to take peace to the next level — and help co-create a global culture of peace that leaves a legacy of good for our children, our children’s children and all of humanity and life on earth.

Mushrooms as Medicine — A free video event with internationally renowned herbalist Christopher Hobbs, PhD, LAc, acupuncturist, mycologist, and clinical scientist. Learn how mushrooms are a cost-effective, enjoyable, yet highly experiential superfood that can help ward off disease, keep your immune system strong, sharpen your cognitive skills, and, in some cases, heighten your consciousness and even initiate a transcendent spiritual experience. Wednesday, August 11, at 5:30pm Pacific

Discover the Healing Power of Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE®) — A free video event with bodyworker Steve Haines, (TRE®, craniosacral, chiropractic), teacher and author. Explore a simple physiological approach to healing that activates your body’s natural reflexes to alleviate deeply held stress, tension, and trauma — while bolstering your built-in capacity to regulate your own wellbeing. Saturday, August 14, at 10:00am Pacific

Discover the Chakana: An Andean Shamanic Portal to Awakening the Healer Within — A free video event with Andean medicine man Puma Fredy Quispe Singona. Tap into your sacred origins in a guided journey connecting you to the 4 Directions and the animal spirits aligned with each of them — as you access cosmic forces of love and awaken the healer within. Wednesday, August 18, at 5:30pm Pacific

Energy Medicine Yoga & Sound Healing Tunings to Reduce Stress & Find Peace, Joy & Healing — A free video event with Lauren Walker, author of Energy Medicine Yoga. Discover how to incorporate Biofield Tuning with Energy Medicine Yoga to balance your energy systems, helping you to stress less, clear your fear, and heal your body, mind, and spirit. Saturday, August 21, at 10:00am Pacific

Tap Into Your Vagus Nerve’s Healing Power to Rewire Your Nervous System for Optimal Health — With Eden Energy Medicine Advanced Practitioner Melanie Smith, Doctor of Oriental Medicine. Learn energy medicine self-care techniques to support and restore your parasympathetic nervous system — and activate your vagus nerve, unlocking radiant mind-body health. New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Monday, August 9

Access Your Power Pathway and Energy Medicine Tools for Exponential Healing — With internationally renowned author Cyndi Dale, speaker and intuitive healer. Get unstuck as you use your own healing powers to shift destructive and constructive forces, make changes in your life with the Power Pathway, and free your healing energies so you can manifest what you desire most. New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Tuesday, August 10

Hone Your Medical Intuitive Skills for Self-Healing — With award-winning author Tina Zion, internationally recognized teacher of medical intuition. Become the master of your life and soul by unearthing the energetic roots of your physical or emotional dis-ease and accessing your innate power for self-healing. New 9-Week Live Video Training Starts Thursday, August 12

Rejuvenate Your Soul With the Wisdom of Your Body — With conscious-awareness instructor Suzanne Scurlock, CST-D. Live life authentically from the inside out by awakening your body’s inherent wisdom, gifts, and healing capacity with enriching somatic-awareness practices. New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Tuesday, August 17

Reclaim the ‘WildWise’ Woman Within — With co-founder of The Shift Network Rev. Dr. Devaa Haley Mitchell, spiritual mentor and guide. Align with the intuitive flow and divine intelligence of the goddesses within to experience more vitality, aliveness, and empowerment on your path to continued fulfillment... as you catalyze greater self-worth, self-acceptance, and sovereignty. New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Thursday, August 19

The 7 Essentials of Spiritual Breathing for an Authentic, Heart-Centered, Ecstatic Life — With master breathwork trainer Dan Brulé, founder of The Breathing Festival, the International Center for Breathwork, and BreathMastery.com. Dive deeply into a variety of essential, wildly transformational breathing techniques to achieve optimal health, release stress, supercharge your energy, enhance your spiritual vision, and unleash your passion for life. New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Wednesday, August 25

Dream With the Soul of the World — With bestselling author and dream archeologist Robert Moss. Gain the tools you need to become an artful kairomancer — someone capable of recognizing and seizing guidance and meaning from synchronicities and deeper realities... to grow a vital, creative, and joyful life. New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Thursday, August 26