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A Message From Devaa Haley Mitchell, Co-Founder of The Shift Network
The entire team here at Shift Network is sending you our blessings at this challenging and tender time as we navigate the coronavirus pandemic across the globe.
You may have noticed that we're shifting much of our course programming to provide tools that can help you navigate all that's currently happening in your life and in the world.
We're also offering an abundance of free resources each week to support you. Most of this content is being streamed via our Shift Network Facebook page, and you can replay sessions there as well.
Recent offerings have included a grounding and clearing meditation with intuitive healer Wendy De Rosa... a session with Bioenergetic healer Eileen McKusick using a tuning fork to help us clear some of the most difficult emotions... a session with Grandmother Flordemayo of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, which includes powerful prayers and her metaphysical insights about this pandemic... a community call with multiple speakers on Boosting Your Immunity and Staying Healthy, and much more.
Please click here to see the schedule of offerings.
Please also stay tuned for a special "pandemic edition" of Catalyst on April 11, which will be filled with helpful free offerings from Shift faculty and allies.
Also... please DO let us know how we can best serve your needs at this time. Click here to give us your opinion.
NOTE: The Shift Network is offering scholarships to those whose livelihoods are impacted by COVID-19. Click here for information on how to apply.
By Phil Bolsta, Catalyst Editor
Not long after reading Gerald Jampolsky’s observation that every person we meet is in need of love from us or offering love to us, I walked into my gym and saw Bill, who was doing standing calf raises with his back to me.
Impulsively, I wrapped my weight belt around his forehead as a goofy way of saying hello. He whipped around and, in so many words, most of which are unprintable, told me he would punch my face in if I ever did that again.
Instead of reacting on the same level of consciousness, I thought, Cool! Here's my chance to see if this love stuff really works! I immediately began radiating love from my heart and bathing Bill in its healing glow. I also tried to apologize, but he turned away, muttering angrily.
I headed to the pull-up bar and began my workout. I dropped down from the bar just in time to see Bill striding purposefully toward me from the other side of the gym. “I mean it, Phil,” he fumed. “If you ever do that again, I'll drag you out to the parking lot and pummel you.” With that, he spun around and stormed away.
This time I followed him, choosing to pump love instead of iron. “Bill,” I called out, catching up to him, “I'm very sorry. I had no idea you would be so upset. It won't happen again.” I continued apologizing until he turned to face me. “My sister used to do stuff like that to me,” he sputtered. “And I hated it.”
Bingo. Bill's outburst had nothing to do with me; I had inadvertently triggered a painful childhood memory. What happened in the next moment was astonishing: The heavy, dark cloud of negative energy that had engulfed him simply vanished. It was as if a magician had uttered “Abracadabra!” and instantaneously replaced a violent thunderstorm with sunny skies.
I tried to apologize one more time, but Bill cut me off. “Don't worry about it,” he said calmly with a wave of his hand. “No big deal.” An hour later, we were both in the locker room, preparing to leave. “So long, Phil,” he called out. “Have a good day.”
Wow. If I had responded to Bill's anger in kind, the confrontation may have escalated out of control. Even worse, from that day forward the tension would have been thick between us, and my enjoyment of going to the gym every morning would have been tinged with dread.
Instead, love healed our conflict, it healed our relationship, and it may have even healed the pain Bill had been carrying around since childhood. That was the day I stopped looking at love as a choice, and embraced it as a way of life.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “The Master Key” by Robert Peng, a featured speaker in The Shift Network’s 2019 Qigong Global Summit, is one of the most profoundly important books I’ve ever read. I can say that it’s life-changing with complete confidence, because it changed my life before I even finished reading it. I was so impressed with this book that we are serializing the section called “One Hundred Days of Darkness and Light” in future issues of Catalyst. You can read the eleventh installment (as well as the previous ones) here.
— Phil Bolsta
The uplifting story in this issue’s “The Nicest Thing” section comes from Dr. Marc Halpern, an Ayurvedic doctor and teacher, and co-founder of the National Association of Ayurvedic Medicine.
Marc’s brand-new 7-week live video training, Ayurveda for Strengthening Your Immune System and Balancing Mind, Body & Soul, begins Monday, April 20. For more details, click here.
Finally, we’d love to hear your answer to the question,Which is most important to you — giving love or receiving love? To share your thoughts in our Facebook Page community, click here.
Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment.
It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.
— Rabindranath Tagore
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The Master Key
By Robert Peng, a featured speaker in The Shift Network’s 2019 Qigong Global Summit
It's 1972 in the industrial city of Xiangtan, China. A frail child with a heart condition sneaks into a hotel boiler room and befriends the elderly yet vibrant attendant, who eventually reveals his true identity as a revered Qigong master. He heals the boy and, for the next 13 years, secretly teaches him the keys to unlocking the spiritual and healing dimensions of the Life Force.
It sounds like a modern-day fable, but the story is true. And with The Master Key, that grateful student, Robert Peng, invites all of us to enter the next chapter of this empowering path. Here, Master Peng brings together the unique insights of his teacher with the moving account of his own journey.
Click here to read the eleventh installment (as well as all the previous installments) of this profoundly moving book.
Would you like to join The Shift Network team?
We are seeking a unique and talented individual for an important position at The Shift Network.
The Customer Support Specialist with Finance Emphasis will be a unique individual who is highly comfortable with technology and is also a genuine people person.
While answering support and registration emails and phone calls, the Customer Support Specialist must work skillfully and rapidly, navigating multiple web platforms simultaneously, while remaining gracious, warm, and friendly at all times. They will respond to support requests in a timely and knowledgeable fashion, while representing The Shift Network and its faculty in a genuine, professional, and courteous manner.
If you are inspired and passionate about joining our team, please click here for more information about these positions. The Shift Network is committed to creating a diverse environment and is an equal opportunity employer.
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In this special video series, prominent authors, speakers, thought leaders, and others answer the question, “What is the nicest thing a non-family member has ever done for you?”
Marc Halpern's Story
Ayurvedic doctor and teacher, and co-founder of the National Association of Ayurvedic Medicine
EXCERPT: I went to visit with him and he was so kind to invite me to his home. He was so kind to come where I was staying at the ashram and do a personal initiation with me, something that he didn't do very often with people.
To watch the video and read the transcript of Marc’s 8-minute story of a life blessed by kindness, click here.
Marc’s brand-new 7-week live video training, Ayurveda for Strengthening Your Immune System and Balancing Mind, Body & Soul, begins Monday, April 20. For more details, click here.
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“Shamanic Practices for Spiritual Immunity” Facebook Live Q&A with Sandra Ingerman
Would you like to join hands (energetically) with your shamanic community as you master practices to protect yourself from illness, nourish your spirit, and flood our world with healing love and light? Shamanic teacher Sandra Ingerman will be leading a special Facebook Live Q&A call on Tuesday, April 7, at Noon Pacific to share how you can deal with the emotions that are coming up for you in a responsible way, then flood the collective with love, light, honor, and respect. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.
“Live the Sacred Blessings of the Women Mystics & Goddesses” Facebook Live Q&A with Mirabai Starr
Would you like to set down your fears and challenges, and allow inner strength, love, and healing to arise organically? Mystic scholar Mirabai Starr will be leading a special Facebook Live Q&A call on Tuesday, April 7, at 3:00pm Pacific to share how you can enter a sacred sanctuary through the transformative energies of the Divine Feminine. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.
“Ayurveda for Strengthening Your Immune System and Balancing Mind, Body & Soul” Facebook Live Q&A with Dr. Marc Halpern
Would you like to learn easy-to-implement practices and specific foods, body therapies, and plant medicines that can improve every aspect of your health and boost your immune strength? Marc Halpern, Ayurvedic doctor and teacher, author, president of the California College of Ayurveda, and co-founder of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association, will be leading a special Facebook Live Q&A call on Monday, April 13, at 4:00pm Pacific to share how you can holistically build your physical immunity and your emotional resilience. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.
“The Engoldenment Course” Facebook Live Q&A with Andrew Harvey
Would you like to facilitate your own spiritual renewal at the crossroads of this crisis? Internationally renowned scholar-mystic and author Andrew Harvey will be leading a special Facebook Live Q&A call on Wednesday, April 15, at 3:00pm Pacific to share how you can open to the beauty of your true divinity. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.
Your Voice:
We want to know: Which is most important to you — giving love or receiving love? To share your thoughts in our Facebook Page community, click here.
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Lessons In Loving
By Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks
Since the publication of Conscious Loving 30 years ago, we have committed and recommitted to expanding our capacity every day to give and receive more love. This journey has taken us to the depths and wild edges of experiencing and exploring what love actually is and what love can open.
To read more, click here.
Being the Presence of Love
By Miranda Macpherson
A popular Shift faculty, Miranda was kind enough to allow us to share an entire chapter from her book, The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation.
Click here to read Chapter 16: “Being the Presence of Love.”
Food & Supplement Tips for Navigating the Coronavirus Pandemic: Resources from a Conscious Mama
By Shift Network co-founder Devaa Haley Mitchell
We are all facing countless challenges as we navigate these choppy waters with the Coronavirus pandemic. Many of us are now “hunkered down" at home for an unknown amount of time. So how do we all navigate this period with as much grace as possible, while staying healthy and sane?
I wanted to share a list of some of the very practical tips and resources that our family is using to stay happy and healthy at this tender time. This particular article focuses on food and supplements that may be of benefit to you. Future articles will include activities for kids and MORE!
Click here to read more.
No Regrets
By Robert Moss, popular Shift faculty
In my workshop "Making Death Your Ally", you are required to imagine yourself at the moment when Death comes for you. Your Death will ask you a series of questions starting with this: "What do you most regret not having done in your life?" Another question is: "What is the moment you most regret when your courage failed you?" Now that regular life has been paused for so many of us, I find it very helpful to reflect deeply on questions like this.
To read more, click here.
Robert’s brand-new 7-week live video training,
Shamanic Dreaming With Goddesses of Rebirth for Courage, Clarity & True Fulfillment,
begins Thursday, April 9. For more details, click here.
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The Coronation
By Charles Eisenstein
From his website
For years, normality has been stretched nearly to its breaking point, a rope pulled tighter and tighter, waiting for a nip of the black swan’s beak to snap it in two. Now that the rope has snapped, do we tie its ends back together, or shall we undo its dangling braids still further, to see what we might weave from them?
Covid-19 is showing us that when humanity is united in common cause, phenomenally rapid change is possible. None of the world’s problems are technically difficult to solve; they originate in human disagreement.
To read more, click here.
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Prevails as Federal Judge Strikes Down DAPL Permits
Published in Earthjustice, the premier nonprofit public interest environmental law organization
A federal court today granted a request by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to strike down federal permits for the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.
The Court found the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it affirmed federal permits for the pipeline originally issued in 2016. Specifically, the Court found significant unresolved concerns about the potential impacts of oil spills and the likelihood that one could take place.
Click here to read more.
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What is Love?
By Rhys Thomas
What is love? And why is it such a driving, healing force in our lives? Before we are born we are “one” with our soulmate(s) in the Garden of Eden. We live “in love.” The soul is love. To come to planet Earth, we separate from our soulmate(s) and forever crave that level of connection more than anything else.
To watch this beautiful 6-minute video, click here.
“It’s a Miracle”
Hosted by Richard Thomas
This uplifting TV series, which ran from 1998 to 2004, featured wonderful, inspiring stories about angels, divine guidance, and all manner of miracles. Here are two stories about the eduring power of love:
High School Reunion
Love will always find a way!
First Love
Yes, love will always find a way — even after 58 years!
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Meditations with Master Mingtong Gu
Sign up for the Chi Center newsletter and receive a new Wisdom Healing Qigong meditation every week led by beloved Shift faculty Master Mingtong Gu. These free weekly meditations focus on all aspects of health, healing, and awakening.
Click here, scroll down until you see this image, and enter your email address for free access.
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 road map 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 request a free sample chapter from the author, email Phil at GodsEyes@me.com.
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 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.
Book by Stephen Dinan: Sacred America, Sacred World. Infused with visionary power, Sacred America, Sacred World 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.
If you would like to submit something to Catalyst, please see the submission guidelines: click here.
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Write letters to the people you love. Tell them why you love them and how grateful you are to have them in your life. This simple act will deepen your relationships and enrich your life.
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Find Inner Peace & Resilient Vitality Through Sufi Breathwork & Healing Mantras — A free video event with spiritual director of the Sufi Ruhaniat International, teacher, and musician Pir Shabda Kahn. Receive a Sufi practice to set your breath to the perfect rhythm — and create a calm, peaceful inner life, no matter what’s happening around you. Saturday, April 11, at 10:00am Pacific
5 Sacred Practices to Protect You During Times of Crisis — A free video event with internationally renowned scholar-mystic and author Andrew Harvey. Receive easy-to-implement practices from the world’s mystical traditions — to cultivate the strength to support yourself and your loved ones during stressful times. Wednesday, April 8, at 5:30pm Pacific
Release Fear & Access Your Inner Strength & Resilience as an Empath or Highly Sensitive Person — A free video event with Bevin Niemann, life purpose coach, online educator, writer, and co-founder of 1 Million Empaths. Learn self-care and self-protection practices to ease heightened anxieties and emotional imbalances and cultivate your unique inner strength and resilience as an empath or HSP. Saturday, April 18, at 10:00am Pacific
Shamanic Dreaming With Goddesses of Rebirth for Courage, Clarity & True Fulfillment — with bestselling author and dream shaman Robert Moss. Rise from the darkness of life’s uncertainties in seven weeks of dream journeys with mythical goddesses — led by a world-renowned dream shaman — for an empowered, vital, and joy-filled you.
New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Thursday, April 9
Become Your Own Medical Intuitive — with quantum healer, teacher, and author Mona Delfino. Learn your body’s language, connect to your Higher Self, and access your innate ability to heal yourself.
New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Thursday, April 9
Shamanic Practices for Spiritual Immunity — with shamanic teacher Sandra Ingerman. Join hands (energetically) with your shamanic community as you master practices to protect yourself from illness, nourish your spirit, and flood our world with healing love and light.
New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Tuesday, April 14
Live the Sacred Blessings of the Women Mystics & Goddesses — with mystic scholar Mirabai Starr. Enter a sacred sanctuary, set down your fears and challenges, and allow inner strength, love, and healing to arise organically through the transformative energies of the Divine Feminine. New 12-Week Live Video Training Starts Wednesday, April 15
Upcoming Events (all subject to change):
April
• Marc Halpern 7-week course
• Andrew Harvey 12-week course
• Somatic Movement Summit
• Shabda Kahn 7-week course
• Dr. Sue Morter 7-week course
May
• Bevin Niemann 7-week course
• Mindfulness & Meditation Summit
• David Crow 5-week course
• Lee Holden 7-week course
• Wendy De Rosa 9-week course
• Chloe Goodchild 7-week course
June
• don Oscar Miro-Quesada 9-week course
• Eileen McKusick 7-week course
• Lavinia Plonka 12-week course
• Evelyn Rysdyk 7-week course
• Lauren Walker 10-week course
• Robert Moss 12-week course
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Spirit in Action
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Chimwemwe Beza, who runs a small shop in Manyamula, Malawi, received a SIA Small Business Fund grant in 2013. Today her shop is successful and she reports, "My family is eating well these days.”
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Spirit in Action International (SIA), a 501(c)(3) organization, supports grassroots community action in Kenya, Malawi and Uganda with small grants ($500 to $5,000) to local community-based organizations that are working together to reduce poverty and support vulnerable families. Their partners run job training programs in Nairobi slums, start low-interest loan cooperatives in rural Malawi, and support LGBT “inclusivity clubs” in Uganda.
Click here for more information.
Click here to make a donation.
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The Path
The vision of The Path is to raise spiritual consciousness about the interconnectedness between humanity and Mother Earth. The mission of The Path is to conserve and distribute seeds for future generations. They meet their mission through seed conservation, education, and collaboration with other organizations. Click here for more information. Click here to make a donation.
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Ragani
Album: Light of Savitri
Ragani’s transcendent voice will carry you into sacred space to discover the temple within. Smooth, silky, hauntingly beautiful, the gayatri mantra is known for purification and healing — its transformational energies are the centerpiece of this truly meditative album. Though similar, each of these mantras inspired its own unique sound and flow. They are designed to stay with you. This ancient practice of mantra uses the science of vibration to transform and lift the energies of those who are listening.
“For each track I decided to record one unique instrument, such as sarangi or flute, to enhance the unique feel of each Sanskrit manta,” Ragani says. “I chose to place the mantras in order of a more purposeful (and traditional) sequence: the invocation at the start, the mantra for the guru, followed by the ganesh mantra, and so on. For my vocals as well, I wanted to stay true to a more traditional form, including the freeform vocal style of alap (improvisation) that would allow these mantras to really shine.
“My wish is for listeners to hear something fundamental in these songs that awakens a feeling of sacredness within them. If those feelings are awakened and there is a deeper feeling of peace in the heart, then my intentions for these recordings have been fulfilled.”
Click here for a free access of “Light Within (Gurur Brahma),” the first song from Ragani’s new album.
Click here to visit Ragani’s website.
Click here to listen to excerpts of these mantras from the heart of the Himalayas — and to order your digital copy.
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