By Alec Sims, host of the Sound Healing Summit

Ancient Vedic mystics crafted the phrase Nada Brahma, which means “the world is sound.”

It’s true. We live immersed in an ocean of sound. And perhaps like fish dwelling in water, we may not always be conscious of its presence and effects. Yet it is always there, acting on us in ways ranging from the subtle to the profound. 

The use of sound as a healing modality dates back to prehistoric times when shamans chanted and drummed to heal people. In the ancient mystery schools of Egypt, Greece, India, and other centers of knowledge, the use of sound and music for healing was a highly developed sacred science. 

Numerous spiritual traditions honor sonic vibration as the fundamental creative force in the universe. Though the use of sound and music for healing has ancient roots, we are only now witnessing a tremendous emergence of awareness for the power of sound as a tool for transformation.

It has been my honor and pleasure to interview over 35 of the top voices in the sound-healing field. I’m now excited to share with you the Sound Healing Summit, featuring a generous gathering of sound-healing teachers, practitioners, researchers, and musicians who will be sharing a rich variety of topics and perspectives related to the therapeutic and transformative aspects of sound, music, voice, and vibration.

I hope you’ll join us for this free 5-day summit from August 3-7. You’ll find all-new video interview sessions with an array of extraordinary speakers, including Eileen McKusick, Jonathan Goldman, Gregg Braden, John Beaulieu, Chloë Goodchild, Russill Paul, and many more!

Sound healing is a vast field. I genuinely believe there’s something in it for everyone! As you tune in to these sessions, it’s my hope and belief that you will discover something that will spark your interest, something that will inspire you, and something that will initiate you into new sound practices you can apply to your daily life right away.

We are all part of the global symphony. The lessons of sound healing can teach us how we can tune the instruments of our own being so that we can continue to play our best parts in the overall collective harmony for the benefit of all.

I look forward to sharing this journey with you into the universe of sound healing and offering insights into how you can learn to surf the sound current to experience enhanced wellness, wellbeing, and personal empowerment. 

You can register for this free summit here. May joyous sounds resonate with you!

Nada Brahma!

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 nineteenth installment (as well as the previous ones) here.
— Phil Bolsta
 

The uplifting stories in this issue’s “The Nicest Thing” section come from three speakers in the Sound Healing Summit: Biofield Tuning founder Eileen McKusick, energy healer Mona Delfino, and sound healer Kelvin Young.

Finally, we’d love to hear your answer to the question, What sound-healing modalities have you found most helpful? To share your thoughts in our Facebook Page community, click here.

Physical sound can lead you to the inner vibration of Prana. Prana is the cause of all sound, and sound is the expression of Prana.
— Swami Satchidananda
 

I Want You to See the Story Through My Eyes
By James Wade, Head Coach of the Chicago Sky of the WNBA

I was in Memphis, at home from college, and I had a week or so before I went back. My sister was a senior in high school, and I was picking her up because she had a job interview. I pulled into the high school parking lot near the bus bay, where school buses drive up to the curb to pick up the students. There was a parents’ waiting area, and so that’s where I headed. I see parents hanging out, waiting. Some are going into the school and other young people my age are walking into the school as well. I parked the car, and as soon as I got out I heard someone say, “Hey! Hey! Get back in the car. I know what you’re doing here. Get back in the car and go home.” I looked up, and saw it was a police officer. To read more, click here.

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man

In this popular video series, former NFL player and sports analyst Emmanuel Acho sits down to have an “uncomfortable conversation” with white America, in order to educate and inform about racism, system racism, social injustice, rioting, and the hurt African Americans are feeling today.

Episode 4: Emmanuel directly addresses questions and emails from white brothers and sisters.
Episode 5: Emmanuel sits down with two interracial couples. Click here for additional footage.
Episode 6: Emmanuel talks to white parents raising back children.

To watch all the episodes, click here.

Spiritual Responsibility in the Age of Black Lives Matter 
By Philip Goldberg, author of Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times

Despite my upbringing, my education, and my experience, I still have a lot to learn about racism in America. I thought I knew all there was to know. I did not. I understood that African Americans — even those who are wealthier and better credentialed than I am — walked through life with disadvantages I did not have. I knew a lot about the social and economic burdens of Blackness, but I never thought in terms of whiteness or of white privilege. I thought I could come close to knowing what it's like to navigate everyday life with dark skin, but I’ve learned there will always be a yawning gap in my comprehension. To read more, click here.

Hello, Privilege. It's Me, Chelsea
Documentary trailer featuring Chelsea Handler

The documentary "Hello, Privilege. It’s Me, Chelsea," which was released last year, follows comedian Chelsea Handler as she confronts and explores her personal and cultural impacts around white privilege. Handler travels around the country speaking with a wide range of people on the topic of race including fellow comedians Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, and W. Kamau Bell, anti-racism writer and activist Tim Wise, a Republican women’s group in Orange County, California, college students at an open mic night, and her former high school boyfriend in New Jersey.

To watch the two-minute trailer, click here
To watch the documentary on Netflix, click here.

Here are the anti-racism and philanthropic activities we’ve undertaken as a company to uplift BIPOC voices and support key organizations whose mission is to transform racism. 

We hosted 30 speakers last month in the free Transforming Racism Facebook Live Series. Click here to view the names of all 30 Transforming Racism speakers and their presentations. You can watch all 30 sessions here.

You can also watch these 20 archived interviews from our African American Wisdom Summit, and the 23 archived interviews in the Healing Cultural Wounds section of our World Peace Library. 

Click here to read our Company Statement regarding George Floyd and incidents of police brutality.

You’ll find more resources and information here and in the “Racial Justice and Healing” section in future issues of Catalyst.

The HSP Podcast with Sensitivity Psychotherapist Julie Bjelland

Shift faculty Julie Bjelland has been publishing a number of supportive podcasts to help HSPs (highly sensitive people) navigate these uncertain times. Titles include “Working From Home Tips,” “How To Deal With Anxiety While Navigating Chaos And Uncertainty,” and “Meditation for Exhaustion or Irritability.” Click here to access them all.

A Chakra Perspective on the Corona Crisis
By Shift faculty Anodea Judith

We are witnessing a powerful teaching in the world, an intelligent force that is speaking to us in the only language we can understand – our immediate survival. This virus is just contagious enough, just fatal enough, and just clever enough to push us in the direction we need to go – because we weren’t going there fast enough on our own. To read more, click here.

Supportive Tools for Uncertain Times
By Clare Dubois, founder of TreeSisters

Prayer, intention, visualization, and body-based focus are more powerful than many comprehend. Here you will find short downloadable audio and video tools, ranging from “nature-based support if you are unwell” to “perspectives and useful tips on adapting to radical change” to “help with difficult feelings, as the insanity of the old world starts to flounder and we begin to hold space for the new.” To access these tools, click here.

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 nineteenth installment (as well as all the previous installments) of this profoundly moving book.

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?”

Eileen McKusick's Story
Biofield Tuning founder

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 3-minute story about a generous benefactor, click here.

Mona Delfino's Story
Quantum shaman and energy healer

EXCERPT: However, he's going to want to say something's wrong with it, so in order for you to sell it as fast as you want for cash, you need to tell this man, when he comes to look at it, and he will come to look at it..." I said, "... is that there's a little leak in the sink, you're going to hear a little drip once in a while. Tell him something is the matter with it and he will buy it on the spot.”

To watch the video and read the transcript of Mona’s 7-minute story about a life-changing gift, click here.

Kelvin Young's Story
Sound healer

EXCERPT: After about an hour and a half, I could tell he was getting tired. I gave him a rose quartz crystal, and I'll never forget him taking that crystal and putting it in between both of his hands and holding it there to his heart, holding back tears as well. He gave me the universal gesture for “namaste,” honoring each other, not knowing that would be the last time I would see him in this physical realm.

To watch the video and read the transcript of Kelvin’s touching 6-minute story about his friend and mentor, click here.

“Wounds Into Wisdom” Facebook Live Q&A with Dr. Tirzah Firestone

Would you like to embark on an experiential journey into the healing of your ancestral legacies to discover untapped vitality and spiritual resources? Author, rabbi, and Jungian psychotherapist Dr. Tirzah Firestone will be leading a special Facebook Live Q&A call on Monday, July 27, at 4:00pm Pacific to share how you, your lineage, and the world around you can be freer, more radiant, and more compassionate. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.

“Somatic Dance for Emotional Alchemy” Facebook Live Q&A with Bernadette Pleasant

Would you like to release constricted emotions, calm your nervous system, and step more confidently into your authentic Self? Bernadette Pleasant, speaker, somatic healer, and creator of Femme!, will be leading a special Facebook Live Q&A call on Wednesday, July 29, at 9:00am Pacific to share how you can embody healing somatic movements that open you to the wisdom and guidance of your emotions. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.

“The Dark Night of the Soul as a Portal to the Shaman's Light” Facebook Live Q&A with Sandra Ingerman

Would you like to release blocks to your transformation and cultivate the strength of your light and spirit? Shamanism teacher Sandra Ingerman will be leading a special Facebook Live Q&A call on Wednesday, August 5, at Noon Pacific to share how you can embark on guided shamanic journeys to carry you through life’s challenges. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.

“Deepen the Loving Presence Within & Develop Inner Strength Through Devotional Chanting” Facebook Live Q&A with Krishna Das

Would you like to embrace the love that lives within you and become more at ease, resilient, grounded, and compassionate? Worldwide icon and bestselling Western chant artist Krishna Das will be leading a special Facebook Live Q&A call on Wednesday, August 5, at 3:00pm Pacific to share how you can continue to spiritually evolve in the midst of life’s greatest challenges. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.

“Deepen Your Healing Power as Your Own Medical Intuitive” Facebook Live Q&A with Mona Delfino

Are you intrigued by name reading, plant and animal medicine, crystal programming, sound communication, and body language? Quantum healer, teacher, and author Mona Delfino will be leading a special Facebook Live Q&A call on Thursday, August 6, at Noon Pacific to share how you can master a range of practical energy medicine tools to read the energy within and around you, so you can truly thrive. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.

Your Voice:

We want to know: What sound-healing modalities have you found most helpful? To share your thoughts in our Facebook Page community, click here.

Race & Healing (Weekly Lunch and Learn)
Mondays at 9:00am Pacific

Join us each week for these 1.5-hour workshops, as racial healing and equity expert Milagros Phillips draws on history, science, research, and storytelling to offer insights into our current crisis, and practices to help us heal from racism. Cost is $25/session. Register here.

Weekly topics
August 3: Race, Trauma & Healing
August 10: Race & Grief
August 17: Race & Emotions
August 24: Race: America's Spiritual Journey
September 7: How Supremacy Became Whites

Two Free Pandemic-Related Webinars With Dr. Paul T. Wong
Dr. Paul T. P. Wong is the President of the INPM (International Network on Personal Meaning), a renowned psychologist, and a pioneer in the new science of flourishing through suffering.

Session A: Thursday, July 30, at 8:00am Pacific
Growing During the Pandemic: What We Can Learn From the New Science of Flourishing and Suffering.
We’ll be exploring why we need to accept COVID-19 as an opportunity to develop existential courage to transcend suffering as a rock foundation to build a better life, and why the new science of suffering is necessary for sustainable flourishing in times like this.

Session B: Thursday, July 30, at Noon Pacific
Growing During the Pandemic: Why is Viktor Frankl’s cure essential for overcoming Covid-19? Learn the Existential Positive Interventions for meaning-focus therapy.
We’ll be exploring how Viktor Frankl developed the antidote against suffering, and how existential positive interventions transform suffering into character strength and joy.

For more information and to register for either or both of these free webinars, click here.

Illumination of the Shadow: Ancestral Wisdom From the Past for the Future
By Anthea Durand

Imagine a world where everyone has access to all the stories of your ancestors, which would help you connect to your lineage, heal relationships, and enable these stories to be passed down to future generations. One of this book’s many real-life stories is about a family with a history of Parkinson’s disease across many generations. The ancestral healer tracked the origin of the illness to a time in Africa when an ancestor witnessed the death of her brother, who was bitten by a snake. This caused the essence of this trauma to manifest in Parkinson’s disease for future generations until the time came for it to be reviewed by the ancestral healer, which cleared and healed it for all future generations in the lineage. To order your copy, click here.

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.