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 By Stephen Dinan, founder and CEO of The Shift Network
Would you like to feel more energetic, less stressed, and more at peace?
A daily qigong practice can immediately support you in rejuvenating your body, mind, and spirit by filling you with more healing energy, known as Qi.
That’s why we’re so excited about the launch of our first-ever Qigong Global Summit (September 18–20), hosted by Sharron Rose, the director and producer of the forthcoming documentary series, Quantum Qi: The Taoist Art of Nurturing Life, a groundbreaking series featuring numerous well-known qigong and tai chi masters, teachers, and scholars.
In this free groundbreaking summit, some of the world's foremost qigong teachers — including Master Mantak Chia, Daisy Lee, Lee Holden, Dr. Effie Chow, Dr. Roger Jahnke, Master Mingtong Gu, Pedram Shojai, Sifu Ama Lia Wai Ching Lee, Robert Peng, and others — will show you simple yet powerful practices via high-quality video to cultivate abundant Qi flow to amplify your life force and discover your inner healing potential.
They’ll not only share insights into the practice of qigong, but also tai chi, martial arts, and traditional Chinese medicine — as well as how Qi is the foundation of all of these ancient arts. To register for this free summit, click here.
 Also, we want to remind you that the annual United Nations International Day of Peace is on September 21. The Shift Network is delighted to support this global celebration as part of the Summer of Peace, along with our partners, including 11 Days of Global Unity, Compassion Games, Pathways to Peace, Peace Day, LiveaMoment, and many others. It’s estimated that over 2.2 billion people were reached by Peace Day messages — and there are many ways you can participate as well (see Movement News).
One more way to celebrate Peace Day is to access the free LiveaMoment app that has a special function for the Summer of Peace. LiveaMoment, available in Apple iOS, is a free groundbreaking new app platform for daily mindfulness that combines the action of cultivating individual peace with connecting globally for moments of pause, all while raising funds for peace initiatives around the world.
Also, The Shift Network is joining Search for Common Ground, International Alert and a coalition of diverse peacebuilding organizations, activists, and scholars to drive a public global campaign to get the word "peacebuilding" included in major dictionaries by International Peace Day (September 21, 2018). We invite you to participate. To learn more, click here.
Before you dive into the insightful articles, videos, and other content below, we’d love to hear your answer to the question, What energy modality (Qigong or other) do you practice, and how have you benefited from it? To share your thoughts in our Facebook Page community, click here.
Qigong is the art and science of refining and cultivating internal energy.
— Ken Cohen
The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing
A Personal Invitation to the September 18–20 Qigong Global Summit From Your Host, Sharron Rose
 What is Qi? Qi is the life force... don't we need all that these days? We need more energy, more joy, more happiness, more balance and harmony. That's what Qigong brings to us. Not only Qigong, but Tai Chi, martial arts, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine. This and so much more is going to be discussed in the Qigong Global Summit.
To watch the video and read the rest of the text, click here.
 The Summer of Peace Letter is a free weekly letter through September 20 that features inspiring leaders in the important fields of spirituality, neuroscience, peacebuilding, compassion, and peace education. The letter provides insights and skills to help you find common ground even in challenging situations — in your family, friendships, business partnerships, and polarized social issues. (In some cases, it may help you gain a better understanding of the obstacles to finding common ground). Contributing partners include, Search for Common Ground, LiveAMoment.com, US Youth Rising, Alliance for Peacebuilding, Metta Center for Nonviolence, Nonviolent Communication Academy, and many more! To find out more and register to receive these weekly peace update, click here. And you can review the first 10 issues here.
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Living With and Serving the People That America Has Forgotten
By Don Samuels
 Growing up in Jamaica in a poor family with 10 siblings, a Pentecostal preacher for dad and a seamstress for mom, I was deeply embedded in the constrained context of a life, sharply defined by my environment. But I felt the faint resonance of my deeper transcendent self, connecting across the trenches of my class, tribe, and even nationality.
I arrived in the U.S. in 1970, at age 21, and studied Industrial Design.It was during those years that I made a commitment that has influenced the direction of my life like no other. I would only live in the low-income minority community, no matter the level of my income.
To read more, click here.
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 “Reclaiming Your 6 Body Wisdom Areas” Facebook Live Q&A
This mini-workshop offers a wonderful opportunity to discover how to activate your body’s capacity for dissolving blocks and traumas so you can thrive on every level — physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Conscious awareness instructor Suzanne Scurlock-Durana will be leading a special Facebook Live Q&A call on how to establish a strong, intimate relationship with your unique physical self for a lifetime of greater intuition, vitality, pleasure, and joy on Thursday, September 13, at Noon Pacific. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.
 “The Power of Celestial Herbalism” Facebook Live Q&A
In this hour-long Facebook Live Q&A call, Ayurvedic practitioner, Brazilian healer, and medical astrologer Arjun Das will explain how to connect the dots between plant medicine, astrology, and essential oils to offer targeted, effective treatments for a wide variety of health-related issues. He’ll answer your questions on how you can combine the curative power of plants with the astrological power of planets to heal every aspect of your life on Wednesday, September 19, at 5:00pm Pacific. Click here to get a Facebook Messenger reminder when the event goes live.
 Your Voice
We want to know: What energy modality (Qigong or other) do you practice, and how have you benefited from it? To share your thoughts in our Facebook Page community, click here.
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The Inner Teachings of Qigong
By Shifu William Martino (a featured speaker in the Qigong Global Summit)
 The 3 Powers of Qigong are Tian (Sky), Di (Earth), and Ren (Body). Every Qigong science, including Chinese medicine, herbology, and acupuncture, has its source in these three powers.
To read more, click here.
Source Breath
By Paul L. Hannah, MD (a featured speaker in the Qigong Global Summit)
 It gives me great joy to talk about Source Breath. I am inspired by the power of breath. Breath is the essential energy for creating and maintaining human life and the root basis of successful meditation and healing.
To read more, click here.
When Life Makes You Fret, Do Qigong
By Denise Minter
 It was a Friday night when my oncologist phoned me with the news. We all know it’s not a good thing when your oncologist calls you at 7:00pm on a Friday night. I was not prepared to hear that I had a very aggressive form of breast cancer. I was not only worried speechless by the news, I found myself in a dense fog as I heard the clock now ticking for me to get it together. It was time for me to wake up and jump-start every cell in my body to begin healing.
I am here today in deep gratitude for having found Qigong, and for the fine teachers who guided me to learn these ancient movements, sounds, and meditations — and eventually trained me to become a Qigong teacher to help others.
To read more, click here.
The Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest
By Jon Ramer
 In 2009, Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr. and I published a paper we titled: “Deep Social Networks and the Digital Fourth Way.” We described a set of guiding principles and a principle-centered approach to applying Indigenous wisdom to caring for our relationships with all living beings and their environments including the building of online communities. Deep Social Networks establish and maintain an essential social bond of trust while collectively producing measurable results. We applied these guiding principles and started the International Campaign for Compassionate Cities which led to the Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest. There are now almost 500 Compassionate Cities around the world and over 18 million people served through individuals and teams playing in the annual Compassion Games. With compassion, we can turn our empathy into action and apply the guiding principle that “the hurt of one is the hurt of all.”
To read more, click here.
After 20 Years, My Mission Continues with 11 Days of Global Unity!
Will you join me and WE on this Journey?
By Rick Ulfik, Founder of We, The World and the WE Campaign at WE.net
 It’s been an incredible 20 years since I founded We, The World in 1998 to help usher in a new era of planetary consciousness and conscience at the Millennium. Our big 20th Anniversary celebration is September 12 and you’re invited! (see below) I also want to express deep gratitude to the Shift Network for being a strong Partner and Ally for more than 5 of these 20 years, especially with regard to 11 Days of Global Unity.
To read more, click here.
Why Do We Still Need Shamans?
By Kenn Day
 This shift from tribal consciousness — identifying as the group before the individual — to post-tribal culture has left us with an invisible wound, a deep yearning for connection, for union, for the immediate and palpable presence of our ancestors and the spirits that populate the world. This wound is invisible, because it rests beneath our conscious mind, out of sight of our experience of everyday life. Yet it manifests in every part of our lives, from parental/child disconnections to addiction and abusive relationships. We only sense an undefined hunger that drives us to seek solace in alcohol, drugs, or anything else that seems like it might be that for which we are starving. But nothing we reach for in this way can fill the void.
To read more, click here.
The Healing Promise of Celestial Herbalism: Integrating Vedic Astrology, Plant Medicine & Ayurveda
 Imagine combining the curative power of plants with the astrological power of planets to exponentially increase their healing effect on your body, mind, and spirit. Now imagine adding into this already potent mix the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda.
In this 4-minute video, Brazilian healer and teacher Arjun Das, an emerging leader in plant medicine, a practitioner of Vedic astrology, and an expert in Ayurveda, provides an overview of a powerful synthesis of herbology and astrology called Celestial Herbalism — and the accelerated healing that’s possible when you integrate Vedic astrology, plant medicine, and Ayurveda.
To read more and watch Arjun’s video, click here.
Click here to register for Arjun Das’ free video event, Discover the Power of Celestial Plant Medicine: How to Use Herbalism, Essential Oils, and Vedic Astrology for Healing, Happiness & Spiritual Growth, on Wednesday, September 12. |
Are You Unconsciously Undermining Your Own Health?
 Trauma, anxiety, unconscious conditioning, and limiting beliefs block us from connecting to the information that the exquisite navigational system of the body is constantly offering us. We might be in touch with one or two wisdom centers within our bodies, but we’re not able to fully access the depths of guidance and knowledge our body has for us — including the exact information we need to HEAL ourselves.
In this 10-minute video, leading conscious awareness instructor and bestselling author Suzanne Scurlock-Durana shares insights into how you may be hijacking your own health — and shows you how you can release long-held blocks and traumas that may be stopping you from experiencing vibrant health and true happiness.
To read more and watch Suzanne’s video, click here.
Click here for details about Suzanne Scurlock-Durana’s new 7-week live video training, Reclaiming Your 6 Body Wisdom Areas: Healing From Trauma, Releasing Blocks & Liberating Your Full-Spectrum Intuition, which begins September 25.
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Killing Hate
 Troy Dunn of “Dr. Phil Presents Tuesdays with Troy,” gathers a group of diverse millennials for a social experiment on social media hate. The results will surprise you. Each of these people have either engaged in aggressive online conversations, or they have been the recipients of hate speech. Click here to watch this 14-minute video.
Nature is Rebounding: Land- and Ocean-sparing through Concentrating Human Activities
Jesse Ausubel for The Long Now Foundation
 Over the last 40 years, in nearly every field, human productivity has decoupled from resource use, says Ausubel in this 95-minute video talk. Even though our prosperity and population continue to increase, the trends show decreasing use of energy, water, land, material resources, and impact on natural systems (except the ocean). As a result we are seeing the beginnings of a global restoration of nature.
To watch this video, click here.
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 The International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") is observed around the world each year on September 21. Established in 1981 by a unanimous United Nations resolution, Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences — and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace.
Unity Foundation's 10th Annual Peace Day Global Broadcast
 Celebrate the UN International Day of Peace! Tune into Unity Foundation's 10th Annual Peace Day Global Broadcast beginning at 12:01am Eastern on Friday, September 21, through September 23. The broadcast streams from the Peace Channel and the official UN website, reaching people worldwide. The broadcast features videos on the UN’s humanitarian agencies and organizations working for peace, the environment, human rights, and social and economic justice. Also featured are music videos from well-known musicians and messages of peace from humanitarians, musicians, actors, and sports figures.
 The 2018 September Compassion Games, is a 16-day challenge to unify communities around the world in an expression of globally synchronized intentions with locally organized compassionate action. Starting on September 8 and culminating on World Peace Weekend (September 22–23), players and teams will challenge and inspire each other to organize actions that build bridges between peace, prosperity, and the planet. Players can create or join their own service projects and/or participant in any of the featured ways to play. As players and teams participate, results are shared on the Compassion Report Map to highlight, measure, and celebrate the collective impact our actions have around the world! To discover more, click here.
The World Peace Flame
 The World Peace Flame is a symbol of peace, unity, freedom, and celebration. We believe in the essential freedom of the human spirit to create peace at any time under any circumstances — a view endorsed by the millions of people who have lit The World Peace Flame as a symbol of this dream.
The World Peace Flame is dedicated to achieving peace through a process of education and the practical support of grassroots peace initiatives. We aim to inspire people everywhere that the individual plays a crucial role in creating peace at every level. Our dream is as simple as it is ambitious: to light an eternally burning World Peace Flame in every major city or decision-making centre in the world. It is a dream we’ve cherished since 1999 when we created our first Flames of Peace on five continents around the world.
On September 21, the International Day of Peace, the World Peace Flame will be lit in the Thalden Pavilion, Sustainability Center on the Southern Oregon University (SOU) campus. A delegation from the World Peace Flame Foundation will come to Ashland for the lighting ceremony, together with our State and City dignitaries. For more information on the Ashland event, click here.
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
Part of Climate Week NYC 2018
 Join us for a presentation and panel discussion on The New York Times’ bestselling book, Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming. Moderated by Bill McKibben (founder 350.org), the event is sponsored by The New York Society for Ethical Culture, 350NYC and Pachamama Alliance.
Scientists have done an extraordinary job detailing the current and future impacts of global warming. What humanity has lacked is a comprehensive, convincing path forward to reverse it. Project Drawdown brought together an international collaborative to create that blueprint of possibility — the bestselling environmental book of 2017. As a living research and communication effort, Project Drawdown continues to map, measure, and model the most substantive climate solutions, and to advance the understanding, imagination, and conviction needed to reverse global warming.
For more information, click here.
The Village Well Symposium
 Running parallel to the massive convergence around the Global Climate Action Summit September 13-14, the Village Well Symposium is a gathering of leading cultural visionaries including Charles Eisenstein, Drawdown, Nexus Global, Indigenous Environmental Network, Buckminster Fuller Institute, and Amazon Watch. Our intention is for every person who attends this event and webcast to walk away with concrete, implementable action steps that are in alignment with clear long-term goals for contributing to the reverse of climate change. We invite you, our extended community across the globe, to participate in this historic event and live webcast, where we will collectively commit to the action steps each one of us can take at this time. Click here for more information.
Three Red Suitcases: A Southern Childhood
By Levonne Gaddy
 Three Red Suitcases is the true story of a white-looking black girl as she transitions from 1960s racial segregation to the integration of southern schools; the challenges of her first job, at age 11, as the live-in caregiver for an elderly white woman; a rape; the death of her father and estrangement from her mother are all part of a past with which she struggles to make peace. Levonne easily engages the reader in a sad, funny, and poignant story of her childhood as she recounts a past marred by racism and the dysfunctional family life she left behind. Click here for more information. Click here to order your copy.
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.
 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. One reviewer called it “the owner’s manual God should give you when you’re born.” To order your copy, click here. To request a sample chapter from the author, email Phil at GodsEyes@me.com.
If you would like to submit something to The Catalyst, please see the submission guidelines: click here.
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Listen to a few talks during the Qigong Global Summit, identify how you can start your own practice or expand your current one, and commit to doing so every day for 30 days.
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 Discover the Power of Celestial Plant Medicine: How to Use Herbalism, Essential Oils, and Vedic Astrology for Healing, Happiness & Spiritual Growth — A Free Video Event With Pioneering Ayurvedic Teacher, Medical Astrologer & Brazilian Healer Arjun Das. Discover how your Ayurvedic birth chart can help you easily identify herbs and essential oils to boost your immunity, increase your vitality, and even transform your relationships. Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at 5:30pm Pacific
 Taking Flight in Your Third Act: The 5 Initiatory Gateways to Your Power, Wisdom & Freedom — A Free Video Event With Women’s Spiritual Empowerment Teacher Sabrina Chaw. Discover how to release old ways of being and believing to create the next phase of your life with confidence, meaning, and vibrancy. Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 10:00am Pacific
 The ‘Redvelation’ of Jesus, Mary Magdalene & Sarah: Reclaiming Your Soul Through the Original Trinity of True Love — A Free Video Event With Author, Speaker & Soul Friend Sera Beak. Enter into an intimate relationship with your soul… a powerful “love story” to guide you in daily life and sacred actions. Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at 5:30pm Pacific
 Beyond Your Energy Body: Experience an Initiation Into Your Sacred Anatomy — A Free Video Event With Healer, Speaker, Writer & Teacher Desda Zuckerman. Explore the development (and purpose) of your soul inside your vast, subtle anatomy — to express your true brilliance, wisdom, and vitality. Saturday, September 22, 2018 at 10:00am Pacific
 Advanced Energy Training for Empaths: Healing Karmic Wounds, Clearing Emotional Blocks & Embodying the Power of Your Gift — With Author, Trainer & Intuitive Healer Wendy De Rosa. Clear emotional (and karmic) patterns and other energy blocks — which are unique to overly empathic people. New 16-week Live Video Training Starts Wednesday, September 12, 2018
More Upcoming Events: (all subject to change)
September
• Suzanne Scurlock-Durana 7-week course
• Arjun Das 7-week course
October
• Sabrina Chaw 7-week course
• Desda Zuckerman 7-week course
• Sera Beak 7-week course
• Global Indigenous Wisdom Summit
• Chloe Goodchild 7-week course
• K.P. Khalsa 7-week course
• Daniel Foor 7-week course
• Essential Oils & Aromatherapy Summit
• Dr. Sue Morter 6-month course
November
• Nicki Scully 7-week course
• Anodea Judith 7-week course
• Tim Kelley 4-month course
• Dreamwork Summit
• Russ Hudson 10-week course
• Roger Jahnke 7-week course
• David Crow 7-week course
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VoiceFlame
Education. Literacy. Leadership.
 VoiceFlame supports young girls in Malawi to reclaim their voices, stand up for their own educations, and produce the first books written by women in Malawi. The organization’s mission is to enhance education for girls through an international writing program that creates confident writers, published authors, and leaders who play an essential role in their country's economic and educational development. VoiceFlame exists to serve, empower, and educate girls to realize their full potential and embolden them to change their lives, impact their communities, and build their nation.
For more information, click here. To make a donation, click here.
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11 Days of Global Unity
Launched in 2004 by We, The World and global partners, “11 Days of Global Unity — 11 Ways to Transform Your World” is a worldwide platform for the promotion of peace, justice, sustainability, and transformation that annually includes as many as 700 associated events in over 60 countries around the world. It culminates on September 21, the U.N. International Day of Peace, which itself is celebrated annually by as many as 3,500 organizations in over 120 countries. “11 Days of Global Unity” highlights “11 Campaigns For Change” which call forth the values, spirit, and service needed to move us towards a culture of peace and a world that works for all. For more information, click here.
The Chi Center
Founded by Master Mingtong Gu, The Chi Center, based at the new Center for Wisdom Healing Qigong in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is dedicated to the principles of self-healing and empowerment. Master Gu offers his joyous teachings in Wisdom Healing Qigong through online learning and by hosting healing retreats at the Center and internationally for beginners to advanced students, health professionals and Qigong teacher certification. Visit their website by clicking here.
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Kai Altair
Kai Altair’s music is composed of deep bass exploration, vocal dreamscapes, and rhythms rooted in modern global migrations. Her latest release is “Shapeshifter,” a full-length album of her original music.
Her next album will continue her style of vocally driven adventures in time travel, other worlds, imaginal languages, and the process of transformation. A student of ancient musical, movement, and healing traditions, Kai’s intention is to inspire connection to the multiverse, and help create an elevated state on the dance floor.
Listen to samples of music from Kai’s albums here. Watch Kai’s YouTube videos here.
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