Holistic Centers Network

All Roads Lead to the Center

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Journey to the Gathering

When I left NYC after 10 years, I had no idea where I would end up; I just knew that I never wanted to wear a puffy jacket again.

Through the magic of search I landed at Kalani, a yoga center on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, where I could buy enough time to figure out what to do next. I signed up for a 3-month volunteer program and stayed a lot longer, working my way from the kitchen to marketing, and, eventually, management. Kalani provided a place for me to grow, while a new big picture emerged for my life.

During this time, I became passionate about Holistic Centers: unique places dedicated to wellness and personal growth. When I began pursuing my dream of being an independent consultant, the Centers Gathering – an annual conference of holistic center professionals – seemed like a perfect next step to network and explore new possibilities. [Read more…]

More valuable than Consulting

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In the world of business the path is hardly ever clear, however, in most industries there are decades of academic research, more data than a single person could ever read in a hundred lifetimes and lines of professionals stretching for miles. All ready to help shore up the directions businesses are headed in.

Nate Huges, Assistant Director of Menla, speaking during the 2018 Gathering

The story is very different for younger industries such as holistic centers. The path, just like for most businesses, isn’t clear or certain. It’s much harder to find research, data and industry best practices to learn from and benchmark the organization to. It takes ingenuity to mould other industry practices to an industry that doesn’t quite fit the norm. It’s often long hours, team brainstorms, and simply putting faith in doing something that hasn’t been done before.

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The Power of Love and Diversity

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Exploring the value of diversity and inclusion was our theme for the 2018 Gathering. Following on from our heartfelt time together earlier this month, ripples continue to flow out through the many centers we represent and into the world.

Carol Donahoe, Program Director of Omega and co-host of the Gathering, shares some thoughts that came to her this weekend as we watched the Royal Wedding together early Saturday morning.

Bishop Michael Curry shared this quote in his sermon, ‘We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will make of this old world a new world. Love is the only way.’ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [Read more…]

Who’s joining the 2018 Gathering at Omega?

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The annual Holistic Centers Gathering is truly international with participants from the UK, Europe, US, Canada, Mexico, Kenya, Sri Lanka and China joining us this year. The Gathering includes centers that describe themselves in different ways and yet share a holistic approach; retreat, wellness, sustainability, spiritual or centers of transformational learning, all are dedicated to the awakening of consciousness. 60 participants from thirty five centers in nine countries will be represented, including eight different states across the United States, and fourteen centers joining us for the first time.

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This gathering has been INCREDIBLE. As a small center based way out in Yosemite National Park, I really feel folded into the greater network. This feels so vital. Thank you for creating this!

Heather Sullivan, Executive Director & Co-Founder, Balanced Rock Foundation