Holistic Centers Network

TEDx Gabriola Island Talks Now Online

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On March 18 2013, the very first TEDxGabriolaIsland took place at The Haven, Gabriola Island. Although many thousand TEDx events are held around the globe every year, TEDxGabriolaIsland is one of very few representing a small, rural island community. One hundred attendees from Gabriola Island and further afield came together for an in-depth exploration of empathy, unity and diversity.

The talks from TEDxGabriolaIsland are now available on the TEDx Talks YouTube channel. Speakers included Mary Gordon, internationally renowned creator of the Roots of Empathy schools program and broadcaster Shelagh Rogers. Musicians Victor Wooten and Mike Stevens also spoke and were joined by performance artist Megan Daalder (creator of the Mirrorbox). Also presenting was Gabriola artist Sheila Norgate, community activist Shelagh Huston and author and lecturer Jock McKeen. Two grade 11 students from Nanaimo District Secondary School, Rachel Fritz and Jenna Mirau, completed the speaker line up.

It was an amazing day full of learning, inspiration and wonder and, of course, ‘ideas worth sharing’. All of the talks can be found on the TEDxGabriolaIsland playlist by following this link: http://bit.ly/15eoLdU or go to youtube.com and put TEDxGabriolaIsland into the search box.

Community Studies Masters Degree Program

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Community StudiesFOR THOSE SEEKING POSITIVE TRANSFORMATION of SELF, ORGANIZATIONS and COMMUNITIES

The curriculum for this multi-disciplinary Master’s Degree program emphasizes perennial wisdom, the best of modern thought, academic excellence, and the importance of integration and reflection.

Develop the skills, wisdom and confidence to engage and provide leadership within:

Press Release – Esalen Institute Celebrates its 50 Year Anniversary with a Week Long Celebration

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BIG SUR, CA, September 19, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/

Esalen, a leading center for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education and research, is hosting two special events to culminate the celebration of its 50th Anniversary. The events are “The Best of Esalen: A Movable Feast” which runs from September 30 through October 3rd and “Esalen’s 50th Anniversary Benefit Weekend” which begins on October 4 and concludes on October 7. “Our 50th anniversary is a time to renew our pride in Esalen’s timeless mission of integral transformation – personal, social, spiritual and cultural– from change to change agent, healing and lifelong learning combined,” says Gordon Wheeler, Ph.D., Esalen president.
[Read more…]

Come Alive at The Haven

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The Haven is located on beautiful Gabriola Island, BC, Canada and for more than 25 years has offered programs for personal and professional development and growth. People leave The Haven with skills to be fully alive, have healthy relationships and communicate effectively.

At the heart of The Haven are the five-day Come Alive, which we run one or two times every month, and the 25-day Living Alive Phase programs. These were created by The Haven’s founders Bennet Wong and Jock McKeen before The Haven itself existed and continue to have enormous popularity and impact.

Come Alive is an intensely personal experience and one that is not easy to put into words. So we’ll let you hear the experiences of some recent (some not so recent), Come Alive attendees, so you can hear in their words, what their experience was like, what they remembered, and what they brought away from the program.

Come Alive at The Haven from Chris Finlayson on Vimeo.

Global Ecovillage Network

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The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) was set up in 1995 to support the experimental creation and preservation of human settlements that not only sustain, but regenerate their social and natural environments.

Ecovillages are communities with vibrant social structures, vastly diverse, yet united in common ecological, economic, social and cultural values and goals. They spring from the good intentions and creativity of citizens, and their willingness to make a difference. [Read more…]

Inspiration and Wisdom for Building Community

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I’m currently reading the book “Beyond You and Me – Inspirations and Wisdom for Building Community” and feel inspired by the interviews with different people, closely engaged in community life and pioneers in their own way.

Dieter Duhm, co-founder of Tamera in Portugal, writes about Community as a Universal Way of Living and says, “The ability of communities to survive and be future-orientated is closely connected to the self-growth processes of the individuals involved.”

These words resonate with me as I believe the sustainability of the Findhorn Foundation, the community in northern Scotland where I live and work, is strengthened by the focus on personal growth for the benefit of both the individual and the collective.

The book also includes a chapter by Dmitry Morozov, founder of Kitezh Children’s Community in Russia, describing what inspired him to set up a spiritual community dedicated to raising orphaned children. “I felt there is nothing higher for a human being than to see himself as a part of the cosmos, to love and be loved, to do good by learning and making an effort.” [Read more…]

Promoting Community Living and Cooperative Lifestyles

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The Fellowship for Intentional Community announces that nominations are now open for the 2013 Kozeny Communitarian Award. This honors the indomitable spirit of Geoph Kozeny, who devoted his adult life to creating community in the world. This Award is intended to celebrate the accomplishments of a person or organization in one or more of the following ways:

A. Networker: to a person or organization who did any of the following: an outstanding job of creating or strengthening relationships between two or more community-focused organizations; spearheaded joint projects among network organizations; has been noteworthy for a lifetime of bringing the inspiration and information of community living to the general population.

B. Media Relations: to a person or organization who has done an outstanding job of one or more of the following: accurately and fairly representing intentional communities to the press, especially in moments of tragedy or loss; generating media interest sufficient to get stories in print, profiling intentional communities and/or cooperative living; a lifetime achievement of writing and/or speaking passionately and ecumenically about community and cooperative living.

C. Good Neighbor: to a person or organization who has provided consistent and noteworthy assistance that was key to one or more communities dealing effectively with major challenges.

D. Community Builder: to a person or organization who has offered consistently high-quality assistance to fledgling intentional communities, measurably helping them succeed. [Read more…]

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