James O’Dea – The Peace Ambassador Training

James O’Dea – The Peace Ambassador Training

Check it out: James O’Dea – The Peace Ambassador Training

March 9th – July 20th, 2011
featuring Barbara Marx Hubbard, Swami Chidanand Saraswati, Ervin Laszlo, Don Beck, Aqeela Sherrills, Mark Gerzon, Susan Collin Marks, Sharif Abdullah, Ocean Robbins, and more top peacebuilders.

Calling –
all Healers, Educators, Spiritual Leaders, Visionary & Sacred Activists, Community Builders, Social Justice Advocates, Human Rights Practitioners, Global Democracy Activists, Social Workers, Therapists, Creative Social Artists, Change Agents, Youth Leaders and Social Entrepreneurs who are READY to learn exactly what it takes to activate deep peace in your life, transform conflict in your community and be a powerful agent for positive change in the larger world.

For the first time you can access the world’s top peacebuilders and their step-by-step approaches to navigating conflict and building peace, so you can heal yourself, your family and the world – now – when the world needs us most.

We are clearly in a time of the most accelerated changes in history. The skills of defusing and transforming conflict and healing social wounds are at the core of whether we can create a healthy, vibrant, peaceful and sustainable world.

You CAN make a profound difference and truly be part of the change our planet needs – and you can learn to do so effectively with tools and strategies from 16 of the world’s most respected peacebuilders and renowned social healer James O’Dea.

We’ll show you how with this 20-week comprehensive training curriculum, which will address Five Pillars of Peacebuilding:

Deep Personal Peace: Cultivating the psychological, emotional and spiritual dimensions of peace as the great foundation for deep engagement in the world.
Healing Personal & Collective Wounds: transforming personal wounds and collective trauma to create personal and social transformation and significant evolutionary change.
Communicating Peace: The art of skilled communication for yourself, family, community and world. You’ll learn the latest in peacemaking, conflict resolution, social discourse and dialogue.
Mastering Systems Change: understanding how to create systemic change via models and strategies for unprecedented whole system shifts.
Organizing for a New World: community-building and collaboration skills that expand your leadership capacity and help you offer your deepest gifts.
Through this five-month journey, we will:

Give you profound skills and tools for cultivating peace in your life, your family, and your community, providing the training for you to be a more effective peacemaker in the world.
Help you navigate conflict in powerfully effective ways, giving you the essential skillset of a social healer.
Empower you to release old wounds, navigate stress and clear barriers to intimate friendship, as well as understand how to accelerate that process in others.
Help you understand exactly how to practice and teach principles of peaceful communication that alleviate aggression and antagonism and facilitate others in creating a culture of peace during this momentous period of planetary change.
Teach you the state-of-the-art in peacemaking, as well as leading-edge science and a deep experience of the latest theory and praxis of peacework (including a fully integrated vision of the inner and outer dimensions of peace).
Give you a comprehensive map for “spiral wizardry” and working with different value systems.
Provide a strong foundation in community-building and organizing skills.
Develop your skills to stand in the fire of hostility and aggression and transform them.
Inspire and guide you to manifest your greatest qualities in service to humanity’s emergence and your deepest identity as a Peace Ambassador.
Connect you with an inspiring network of peacebuilders, friends and allies from around the world, including direct exposure to the planet’s leading peacemakers.
Give you an opportunity to play a significant role in a massive Summer of Peace 2012 series of world-changing events.
The Peace Ambassador training is The Shift Network’s certification process for leaders in the Summer of Peace 2012, a global network of events and activities promoting the shift to a culture of peace. During the program, you will develop and hone a vision for how you can play a peacebuilder leadership role in this significant global event. We’ll also offer many ways for you to apply your skills through our broader network, which may include paid opportunities as well.

This training is for you if:
You long to be a true peacebuilder during this pivotal time – but know you could be more effective if you had the right skills and practices.
You hunger for a comprehensive map that draws upon spiritual, scientific and socio-political knowledge – the best knowledge in the world.
You want to help heal personal and collective wounds – and are open to learning exactly how to do it.
You strive to communicate in a healthy way that brings people, families and organizations together to work and collaborate more effectively.
You want to develop techniques for cultivating inner peace and spaciousness, lowering the walls in your own heart, so you can come to forgiveness and healing around past wounds and teach others to do the same.
You see that there is something quite beautiful underway in the world – and you want to learn from the most hopeful programs and people about how to play your highest role.
You understand that a committed process of practice and learning over five months is the best way for you evolve your skills and yourself to the next level.

From the desk of Jame O’Dea
Dear friend in peacemaking,

I have lived both on the frontlines of brutal inhumanity and the leading edge of conscious evolution. I’ve seen firsthand the horrors of genocide and was even in one tense situation where I received multiple stab wounds.

I’ve also seen the flowering of deep love and respect between people with long histories of animosity towards each other.

After decades of work, I can assure you that the world is now ready, in a way that it has never been, to make a profound shift – to shed its addiction to violence, to cleanse its old wounds and open to a global healing the likes of which we have barely imagined.

I invite you to be part of this Great Work, this birthing of a new and more harmonious era of human existence.

It begins in the deep recesses of your heart. It grows in the love you weave in your family. It buds in the healing of old grudges in your community. And it blossoms in the ending of war.

The walls can come down between us such that we experience the magnificence of the design that connects us. We can learn to think peace, be peace and celebrate peace, leading to a harvest of love, joy, connection and intimacy that comes from no longer warring with each other or ourselves.

I want to share with you all that I’ve been given in decades of traveling the world, working with some of the most remarkable men, women and children who are lighting the way forward. There is a beautiful new synthesis emerging – from the high mountain Kogis of Colombia to spiral dynamics in the West Bank, from the devotional heart of India to the rigorous mind of Western science.

It offers a clear, sober and inspiring picture of what we must do to shift beyond violence as an acceptable response to conflict and to transform the roots of that dis-ease at all levels of our world.

For our Peace Ambassador Training, we have brought together the leading pioneers of that synthesis for a state-of-the-art certification program the likes of which has never been offered.

All around us are the festering wounds of conflict, misunderstanding, violence and fear. We have the opportunity to be healers, bridgebuilders and peacemakers, which brings great benefits not only to the world, but to each of us individually.

I invite you to be one of the pioneers of this path, together with hundreds from around the world who hear the call to become Ambassadors for a new and joyous era in human evolution.

We will laugh together, heal together, vision together, awaken together and learn from inspired masters of peace. We will create a new template for what is possible, with profound impacts in every area of your life and our world.

Remember, peacemaking is not just the domain of international heroes. It’s one of the most practical and skills for transforming the quality of our lives, our families and our society. It’s the foundation for turning conflict into friendship, stress into creativity and discord into collaboration. There are few skills that can more dramatically improve the quality of your relationships. And our world.

And the peacemaker does not just touch others – we touch our own innermost Self through the raw, naked power of the human heart. We shed layers of illusion and defense to live in a way that is lit by a powerful love.

If you hear the call, do join us. The world is calling forth our best now to help in the great turning of our day. It is time for each of us to play our unique, sacred role.

Are you ready to learn how to transform tension into peace, discord into love, violence into understanding?

I hope so. We were truly born for this day.

In peace,
James O’Dea

More about this course

We at The Shift Network believe that each and every one of us must learn to become a skillful peacebuilder at this critical time on planet earth. It’s a foundational set of skills to not only help our world shift but also to improve our personal lives, families and communities.

The peacebuilder works at the inner core of his/her own being, engages in healing wounds in family, community and in the larger social body, learns new maps and models from theory and practice so that she/he can find their own unique contribution to global transformation.

The transformation that comes from peacebuilding also liberates our hearts, minds and souls from negative patterns, resistance and fear, allowing us to become more radiant lights in the world. Our journey is thus also a journey into our deepest selves, helping us to heal old wounds, remove barriers to intimacy and trust and make powerful friendships in the world.

This state-of-the-art virtual certification program offers you the best peacebuilders in the world, and it is led and facilitated by one of the most respected social healers and synthesizers – James O’Dea. James combines a career in which he was Director of Amnesty International , Washington DC, and President of The Institute of Noetic Sciences. He has been engaged in groundbreaking international social healing dialogues for over a decade and is currently engaged with practitioners and projects in Rwanda, Israel/Palestine and Northern Ireland.

In short, James is the perfect person to guide you into the next level of mastery in your peacebuilding skillset, helping you ignite your deepest gifts. Our first course with him received rave reviews and a clear call to take this work further and deeper.

We see the Peace Ambassador training as the most important preparation for people who would like to participate as leaders in the Summer of Peace 2012, a global network of events and activities designed to create social healing and a profound spreading of peace. Entering into this training is also entering into a deeper relationship with The Shift Network and our mission to create a collective Shift.

So do join us for a transformational journey!

In spirit,
Stephen Dinan
Founder, The Shift Network

The Peace Ambassador Training Curriculum

The Training will offer you an immersive experience in building skills with today’s top peace leaders. For each Pillar of Peacebuilding in the Training, you’ll learn from James O’Dea and 2-3 core faculty on the methodologies and peace practices they use in their work.

James will be weaving and integrating these teachings into a cohesive map for peacebuilding from the personal to the planetary throughout the Training. You’ll also have weekly practices, readings, and assignments that deepen your experience of the material and put you into close collaboration with other training members from around the world.

Pillar 1: Deep Personal Peace (March 9-30): These sessions will focus on helping you cultivate the psychological, emotional and spiritual dimensions of peace as the great foundation for engagement in the world. Core faculty include:

Cassandra Vieten (March 23) – Director of Research at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, co-director of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Group at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, a pioneer in the Science of Peace. (full bio)
Swami Chidanand Saraswati (March 30) – Renowned Hindu saint and president of Parmarth Niketan ashram, Swamiji has represented India at the Parliament of World Religions and is known as great teacher of peace. (full bio)
Pillar 2: Healing personal & collective wounds (April 6-30) These sessions will focus on giving you the skills to transform personal wounds and collective trauma in order to create personal and social transformation and significant evolutionary change. Core faculty:

Aqeela Sherrills (April 6th) – Celebrated peacemaker who brokered truce between the Crips and the Bloods in Los Angeles, now the Executive Director of YES!, advisor to peacebuilding projects worldwide. (full bio)
Susan Collin Marks (April 13th) – Senior vice-president of Search for Common Ground, the largest conflict transformation organization in the United States, Susan served as a peacebuilder in S. Africa’s transition from apartheid. (full bio)
Belvie Rooks (April 27th) – Writer, educator, and producer, Co-Founder of Growing a Global Heart. (full bio)
Judith Thompson (Special Saturday session: April 30th at 10 am Pacific) – Former Director of Children of War, co-founder of Frontiers of Social Healing Dialogues, expert in reconciliation processes in post-traumatic areas. (full bio)
Pillar 3: Communicating Peace (May 4 – 25) In these sessions and practices, you’ll advance in the art of skilled communication for your self, family, community and world. You’ll learn the latest in peacemaking, conflict resolution, social discourse and dialogue. Core faculty:

Miki Kashtan (May 4th) – One of the foremost trainers of Non-Violent Communication in the world, Miki is the co-founder of the Bay Area Nonviolent Communication. (full bio)
Grandmother Mona Polacca (May 11th) – A member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, Mona is an author in the field of social sciences and has worked in many fields of social justice. (full bio)
Mark Gerzon (May 25th) President of Mediators Foundation and a mediator for the United Nations, Mark is the author or seven books including Leading Through Conflict. (full bio)
Pillar 4: Mastering Systems Change (June 1-22). In these sessions, you’ll hone your understanding for how to create systemic change via models and strategies for unprecedented whole system shifts. Core faculty:

Don Beck (June 1st) – Spiral Dynamics theorist and wizard who has mapped and applied a comprehensive approach to working with different memes and transforming culture from S. Africa to the Middle East. (full bio)
Louise Diamond (June 8th) – Co-founder of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, founder of Global Systems Initiative and The Peace Company and author of four books on peace. (full bio)
Georgia Kelley (June 15th) – Founder and Executive Director of Praxic Peace Institute, which has sponsored 7 major international conferences addressing the leading edge of peacebuilding work. (full bio)
Pillar 5: Organizing for a New World (June 29 – July 20). These classes and practices will help you develop community-building and collaboration skills that expand your leadership capacity and help you offer your deepest gifts.

Lawrence Ellis (June 29th) – A Rhodes scholar on Gandhian social movements, Lawrence is a complexity-scientist consultant and spiritual activist with great wisdom on movement building and systems change. (full bio)
Sharif Abdullah (July 6th) – Founder and director of Commonway, Sharif is working to align our global human societies with our common spiritual and moral values. A leading expert in non-violent social movements. (full bio)
Ocean Robbins (July 13th) – Founder of YES!, which has touched more than 200,000 youth worldwide and organized “Jams” around the world to empower emerging youth leaders. (full bio)
Special Bonus Workshop #1 with Kimmie Weeks (full bio). Kimmie is a children’s rights activist and globally-respected peacebuilder from Liberia who has helped to rehabilitate child soldiers and will teach a workshop on “Peacebuilding with Children.” Saturday, March 26th 10 am Pacific

Special Bonus Workshop #2: Philosopher Ervin Laszlo (full bio) and celebrated evolutionary Barbara Marx Hubbard (full bio) will have a visionary dialogue on “The Path to Planetary Peace” Saturday, June 4th 10 am Pacific

Practices & Homework: Every week we’ll have practices that allow you to embody the core teachings and apply them in your daily life, in conflicted situations in your community, or in larger societal healing work. You’ll engage in a powerful journey with supportive groups and a private online community in which you can discuss and apply the homework. Additional readings and homework will be recommended each week to deepen your learnings.

Certification: For everyone who participates fully in the course, completes assignments, and demonstrates skills in key concepts, you’ll receive a Peace Ambassador Certificate from The Shift Network, which will enable you to play a leadership role in work we are planning for the Summer of Peace 2012 – a global array of activities to create a planetary shift towards a culture of peace.

James is currently Co- Director of The Social Healing Project funded by the Kalliopeia Foundation. This work has led him to Rwanda, Israel/Palestine, N.Ireland and elsewhere. He is a member of the extended faculty of The Institute of Noetic Sciences and its immediate past President.

He was Executive Director of The Seva Foundation, an international health and development organization and, for ten years, was the Washington Office Director of Amnesty International. The Social Healing Project, assessing the convergence of societal healing initiatives around the world, is also collaborating with Intersections International in New York to convene frontier multidisciplinary dialogues on this theme. He is a member of the Evolutionary Leaders group founded by Deepak Chopra and Diane Williams and lectures widely on emerging worldviews, and integral approaches to social transformation.

He is committed to dialogue as a practice and is engaged in dialogues at SEED Graduate Institute between native elders, physicists, and thought leaders; between Israeli and Palestinian psychologists and social workers, and contributes to dialogue on systems thinking and government policy making with the DC based Global Systems Initiatives. He has been a part of dialogue initiated with the Obama Administration on systems work and policy making. He and Dr Judith Thompson co-led a series of international dialogues called Compassion and Social Healing. His book Creative Stress: A Path For Evolving Souls Living Through Personal and Planetary Upheaval ( April 2010) is highly praised and featured in Kosmos Journal, Spirituality and Health magazine, The Well Being Journal and dozens of other media outlets.

James is also an adviser to the World Peace Festival, the largest peace event ever to be held, and on the Advisory Board of The Peace Alliance.

What you’ll receive

• Twenty 90-minute class sessions with James O’Dea and core faculty, including live, interactive calls and exercises plus question and answer time. Classes on Wednesday nights.
• Twenty 30-minute small group practice sessions (Wednesdays after class with James)
• Special Bonus Workshop #1 with Kimmie Weeks
• Special Bonus workshop #2 with Ervin Laszlo & Barbara Marx Hubbard
• Unlimited access to recordings of all class sessions (listen online or download the mp3 file to your iPod or audio player)
• PDF transcripts for each class session
• Clear and concise homework exercises and practices to deepen your experience and application of the material
• Participation in a private online community with other course members from around the world.
• Constructive feedback on your personal project for peacebuilding during the Summer of Peace 2012