Click here to see our other courses!
Mirabai Starr
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Experience the beauty, wisdom, creativity, transformative fire and compassion within you inspired by the energies of spiritual Goddesses from around the world.
Ignite a life in which you view all as holy and embody the Sacred Feminine in deep ways so you can bring your most sacred forms of service into the world.
You can’t help but look at the noble and exotic Goddesses of our sacred wisdom traditions with longing... to feel within yourself their strength, know the clarity of their knowledge and the tenderness of their compassionate hearts.
Yet, the truth is that the powerful age-old energies these highly revered icons of the Sacred Feminine represent are already within you.
They are characteristics innate to all women, and the feminine ways of being that we desperately need — now more than ever — to survive and thrive.
Many of us, however, carry our own personal burden — feeling, perhaps, that we’re not enough or we’re not doing enough.
Or maybe, we just don’t feel we have the capacity to respond to the desperate cries of the world (even of our own families or communities), and if we do, it can be difficult to know where to start.
Quite simply, we’ve forgotten the potent Goddess energies stirring within us...
In this powerful new virtual initiation into unveiling and living the Sacred Feminine within you, beloved interspiritual teacher and mystic scholar Mirabai Starr will take you on an inner journey in which you’ll open to direct encounters with the powerful energies of spiritual Goddesses from diverse traditions.
You’ll discover receiving their gifts can ignite a life in which all feels holy and flows with receptivity, loving kindness, wisdom, creative spirit and transformative fire.
You’ll open the door to mystical experiences you never could have imagined, allowing in the love and embrace of centuries of courageous, compassionate and healing ways of seeing and being. And in the process, your spiritual life will organically expand, readying you to fully share your much needed gifts with the world around you.
You’ll learn how to nurture yourself, your loved ones — and the world. Mirabai will also help you balance your powerful Goddess energies, rejuvenating you and connecting you with your creative fire and spiritual passion.
If you are still and listen deeply, you can sense the Goddesses within awaiting your call... to help you live a more purposeful, joyous and richly spiritual life.
Meet the Sacred Feminine in Her Many Forms
Over the seven weeks of this life-transforming initiation, you’ll “meet” and discover how to open to the potent energies of 14 Goddesses from varied spiritual traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Native American.
You’ll draw on their powers, tapping into all manner of feminine attributes lying in wait within you — characteristics you may have lost along the way, unknowingly ignored, or weren’t yet ready to embrace.
You’ll be invited to live in close relationship with all of creation by Goddess Gaia, the primordial embodiment of Mother Earth herself, and to tap into the life force that runs through the entire cosmos through the Goddess Shakti. Each inspiring you to reclaim your wild holiness and the unshakable wisdom of your own body.
Through Goddess Radha, consort to the Lord of Love in the Hindu tradition, and Goddess Shekhinah, the indwelling feminine face of the Divine in Jewish mysticism, you’ll discover how to integrate your spiritual passion with your life and allow sublime love to permeate every aspect of what you do and who you are.
The Hindu Goddess Saraswati, with her multiple arms holding books and musical instruments, and Mayan Goddess Ixchel, who represents protection, healing and creation, will help you identify how your soul craves beauty and to embrace the untamed nature of creativity AND find your current — passion-filled — form of creative self-expression.
Through Our Lady of Guadalupe — an apparition of the indigenous people of Conquest Mexico, which unites the holy Mother Mary with Tonantzin, Aztec Goddess of the Earth, Fertility and Corn — you’ll cultivate your own co-creative relationship with the Divine and find refuge, comfort and support in the embrace of the Feminine.
You’ll “burn” in the loving, transformative fire of beloved Hindu Goddess Kali Ma, and know the sweet alchemy that unfolds when you abide in darkness like the Greek Goddess Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, to understand the curious difference between “becoming nothing” and “being unworthy.”
Through the bodhisattvas of compassion, Kwan Yin in ancient China and Tara in Tibet, you’ll discover sources of strength and hope to empower you to step up and offer yourself for the benefit of all life — and to find a healthy balance between personal spiritual practice and caring for others.
And Sophia, the feminine face of the Divine and the source of spiritual insight in Gnostic and Christian mystical traditions, and the Oracle at Delphi, embodied by the High Priestess of the Temple of Apollo, will help you discover the relevance of ancient spiritual teachings to your own life, and to the lives of those you touch.
Through your exploration, embrace and experience of these potent Goddess energies, you’ll find yourself transforming, both within (spiritually) and outwardly in your everyday life — an organic unfolding that may even take you by surprise as you start to view and experience yourself, your family and friends, the natural world and all else around you as holy.
You’ll start to perceive the world and all its living forms through the loving eyes of the Great Mother, the most universally revered image of the Goddess and Sacred Feminine. In essence, you’ll find your way “home” to the center of your being, the sacredness within you that yearns to be shared and that can nurture you and the world in the many ways needed.
The Importance of a Divine Guide
Your teacher and guide for this “calling in of the Goddesses,” Mirabai Starr, is one of the most beloved teachers of the emerging global spirituality.
Mirabai has written many acclaimed books on the great Goddesses and mystics, including Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Teresa of Avila, and she has walked a path that includes Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist practices — all woven together in a deeply honoring way. She is one of the most eloquent and passionate voices for the resurgence of the Sacred Feminine in contemporary spirituality.
An “interspiritual” mystic who practices vipassana, observes Shabbat, and honors all spiritual lineages, Mirabai will take you into the depths of your own Goddess energies, inspired by the beauty, wisdom, creativity, transformative fire and compassion of the Goddesses from our sacred world traditions.
This course is her offering to the Goddesses within you. It promises a profound shift at the core of your being where your innate qualities of the Sacred Feminine are seen, celebrated and empowered — and you are called into your most sacred forms of service and action in the world.
When you join us for this illuminating live video training, you’ll:
- Reclaim the wild holiness and unshakable wisdom of your own body
- Identify a particular issue of personal concern regarding the plight of the planet and make a commitment to action on behalf of the earth
- Express your soul’s passion for union with the Beloved — through writing, chanting, art and deep dialog
- Become comfortable with the unfettered, untamed, unplanned and not-always-practical experience of creativity
- Find refuge, comfort and support in the embrace of the Feminine
- Explore the connection between missing loved ones and spiritual longing
- Develop the courage necessary to speak for the voiceless, even when it is neither convenient nor socially acceptable
- Notice where you may be imbalanced between heart and mind, and find a healthy integration of intellectual rigor and dwelling in the mystery of love
- Discover what it means to open yourself as an Oracle
- Examine the masculine and feminine aspects of your own personality and invite them into harmony
- And much more...
Perhaps now, more than ever, it’s important to harvest the bounty of the Sacred Feminine to guide and sustain us.
In opening to the abundance of beauty, wisdom, creativity, transformative fire and compassion within yourself — as inspired by the energies of our spiritual Goddesses — you’ll bring your own sacredness within OUT where it is sorely needed.
Are you willing to take this journey and be transformed by what happens?
For many, now is the time. Certainly, for our Earth and all of humanity, there could be no greater gift than to see the world through the eyes of the Sacred Feminine and to recognize everything as holy.
Greater Connection Through Live Streaming Video
As a special addition to this course, Mirabai will be live streaming video of her teaching sessions so that you can have an even more powerful connection and transmission. This live video connection will be easy to use and will greatly increase your learning and transformation.
What You’ll Discover in These 7 Weeks
Course sessions are on Wednesdays at 5:00pm Pacific.
In this 7-week transformational program, Mirabai will guide you through the fundamental spiritual skills and competencies you’ll need to reclaim the potent Goddess energies within you and embody and express the Sacred Feminine in ways that can enrich your life and the lives of others.
Each weekly, LIVE contemplation and training session will build harmoniously upon the next so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools and principles you’ll need to tap into the wisdom stream of the Goddesses, deepen your spiritual life and step forward in your everyday life to take sacred action in the world.
Module 1: The Whole World Is Sacred
Shakti & Gaia (May 17)
To see the world through the eyes of the Sacred Feminine is to recognize everything as holy. The masculine paradigm has traditionally divided body and spirit, rending the fabric of the soul. We have inherited a dualistic viewpoint that encourages us to transcend this world and strive for a state of detachment, which we have come to equate with being spiritual.
Gaia, the primordial embodiment of Mother Earth herself in Greco-Roman mythology, invites us into a living relationship with all of creation. Shakti, the life force that runs through the entire cosmos according to the Hindu tradition, is the quintessence of creative power. In this opening session, we encounter the raw, undomesticated, primal energies of the Sacred Feminine and welcome them into our own bodies.
In this module, you’ll:
- Reclaim the wild holiness and unshakable wisdom of your own body
- Identify a particular issue of personal concern regarding the plight of the planet and make a commitment to action on behalf of the earth
- Develop a personal relationship with Earth as Mother, and address her as a cherished relative
- Recommit to spending regular time connecting with nature as part of your regular spiritual practice
Module 2: Longing as a Portal to Union
Radha & Shekinah (May 24)
In light of the popularity of nondual teachings many of us have felt pressured to reject the yearning that burns in our hearts for union with the Divine. The great secret of the mystical journey is that devotion is the catalyst for connection, and the duality of lover and Beloved melts into an undifferentiated experience of pure Love.
Radha, the consort of Krishna, Lord of Love in the Hindu tradition, embodies sacred desire and evokes the poetry of the heart. The Shekhinah, the indwelling feminine face of the Divine in Jewish mysticism, is the essence of the Sabbath, and invites a true integration with the Divine Masculine.
In this module, you’ll:
- Express your soul’s passion for union with the Beloved — through writing, chanting, art and deep dialog
- Learn to integrate your spiritual passion with your life, allowing that sublime love to permeate every aspect of what you do and who you are
- Explore the mythologies of lover and Beloved and why they most closely mirror the connection between the individual soul and her divine source
- Commit to a regular Sabbath practice
Module 3: Creativity as Spiritual Practice
Saraswati & Ixchel (May 31)
When we open ourselves to the flow of creativity, we become conduits for the expression of the sacred. Our souls hunger for rest from the continuous demands of the analytical mind and to engage in beauty-making. It is no accident that many mythic and spiritual traditions depict the creative principle as feminine. In Hinduism, Saraswati, with her multiple arms holding books and musical instruments, represents the perfection of knowledge and the arts. Ixchel, the Mayan goddess of protection, healing and creation, helps spin the world into being.
In this module, you’ll:
- Identify the way (or ways) that your own soul craves beauty
- (Re)commit to at least one form of creative self-expression
- Become comfortable with the unfettered, untamed, unplanned and not-always-practical experience of creativity
- Generate a work of art to share with others
Module 4: In the Arms of the Mother
Mary & Tonantzin (June 7)
Nearly every spiritual tradition on the planet recognizes the Mother as the co-creator of the world and the embodiment of unconditional love. The Mother offers refuge from the storms of this life, soothing our broken hearts and calling us into community. Mary’s unique accessibility lies in the truth of her humanity. She was a woman who grappled with fear and acted with courage, who suffered a sword in her heart and extended mercy to all. Tonantzin, Aztec Goddess of the Earth, of Fertility, of the Corn, melded with Mary in an apparition to the indigenous people of Conquest Mexico and became Our Lady of Guadalupe, beloved spiritual Mother to millions.
In this module, you’ll:
- Cultivate your own co-creative relationship with the Divine
- Develop a vision for building community, locally or globally
- Explore the connection between indigenous wisdom and Judeo-Christian spirituality
- Find refuge, comfort and support in the embrace of the Feminine
Module 5: The Fire of Transformation
Kali & Persephone (June 14)
We seem to undergo multiple crucifixions and resurrections within a single lifetime. Certain experiences bring us to our knees, and from this shattered space we are ultimately quickened with new life.
When we call on the Goddess Kali Ma, most beloved of Hindu deities, she takes whatever is in the way of our liberation and transforms it. This transformation feels like destruction and we burn for a time in her loving fire. The Greek Goddess Persephone is Queen of the Underworld. She too is all about descent and the secret alchemy that unfolds when we abide in the darkness, giving rise to fresh growth and sweet abundance.
In this module, you’ll:
- Understand the difference between “becoming nothing” and “being unworthy”
- Embrace the fire and allow it to transfigure you
- Explore the connection between missing loved ones and spiritual longing
- Affirm the validity of an entire spectrum of losses you carry, from loss of innocence to the death of a loved one
Module 6: Mercy Is Our Birthright
Kwan Yin & Tara (June 21)
The fearsome aspect of the Divine Mother is not the full story. She is also the embodiment of unconditional forgiveness and selfless service. The Bodhisattva Vow in the Buddhist tradition calls us to forgo our own liberation until all sentient beings are free.
Kwan Yin in ancient China and Tara in Tibet are the bodhisattvas of compassion who gather the broken world into their arms and lean in to listen to our stories of heartache and longing. When we weep for the pain of the world, these entities are available to us as a source of strength and hope, empowering us to step up and offer ourselves for the benefit of all life.
In this module, you’ll:
- Expand your conception of what it means to be of service
- Discern between charity dispensed to those perceived as having (or being) less, and compassion based on the realization of our essential unity with those who suffer
- Find a healthy balance between personal spiritual practice and caring for others
- Develop the courage necessary to speak for the voiceless, even when it is neither convenient nor socially acceptable
Module 7: The Essence of Wisdom
Sophia & the Oracle at Delphi (July 5)
In the biblical literature, Wisdom is personified as feminine. Proverb 8 declares that “Wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare to her.” In the Gnostic and Christian mystical traditions she is Sophia, the feminine face of the Divine and the source of spiritual insight. In ancient Greece men in power flocked to the Oracle at Delphi, embodied by High Priestess of the Temple of Apollo, for guidance in both practical and spiritual matters. During perilous times when society is radically fragmented and the masculine paradigm falls far short of mending the world, the wisdom of the Sacred Feminine is needed more than ever.
In this final module, you’ll:
- Discover the relevance of ancient spiritual teachings to your own life, and to the lives of those you touch
- Notice where you may be imbalanced between heart and mind, and find a healthy integration of intellectual rigor and dwelling in the mystery of love
- What would it mean to open yourself as an Oracle?
- Examine the masculine and feminine aspects of your own personality and invite them into harmony
The Calling in the Goddesses Bonus Collection
In addition to Mirabai’s transformative 7-week live online training, you’ll receive these powerful program sessions with some of the world’s leading visionaries and teachers. These bonus sessions are being offered to complement what you’ll discover in the course — and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Breaking the Rules & Calling Her God
Mirabai Starr Reading From Her Book God of Love
In this warm and evocative piece Mirabai shares her spirited and unorthodox view of the feminine face of the Divine, inviting us into an intimate relationship with Love itself.
Feminine Mysticism as Sacred Activism
Audio Dialogue With Mirabai Starr and Andrew Harvey
Andrew and Mirabai share the ecstatic sensibilities of the poet mystics they adore, combined with a ferocious commitment to activating personal spiritual practice on behalf of the world. In teaching together over the years, they have discovered a beautiful balance between Andrew’s fire and Mirabai’s tenderness.
Andrew Harvey is an author, speaker and founder/director of the Institute of Sacred Activism, an international organization focused on inviting concerned people to take up the challenge of our contemporary global crises by becoming inspired, effective and practical agents of institutional and systemic change, in order to create peace and sustainability. He has written and edited over 30 books and received many awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Award and the Mind Body Spirit Award.
Sera & Her Red Lady
Audio Session With Sera Beak
Sera is a dynamic emerging voice in feminine spirituality. Harvard educated with a heretic’s holiness, she lights the world on fire with her “revolutionary” approach to living an authentic life. In this dialogue, Sera will share her intimate relationship with The One she calls “My Lady.”
Sera Beak is a Harvard trained scholar of comparative world religions who spent years traveling the world studying spirituality with Sufi dervishes, Tibetan monks, Croatian mystics, shamans and more. She is a workshop facilitator and speaker. She is the author of The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark and Red Hot and Holy: A Heretic’s Love Story.
What Graduates of Mirabai’s Courses Are Saying...
Working with Mirabai is a joy! As an interspiritual contemplative there is nearly no one else who can so easily and peacefully pull together the diversity of threads from every tradition and weave them into a gorgeous and meaningful mystical blanket of holistic spirituality.
— Peggy, Kansas City, Kansas
...I truly thank my Lord who kept nudging me until I signed up for my first course with Mirabai a couple of years ago... The best thing you can tell others about benefiting from a course at The Shift Network is (1) the teachers who have taught me are fantastic, and (2) you CAN "teach an old dog new tricks!"
— Barbara, Camden, South Carolina
I felt such a deeper trust and acceptance of my own divinity through really opening my heart to the glory of me! This has allowed me to go deeper with my own personal connection to the feminine... feel this beautiful accepting mother in my blood pulsing, flowing, receiving and I lay my head into her and weep.
— Wendy Langille, New Brunswick, Canada
My attunement to myself is more keen and loving. I am more peaceful and trusting that there is indeed divine intervention in our third world realities. I look forward to any courses Mirabai will teach.
— Michelle Jurika, Piedmont, California
The course enriched me very much. It is heartwarming to know the fact that we are all called to union with the Divine no matter what our faith tradition is. We are just one. This is a celebration of unity among us.
— Maria Eulalia Banawis, Quezon City, Philippines
Breathtaking! (read awestruck). I am here to Be – Love – Belong in service and heal our world... even if that service morphs into a form I never envisioned. I feel grounded and incredibly grateful to be part of an inclusive, worldwide interspiritual community.
— Kathleen Gibbons Schuck, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
Mirabai Starr has the unique ability to create and hold sacred space for others no matter what aspect of the journey they were on. I leave it feeling blessed to have had such a rich experience of myself and and grateful for having Mirabai as a guide.
— Laura, Ontario, Canada
The scholarship of Mirabai Starr coupled with her deep, loving compassion for all made for a quite wonderful experience.
— Lorna, Gold River, California
Mirabai is open, honest, transparent and willing to share deeply from her experience and her heart.
— Patience, Mt. Rainier, Maryland
Mirabai has the soul of a poet, the mind of an intellectual and a voice that opens one’s heart.
— Lisa, New Jersey
Join the Global Community
Calling in the Goddesses offers some of the most advanced online teachings currently available, in a thriving global community of learning and practice.
Join your fellow students and practitioners from across the world in the live interactive conference calls — or in the custom online community — to support and learn from each other, while you expand your paradigm of reality and open your mind.
This international community is also at the leading edge of a movement committed to manifesting a better world for all beings, rooted in an open heart, it stands for the principles of mutual support, cooperation, harmony and reverence for life.
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Seven 90-minute Class Sessions With Mirabai Starr
Experience a rare opportunity to be mentored and learn with mystic-scholar and interspiritual teacher Mirabai Starr — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a live streaming video option and guides you to create the specific skills and abilities to understand the interconnected wisdom at the heart of the goddess teachings. Course sessions are on Wednesdays at 5:00pm Pacific.
Seven Video Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the video will be available for you to download or stream in high-quality format. This way, you’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime you desire — on your phone or on your computer.
Seven Audio Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the audio will be available for you to download in high-quality MP3 format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere — on any connected device and at your convenience.
Seven PDF Transcripts of Class Sessions
In addition to the high-quality videos and MP3 audios, you’ll also receive the entire class transcription in PDF format after each session is completed. You can then review, print and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Seven 30-Minute Interactive Group Practice Sessions
With live class attendance, there will be a 30-minute optional interactive practice session directly following each class. You’ll be placed in an intimate group with several other participants on the conference call to interact, share and do additional practices to help further integrate the weekly lessons. If you’re unable to attend the calls live, the Online Community group allows you to connect with each other to find alternative times to interact.
Interactive Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
After each lesson, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each week’s lesson.
Online Community
Our exclusive Facebook online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery process after each class. Here, you can continue the discussion about deepening practices, interact with your fellow students, and get access to additional resources to take your exploration to an even deeper level.
The Calling in the Goddesses Bonus Collection
- Breaking the Rules & Calling Her God
Mirabai Starr Reading From Her Book God of Love
- Feminine Mysticism as Sacred Activism
Audio Dialogue With Mirabai Starr and Andrew Harvey
- Sera & Her Red Lady
Audio Session With Sera Beak
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Calling in the Goddesses Live Virtual Training
We feel honored that Mirabai Starr has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive LIVE online video training. This is a rare opportunity to interact directly with an internationally renowned mystic-scholar and interspiritual teacher whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken the Divine within us — and our world.
Through this powerful online format, you’ll not only save time and money on workshop costs (plus travel, accommodations and meals — which would cost thousands of dollars), you’ll be able to benefit from Mirabai’s incredible teachings and exercises from the comfort of your home — at your own pace!
Among Mirabai’s many gifts are her own interspiritual practices and authentic embodiment of the teachings of the ancient traditions. She lives a life grounded in love and creates a teaching environment in which you will feel truly held in a safe and compassionate container as you experience this profound inner journey.
If you’re serious about experiencing the Oneness and deep unconditional love at the core of the Goddess teachings and opening to a life of wholeness, service and sacred balance, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones and our world to take this one-of-a-kind training.
If you’re ready to take the next step in evolving yourself, click the register button below to reserve your space now.
More Praise for Mirabai Starr...
Ever since I met her when she was a teenager at the Lama Foundation, Mirabai Starr has been absorbed in the teachings of the great mystic saints, especially the women. Like her namesake, the poet-saint Mirabai, she brings to her work an intense love of God and a passion for the Beloved. My Guru said, “Love is the best medicine.” Mirabai will help open up your heart to love.
— Ram Dass
Mirabai is an authentic mystic, a true teacher and a wonderful soul. Anyone who comes to her will find their cup will be filled. I recommend her as a person and as a teacher with great confidence and joy.
— Andrew Harvey, Spiritual Teacher and Mystic Scholar
It is with great pleasure and delight that I endorse the work of Mirabai Starr, who I find to be a soul companion as well as a professional colleague. In addition to being a gifted author, Mirabai is blessed with the capacity to inspire others with her wisdom and understanding of mystical theology. I referred to her translations of Teresa of Avila’s great masterpiece, The Interior Castle, while writing my own book, Entering the Castle, because of the excellence of her work. Mirabai is a rare jewel.
— Caroline Myss, Author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Entering the Castle
What makes [Mirabai’s] teaching so powerful is that her vast spiritual knowledge is rooted in the real experience of being human. Her genius lies in the profoundly humble way she opens her life as a guide to ours. In making this connection she shows us the deep and mysterious spiritual truths that hold all our lives together. A truly gifted teacher, she points us at once to and beyond ourselves. She does all of this with a spirit so light that all who share her presence are also lifted. Oh, did I say that she is also a lot of fun?
— Rev. Bob Thompson, Senior Pastor, Lake Street Church, Evanston, Illinois
I have been present during Mirabai Starr’s classes at the University of New Mexico in Taos, on both Philosophy and the theologies of the major world religions... One would expect from such a background that she has gathered and synthesized a dazzling amount of knowledge, but she also brings understanding, and especially compassionate wisdom. These are Godsent gifts that are simply given to her. Her life experiences of suffering and love pour into the cup of different levels of understanding which she offers so generously as a teacher, lecturer, writer and guest speaker. I am enriched and honored by her friendship.
— Fr. William Hart McNichols, Iconographer and Roman Catholic priest
About Mirabai Starr
Mirabai Starr writes creative nonfiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and interspiritual dialogue. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. She has received critical acclaim for her revolutionary new translations of John of the Cross’ Dark Night of the Soul and Teresa of Avila’s The Interior Castle. She is author of the poetry collection, Mother of God Similar to Fire, a collaboration with iconographer William Hart McNichols, and the award-winning book, God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Her newest book, Caravan of No Despair: A Memoir of Loss and Transformation, received the Spirituality & Practice “Best Books of 2015” award. She lives with her extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is a virtual course?
A: It’s a great way to engage live teachings and each other from the comfort of your home! All you need is a phone line (or an equivalent voice service). If there is more than one person in your household taking the course, you will each need your own line. We use MaestroConference to make it just like an in-person event, where you can ask questions, participate in groups, and deepen your exploration of the course themes.
Please note that dialing MaestroConference from your phone is a regular toll call to California; your telephone service provider will charge you according to your existing long-distance calling plan. Other options include calling cards and discount long-distance carriers. You can also use Skype to connect to MaestroConference at no charge, and we offer a webcast which is free to use from anywhere in the world.
I have never participated before in an online course. The packaging, presentation, inclusion and Facebook postings created a wonderful, safe cocoon to participate. I haven’t seen a course so well put together ever — not in all the years of taking college classes — and I had my doubts about doing an online course. The wealth of organization and ease of learning materials and support made this fun as well.
– Claudia F., Medford, MA
Q: Can I get benefit from the course if I miss the live classes?
A: Absolutely! You can download the recordings and transcripts of all course sessions from our online media archive, so you never need to worry about missing live calls. You can also engage the full community and leaders on our private community website.
Q: Can you tell me about the Private Course Group?
A: We will have a private community group for all course participants on Facebook that will support you in making connections with others, sharing insights, engaging in discussions, completing homework assignments and exchanging information about events and other activities that can supplement your transformational journey. You’ll have the ability to share your experiences, projects and growth throughout the Course.
Q: Are there scholarships available for this Training?
A: Yes, we always make a certain percentage of spaces available for partial scholarships, giving preference to those in developing countries or doing important but underpaid work to which they can apply the training material immediately. If you would like to apply for a scholarship, please review our guidelines, which include a link to our online application form.
Q: What is your refund policy?
A: Your satisfaction with The Shift Network and this course is our highest priority! We offer a satisfaction guarantee so that you can sample the course risk-free. The deadline to receive a full refund is May 31, 2017. To request a refund, please click on this refund request form and submit your request. Your refund will be processed within five business days and we’ll send you an email confirming your refund. However, we’d love to have a chance to address and resolve your concerns first. If there is something we can assist you with, please email us at support@theshiftnetwork.com and we’ll be happy to help! (No refund requests accepted after the above date or with scholarship awards.)
Q: How can I reach Customer Support?
A: Please visit our Customer Support Center, where you should be able to find the answer to your question or the solution to a problem. And if you can’t, you can submit an online request form and we’ll get right back to you.
