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Hereditary Chief Phil Lane, Jr.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Receive profound Indigenous wisdom in a sacred circle for healing, teaching, sharing, co-creating and community building.
Learn to live Indigenous Guiding Principles for Building a Sustainable and Harmonious World that emerged from a forty year process of reflection, consultation and action within Indigenous communities across the Americas. They are rooted in the concerns of hundreds of Indigenous elders and leaders of thought, as well as in the best thinking of many scholars, researchers and human and community development practitioners.
These principles constitute the software for the process of healing and developing ourselves (mental, emotional, physical, spiritual), our human relationships (personal; social, political, economic, cultural) and our relationship with our Mother Earth. They describe the way we must work and what we must protect and cherish. They provide a foundation for meaningful dialogue and a respect for unity in diversity.
An Invitation from Chief Phil Lane, Jr.
At this unique moment in the unfolding history of our Human Family — amid mounting social, political, economic, psychological and spiritual restlessness and uncertainty — there is an unnamed rootlessness that permeates the very heart of the Human Family and condition.
And it is time to name it.
Too many human beings in the modern world have been in the pursuit of the industrial and material dream severed from our Spirits. We have forgotten how to live in harmony on our Mother Earth, and have thus lost touch with our Indigenous Roots and our intimate connection to one another and all Life!
We are all part of the ancient Sacred Circle of Life, and therefore we are all Indigenous peoples of Mother Earth. The essential truth of this reality cannot be denied no matter how we look at it; it is simply an irrevocable truth. At one time all our relatives sat before the Sacred Fire of Life.
To embrace and reclaim our Indigenous relationship to all Life is to remember and lovingly celebrate our sacred relationship with our Mother Earth, all relatives of our One Human Family and our kinship with all Life.
The realization of this truth renders any form of prejudice intolerable, and equally renders any form of mistreatment of our sacred Mother Earth as completely unacceptable.
We have experienced a Great Spiritual Wintertime in the past 500 years. This has been a time of conquest, colonization and assimilation that has been filled with the utmost human cruelty, violence, injustice, abuse and physical and cultural genocide.
What we are finally discovering, however, is that the ”Hurt of One is the Hurt of All,” and that such actions strip away our essential humanity along with all things that make life worth living!
The global crises we experience today are additionally fueled by our belief in separation... a myth that has convinced us that we are separate from one another and separate from the Natural World. This has further channeled into the destructive belief that we are not whole and that we are hopelessly inadequate.
The industrial and material dream is given power by our sense of lost connection and wholeness with ourselves, each other and our Mother Earth.
It persuades and propels us to consume to no end, in a feeble attempt to recover a wholeness that cannot be bought or filled with material things.
It thrives on our inability to recall the ways of the ancestors, and celebrates the forgetting of our own sacredness as Sacred Beings.
For when we recognize the sacred within ourselves, we see it in all other things.
But this is all changing. It has been prophesied that a Great Spiritual Springtime would emerge out of this unimaginable darkness.
We live now not in the days of the prophecies, but in the days of the fulfillment of the prophecies.
As foretold by the Elders, the Indigenous Peoples of the world are reawakening to their spiritual and cultural identities. They are demonstrating to all members of the Human Family how to walk the Fourth Way, the Beauty Way... the Path that transcends assimilation, resignation and conflict to a new place of understanding, reconciliation and healing broken trusts!
This Sacred Path of the Fourth Way must be walked together in unprecedented, unified action to manifest World Peace — the Day that will not be followed by night!
We, the Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth have a strong, enduring and unbreakable spiritual foundation of cultural values and guiding principles. These have empowered us to survive and arise in the face of unspeakable hardship and suffering, yet we stand with greater strength and wisdom than ever before.
So we invite you, Our Beloved Relatives, to reawaken with us to what is already within each of us — the Unity of One Human Family and all Life.
We offer you our heartfelt greeting of solidarity and our shared wisdom of 16 Indigenous Guiding Principles for Building a Sustainable and Harmonious World to ensure that we may walk together on a Sacred Path that fully honors the Natural Laws and rights of Mother Earth! Principles of Consultation that guide us to solve critical challenges in a peaceful manner and Talking Circles to deepen relationships, heal in a safe manner and listen and speak with our hearts.
This new Spiritual Springtime foretold by our Elders is now unfolding globally... as sure as the sun rises every morning.
My Beloved Friends and Relatives, it would be a great honor and pleasure for you to join us.
Your brother,
Invitation From The Shift Network
Have you held in your heart a vision of healing for the world? One in which we restore the sacred bonds of trust and respect, learn to live in harmony with the natural world and leave a legacy of beauty for future generations?
Many Indigenous Peoples now believe that we are entering the springtime of a new possibility in which we can redesign our world to work in a more sacred, holistic and respectful manner.
One of the most important keys keys to realizing this new world is receiving and applying the wisdom of our Indigenous brothers and sisters. Not just as an exercise in appreciating different cultures, but in understanding a more sacred way of living in the world — one that has essential insights we all need to not only survive but thrive.
Hereditary Chief Phil Lane, Jr. reminds us in the above letter that we are ALL Indigenous Peoples. And yet most of us have lost our grounding in ancient ways.
If we had experienced mutual understanding and cultural exchange when Europeans first came to the Americas, for instance, we may well have seen an integration of wisdom that balanced out the patterns that led to so much suffering.
We can now grieve that history and work to heal it. It’s also vital to engage in the sacred exploration of a world built with respect for Indigenous wisdom.
How would we make different political decisions? How would we learn to listen to each other? How would we begin to feel, sense and appreciate the wisdom of others rather than try to impose our way?
The Indigenous Wisdom for Compassionate Living and Unified Action virtual program will help you develop real skills in discovering and applying Indigenous wisdom — based in sacred respect for the power in every voice — in your life.
You will learn how Talking Circles work by participating in them — lending your voice to key areas of exploration and seeing how the wisdom of the whole is harvested.
You will learn how to engage in participatory decision-making processes that can be a model for a rejuvenated approach to democracy.
You will co-create a field of powerful blessing and healing intention for yourself, your community and our world.
You will experience a transmission of ancient wisdom in service to transforming modern life.
You will reclaim or deepen your own Indigenous roots so that you can be a better leader of positive change.
You will, in short, help restore the sacred hoop that connects us all into one family.
While Hereditary Chief Phil Lane, Jr. is the main teacher, facilitator and catalyst for this journey, he is building upon principles of wisdom distilled by leaders from many tribes and traditions.
During the 9 weeks in this sacred circle, you will receive:
- A profound understanding of ancient Indigenous prophecies and their fulfillment at this unprecedented moment in human history.
- The insight/path to embrace your own Indigenous Spirit as an Indigenous being of Mother Earth, and as sacred and valued being with gifts to offer in this time of great healing.
- The Indigenous teachings of The 16 Indigenous Guiding Principles for Building a Sustainable and Harmonious World with their spiritual and practical applications for building a peaceful and harmonious world (The 16 Principles were developed and utilized by spiritual elders and leaders from over 40 years of consultation, reconciliation and the bringing together to heal the human family around the world).
- Deep insights on the inner and collective transformation of ourselves and our world, and the sacred connection between them.
- Understanding of how to lead and guide ancient tradition of the Indigenous Talking Circle — an ancient way of building authentic and trusting relationships with each other by ensuring all people feel heard, seen and loved.
- Guidance and Indigenous mentorship living “The Fourth Way” of healing, transformation and unprecedented unified action (as differentiated from the ways of hopelessness and defeat, assimilation and violent resistance).
- A keen awareness on the inevitable role of conflict in transformation, and the ability to use Indigenous Principles of Consultation to help heal disunity.
- Stories that will excite, inspire and bring you to tears as well as overtake you with laughter!
Scholarships
In respect for these sacred teachings, we are offering a limited number of full scholarships to children over 17 and adults who are members of the tribes of First Nations, Aboriginal, American Indian, Alaskan Native, Metis and Inuit Communities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Greenland, the Philippines, the United States, or Latin American (English Speaking)
You will be asked to submit an application describing this membership upon requesting a scholarship. If you are interested in the regular or full scholarship, please submit your application here.
Others who would like to participate but can’t afford the full tuition may apply for a partial 50% scholarship. Your partial tuition will support the work of The Four Worlds International Institute in manifesting the Reunion of the Condor and the Eagle, and support The Shift Network in continuing to offer Indigenous wisdom summits and programs.
What You’ll Learn in These 9 Weeks
Course sessions are on Thursdays at 12:00pm Pacific.
In this 9-week transformational program, Chief Phil Lane, Jr. will guide and mentor you through an Indigenous path where you will embrace and reclaim your Indigenous relationship to all life and remember and lovingly celebrate your sacred relationship with Mother Earth.
Each weekly, LIVE session will build harmoniously upon the next. You will develop a complete, holistic understanding of the practices, tools and principles you’ll need to embrace your own Indigenous spirit as an Indigenous being of Mother Earth.
Module 1: Indigenous Rising
Fulfilling the Prophecies (January 7)
Around the world at this very moment and as foretold by the ancient Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth, we are reawakening — lighting the way to a sacred wisdom and beginning to heal and unite as one human family.
Hereditary Chief Phil Lane, Jr. will introduce the Indigenous Talking Circles and The 16 Indigenous Guiding Principles for Building a Sustainable and Harmonious World.
In the first learning circle, you will:
- Receive an overview of the historically profound 16 Indigenous Guiding Principles for Building a Sustainable and Harmonious World (derived from four decades of work among Indigenous leaders globally).
- Learn how Indigenous Talking Circles can provide a forum for local and global transformation on the planet.
- Embark on the journey to uncovering your role in the healing process needed for a more sustainable way of life.
- Link the 16 Indigenous Guiding Principles Principles for Building a Sustainable and Harmonious World inextricably to your life and to a process that is bigger than you are.
- Engage in a deep reflective process about your personal journey in this current space and time to discern what will enable you to be more consciously engaged in actively creating a different pathway into the future.
Module 2: Walking the Fourth Way & Embracing Your Indigenous Spirit
(January 14)
During the 500 years of the Great Spiritual Wintertime, people from all walks of life have dealt with many forms of hardship and suffering. Hopelessness, despair, assimilation, self-hatred and discrimination, and even violent resistance. It’s time to transform our individual and collective suffering. It is time to heal and nourish our spirits.
In this module, Chief Phil Lane, Jr. will share his ancient knowledge about the Medicine Wheel and the Four Directions. You’ll come to understand the depth of wisdom available from these integral energetic and healing Indigenous systems. In this teaching, he will explore the utility of this ancient symbolism and its application to your current life and the powerful gifts that you contain.
In the second circle, you will:
- Discover the distinct aspects of the four elements of the Medicine Wheel and your own nature, which can promote balance and your will to live.
- View the gift of these four aspects, which point to your true nature.
- Illuminate the ways your identity influences your ability to actualize your potential, as well your healing or suffering.
Module 3: Reawakening How to Be with Each Other
The Art of Talking Circles (January 21)
In the haste and paving over that is so characteristic of the modern world and material dream, ancient traditions for building and sustaining community have been largely forgotten. Even the most aware of us still carry undesirable patterns of being that can detract us from connecting with others and ourselves.
We may lack a “spiritual compass” to help guide us to maintain authentic relationships and engagement with others in community. The principle of a Talking Circle is that starting from within — working in a circle, in a sacred manner — we heal and develop ourselves, our relationships and the world.
In the third circle, you will:
- The basic principles of Talking Circles and how they contribute to a more cohesive and collaborative way of conducting business, creating dialogue in conflict-ridden scenarios and building continuity and trust among all people.
- Learn the steps to conduct the ancient practice of Talking Circles in a way that can be used to promote trust, problem resolution and action, even in places that currently do not have good relationships.
- Uncover how the attributes of respect, commitment, consideration, valuing, diversity and contribution create consensus — even in the most difficult situations.
Module 4: The 16 Guiding Principles for Building a Sustainable & Harmonious World (January 28)
After learning, applying and facilitating the Indigenous Talking Circle tradition, we can begin to sit with one another and explore The 16 Indigenous Guiding Principles. These principles, developed and successfully utilized over the past 45 years, are fundamental truths exemplified in the phenomena of the natural world and our evolution as human beings. They’re neither doctrine or dogma — nor require any beliefs. They are a “spiritual roadmap” for building and sustaining peace within ourselves and in our communities.
In the fourth circle, you will:
- Understand how a belief in our ability to transform the world is essential to lasting, positive change.
- Identify how your inner life, where truth lives, helps invoke change in your life and elsewhere.
- Evoke a vision of your full potential and how it will contribute to a sustainable world.
- Begin to heal your past and replace the dysfunctional thinking and disruptive patterns with healthy habits of thought and action that empower your contributions.
Module 5: Interconnectedness
The Holistic Approach (February 4)
Mother Earth is a unified and living being of which all of life is an interdependent and interconnected part. Every aspect of our healing and development is interrelated, personal, social, cultural, political and economic. When we work on any one part, the whole circle is affected.
In the fifth circle with Hereditary Chief Phil Lane, Jr., you will:
- Uncover that you cannot heal and transform yourself without realizing and engaging with the vast web of relationships that define your spiritual and collective journey with others.
- Explore how the concept of unity, or oneness, is the key behind the movement forward into healing and transformation of our world, and that disunity is the primary disease of our communities.
- Begin to participate in the active engagement of your mind, heart and soul to promote your own healing and development and take ownership in your own destiny.
- Understand how every person (regardless of gender, race and religion) must be accorded equal opportunity to participate in the process of healing and development, and to receive a fair share of the benefits.
Module 6: The Hurt of One is the Hurt of All, The Honor of One is the Honor of All
(February 11)
If everything in our world is connected to everything else, how much more must we human beings be connected to each other? The basic fact of our oneness as a human family has always been known and understood by the wise. Nevertheless, the reality is that what happens to some of us really does happen to all of us.
We have recently begun to learn that if we poison the air we breathe and the water we drink (i.e. the environmental commons), we are poisoning ourselves. Similarly, if we poison our relationships with other people who live in the same social world as we do (the social commons), then we and our children will sooner or later discover that we have poisoned our own lives.
In the sixth circle, you will:
- Learn that human beings are both material and spiritual in nature, and that neither you nor the rest of humanity can live sustainably without bringing your life into balance with your spiritual nature.
- Tap into your moral foundation which is centered in the wisdom of the heart and will help you to maintain your own moral compass and live by your own ethical principles, causing you to evolve in consciousness and action.
- Sense how the oneness of the human family requires living and acting with the knowledge that all beings must be cared for, or the world is not sustainable.
- Uncover how your own healing and development, and that of the human family, must be rooted in the wisdom, knowledge and living processes of the culture of the people.
Module 7: Understanding the Human Spirit
Moving to the Positive (February 18)
In the mounting crises of our current age, we must have understanding and compassion for relatives who are no less frightened out of their wits, and therefore, unengaged and ineffective in supporting or leading change. Disbelief turns to despair, despair can transform to disconnection, grotesque disillusionment or total apathy. The negative strikes fear in people and drains energy.
This is not to say we should ignore the negative, but that it should be balanced with the antidote of hope, vision and unified action that moves to the positive by creating the world we wish to live in. This fills the human spirit rather than depletes it. To act otherwise is to misunderstand what it is that connects, inspires and enables a human spirit to engage fully in life in the face of our global challenges.
In the seventh circle, you will hear about the final four Indigenous Principles, and will:
- Strategize about the best approach to solving the critical problems in your life and community by visually focusing on the collective strengths we already have, rather than on fighting the things you want to change.
- Identify how the concept of learning and seeking the truth is at the core of healing, development and social change, and begin to integrate hard truths into your own life for healing and global sustainability.
- Learn how to promote sustainability within yourself, your community and the globe through an efficient use of resources.
- Explore how to walk the path of your new way, and invite others to join in by positive role modeling and the creation of living examples of the solutions you have envisioned.
Module 8: The Indigenous Principles of Consultation (February 25)
Conflict and crisis are at the core of what it means to be an individuated spirit among relatives who, just like ourselves, are journeyers in this world. Being human is not easy! It is not a matter of IF conflict will arise, but a question of how it will be dealt with when it happens, and how it can be used as a force for connection and transformation.
Sustained disunity is the poison of development, and too often it remains present through our inability or lack of wisdom to heal it. The Principles of Consultation have been utilized by thousands of Indigenous communities and other members of the human family around Mother Earth!
In the eighth circle, Chief Phil Lane, Jr. will support you to:
- Outline the values behind Indigenous Principles of Consultation, so that you will feel skilled and supported in taking your vision into your life, community and the world.
- Help you feel emboldened to take the prime aspects of this consultative approach into your action in the world with respect and appreciation for the diversity of each member of the human family.
- Learn to expect that the truth will emerge from the clash of differing opinions, and that from the process of this collaborative model, optimal solutions will emerge to promote healing in yourself and on the planet.
Module 9: Protect & Restore the Sacredness of Mother Earth
Unprecedented, Unified Action & Unifying the One Human Family (March 3)
In this module, Brother Phil will support you to synthesize the vast richness available in the Indigenous wisdom principles and in the collaborative processes shared to envision how you will next move into the world in your truth and power as an empowered, compassionate healer who will make unified change happen in multiple dimensions in your life.
In this final module, you will:
- Review and practice the collaborative process for using the Talking Circles.
- Synthesize the learnings from the Indigenous Principles, and think through how to use these principles in nitty-gritty conversations with your family, community, and even globally.
- Explore how you can integrate the Principles of Consultancy with The 16 Indigenous Guiding Principles for Building a Sustainable and Harmonious World to resolve deep-seated and intractable conflict within your community and across the globe.
- Design a version of a personal or social action project that will manifest your passion, vision and skills into the world in new and creative ways.
The Indigenous Wisdom Bonus Collection
In addition to Brother Phil’s transformative 9-week virtual course, you’ll receive these powerful training materials. These bonuses will complement what you’ll learn in the course and deepen your understanding and practice.
Four Phases of Community Healing
E-book
In our consultations with Indigenous communities across Canada and the USA, it is clear that the community healing process goes through distinct stages or cycles.
- The Journey Begins
- Gathering Momentum
- Hitting the Wall
- From Healing to Transformation
Taken together, these stages form one type of “map” of the community healing process, useful for both for understanding the current dynamics of the community process and determining future actions and priorities.
Series of Sacred Indigenous Images
Downloadable PDF
These special images created by Brother Phil and his father are beautiful illustrations of the sacred world around us. Send these images to friends or print them out to beautify your workspace or home. Images include the Medicine Bear symbolizing power and healing, and the Sacred Wolf following the Red Road of Life.
Where We’ve Been... Where We’re Going
Video
In this video, Indigenous people describe their experiences with substance abuse and the process they used to heal and regain insight into and connection with their Indigenous roots. Realizing that they were put on Earth to fulfill a spiritual purpose by seeking help from their elders and returning to their cultural traditions, including the sacred pipe, the sweat lodge and the Sun Dance, these individuals have found their true identities and are proud of who they are.
Deep Social Networks and the Digital
Fourth Way
E-book from Jon Ramer and Phil Lane Jr.
This e-book was written for “changemakers” working with communities committed to making just and lasting change. It bridges linear and holistic thinking systems by applying ancient wisdom to a new medium of communication — social networks — and the emerging sharing economy. It offers a framework for designing what we call deep social networks that produce meaningful results and build deeper relationships that learn and grow in ways that sustain and enhance life for all inhabitants of Mother Earth.
What Graduates of Indigenous Wisdom for Compassionate Living & Unified Action are Saying...
This course has changed my life... and the interactions with both my personal friends and groups with which I work. I feel a new calm about how to approach sometimes sensitive or difficult conversations. I have a deeper respect for the voice of each person involved. You have awakened something in me I can only describe as a past knowing, perhaps inner wisdom and now it is on fire with love and compassion. Chief Phil, Brother Phil was incredible!!! Thank You to The Shift Network!!! With Love,
– Megann Thomas
Aho! My given name is Russell Cadotte, I am a blood relative of Dekshi (Uncle) Phil and a descendant of Tashunko Witko or Crazy Horse. I am very thankful to hear the wonderful teachings and guidance of our elders and teachers, it is a wonderful way to learn of so many sacred ways carried by our ancestors into helping us with the problems of today in a kind, gentle and loving way. I did grow up away from my people so hearing the teachings and wisdom again is such a great help. Highly recommended for all to benefit in moving forward!! THANK you to all the good people of The Shift Network! Aho, Mitakuye Oyasin (We or all things are related/ connected).
– Russell Cadotte, near Enderby, BC, Canada
The Indigenous worldview is greatly needed today! To realize the sacredness of all Beings in right relationship,giving respect and dignity to all voices independent of race or creed calls us to be in tune with our true nature and potentials for healing. That feels powerful!
– Diane Bourbonnais, Ottawa, Canada
I have been reminded of my connections to the human family and refreshed in my strength to walk in reverence, compassion and kindness.
– Karen, Chicago, IL
I was, unknowingly, stuck. This course shook me gently awake again and was a good shot in the arm to tell me I need to do in-depth knowledge on a more constant basis. Brother Phil and Brother Lee made a ’dream team’ and I would recommend them together or on their own in similar courses to anyone!
– Wendy Jones, Vancouver, BC, Canada (unceded First Nations Territory)
"Never be the cause of someone else’s unhappiness." This phrase shared by Hereditary Chief Phil Lane, Jr., changed the way I parent my children. While pointing out what my child may have done incorrectly, with the intent to teach, the result would often be a blow to his spirit and cause feelings of incompetence. Now I come from the heart, from Love, and speak in a whole different way.
– Three Feathers, Seattle, WA
In Brother Phil, I feel the presence in my life of a truly wise, compassionate, loving elder and friend. Through his sharing of his heart, wisdom, and life’s journey and work, I have experienced deep, gentle healing on many levels of my being, and in many areas of my life, which has assisted me in and encouraged me to continue stepping more fully into myself and my own life’s work and purpose. Also, I’ve made connections with other students through which I feel we will all continue to support, encourage, inspire, and nurture one another as we continue along our own individual journeys through life.
– Amber Love, Republic of Hawaii
Brother Phil Lane is a wonderful teacher — so gentle yet powerful and very positive with everyone, and he has a terrific laugh that is much in evidence. I’ve had some background in Indigenous American pathways — my primary spiritual community has been together 18 years and formed to learn the shamanic wisdom of the Q’ero elders of Peru. Brother Phil very clearly shared his vision of the one family of humanity and how we must recognize our connectedness and love one another to change the world. Each class session we spent time in Talking Circles with clear guidelines that Brother Phil had shared, and which are applicable to any kind of meeting we might take part in. On our last class session he said he was talking with Dr Lee Brown (who was on several of our class sessions) about a future class. If that comes about, don’t miss it!
– Lloyd Hansen, Minneapolis, MN
Global communication in a Talking Circle format between nations is key right now for the healing of nations, individuals, and communities. As we share in a loving safe circle we can help heal ancestral wounds not only in the Americas but for the entire planet.
– Delphina Nova, Algonquin Abenaki, Noelville, Ontario, Canada
With The Shift Network’s and Brother Phil’s course Indigenous Wisdom I got a deep insight in Indigenous Wisdom and Guiding Principles. It brought healing to ancestral wounds and is making a shift, starting in myself to create more Love, Peace, and Happiness. We are all related, a big family. All over the world a huge shift is happening. Thank you so much.
– Simone, Germany
Join the Global Community
Indigenous Wisdom for Compassionate Living & Unified Action not only offers some of the most advanced online teachings currently available, it also offers a thriving global community of support.
Join your fellow students and practitioners from across the world in the live interactive conference calls or in our online community to support and learn from each other while you learn to open your mind and expand your paradigm of reality.
This international community is also at the leading edge of a global movement of people who are committed to manifesting a better world for all beings. This emerging planetary movement is rooted in an open heart and stands for the principles of mutual support, cooperation, harmony and reverence for all of life.
Course sessions are on Thursdays at 12:00pm Pacific.
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Nine 90-Minute Class Sessions with Chief Phil Lane, Jr.
Experience a rare opportunity to be mentored and learn with wisdom elder Chief Phil Lane, Jr. — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes renowned guest faculty, and helps you create the specific skills and abilities to transform of yourself and our world, and the sacred connection between them.
Nine Audio Recordings of
Class Sessions
After each class, the audio will be available to you to download in high quality MP3 format. This way, you’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere — on your iPod, in your car, and at your convenience.
Nine PDF Transcripts of
Class Sessions
In addition to the high quality MP3 audios, you’ll also receive the entire class transcription in PDF format after each session is completed. This way you can review, print and highlight the most important insights and practices that you’ll learn.
Nine 30-Minute Interactive Group Practice Sessions
Following each class session there will be a live 30-minute interactive practice session, where you will 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.
Interactive Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
After each lesson, you will then have the option to do related exercises and answer questions in order to accelerate your learning and integrate each session.
Online Community
Our exclusive Facebook online community is the perfect place to continue your learning after each class. Here, you can ask additional questions, interact with your fellow students and get access to additional resources to take your learning experience to an even deeper level.
The Indigenous Wisdom Bonus Collection
- Four Phases of Community Healing
E-book
- Series of Sacred Indigenous Images
Downloadable PDF
- Where We’ve Been... Where We’re Going
Video
- Deep Social Networks and the Digital Fourth Way
E-book from Jon Ramer and Phil Lane Jr.
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the The Indigenous Wisdom for Compassionate Living & Unified Action Virtual Program
We at The Shift Network feel deeply honored that Chief Phil Lane, Jr. has chosen to partner with us on this exclusive online training. As you may know, this is a rare opportunity to learn directly from a wisdom elder whose powerful teachings are helping to heal and awaken ourselves, our partners and our world, as well as align us in unified action.
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 also benefit by Brother Phil’s teachings and exercises from the comfort of your home — at your own pace!
If you are serious about living in harmony on our Mother Earth, and reconnecting with your Indigenous roots, one another and all of life, then it’s a great blessing for yourself, your loved ones — and our world — to participate in 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 Indigenous Wisdom for Compassionate Living & Unified Action...
The gift of this learning experience required me to explore the depth of not just my life choices but to truly accept responsibility for my own Spiritual growth in a sacred manner. Revisiting the source of my own Indigenous historical trauma gave me the completed answers I had been searching for. This was a vision quest that revealed the depth of my soul through connecting with others in search of the same in a respectful sacred traditional manner. With an eternally grateful heart, Mvto, Aho.
– Denise Varner, Walnut Creek, CA
I am grateful for the generosity of this course. I have met or worked with many of the faculty, so I know they are teachers who "walk their talk" and speak from experience, knowledge, integrity and compassion. This course has been a great sharing of traditional wisdom and guidance so needed at this time. It is an invitation for us all to recognize the unity of the Circle of Life.
– Lorain Fox Davis, Lakewood, CO
To learn important techniques from such well-known and loved Elders as Chief Phil Lane and Dr. Lee Brown has given me hope and good tools to use. My heart’s fire has been ignited and in its light I see the work needed to be done to prepare the path forward. Thank you to The Shift Network for making it happen!
– Shannon McArthur, Sunshine Sparkling on the Waters
I found this course inspiring even though I was only joining it as a listener due to the time it was broadcast live in the U.K. I loved the laughter, the chanting, the stories and the whole positive feeling of Brother Phil’s words. I felt as if I was not alone and forgiven. I felt healed and cried tears of Joy and lost pain. I felt there is hope and the emotional teaching curriculum could be followed throughout the world to the benefit of all. Thank you. I am visiting Canada this summer and would like to make contact with anyone on the course if this was possible. Many many thanks.
– Jane Wood, Manchester, United Kingdom
The course offered foundational and supportive information with which more people need to come into contact. My hope is that I will be able to share this with my circle of friends in the near future. Goodness knows how much it is needed.
– Joceline Quinte, West Ontario, Canada
It was a wonderful experience to be in circle with all the beautiful people who participated in the course and to learn together from wonderful Chief Phil Lane! We are all connected. My heartfelt thanks and gratitude! Blessings to all of you!
– Lisa, Cologne, Germany
About Hereditary Chief Phil Lane, Jr.
Hereditary Chief Phil Lane, Jr. is a member of the Hinhan Wicasa Oyate, Yankton Sioux Tribe and Chickasaw Nation. For more than 45 years Phil has been working with Indigenous Peoples from across the Americas, Southeast Asia, India, Hawaii and Africa. In 1970-1971, Phil worked with Indigenous Peoples in Bolivia. It was here where he began his lifelong dedication, with other Indigenous Peoples, toward actualizing the Reunion of the Condor and the Eagle. Phil served 16 years as an associate professor in Indigenous Education at the University of Lethbridge, where, in 1982, he co-founded — with elders from across North America — the Four Worlds International Institute (FWII). With the guidance of the Four Worlds Elders Council and Phil’s leadership and applied experience, FWII has become an internationally recognized leader in human, community and organizational development because of the institute’s unique focus on the importance of culture and spirituality in all dimensions of development.
In 1977, Phil was named a Modern Indian Sports Great by the national indian magazine, Wassaja, for his record-breaking accomplishments in track and wrestling. He has extensive experience in his own cultural traditions, is an award-winning author and film producer and holds Masters degrees in education and public administration. His film credits include the National PBS series Images of Indians with the late Will Sampson, Walking With Grandfather, and The Honor of All: The Story of Alkali Lake and Healing the Hurt, the first documentary to bring to public attention to Canada’s infamous residential school system’s intergenerational physical, emotional, cultural, mental and sexual abuse of more than 150,000 aboriginal children across Canada. In August 1992, Phil was the first Indigenous person to win the prestigious Windstar Award, presented annually by the late John Denver and the Windstar Foundation to “a global citizen whose personal and professional life exemplifies commitment to a global perspective, operates with awareness of the spiritual dimension of human existence and demonstrates concrete actions of the benefit for humans and all living systems of the Earth.” At this international event, in recognition of his hereditary lineage and long-time service to Indigenous Peoples and the human family, Indigenous elders from across North America recognized Phil as a Hereditary Chief.
In November, 2000, Phil received the International Award for Freedom and Human Rights from the Foundation for Freedom and Human Rights in Berne, Switzerland. Since 2007, FWII’s work has included a special focus on utilizing digital communications technologies for developing "Deep Social Networks and the Digital Fourth Way." The focus of The Fourth Way is contributing to the unification of the human family by co-creating community-based, culturally-respectful, principle-centered strategies and programming that transcends assimilation, resignation and conflict. The Fourth Way is guided by the "Four Worlds Principles for Co-Creating a Sustainable and Harmonious World," developed through a consultation process with Indigenous Peoples across the Americas. These principle-centered, collaboratively created and community-based digital networks' purpose includes: uplifting education, sustainable development, child protection and social justice with Indigenous Peoples and other members of the human family in the Americas, Southeast Asia and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is a virtual course?
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
Please note that dialing MaestroConference from your phone is a regular toll call to California, and your telephone service provider will charge you according to your existing long-distance calling plan. You can also use Skype credit/subscription or Google Voice to dial in to MaestroConference, and you’ll need to use your virtual keypad to enter your PIN and to indicate that you want to ask a question. Other options include calling cards and discount long-distance carriers, and we also have a webcast which is free to use from anywhere in the world.
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: In respect for these sacred teachings, we are offering a limited number of full scholarships to children over 17 and adults who are participating members of the tribes of First Nations, Aboriginal, American Indian, Alaskan Native, Metis and Inuit Communities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Greenland, the Philippines, United States and Latin America (English Speaking). You will be asked to submit an application describing this membership upon requesting a scholarship. Applications will be reviewed and applicants will be contacted as to whether or not they have been awarded the full scholarship.
Others who would like to participate but can’t afford the full tuition may apply for a partial 50% scholarship. Your partial tuition will support the work of The Four Worlds International Institute in manifesting the Reunion of the Condor and the Eagle, and support The Shift Network in continuing to offer Indigenous wisdom summits and programs.
If you would like to apply for a scholarship, please submit your application here.
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 January 21, 2016. 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.
