Filmmaker/Speaker
Sylvia Binsfeld
Sylvia is the owner of the award-winning production company, DreamWeaver Films, where she produces entertaining, thought-provoking films that elevate society.
Because children today grow up in such a fast-paced culture and are constantly inundated with adult information, Sylvia was inspired to create the award-winning short fantasy film, Dorme, the first film in the series. Soon after she authored the book, Dorme: A Magical Dreamland Visit—which, together with the Dorme lullaby film is meant to bring back the innocent imagination Sylvia remembered from her own childhood, along with messages of love, peace, safety and connection.
Three years ago, Sylvia experienced a profound awakening during a group sound healing session at a qigong intensive. A few months later she founded the Conscious Media Movement, whose mission is to raise mass consciousness using the power of story and film.She also creates teachings on spirituality and awakening for filmmakers and storytellers, so they can help with the healing of the planet by using the power of film and story, and contribute to the raising of consciousness on a global level.
2021 marks the year Sylvia moves full speed ahead with her Conscious Media Movement and her films.
Speakers
In the order of appearance
Marilyn Schlitz, Ph.D., M.A.
Dr. Schlitz is an acclaimed social scientist, award-winning author, and charismatic public speaker. She has conducted clinical, laboratory and field-based research into consciousness, human transformation, and healing. Her books include Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life; Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind Body Medicine; and Death Makes Life Possible (and companion film by same title). Having taught at Stanford, Harvard, and Trinity University, she is currently Chair of the doctoral program in Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University, CEO/President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Schlitz has published hundreds of articles in scholarly journals and popular publications, and has lectured extensively in diverse venues, including the United Nations, Smithsonian Institution, Commonwealth Club, and community groups across the world.
Scilla Elworthy, PhD
Three times Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her work with Oxford Research Group to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics, work which included a series of meetings between Chinese, Russian, and western nuclear scientists and military. Scilla Elworthy founded Peace Direct in 2002 to fund, promote and learn from local peace-builders in conflict areas: Peace Direct was voted 'Best Charity' in 2005.
Scilla was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003 and was adviser to Peter Gabriel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Sir Richard Branson in setting up 'The Elders'. Scilla co-founded Rising Women Rising World in 2013, and FemmeQ in 2016 to establish the qualities of feminine intelligence for women and men as essential to use in building a safer world. Her TED talk on nonviolence has been viewed by over 1,250,000 people. Her latest book The Business Plan for Peace: Building a Better World Without War (2017) and her book Pioneering the Possible: awakened leadership for a world that works, received critical acclaim from experts in the field.
Scilla is an Ambassador for Peace Direct, a Councillor of the World Future Council and Patron of Oxford Research Group.; advisor to Syria Campaign and the Institute of Economics and Peace. She advises the leadership of selected corporations as well as students and young, adult entrepreneurs Scilla is a mother, stepmother, and grandmother and loves messing about in her garden near Oxford in the U.K.
Michelle Treseler
Michelle Treseler is the founder of LiveLoveChi, a modern wellness practice that offers transformative tools to empower individuals and organizations to improve their overall well-being and reach their highest potential. After a decade of immersive study in healing traditions, Michelle has brought forth a unique method to address root causes of disharmony and disease. When encountering a life-threatening physical illness and other health challenges, Michelle used this practice to shift from surviving to thriving – surprising doctors along the way with sudden healing not attributable to Western medicine. Michelle now helps guide others to navigate their own challenges and opportunities with grace.
Michelle has enjoyed many roles: Fulbright scholar, assistant to a former U.S. Assistant Surgeon General, health policy consultant, and community leader who championed and re-wrote a bill - now law - that protects patients. Michelle has spent over 900 hours of intensive in-person learning with six qigong masters, and many more with renowned shamans and healers who draw from traditions around the world, including Tibet, China, Peru, Mexico and the United States.
Michelle focuses on the light within and guides others to see their own magnificence by the simple act of remembering who they truly are. The results her clients achieve bring her great joy.
DaRa Williams
DaRa Williams is a trainer, meditation teacher and psychotherapist. DaRa has been a meditator for the past 25 years and is a practitioner of both Vipassana and Ascension meditation. She is a graduate of the Spirit Rock/Insight Meditation Society Teacher Training Program and is a Guiding Teacher at IMS. She is the Program Manager and a core teacher in the current IMS Teacher Training. DaRa has been a clinician and administrator in the field of Mental Health for over 25 years and currently maintains a private practice in Manhattan. She is a certified trainer and practitioner of Indigenous Focusing-Oriented Therapy and Complex Trauma. DaRa integrates these skills, understandings, wisdom traditions and worldviews in her intention for contributing to the ending of suffering for all beings. "It is my belief that vipassana meditation and the dharma are ideal for transforming suffering, particularly the trauma of oppression and its many vicissitudes-where the chains around our minds and hearts can be broken and dissolved. Awareness and wisdom become the vehicle for freedom and transforming lives."
Rev Paula Mekdeci
Rev. Paula is senior minister at Unity Renaissance, where they hold the vision for “A spiritually awakened world, living in peace, love and joy.” Unity Renaissance, is a spiritual community dedicated to inclusivity, acceptance, and loving support for each person on their spiritual path. Believing many paths lead to one God.
John de Graaf
John de Graaf is a documentary filmmaker, author, teacher and quality-of-life activist. He has produced more than 40 films, including 15 national PBS specials, among them the popular Affluenza. He is the recipient of more than 100 regional, national and international filmmaking awards. His books include the international best-seller, Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic, Take Back Your Time, and What’s the Economy for Anyway? He co-founded the organizations, Take Back Your Time, And Beauty for All and The Happiness Alliance. He has been a speaker for dozens of universities and international conferences, a consultant to the government of Bhutan’ Gross National Happiness project, serves on the board of Earth Island Institute, has taught at the Evergreen State College and is a Fellow of the North American Academy of Leisure Sciences. He has written for dozens of publications including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Resilience, The Front Porch Republic, YES!, The Nation, The Progressive, Resurgence, Huffington Post, Common Dreams, Solutions, Sierra and Earth Island Journal.
Master Mingtong Gu
Master Mingtong Gu brings ancient wisdom to the west for better health and consciousness in contemporary times. Named Qigong Master of the Year by the 13th World Congress for Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Master Mingtong is on faculty for Esalen Institute, Omega Institute, 1440 Multiversity, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and the Shift Network. He is the founder of The Chi Center / The Center for Wisdom Healing Qigong, near Santa Fe, NM
Anne Baring,PhD
Anne Baring b. 1931. MA Oxon. PhD (hons) Jungian Analyst, author and co-author of 7 books including, with Jules Cashford, The Myth of the Goddess; Evolution of an Image; with Andrew Harvey, The Mystic Vision and The Divine Feminine; with Dr. Scilla Elworthy, Soul Power: an Agenda for a Conscious Humanity. Her most recent book is The Dream of the Cosmos: a Quest for the Soul (2013, updated and reprinted 2020) The ground of all her work is a deep interest in the spiritual, mythological, shamanic and artistic traditions of different cultures. Her websites are devoted to the affirmation of a new vision of reality and the issues facing us at this crucial time of choice.