Hello from the west coast of Canada in rainy March. No real snow this winter; however, the rain is stubbornly consistent, as is customary for a temperate rain forest this time of year. When I go for walks, it’s dramatic, even gothic. Dripping in moody moss and stark sculptural branches. Atmospheric like the British novels… Read more »
Tag: sketchnoting
GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT: DAVID TIEJIE
I came to Christina’s work via her alliance with Anneke Lucas in Shifting the Power. That program was intense. At first, I didn’t think I was in the right place. However, as I stayed with it, my eyes really opened to power dynamics and trauma. Not only power dynamics in our world overall, but also… Read more »
A NOTE FROM CHRISTINA
It’s been a busy time. Anneke Lucas and I, with an amazing international cohort, just wrapped a 10-Week Processing Group. We worked right through the holidays, even on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Offering community to Survivors through a period of time that is traditionally difficult. Tomorrow, we move into our Level 2 of Shifting… Read more »
GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT: ANNA ENGSTROM
Anna and I first met in 2012 through my collaboration with Ask Theo. Helping Sheila Gillette (the pioneering medium who coined the term “5D”) and her family team make the shift from an old-school travelling schedule to working online (back in the tele-meeting days before Zoom… yes, I’m that old). While Sheila was the star… Read more »
GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT: SARAH HERD
As an HR Executive and a Digital leader, Sarah is well-versed in large system change. In her corporate leadership role, she’s responsible for large digital transformation projects across HR … sometimes several at the same time! It was my sacred task in Visual Coach Certification to hold space for her. Give her the room, resources,… Read more »
A NOTE FROM CHRISTINA
A nice respite. Enjoying the West Coast summer. Cheers! I celebrated my moon child birthday. I am conveniently bad with time, so they are amorphously blending into one another nowadays. My friends, even the doggedly left-brain ones, know not to remind me which one I’m on! I had a lovely time in Parksville on Vancouver… Read more »
A NOTE FROM CHRISTINA
Sliding into summer in the Pacific Northwest. Our backyard bank of St. John’s wort has erupted into a sea of yellow. Watching the first bloom emerge, then the winnowing down to the last. Such a wave of exuberant beauty that I delight in each year! The so-called little things in life that summon immense pleasure.… Read more »
GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT: JAN RICHARDS
Today’s grad, Jan Richards, is located in Silicon Valley (where I was based in the 90s). A longtime business consultant and former National Baldridge Examiner, she’s a Grove Consultants aficionado (my former employer back in the heady dot-com days). Jan knows the efficient practicality of ‘working visually’, having successfully used the Grove’s Strategic Visioning and… Read more »
LUXURY TO TALK
[Non-Dual Self Inquiry] Luxury to Talk – Ana Sits with Christina Merkley Video: ? Visual Map: Luxury to Talk – Early Years Summary: We begin with what is – meeting Ana’s current relationship to motherhood. Sadness connected to her own desire and ambivalence, and a series of contradictions and polarities with her own mother. The… Read more »
A NOTE FROM CHRISTINA
Oh my. These are intense and shifting times, are they not?! As The SHIFT-IT Coach, I continue to shift too. In my personal life, I continue to support my parents to age in place. For privacy reasons, I won’t go into details, but suffice to say, this context adds a bittersweet component. One of the… Read more »













