Youth exchange in Poland (01-07.05.2011)

I am glad to inform you that our partners from Poland (Rodowo Foundation) are opening their doors to a new exchange called "Healthy mind-healthy body" and we still have some spots available for youngsters from Czech Republic that would like to participate (age: the best 18-25).

Minimum 60% of the costs of travel are covered by Rodowo Foundation. Food and accomodation are included in the program (no extra cost for the participants).

Here is a brief summary sent by our partners:

Matter and objective of the project

In the present time when everybody are in rush and people are in the long lasting stress, sometimes using drugs to search a way of going out from this situation, we would like to show other way to solve this problem.
This project involves participants from Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. Groups of young people (8 participants aged 18-25 from each country) will meet in our International Youth Meeting Centre to learn the ways of healthy life style and methods to teach aftre their youth groups to follow it. For the 6 days of the youth exchange we will get knowledge about healthy food, yoga, meditation and diversity of people. We will talk about influence of natural enviroment on us and also how the civilization progress might be dangerous for us. We plan to spend time close to the nature and prepare information about the prject for the website which will be package of good advices for others who would like to share the same experience.

Sounds good right? Are you interested and/or want to get more info? Please email us at info@harmonicworld.org

New project for this summer

On behalf of Harmonic World I am very happy to SAY that soon we will be posting details about our new youth project for this year. Please stay in touch! We promise you will love it!

Japan Earthquake 2011

on behalf of everyone here we send the best vibes to the people in Japan who is going through the horrible aftermath of its worst earthquake in 100 years. Please join us in doing the same!

Tips of a successful speech

Lots of people are afraid of speaking publicly, therefore I would like to share with you some tips I found at a blog from the Hardvard Business Review. Enjoy!:

1. Know your goal. When the speech is over, what do you want the audience saying about it and you? What difference do you want to make? Most speakers never ask this of themselves.
2. Memorize your speech. That's right. Memorize every word of it. Deliver it in front of a mirror five times, six times, ten times. Then deliver it while your kid is screaming in the background, to develop the confidence that you can recite it no matter what distraction pops up. Why memorize it? Because nothing will put an audience to sleep faster than someone reading from a prepared text. Because when you memorize it, it stops being about getting the words right and starts being about getting the feeling right. Imagine if Andrea Bocelli didn't memorize the words to the songs in his repertoire. How much room do you think there would be for him to feel them?
3. If you don't want to knock it out of the park, don't follow rule 2.
4. Practice the transitions. What will get you from one point to the next? Is it "if," or "when," or "then I." Know and memorize the precise construction of each transitional sentence. It's in uncertainty about transitions from one point to the next that people lose their grace in public and start saying "aaahhhh."
5. Don't fear silence. You want to silence a room? Don't talk. Be silent and look at the audience. Five seconds. Seven seconds. Just taking them in. Connecting with them. But never do it for effect. Do it to get intimate with your audience. It silences a room like you wouldn't believe. Why? Because it's not normal. Audiences are used to speakers filling every nanosecond with the sound of their own voice, leaving zero time for reflection. Audiences are used to being avoided, not appreciated. When they come upon someone who can command their own silence, they understand, "This person is serious."
6. Never, ever, ever use PowerPoint as your speech notes. The slides are for your audience, not for you. The moment they see you rattling through a list of bullets that you should have had the courtesy to memorize, they put you in a category with every other boring presenter they've ever seen and you've lost them.
7. Give something of yourself. Don't be afraid to feel something in front of an audience. Don't be afraid to say something that will make you feel something, and that will make the audience feel something.
8. Be yourself. Don't feel you need to mimic the testosterone level of a motivational speaker. You will look and feel fake. Robert Kennedy never tried to copy Martin Luther King's rhetorical skills. RFK was soft-spoken. He owned that. And as a result, was every bit as affecting as King.
9. Don't speak in abstractions. Say what it is that you mean. Plainly. Avoid the lexicon of your own trade. People are sick of it. It doesn't mean anything to them anymore. Speak in human.
10. Feel what's happening in the room and use it to connect your speech to this moment. In this way, if your mike goes out, you can make a joke out of it, rather than it making a nervous wreck, and a joke, out of you.
11. Make eye contact until it scares you. Distribute your eye contact around the room. Not for effect, but because you genuinely want to connect with the people in front of you.
12. Don't miss your own talk. It is a privilege and an honor to be asked to speak. Take the opportunity to commune with other human beings. It's like getting to watch a falling star.
13. Come from a place of love for your audience. That's mastery. When you allow yourself to feel the humanity of your audience, you have succeeded in taking the focus off yourself. There is a universe of difference between this place and a PowerPoint presentation. This is the place from which change is made. From here you can move mountains.

Whole post can be found here.

Orgasm during childbirth

I saw this video some days ago and thought it might be (specially but not exclusively) interesting for the ladies:



PS: Winners from our contest will be posted soon!