SHIFT-IT Coach Inc. | The Home of Visual Coaching

02/04/2026

A NOTE FROM CHRISTINA
February 2026 eZine

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 the Power. Helping folks even more deeply understand and integrate Anneke’s Unconditional Model (a deep blend of power dynamics and parts work).

Over these last few years, we’ve step-by-step built a trio of courses, plus one Home Study Kit (with another one in the works). It’s been a lot of work, yet also a labour of love too.

Already a seasoned process lead (I’ve been facilitating and coaching for over 25 years), I have learned so very much through these programs, and it’s been a rapid integration.

I have learned about all levels of neglect and abuse. This has admittedly not been easy.

I’ve also learned so much about the survival instinct, the tenacity of the human spirit, and also about the remarkable creativity of the human brain, and what a miracle dissociation is (in its varied forms).

Also, my knowledge about our multi-dimensional natures has been greatly enhanced, from the shamanic and spiritual base I already possessed. We truly are remarkable beings of light, and our bigger picture is much more amazing than most people realize.

I’ve also learned, because it’s taken my left brain a while to see how it all fits together, that this incredible work with Anneke, of course fits into my deep affinity for non-duality (oneness). Related to the long kundalini unfoldment I’ve been in since 2009, that’s meandered me into my Satsangs.

I have needed to visit the biggest polarities in order to more deeply understand and appreciate the yin and yang of it all.

And also, to play my bit part in helping wake up Consciousness. It's time for the great awakening – and we seem to be in it as rocky as it is!

I have learned once again that working visually is very practical, and can even make some of the most intense stuff on our planet, just a little easier to approach.

With all this new terrain, many of my historical training programs have been put on at least a temporary hiatus. As I figure out what I still can and want to fit in, and what I can’t or don’t.

Continuing is my private practice and my Satsangs (although I’m not doing a very good job of getting the word out about the local ones here in Victoria, Canada).

Graphic Facilitation is limited now to gigs that do not require extensive travel.

Visual skills trainings are on hold, although I’ve packaged all of my instruction into a robust e-learning package that is available instantly.

On a final note, many thanks to Dolly for this issue’s Sit with Christina. A deeply honest inquiry with great range. It was lovely to see you again Dolly. I’m wishing you all the best with your Mind-Heart-Belly alignment, and hope the Sit was of service.

Yours in SHIFTing it,

Christina Merkley
Visual Coach and Satsang Guide

Incredibly busy time with some of the most profound emotional processing on the planet.

02/04/2026

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 of the show, I adapted their material for online, organized a multi-tier suite of offerings, and created companion visual processing tools. Helping our attendees understand and apply Theo’s soul level guidance, and my practical life and business coaching, to their inner and outer lives.

Some folks immediately fall in love with visual processing, and Anna was one of those.

As a district sales and client support specialist in the medical technology industry, she instantly saw the potential for using simple visuals to better educate users, nurses and doctors about their orthopedic and diabetes products. Applying Fundamentals of Working Visually to internal meetings and educational outreach.

Fast forward a decade, and she returned for Visual Coach Certification®. Wading into her goal of creating a part-time, spiritually-oriented coaching practice, based in Sweden, yet working internationally too.

“Christina and her visual way of working have resonated with me for a long time. Not only in my practical business life in med tech, but also spiritually.

It was very helpful to have structure to learn online meeting technology, including researching, choosing, installing and using my digital tablet and drawing software. Plus, deadlines to find, contract and fulfill with new clients, as I learned her SHIFT-IT Visual Coaching System.

I can attest that working visually, thankfully, isn’t reserved just for perfect artists. Even beginning with few drawing skills, I found that people really connect with having their thoughts reflected back. It truly makes a difference in their connection to themselves and gets good results. It's not just intellectual, although one’s brain is definitely included. One’s heart and soul are in on things too!

I found that people didn’t know at first what was standing in the way of what they said they wanted. They weren’t aware of their own fear or other resistance. As we worked, their hidden misalignment rose to the surface, where we not only saw it but dealt with it. Gently yet firmly working with the unconscious, creating movement in previously elusive ways.

I like to uplift and add to the quality of people’s lives. To inspire people to be who they really soulfully are. I value calm, peace and harmony, both in myself and in the world.

As Sheila Gilette has written about for years, we are shifting to the 5th dimension --- the realm of more light and love. Thanks Christina, for helping me to help others to do that too.”

Anna Engström
Lerum, Sweden

Anna Engstrom - Visual Coach

02/04/2026

NON-DUAL SELF INQUIRY: DANCING ANCESTORS
Dolly Sits with Christina Merkley
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Link to Visual Map in comments.
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SUMMARY:

Dolly began her Sit with feeling LOST.

During Covid, she had been able to focus on her innermost BEING and made plans. However, a return to a toxic work environment resulted in DEPRESSION, and the development of ticks and other symptomatic reactions.

Thankfully, she transferred to a healthier area. However, even though her DOER valiantly wanted to help her HEART (feminine) with its sidetracked plans, she was frustrated with her lack of action.

We quickly discovered that Dolly’s heart was behind a PROTECTIVE WALL. It was fearful of being SEEN and HUMILIATED. “It’s safer to remain hidden rather than visible”, her Heart said. A protective legacy from a physically and verbally ABUSIVE CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE, where it didn’t matter if there was an audience.

Three trauma pockets emerged: 14, 8 and 12 (EXILES). Dolly’s NOW ADULT SELF rescued each of them. GENERATIONAL TRAUMA required passing the SHAME back, until the DANCING ANCESTORS were reached. A LONG LINE OF HEALERS.

https://youtu.be/vjvd5zE0-Z4

The VICTIM became the VICTIMIZER, now the hardest inner work of all. Meeting pent up RAGE and where it was funneled, into COERCED PERPETRATION. Then the DISCERNMENT between TOXIC AND APPROPRIATE GUILT, and making tear-filled APOLOGIES and AMENDS.

The FIRE is CALMING DOWN, although sensitivity in the LOW BACK and SACRUM still exists. With STEAM and ANCESTRAL HANDS that too CALMS. Then everything goes QUIET, STILL and SAFE.

A quick check on MIND/DOER and we find that a “I’M DUMB” mind control program. The Ancestors find that silly, as what’s happened here is not dumb but VERY WISE and LIGHT BEARING.

Non-Dual Self Inquiry: Dancing AncestorsDolly Sits with Christina Merkley_________________________________SUMMARY:Dolly began her Sit with feeling LOST. Duri...

02/04/2026

SHIFT-IT SCHOOL - 2026 Courses and Events
SHIFT-IT Coach eZine: February 2026

Non-Dual Coaching and Satsangs - with visuals. Supporting the evolution of consciousness during these rapid times of awakening.

Non-Dual Coaching and Satsangs - with visuals. Supporting the evolution of consciousness during these rapid times of awakening.

12/05/2025

Quick reminder, there is a free Visual Satsang Drop-In this Sunday, December 7, from 10 am - Noon, Pacific Time.

Looking forward to holding space and facilitating what wants to be there for individual, group and collective growth. What will happen this time for #101!? See you then. Details below...

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CpwYhDeXb/

Send a message to learn more

11/19/2025

WINTER/SPRING PROCESSING GROUPS

My oh my, we are living through and with extraordinary times!

Seems every seemingly single consciousness counts, as things unfold.

I continue to place my betting chips behind deep inner work.

Below are upcoming processing containers for 2025-26.

Details and Registration at:
http://www.shift-it-coach.com/courses
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1. PROCESSING GROUP with Anneke Lucas (Online)

Dates: 10 Wednesdays, November 26, 2025 - January 28, 2026
Time: 10 am - Noon, Pacific Time

This group processing opportunity is alongside Anneke Lucas.

Join us as we are holding space for Survivors and Providers across the spectrum of neglect and abuse.

Anneke as a Lived Experience Survivor, and myself as a specialized Coach.

Prerequisite: None; however, those with Level 1 or Level 2 of Shifting the Power will have prior familiarity with this exceptional terrain.
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2. SHIFT-IT Retreat – Coaching Intensive (Online)

Dates: January 9, 10 & 11, 2026
Time: 8 am - 4:30 pm, Pacific Time
3 webinars per day / fully recorded for easy come and go

Practical (and magical) online coaching retreat with my very effective SHIFT-IT Visual Coaching System® with its 17 deceptively simple maps.

Who have you been? What’s up for you now? Where are you consciously headed? Which beings and doings are needed to get there?

Doodling your answers out - no art skills required (really, everyone can work visually!). First-timers and repeaters from around the globe are welcome.
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3. SHIFTING THE POWER, LEVEL 2 with Anneke Lucas (Online)

Dates: 10 Thursdays, February 5 – June 11, 2026
Time: 11 am - 12:30 pm, Pacific Time

This is the advanced level of Shifting the Power.

For Survivors and Providers across the spectrum of neglect and abuse.

And for courageous supporters, ready to sit with the light and dark of our planet.

Anneke as a Lived Experience Survivor and myself as a specialized Coach.

Prerequisite: Level 1 or Kit
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4. SATSANG DAYS – In-person in Victoria, Canada

2026 Sundays: February 8, April 26, September 27 (separately)
Time: 9:30 am - 5 pm

Saving the date for 3 separate opportunities. A rare chance for gathering in precious physical space.

Meeting and processing with other lovely folks on the awakening path. Includes Meditation, Self Inquiry, Parts Work, Constellations and more.

I’ll be working visually in the large mural method. Take your bespoke mural home!
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5. PRIVATE VISUAL SATSANG (Online)

Dates: 16 Saturdays, February 28 – June 13, 2026
Time: 10 am - Noon, Pacific Time

Unlike my public drop-ins, where attendance is different every time, this 16-week container is a closed private group.

Dedicated to unraveling our conditioning and expanding into greater levels of calm, love and safety.

Includes meditation, self inquiry, parts work, polarities, constellations and more. Newcomers and Repeaters welcome.
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DETAILS AND REGISTRATION:
http://www.shift-it-coach.com/courses

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Determining the right fit is important. If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this email, or you can book an Exploratory Chat by emailing us at [email protected]

10/31/2025

Reminder there is a free Visual Satsang Drop-In this Sunday, November 2, from 10 am - Noon, Pacific Time.

Looking forward to holding space and facilitating what wants to be there for individual, group and collective growth. What will happen this time for #99!? See you then.

Details below...

https://www.facebook.com/share/1PovE9jG47/

Send a message to learn more

10/01/2025

SHIFTING THE POWER - WE START TOMORROW!

On Thursday, Anneke Lucas and I are returning for Shifting the Power.

How to personally and collectively, with courage, face and integrate the trauma of narcissistic authoritarianism, in its varied forms.

We are attracting attendees from across the globe, particularly Europe, given Anneke’s tragic childhood in that continent.

Our focus on Power Dynamics and Parts Work, is extremely timely given our increasingly troubled yet awakening world.

Fall 2025:
Thursdays, October 2 – December 4, 2025
11:00 - 12:30 pm, Pacific Time

Full Details and Registration Here: https://www.shift-it-coach.com/shifting-the-power-level-1/

Anneke is a lived experience Survivor and I am a specialized Coach.

This powerful online course is designed for Providers of all types: therapists, coaches, teachers, health and body workers, advocates, and the like.

Also, for survivors of neglect and abuse, across the spectrum of intensities.

Also, for any person who seeks to be more informed.

We are all Survivors of one ilk or another, and we encounter each other every day, under all sorts of circumstances. So, the more trauma-aware everyone is … the better.

The course curriculum and materials have been a true labor of love.

Anneke’s poignant “Unconditional Model” naturally lends itself to working visually.

Visual tools help us to better SEE and PROCESS our triggers, programming and projections, and aid others in doing the same too.

Together, we’ve created new Visual Maps with instructional eBooks, coupled with classics from Visual Coaching and Self Inquiry.

A safe way to shine light onto darkness … and love all into wholeness.

SHIFTING THE POWER
10 Live 90-Minute Zoom Webinars
Fully Recorded

Deep Dive Option – Includes 17 Additional Hours, Including Private Sessions with Both of Us

Full Details and Registration Here: https://www.shift-it-coach.com/shifting-the-power-level-1/

We look forward to being in deep and supportive community with those who are called to this important work, at this important time.

Warmly,
Christina Merkley

P.S. Choose from three levels: Basic, Accessibility/Repeater and Deep Dive. Fully recorded if you miss a session or if the course is offered at an inconvenient time.

P.P.S. Excellent for Certified Visual Coaches or those on that track, for specialized context in parts, shadow and transference work.

P.P.P.S. Also very useful for Non-Dual and Satsang folks, to strengthen one’s capacity to skillfully meet darkness, both inside and out, rather than spiritually bypassing.

Impacting the Global Power Structure through Personal Liberation. Anneke Lucas and Christina Merkley, guide you to clearly and compassionately meet the Dark in this 10-week online course.

09/18/2025

JOINING THE SATURDAY SATSANGS
Private Online Satsang Starts this Saturday.

As you may know, Satsang is Sanskrit for ‘in the community of true people’.

Twice a year, I offer these Private Visual Satsangs – which are very special online communities.

The next one begins this Saturday.

Repeaters and newbies are warmly welcome.

Satsangs are a safe place to gather with awakening people from around the globe. As we navigate our lives during intense times, and do our honest Inner Work, together.

Not only a help to us, but also a contribution to the collective field. Even (or especially) when it seems that we are too small to have an impact, we can meet our habitual conditioning and stabilize into BEING … which is actually one of the most important contributions a human can make.

So many varied issues are met and processed in these lovely groups: celebrations, births, deaths, ageing, health, union, separation, loss, gain, work, leadership, retirement, art, creativity, economics, politics, integrity, corruption, war, economics, and the list goes on.

A broad range of emotions are skillfully welcomed: joy, appreciation, happiness, contentment, boredom, frustration, worry, fear, anger, righteousness, doubt, loneliness, sorrow, grief … and everything in between.

Fall 2025/Winter 2026:
Private Satsang Cohort
16 Sessions. Fully Recorded. Come and Go as You Like.
Saturdays: September 20, 2025 - January 3, 2026
10 am - Noon, Pacific Time
More Details and Registration Here:
https://www.shift-it-coach.com/online-private-cohorts/

As topics arise, I match them with my visual tools – literally drawing our inner wisdom out of us.

Lots of Self Inquiry, Parts Work, Systemic Constellations, Projection/Shadow Work and more.

Using visual techniques can really help us to see and overcome our habitual conditioning and blind spots.

And, sometimes it’s easier to spot something in another, rather than in ourselves. The internal insights of processing in a group setting can be invaluable.

After all, we are not alone in our reactions and triggers, many are universal things that we all share.

Looking forward to being in community again, and bringing the delicious stillness of alignment over and over again.

Soothing our Minds, opening our Hearts, and grounding our Bellies.

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P.S. Coming and going as you like. All is recorded – for cohort members only.

P.P.S. Limited to just 12 people. The Deep Dive level includes 3 private coaching sessions for even more individualized attention (at a special rate).

https://www.shift-it-coach.com/online-private-cohorts/

Visual Satsangs. Small private cohorts for deep Inner Work. Processing the good, the bad and the ugly, of life in the 2020s.

09/06/2025

A quick reminder that there is a free Visual Satsang Drop-In this Sunday, September 7, from 10 am - Noon, Pacific Time.

Looking forward to holding space and facilitating what wants to be there for individual, group and collective growth. What will happen this time for #95!?

See you then. Details below...

https://www.facebook.com/share/1F9L32Hb8v/

Send a message to learn more

08/27/2025

A NOTE FROM CHRISTINA
[SHIFT-IT eZine: August 2025]

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 Island – thanks, Karena and Teresa! And with Louisa for a magical brunch and antiquing day. Very relaxing.

I was also delighted to welcome Anneke Lucas to British Columbia. Although we have worked for several years together online, in our Shifting the Power courses, this was our first time to spend a few days in person!

We also had a wonderful opportunity to meet an esteemed mentor in person too, Dr. Alison Miller.

Anneke interviewed Alison (podcast coming soon) on her specialized expertise from over 35+ years as a therapist assisting folks recovering from organized mind control.

We both have immense respect for the generation of Providers that have preceded us. A real honor to give homage where homage is due.

While I didn’t do too much work this month, preferring to mostly rest, I did fit in an in-person SHIFT-IT Retreat for a father/son duo I have worked with previously. How fun to reconvene after 15 years … and to work in such a lovely waterfront perch.

I have done tremendous amounts of my own visioning, planning and processing work over the years (and continue to). And, I still marvel at how consciousness, soul, and Creator/God/Source continue to work with this incarnation.

It's certainly not all flowers, sunshine and beaches (the other side of the polarity is very present too). However, I’m immensely grateful when those pleasant aspects are present. And give thanks for the full adventure, and mystery, of being alive during these amazingly potent times.

Yours in shifting it,
Christina Merkley
Visual Coach and Satsang Guide

Summer in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. A time for fun, rest and in-person retreats.

08/27/2025

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, and structure to wade into the deep end with this creative methodology.

“I was a very creative kid in my younger years (drawing, coloring, dance, choreography). Unfortunately, I inadvertently put it all away when I entered university, having a view in my head about what it would mean to be a ‘professional’ for my future career.

My creative reawakening began with scrapbooking. Then weaving visual thinking techniques (such as creating explainer visuals and graphic recording) into my corporate job, including describing the culture and behaviours for a new business unit.

Thanks to a very encouraging boss, we used my ‘system pictures’ to demonstrate a business case for a technology investment, and to show our Board the knock-on impact of making a change to ways of working. Now I have to navigate the requests I get to help others in my organization communicate through visuals too.

Coaching is an obvious upskill for an HR professional with an eye on opportunities both within and beyond the corporate world — I did Christina’s trainings to see if it was a ‘should’ or a legitimate want. The courses were excellent, and yes, I do love coaching, especially with visuals!

I found her SHIFT-IT Visual Coaching System to be massively helpful and transformational, not only with clients, but with myself. It is a sophisticated system — from beginning to end, it all comes together to produce a powerful shift in thinking, feeling and action.

Christina uses Case Studies with experiential application as her training device. I found this real-world modeling to be the beauty of this program. Being able to watch her sketch the maps with all sorts of people, in all sorts of circumstances.

Thank you to the generous volunteers who enabled our learning. I so appreciate you and your authentic journeys.

I leave this program excited and optimistic — with years of experience in HR, digital leadership, organizational development and change, I’m passionate about helping people navigate a world facing extraordinary change and feel uniquely placed to do that given the intersection of my skills, passions and experience.”

Sarah Herd
Coventry, U.K.
hypnodesignstudio.com

https://www.shift-it-coach.com/2025/08/graduate-spotlight-sarah-herd/

Sarah Herd - Visual Coach