News
The First-Ever Posttraumatic Growth Summit
I’ll be speaking about Bouncing Forward on the first day of the first-ever Posttraumatic Growth Global Summit, a FREE 6-day online transformational journey exploring how we can leverage our toughest challenges to create extraordinary life possibilities.
The Global Summit begins Tuesday, June 11th, with 40+ world-class experts who will guide us along this profound path of healing, integration, and genuine transformation at the individual, relational, and collective levels, including Peter Levine, Rhonda Magee, Rick Hanson, and many more…
Check out the schedule and join here!
New Book (in German): 108 Arten, dem Leben einen Sinn zu geben
108 Essays, die Ihr Leben verändern können.
Die langjährige Kennerin asiatischer Spiritualität, Michaela Haas, kommentiert 108 Zitate aus Klassikern des O. W. Barth Verlags.
Was gibt meinem Leben Sinn? Dies ist eine der wichtigsten Fragen, die wir uns stellen können. Thich Nhat Hanh, Jon Kabat-Zinn, BKS Iyengar und andere große Weisheits-Meisterinnen und -Meister, die im O. W. Barth Verlag publiziert wurden, haben überzeugende Antworten in ihrer eigenen Lebensreise gefunden.
Wofür lohnt es sich zu leben? Wofür stehe ich morgens auf?
Auf ihrem Streifzug durch 20 Bestseller aus der hundertjährigen Verlagsgeschichte von O. W. Barth sammelt Michaela Haas 108 Perlen der Weisheit, aufgeschnürt mit provozierenden Kommentaren zu Themen, die uns den Weg zu einem erfüllten Leben weisen: Achtsamkeit, Liebe, Weisheit, wie wir Widerstände überwinden und unser Potenzial entfalten. Sie destilliert in diesem Jubiläumsband die Einsichten großer Vordenker zu pragmatischen Lebenshilfen und verbindet das gelebte Weisheitswissen mit dem neuesten Stand der wissenschaftlichen Forschung. In zwölf Kapiteln diskutiert sie die Fragen, die man irgendwann in seinem Leben geklärt haben muss.
Erscheint am 1. Mai 2024 bei O.W. Barth
“Die unprätentiöse Sprache und die Offenheit der Autorin sind erfrischend… Ganz besonders gefällt mir an diesem Buch, dass es mich immer mal wieder zum Lachen bringt.…Aha-Momente sind garantiert.” - Hans Durrer, Bilder und Bücher
A Path to Recovery and Growth
New interview on Radio Paradise, January 2024
“The Trauma-Pain Connection: A Path to Recovery and Growth”
Catch me at the 11th Women in Pain Conference on Friday, November 17th, 2023
The entire conference is free. You can tune into the worldwide livestream at For Grace’s YouTube Channel starting at 10am PT HERE.
My talk about posttraumatic growth will be at 1.45 PST.
This year’s gathering will explore trauma, in its myriad of expressions, as a driver for physical and mental challenges downstream, in particular chronic pain. The goal is to bring awareness to the connection between trauma and chronic pain, and what steps can be taken to accelerate growth, recovery and wellness.
L.A. Press Club Award
Many thanks to the Los Angeles Press Club for awarding my viewpoint about gun safety first place in the category Columnist!
My story about the efforts at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to bring back species from extinction won 2nd place in the category Solutions Journalism.
Read it here: What If Extinction Wasn’t Forever?
Catch me on the Mighty with Cynthia Toussaint and John Garrett.
The hour-long conversation about healing from trauma was streamed live and you can watch the recording here.
Cynthia James’ Podcast
Honored to be the guest on bestselling author Cynthia James’ 150th episode of her awesome podcast Women Awakening.
Check it out here!
I’m truly honored and humbled to receive the Professional Excellence Award 2022-2023 from the Foreign Press Correspondents Association (FBAC USA). Thank you!
At a time when especially freelancers struggle with the lack of resources, your support means a lot.
A path forward
Rotary International Magazine is highlighting posttraumatic growth this Veteran’s Day. Check out the podcast on Spotify with host Steve Edwards, veteran Zack Skiles, and yours truly.
Thank you!
I feel honored and humbled to receive this year’s @ASJAhq award for Health Writing
From the American Society of Journalists and Authors: “This piece was a stand-out for writing and the degree of reporting that went into it, as well as being a compelling story tied to big societal issues. We were knocked out by the emotional power of the story that let us see directly into their everyday lives in such a raw way. That really connects readers with the people and made the science reporting inviting and accessible.”
This feature about the amazing family of Ron Davis, Whitney & Janet Dafoe, and Ashley Haugen is extremely dear to my heart. I wish for this family to find healing and for all patients with CFS/ME and their families that a cure be found and the necessary research be funded.
Read their story here:
Thank you, L.A. Press Club!
For honoring two of my stories in 2021, the feature of Kris Tompkins, and the feature about Ron Davis’s fight to cure his son.
Environmental Reporting Award
Honored to have won first place in Environmental Reporting @LAPressClub for my @Curbed story about saving Malibu's coastline! Special thanks to the Pulitzer Center for supporting the research!
Judges comment: "A masterful exploration of the near-impossible situation facing Malibu homeowners. The use of iconic Hollywood moments is particularly effective."
Read the story here: Saving Broad Beach
My New York Times story about a sophisticated co-op won second place in Solutions Reporting:
“When Someone Hires Me, They Get the Boss Herself”
Can a sophisticated platform cooperative help minimize exploitative working conditions in the gig economy, even during the pandemic? Read the feature here
Healthy Solutions
During the lockdown I started research on a new project that combines my biggest passions: solutions-focused research on resilience and health. At least once a month, I will share with you an interview, a resource, or a look behind the scene, featuring someone who found an effective solution to improve their health or a well-researched resource you can use in your own life.
This month, I spoke with Chris Nikic, the first person with Down Syndrome to complete an Ironman.
If you haven’t already, sign up for my free Substack newsletter (or choose the paid subscription to get more information and support my work).
Enjoy! And let me know what you think!
Four Key Insights To Help CEOs Embrace Opportunity In Adversity
CEO World did a great story about my research on posttraumatic growth.
Read it here
Finding Inner Strength in Crisis
New webinar: Join me at Insight LA on Tuesday, June 15, 2020!
The period we are in is an unprecedented challenge for all of us, but how we respond to it can make the difference between more suffering and a path to resilience.
In this 90-minute Zoom meeting, Michaela will explore the new science of posttraumatic growth, featuring tried-and-true methods to turn stress into strength, and you will learn ways to find
compassion
healing
forgiveness
resilience
and happiness in difficult times.
Through storytelling, meditation practice, and writing, we explore ways to reshape our response to crisis and see how we can thrive, even when life seems overwhelming. You will leave with a deeper understanding of the strength of the human spirit and powerful practices to transform your life.
Sign up here
Join me here!
First Solutions Journalism Workshop in Germany
Join us June 14 - 15, 2019, for the first Solutions Journalism Workshop in Germany, hosted by the Netzwerk Recherche Conference in Hamburg.
Doing good
Interested in discovering more solutions journalism? Once a week I curate the best solutions pieces on piqd.com. Check it out here!
The jewish spy in nazi germany
It was a great honor to meet Marthe Cohn, the French spy who crossed the border into Nazi Germany in order to feed intelligence back to the French troops. The feature in the NZZ Neue Zürcher Zeitung is in German, but her autobiography Behind Enemy Lines is available in both German and English. Definitely a must read - especially considering that many millenials don`t know anymore what happened during the Holocaust.
Remembering Coco Schumann
Please join Michaela in remembering the life and work of jazz star, Holocaust survivor and exceptional human being Coco Schumann. Coco passed away January 28, 2018, at the age of 93. He was featured in Michaela's books Bouncing Forward and the Ghetto-Swinger. He would have enjoyed the wonderful tributes that appeared in the Washington Post, the AP, and many other media. Michaela will honor his many accomplishments at the residence of the German Consul General with a slide show, the American publisher of the Ghetto-Swinger, Carrie Paterson from Doppelhouse Press, will present the new paperback edition of his biography, and a Jewish string quartet will bring his music back to live.
When? March 8, 7 pm.
Where? Residence of the German Consul General, 315 S Las Palmas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90020
Book launch: crazy america
The German edition of Michaela's new book Crazy America: Eine Liebeserklärung an ein durchgeknalltes Land (RandomHouse/Goldmann) launches May 15. Seit ein ungehobelter Demagoge ins Weiße Haus einzog stellt sich die Frage: Haben die Amis sie noch alle? Fakt ist: Trumps Erfolg ist nur möglich, weil es in Amerika so viele Verrücktheiten gibt. Da können wir Europäer nur staunen! So gibt es eine Stadt, in der der Besitz einer Waffe Pflicht ist. In acht US-Staaten ist es erlaubt, sich einen Tiger als Haustier zu halten. Und die Sheriffs schreiten zwar ein, wenn eine Frau am Strand ihr Bikinioberteil ablegt – aber nicht, wenn sie sich eine Knarre kaufen will! Total verrückt, die Amerikaner! Dieses Buch ist ein witziger und grandioser Streifzug durch ihr durchgeknalltes Universum.
When: May 15, 2017
Where: Germany
Get the book: here
Get the new updated paperback!
The brand new, updated paperback edition of Bouncing Forward comes with a new subtitle: The Art and Science of Cultivating Resilience, plus a new foreword. Check it out!
What: Bouncing Forward: The Art and Science of Cultivating Resilience
When: December 27, 2016
Where: Everywhere books are sold
Compassion, Forgiveness & Resilience
We had so much fun at the weekend workshop with the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and David Kaczynski at the wonderful Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York!
ONE LOVE FESTIVAL
My publisher`s talented son Sage captured the spirit of our lovely Bouncing Forward workshop Finding Resilience in Challenging Times at the One Love Festival in Ojai, CA.
Bouncing Forward Booktour
We had a blast at Warwick's in La Jolla, Vroman's in Pasadena, Diesel Brentwood, Chaucer's Santa Barbara, Insight LA in Santa Monica, Barnes&Noble Huntington Beach, Rigpa San Francisco, and Books Inc. in Berkeley. Thank you for your inspiring questions and comments!
Coco Schumann: The Ghetto Swinger
2016 begins with a surprise: The very first book I co-wrote, almost 20 years ago, has been translated into English and is now available in the US: Coco Schumann - The Ghetto Swinger (DoppelHouse Press) is the biography of Germany`s most famous jazz guitarist who played in Auschwitz for his life. I have learned so much from Coco who is now 91. When I asked Coco what kept him going, he said, “I decided I could either live the rest of my life being broken by Auschwitz or be joyful that I survived.” He is also featured in Bouncing Forward.
Coco Schumann has played with jazz greats like Marlene Dietrich, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, and Louis Armstrong. Yet until the 1980s none of his colleagues knew of his experience in the Holocaust. In 1943, at 19 years old, Coco Schumann, who had been playing "forbidden" jazz in underground swing clubs in Berlin, was deported, first to Theresienstadt, then to Auschwitz. In Theresienstadt, he was able to play for extra rations with the jazz combo The Ghetto Swingers.
Booktour in germany – stark wie ein phönix
The German translation of Bouncing Forward was off to a great start! We had awesome events in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, and Starnberg. Get the book! More info about the German edition on Michaela's German website.
Atria forms new imprint
Publishers Weekly announces Simon and Schuster's new imprint Enliven, and its first publication: "Enliven’s first title, Bouncing Forward, by Michaela Haas, looks at posttraumatic growth research from Buddhist and clinical perspectives and will be published in October, 2015."
Buddhafest Washington 2015
Healthy Solutions
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