Announcing: The Merge + iHuG.Love Hug Tour - A Unicorn Revolution Activation

A Revolution in Human Connection Begins at the Frontlines of Pain

NYC, NY, UNITED STATES, May 30, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- What began as a radical idea during a podcast recording between behavioral scientist Dr. Natanya Wachtel and former NYPD officer Mike Dowd has now become a national call to action. “The Merge”—a counterpoint to The Purge—asks a simple but seismic question: What if, for just one day, we treated everyone like our best friend?

Born during an episode of the podcast “Good Cop, Bad Cop,” The Merge was conceptualized by Wachtel and named by Dowd in response to a chilling suggestion: “We need something like The Purge.” Their answer: Not violence, but radical love.

This idea sparked a chain reaction, leading to a transformational partnership between Wachtel’s New Solutions Network and visionary healer Christa Mariah, the creator of the iHuG.Love campaign and Healing Hugs Tour. Together, they launched a real-world activation at Regen World during SXSW Austin—a Hug Booth in the middle of a regenerative tech and finance conference.

What happened next stunned everyone: people ready to hug—strangers, cops, former inmates, executives, activists—all choosing connection over conflict.

Now, the Hug Tour goes global.

The Merge Hug Tour will travel to:

- Prisons and re-entry programs
- Police departments and firehouses
- Schools and intergenerational trauma circles
- Festivals, conferences, and community gatherings

This is not a love-in. This is a full-body intervention. A spiritual rebellion. A nervous system reset for a nation on edge.

What to Expect:

- Healing Hug Booths designed for co-regulation and trauma release
- Somatic experiences informed by neuroscience and emotional recalibration
- Immersive storytelling from first responders, incarcerated individuals, and reformers
- Debut of custom action figures of Mike and Natanya to symbolize redemption and transformation

“We’re not here to preach love. We’re here to live it. To prove it. To weaponize softness in the service of systemic change,” says Dr. Natanya Wachtel, co-founder of The Merge.

“We’re ready to take healing hugs to the next level and treat trauma where it actually lives—in prisons, precincts, and the bodies of people who’ve been forgotten,” adds Christa Mariah. “We will be taking our sponsors, ambassadors, and volunteers on a global healing hugs tour to be love around the world and raise the vibration of humanity together.”

The Merge is also igniting a youth movement, with curriculum toolkits and digital storytelling rolling out this fall, encouraging the next generation to co-create a world rooted in healing and radical empathy.

This partnership is more than a campaign. It’s the prototype of a new world order—fueled by love, engineered for impact.

The Merge Hug Tour is actively seeking:

- Sponsors and funders
- Host cities and venues
- Volunteers, speakers, and healers
- Media partners and youth collaborators

This is a moment. A movement. And a mirror.

The only question is: Do you believe in redemption?

Join us.

About the New Solutions Network
Where Soul Meets Systems: Behavioral Strategy, Commercialization & Media with Impact

The New Solutions Network (NSN) is a purpose-driven consulting and media ecosystem founded by behavioral scientist and wellness futurist Dr. Natanya Wachtel. NSN blends emotional insight, narrative psychology, and commercialization strategy to help founders, wellness brands, mental health innovators, and social impact ventures scale—with integrity.

We don’t just build brands. We build movements that heal.

Our core offerings include:
• Behavioral science-driven brand strategy and commercialization roadmaps
• Psychographic modeling, narrative diagnostics, and predictive messaging
• Strategic partnerships across publishing, media, tech, and mental health
• Thought leadership development for founders and organizations rewriting the future

From startup launches to global campaigns, we translate soul into systems—and vision into traction. If your work changes lives, we’ll help the world feel it.

Learn more at: www.newsolutionsnetwork.com

Matt Enos
New Solutions Network
+1 908-418-6656
email us here
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