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Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom

"Exploring the Noetic Sciences" Series

Presenter

Rick Hanson, PhD

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

Cassandra Vieten hosts Rick Hanson. Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and other great teachers were all born with a brain built essentially like anyone else’s. Then they used their minds to change their brains in ways that changed history.

• Teleclasses
• Jul 14, 2010

The Power of Integral Transformative Practice

Presenters

Pam Kramer, Barry Robbins

Guest

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

Are you seeking a way to express your best and most authentic self? Each of us has an infinite capacity for creative evolution. Our destiny may well be to evolve our capacities to live an extraordinary life. A most effective path to our latent powers lies in a long-term practice that cultivates all dimensions of our being: body, mind, heart and soul.  

• IONS Events
• Hosted Workshops & Programs at EarthRise
• Jul 30, 2010 – Aug 1, 2010

Institute of Noetic Sciences Worldview Literacy Program

Training for Trainers

Presenters

Marilyn Schlitz, PhD, Elizabeth Miller, Matt Davis, Cassandra Vieten, PhD

How do we know what we know? How do worldviews shape our experience? Join us in this rare exploration of worldview literacy and participate in a dynamic learning community. Explore worldviews and the lesson plans that engage students in new ways of thinking and being. This workshop is intended for teachers, parents, community group leaders, scientists, administrators, grandparents, and teenagers or anyone interested in delivering this program in individual or community settings.

• IONS Events
• Hosted Workshops & Programs at EarthRise
• Jul 30, 2010 – Aug 1, 2010

Pamela Kramer, Barry Robbins & Cassandra Vieten

The Power of Practice - An Integral Approach to Realizing Your Fullest Potential

Sponsor

Friendly Favors

Potluck dinner and a presentation on Integral Transformative Practice - ITP - as created by human potential pioneers and Esalen founders, Michael Murphy & George Leonard, to develop our full potential with simple and well-researched techniques.Location: Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) - 101 San Antonio Rd. - Petaluma, CA 94955
2010 Jul 30th - Fri at 6:00 PM

• Hosted Workshops & Programs at EarthRise
• Jul 30, 2010

The Mind’s Brain

Encore Presentation

Speaker

Sharon Begley

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

Host Cassandra Vieten discusses the latest fascinating developments in neuroscience with noted author and Newsweek science columnist Sharon Begley. Join us for this encore presentation.

• Teleclasses
• Aug 18, 2010

Metaphysics in Popular Culture

Speaker

Jeff Kripal

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

Jeffrey Kripal discusses the paranormal in popular culture. He describes the history of “metaphysical religion” where mind is ultimate in some sense, and it is mind that creates the reality. These concepts are as recent as “The Secret” and as old as “Plato’s Cave,” and have never entirely disappeared from the culture.

• Teleclasses
• Sep 29, 2010

Science of Transformation

Speaker

Daniel Siegel, MD

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

How can we understand transformation in a scientific way? We could start by understanding the mind. Mind is the process that regulates the flow of energy and information. So how would you regulate the mind? By developing the ability to see mental activity with more clarity and then modify it with more effectiveness. Dr. Daniel Siegel calls this ability “Mindsight” and says there’s something about being able to see and influence your internal world that creates more health. To sign up, click here.

• Teleclasses
• Nov 3, 2010

Transformative Practices

Speaker

Frederic Luskin, PhD

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

Among transformative practices is the practice of forgiveness. It has been shown to reduce anger, hurt, depression and stress and leads to greater feelings of hope, peace, compassion and self confidence. Forgiveness means you take back your power. You literally say, "My life is mine." When you meet people who have forgiven, you see their power. Forgiveness allows you a fresh start, whether it's a big insult or a small one. It's like a rain coming to a polluted environment. It clears things.

• Teleclasses
• Nov 10, 2010

Science of Meditation

Speakers

Roger Walsh, MD, PhD, Shauna Shapiro, PhD

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

Roger Walsh and Shauna Shapiro will discuss how the meeting of meditative and Western psychological disciplines holds major theoretical and practical implications for each, as well as the promise of mutual enrichment and potential integrations. If handled skillfully, this meeting may enable them to become partners in one of the greatest of human quests—the exploration, understanding, healing, and enhancement of the human mind.

• Teleclasses
• Nov 17, 2010

Psilocybin and quantum change in attitude and behavior

Background, findings, and implications

Speaker

Roland Griffiths

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

Two recent double-blind studies have shown that under carefully controlled conditions psilocybin can occasion profound personally and spiritually meaningful experiences (i.e., mystical-type experiences) in the majority of healthy participants. Most volunteers had a “complete” mystical-type experience after a high dose of psilocybin, although more than a third of volunteers also indicated they had experiences characterized by fear, anxiety, or unpleasant psychological struggle sometime during the session. 

The overall finding that psilocybin can occasion, in most people studied, mystical-type experiences having sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance, indicates that such experiences and the changes they produce are now amenable to rigorous prospective scientific study.  Several ongoing studies will be discussed, including a study of psilocybin on meditation and spiritual practice in healthy volunteers, a study of psilocybin in psychologically distressed cancer patients, and a study of psilocybin-facilitated treatment of drug cigarette smoking cessation.

• Teleclasses
• Feb 9, 2011

Bridging the Worlds of Contemplative Practice and Science

Speaker

Alfred Kaszniak

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

This discussion will focus on some of the fruits of "contemplative science," and the implications of this body of meditation research for contemplative practice. It will also explore how this area of research has come to gain increasing respectability within the scientific community, and address the question of
whether contemplative science may serve as a skillful means for making meditation practice more approachable for a greater number of people in modern western culture.

• Teleclasses
• Feb 16, 2011

The Use of Psychedelics in Psychiatry and Medicine

Speaker

Charles S. Grob, MD

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

This discussion will review the history of psychiatric research with psychedelics from the 1950s to the present.  Particular focus will be applied to recent approved investigations with normal volunteers and with specific patient populations, including those with advanced-cancer anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.  Implications of research conducted in the Brazilian Amazon with the plant hallucinogen decoction ayahuasca to future investigations designed to explore safety and efficacy in the treatment of chronic alcoholism and substance abuse will also be examined.

• Teleclasses
• Feb 23, 2011

Consciousness and Non-Duality

Guest

Amit Goswami

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

Even today, the tendency is to look at consciousness dualistically --- consciousness separate from matter. This position is not compatible with science; so scientists have emphasized material monism/everything is matter philosophy. We will show that this is not compatible with quantum physics. We then develop a fully paradox-free idea of monistic idealism --- everything is consciousness. We will discuss how a science based on this nondual philosophy succeeds as an inclusive science that can deal with all natural phenomena.

• Teleclasses
• 'Mysteries of Consciousness' Teleseminars
• Apr 20, 2011

Living Deeply

The Art and Science of Transformation

Presenters

Cassandra Vieten, PhD, Constantine Darling

Using lecture, video, discussion, creative process, and deeply embodied experiential play, we will weave scientific findings together with wisdom from the world’s spiritual traditions and your own authoritative wisdom to explore deep shifts in consciousness, and how they can be integrated into everyday life.

• IONS Events
• May 20, 2011 – May 22, 2011

Consciousness, Healing and Happiness

Speaker

Frances Vaughan, PhD

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

To sign up, click here. 

Why does consciousness matter? Recognizing that we all participate in the evolution of consciousness makes a tremendous difference to our individual and collective wellbeing. As individuals we know that a positive shift in consciousness contributes to healing body, mind, heart and soul. This shift is also essential for healing relationships and building communities of freedom.
 
Our individual states of consciousness are continually contributing either positively or negatively to the collective. Our shared responsibility for future generations and the planet calls attention to the race between consciousness and catastrophe and the need to accept our part in optimizing the outcome. This conscious engagement and service in the world provides a foundation for personal happiness.

• Teleclasses
• 'Mysteries of Consciousness' Teleseminars
• Jun 1, 2011

Psychology of the Future

Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research

Speaker

Stanislav Grof, MD, PhD

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

In the last five decades, psychedelic therapy and other avenues of modern consciousness research have revealed a rich array of “anomalous” phenomena that have undermined some of the most basic assumptions of modern psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy concerning consciousness and the human psyche in health and disease. Many of these observations are so radical that they question the basic philosophical assumptions of materialistic science. We will review these remarkable data and explore the most important major revisions that would have to be made in our understanding of consciousness, of the human psyche, and of the nature of reality to respond to these conceptual challenges.

• Teleclasses
• 'Mysteries of Consciousness' Teleseminars
• Jun 15, 2011

Mindful Motherhood

A Retreat for Moms of All Ages

Presenter

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

In this week, moms of all ages will gather to experience a set of practices for dealing with stress and connecting with spirit designed specifically for mothers that can be integrated into everyday life back at home.

• IONS Events
• Jun 20, 2011 – Jun 26, 2011

Noetic Sciences

Practices for Personal and Collective Transformation

Presenters

Cassandra Vieten, PhD, Lee Lipsenthal, MD

Join integrative medicine physician Lee Lipsenthal, MD along with psychologist and mind-body medicine researcher Cassandra Vieten, PhD to learn practices grounded in science and the world’s wisdom traditions that support and sustain the transformative process.

• IONS Events
• Sep 12, 2011 – Sep 16, 2011

Historical Roots of Noetic

Guest

Mitch Horowitz

Host

Cassandra Vieten, PhD

To sign up, click here.

Noetic Sciences are not exclusively new but instead contain the esoteric core of all the world's religions, East and West, ancient and modern.   During previous times of repression, the wisdom was hidden underground by various wisdom keepers.  Mitch Horowitz describes how religious freedom in America provided safe harbor for such wisdom.

 

• Foundations of Noetic Sciences Teleseminars
• Teleclasses
• Sep 14, 2011

Mindful Mothering

Practical Tools for Staying Awake and Aware During the Biggest Adventure of All

Presenters

Cassandra Vieten, PhD, Various

Sponsors

IONS, Museum of Motherhood

Join us for this day of lecture, discussion, and experiential mindfulness practices that you can take home and use right away.

• IONS Events
• Nov 7, 2011