PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT

PSYCHOLOGY & SPIRITUALITY LECTURE SERIES

Psychology Spirituality Engaged Activism Diversity

Upcoming

Emiliana Simon-Thomas, PhD, Making the case that Compassion is Good for You: Evidence from Psychology and Neuroscience

Emiliana Simon-Thomas earned her Ph.D. in Cognition Brain and Behavior at the University of California, Berkeley. Her doctoral research investigated the interplay between emotion and cognition, and reported important, sometimes paradoxical influences that negative states can have on thinking cognitive processes. Using behavioral, EEG and fMRI methods, she showed that negative states facilitate some kinds of thinking (right hemisphere dominant) and hinder others (left hemisphere dominant). Transitioning towards a focus on how thought processes (appraisal, self regulation) affect a broader range of emotions, and on the biological underpinnings of positive and pro-social states, Dr. Simon-Thomas studied love of humanity and compassion during her postdoc with Dr. Dacher Keltner at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. Emiliana's current research with the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University continues to examine the conceptual nature, experiential properties, biological correlates, and cultivation potential for pro-social states like compassion and related acts of altruism.

Past Presentations in 2011

Friday Sept 23, 2011 | 10 am- 1 pm, The Cooperage

Martin Shaw, The Mythic Imagination and Storytelling

Martin Shaw is a mythologist, storyteller and award-winning wilderness Rites-of-Passage guide. Author of A branch from the lightning tree: Ecstatic myth and the grace in wildness (June 2011 White Cloud Press), he works internationally and is visiting lecturer on Archbishop Desmond Tutu's Leadership Programme at Templeton College, Oxford. Director of the Westcountry School of Myth and Story, he has a weekly blogspot at http://www.theschoolofmyth.blogspot.com . Also see www.schoolofmyth.com and www.martinshawpaintings.com.

Friday Nov 4, 2011

Maureen Murdock, Memoir and Myth

In writing and telling our stories, we come to know the deeper pattern of our lives. Perhaps the popularity of memoir in our culture today reflects its mythic power. Myth can be seen as an ordering principle that gives coherence to the way our memories unfold, and the mythic themes of family relationships, quest for identity, love and betrayal, personal sacrifice, and death dominate contemporary memoir writing. This lecture explores the mythic themes in memoir and the elements of memoir writing. We will do an in-class writing exercise.

Maureen Murdock, Ph.D., M.F.T., is a depth psychotherapist in private practice in Santa Barbara, former Chair and Core Faculty of the MA Counseling Psychology Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and adjunct faculty in the Sonoma State Depth Psychology Program. She is the author of The Heroine's Journey, as well as the newly revised Fathers' Daughters: Breaking the Ties that Bind; Unreliable Truth: On Memoir and Memory; Spinning Inward: Using Guided Imagery with Children; and The Heroine's Journey Workbook; and editor of Monday Morning Memoirs: Women in the Second Half of Life. She gives lectures and workshops internationally.

This lecture series is a Sonoma State Instructionally Related Activities Program and is free and open to all

Past Presentations in 2010-11

Wednesday Sept 15, 2010 | 12-1 pm Stevenson 3042

Adam Cohen, Ph.D., Arizona State University: There are Many Forms of Culture--Including Religion

The study of culture in psychology has focused mainly on ethnic or national differences in individualism and collectivism, or independent versus interdependent self-construal. However, there are many forms of cultural variation, and this session focuses on religion as a form of culture. This has many basic science and clinical implications. I discuss differences in the moral status of positive and negative thoughts, what it means to be religious, and some clinical implications of these.

Adam Cohen's research interests fuse cultural, social, and personality psychology. He's interested in how religious differences function as cultural differences, affecting domains such as religious identity and motivation, well-being, moral judgment, forgiveness, and the like. He's also interested in applying evolutionary theory to religion.

Friday Oct 1, 2010 | 12 - 1:30 pm Stevenson 1002

Cassandra Light, The Fisher-King: Engagement and Conversation

The focus of this presentation is the story of the Fisher King. The presenter and audience will explore the question of how we are called to serve the Grail King, and how can we use this powerful story and symbol to meet our individual and collective wastelands. We will look at how being wounded compels a person, both in myth and in real life, to begin an individual adventure, and how wisdom unfolds during this adventure. Cassandra will share her thinking about the synthesis of many wise voices, and how this synthesis brings meaning to the spiritual psychology of the 21st century.

Cassandra Light is a multi-media artist who founded Way of the Doll, an art school providing a year-long process in sculpture, dream work, ritual and psychological inner work. Author of Way of the Doll, Cassandra's current work focuses on personal development, dream work, conflict resolution, and the healing of Eros in men and women.

Tuesday, Oct 5, 2010 | 12-1 pm Stevenson 3042

Richard Miller, Ph.D. The Ease of Being: Embodying Spirituality and Psychology in Everyday Life with Integrative Restoration

Integrative Restoration (iRest Yoga Nidra) is an evidence-based transformative health practice developed by Dr. Miller that leads to psychological, physical, and spiritual healing. Derived from meditation, it teaches mastery and calming skills useful in difficult situations. It is being used with wounded warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Brook Army Medical Center, and Veterans medical centers for veterans with PTSD; as well as with people who are homeless, chemically dependent, and with sleep issues; and with children and college students. It is a treatment modality for veterans experiencing chronic pain used by the Department of Defense. Dr. Miller discusses the practice, reviews current research, and leads an experiential session.

Richard Miller, Ph.D., author of Yoga Nidra: A Meditative Practice for Deep Relaxation and Healing, is a psychologist and contemporary teacher of nondualism whose teachings emphasize spiritual awakening and psychological integration. He is co-founder of the International Association of Yoga Therapy, the founding president of the Integrative Restoration Institute, and a founding board member of the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology and the Baumann Institute, dedicated to understanding the impact of pure Awareness on well-being. Richard serves as a consultant researching the Yoga Nidra protocol that he’s developed (Integrative Restoration – iRest) with soldiers, veterans, students, kids, the homeless, and people experiencing issues such as PTSD, substance abuse, sleep disorders, and chronic pain. Richard leads retreats worldwide with a focus on enlightened living in daily life.

Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010 | 12-1 pm Salazar 2016

Starhawk, Rooting Spirit in Nature

In a world of global warming, natural disasters, and rapid environmental collapse, we desperately need to reconceive our relationship to the natural world if we are to survive. Earth-based spirituality teaches that Nature is sacred, and by working with her, we can connect with enormous powers of regeneration and healing. But to do so requires a shift in our way of thinking, acting, and living. We stand at a crossroads, perhaps the most crucial in human history. In this talk, based on her latest book, The Earth Path, Starhawk gives examples of solutions to some of our pressing environmental problems and offers a ritual of hope, strength, and renewal.

Starhawk is one of the most respected voices in modern earth-based spirituality. She is also well-known as a global justice activist and organizer, whose work and writings have inspired many to action. She is the author or coauthor of eleven books, including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess, long considered the essential text for the Neo-Pagan movement; Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and Mystery; and the now-classic ecotopian novel The Fifth Sacred Thing. Starhawk's newest book is a picture book for children, The Last Wild Witch.

Tuesday, Nov 9, 2010 | 12-1 pm Stevenson 3042

Joseph Rowe & Catherine Braslavsky, Music as a Healing Art

Renowned throughout Europe as the Braslavsky Ensemble, Joseph Rowe and Catherine Braslavsky will lead an interactive class on music, chant and psychology. They have produced five cds of world music and have performed under the patronage of the French government for the past decade. Their programs celebrate the diversity of Mediteranean faiths during the Middle Ages--from Hildegard of Bingen to Sufi and Coptic chants. Their Natural Chant workshops are designed to connect participants to the healing capacities of sound and spirit. NO prior musical training is needed.

Joseph Rowe is a religious scholar, translator, musician and music therapist. He has translated Jean Yves Leloup's work on the Gnostic Gospels of Mary Magdalene, Thomas and Philip, as well as renowned spiritual authors such as Henry Corbin, Thich Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama. His theatrical performance for the Braslavsky Ensemble interweave music, poetry and sacred texts. Partly inspired by his study with Bill Douglas, he has developed his own system of exercises called Holorhythm, a synthesis of body movements, vocalizations, percussion, speech, and meditation, which help unlock the gates to deep listening, inner and outer attention, and creativity. He teaches workshops worldwide and sees individual clients in France and abroad.

Catherine Braslavsky is a member of the renowned Braslavsky Ensemble. Her voice has been acclaimed as "transcendent" and "magical." A Paris magazine wrote of her, "Through chant, she plunges to the source, and speaks to us of the very foundations of humanity.

Friday March 4 | 10:30 am - 1 pm Stevenson 1002

Luisah Teish, A Cast of Cowries: Storytelling as Sacred Practice

This presentation introduces students to the Orature--the mythology, folklore and poetry--found in the divinatory systems of the Ifa and the Dilloggun of the African Diaspora. This tradition interprets the characters and deities as forces in nature and in human nature, and it presents the art of storytelling as spiritual enactment. Students are asked to identify similar materials from their own cultures and are invited to write and perform their own story, prayer, or poem.

Luisah Teish is a writer, teacher, performance artist and ritual events consultant. She is the author of a women's spiritual classic, Jambalaya: The natural woman's book of personal charms and practical rituals. She teaches ritual theater, ecomythology and women's rites of passage at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

Monday, April 25 | 1 - 4:30 pm in Stevenson 3042 (seating limited)

Fariba Bogzaran, The Practice of Dream Re-Entry

Thursday April 28 | 10 am - 12 pm Stevenson 3042

Robert Waggoner, Are Lucid Dreamers Encountering an Inner Self?

Robert Waggoner is a lucid dreamer since 1975, and he has logged more than 1,000 lucid dreams. He is the author of Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self; co-editor of the only ongoing publication devoted specifically to lucid dreaming, the online Lucid Dream Exchange. In 2009-10 he hosted a regular program on Iowa Public Radio discussing dreams and lucid dreams, and was consulted by ABC as a dream expert on the movie Inception. Robert is a former President of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. He speaks internationally and has presented at Iowa State University, University of Washington, Evergreen State College and Sonoma State.

Tuesday May 3 | 12 noon - 1 pm, Stevenson 3042

Daniel Helminiak, Sexuality and Spirituality: Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Integration

Daniel A. Helminiak is Professor in the humanistic and transpersonal Department of Psychology at the University of West Georgia, where he teaches Human Sexuality each semester. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Georgia. Ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Rome, he holds PhDs in both theology and human development and specializes in the psychology of religion. He is known most widely for the international best seller What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality (1994, 2000) and has authored scores of articles on spirituality and religion and other books, including Spiritual Development (1987), The Human Core of Spirituality (1996), Religion and the Human Sciences (1998), Meditation without Myth (2005), Sex and the Sacred (2006), The Transcended Christian (2007), Spirituality for Our Global Community (2008), and, just completed, "God" in the Brain, an integration of neuroscience, psychology, spiritualogy, and theology. His website is www.VisionsOfDaniel.net.

Friday May 6| 12 - 1 pm in Stevenson 3042 (seating limited)

Erika Rosenberg, Meditation and Emotion: Observations from the Interface of Science, Teaching, Practice

As a scientist who studies meditation and a long-time teacher and practitioner of meditation, I share my experience of having a foot in both worlds. I discuss how the practice and teaching of meditation can inform scientific questions and research methodologies, and how experience with science can inform meditation teaching and practice. In both areas my emphasis is on the emotions, as I seek to understand how emotions unfold within the individual, how they affect behavior and thought, and how working with them rather than against them can promote balance and well-being.

Erika Rosenberg, Ph.D. has been practicing meditation for over 20 years. She teaches meditation courses and workshops for working with emotions in daily life at the Nyingma Institute of Tibetan Studies in Berkeley, and is a researcher at the Center for Mind and Brain at UC Davis, where she investigates how intensive meditation affects cognition, emotion, and neurophysiology. She has helped develop a secular compassion- training program with Geshe Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D. at the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University. She recently taught this 8-week compassion-training program at Google and has presented it to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She is co-author of Psychology: Making Connections, and co-editor of What the Face Reveals.