Abstract: Sarah Fuss Kessler spent years investigating the events surrounding her 2009 meditation breakdown, which began after a weeklong retreat held by Open Heart Meditation, a small but international group that she had been devoted to for nine months. Her findings come together in her reported personal essay “Through a House of Mirrors: Rewriting the American Cult Story,” published in the 2024 winter issue of the Virginia Quarterly Review (VQR). While the piece scrutinizes popular beliefs around coercive control and totalism, her research extended much further as she pursued an urgent need to understand precisely where and how she had gone wrong—each missed red flag in the meditation group, each implicated element of her own psyche. At first, the purpose was to figure out how to heal from the breakdown; later, it was to protect herself from future harm. In this talk, Sarah will share the practical discoveries she collected as she studied her experience alongside subjects such as kundalini, the psychology of charisma, depersonalization, and derealization. Participants will be invited to ask questions and, if they like, share their own insights from related experiences.

Sarah Fuss Kessler

Speaker Bio: Sarah Fuss Kessler is a freelance writer and editor based in Los Angeles. Her reporting and essays have appeared in publications such as VQR, Los Angeles magazine, Tablet, the Forward, Pacific Standard, Shondaland, and Los Angeles Review of Books, where she served as a nonfiction editor. A long-form investigation she wrote for Medium's current events publication GEN was a Longreads editors' pick and became an episode of NPR's Latino USA. Her podcast work can be found at Outside magazine. Previously, Sarah served as a senior editor for TakePart.com (Participant Media), MSN Causes, and Yahoo!

• Where: Online

• When: Wednesday, May 15th, 1:00-2:30 pm ET

• Cost: Sliding scale: $25, $35, $50. Financial Assistance available. People paying $50 help support those who need to pay less.

• Links:

  • @SarahFussKesslr

  • SarahFussKessler.com

This 8-week course will explore the work of Evan Thompson PhD, philosopher and co-founder of the Enactive approach to cognitive science, and it’s relevance towards understanding and treating meditation-related difficulties. We will first read and discuss his latest (2020) book, ‘Why I am Not a Buddhist’ and then review his recent debate with Sam Harris over many of the ideas and critiques he presents in the book. In the last session, Dr. Fisher will present some of his doctoral research sketching an (enactive) cognitive scientific approach to Meditation-related Difficulties.  The series will culminate in a live public discussion and Q+A with Evan Thompson himself!

Bio: Dr. Fisher recently received his PhD in Religious Studies and Cognitive Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In his dissertation, he built upon the work of Dr. Thompson to propose a culturally-sensitive cognitive science framework for meditation-related difficulties. He is currently a research affiliate at the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience lab at Brown University and a member of the Care Team at Cheetah House.

Evan Thompson is a writer and professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He works on the nature of the mind, the self, and the human experience. His work combines cognitive science, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Asian philosophical traditions.

Abstract:This talk focuses on a pair of face-gazing meditations done by practitioners of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan that induce unusual experiences such as perceptual distortions, as well as audio and visual hallucinations. Using surveys, interviews, and scientific studies, Philip asks a pair of interrelated questions: why do these experiences happen to practitioners and what are the personal and social consequences of such ecstatic and seemingly inexplicable moments? The answers, Philip suggests, are a combination of basic visual perception, and more complicated matters of a practitioner's personal history, and the context in which they meditate and interpret their experiences. For those practitioners of Kundalini Yoga, while their unusual experiences can be explained, the effects of these experiences on them and those around them are profound and deserve to be taken seriously.

Speaker Bio: Philip Deslippe is a PhD candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara with a focus on Asian, metaphysical, and marginal religious traditions in modern America. He has written articles for several academic journals and for popular magazines. He has given talks and lectures in over a dozen countries and his research has been translated into nine languages.

• Abstract: Now that you've started MyMAP, join this session to share what you've learned, get feedback from others, and discuss what comes next.

• Where: Online

• When: Friday, March 29th, 1:00-2:30 pm ET

• Cost: Sliding scale: $25, $35, $50. Financial Assistance available. People paying $50 help support those who need to pay less.

Bio: Willoughby Britton is founder of Cheetah House and director of the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab at Brown University.

Abstract: Meditation is often described in terms of internal mental states that presumably arise in anyone who practices them diligently, whether they are an ancient monk or a contemporary professional. Scientific models of mindfulness and meditation often attempt to isolate the specific practice from other factors and, ideally, from all surrounding cultural context in order to see how meditation in and of itself “works.” Some investigators believe that the states meditation produces can be tracked on brain-scanning machines that could, in theory, take the guesswork out of meditation’s effects. But meditative practices are inevitably embedded in a context of ideas, ideals, cultural sensibilities, and taken-for-granted assumptions. Much of the work these practices do, therefore, may be quite different in divergent contexts.

This talk analyzes the role of culture in meditation and theorizes contemplative practices as methods of cultivating ways of being in particular cultural contexts that include repertoires of concepts, attitudes, social practices, ethical dispositions, institutions, available identities, and conceptions of the cosmos. Taking greater account of the way meditative practices interface with these cultural contexts is essential to understanding their potential benefits and problems.

Speaker Bio: David L. McMahan is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Rethinking Meditation: Buddhist Meditative Practices in Ancient and Modern Worlds, The Making of Buddhist Modernism, Vision: Metaphor and Visionary Imagery in Mahāyāna Buddhism, and numerous articles on Mahāyāna Buddhism in South Asia and Buddhism in the modern world. He is also the co-editor of Buddhism, Meditation and Science, editor of Buddhism in the Modern World. He has written on Indian Buddhist literature, visual metaphors and practice, and the early history of the Mahāyāna movement in India. More recently, his work has focused on the interface of Buddhism and modernity, including its interactions with science, psychology, modernist literature, romanticism, and transcendentalism. His most recent work addresses the various ways that Buddhist and Buddhist-derived meditation are understood and practiced in different cultural and historical contexts, ancient and modern.

David L. McMahan

Abstract: In this online lecture, mindfulness teacher Caroline De Vos will share her journey of transitioning from adhering to mindfulness programs dogmatically, to embracing a flexible, person-centered trauma-informed mindfulness teaching approach. Caroline will draw from her personal mindfulness and trauma background as well as her experience developing her own teaching style in which professionalism, care, and client-centeredness are woven together to create a skilled and gentle approach.

Speaker Bio: Caroline is the Director at Terre & Sens in Belgium, as well as an MBSR teacher, trainer, and counselor. Caroline was qualified as an MBSR teacher by the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare and Society (UMASS) in 2015 and specialized in trauma-sensitive mindfulness with Drs. Britton, Lindahl and Treleaven. Caroline teaches the modules on indications and contra-indications of meditation and trauma-sensitive practice at the Brussels Free University. She also teaches government mindfulness-based prevention programs to the general public. Her approach to mindfulness is open, flexible and person-centered — placing the practice of mindfulness in the service of an ethics of care and fulfillment in daily life.

Caroline De Vos

Abstract: It can be shattering when a practice or a belief-system that you thought was going to bring you wisdom, balance, and peace instead delivers anxiety, fear, depression, isolation, or worse. Not only can you lose the tools and strategies that you thought were going to cope, but you can lose an entire worldview and even your trust in your judgement, your wisdom, and yourself.

In this talk, Danielle LaSusa, Ph.D. shares her own story of how she was once a meditator in distress, resulting in a week-long psychiatric hospital stay, after the birth of her first child, and how her experience as both a student and a teacher of philosophy offered a path to rebuild her belief systems, her meditation practice, and her relationship to herself and to the world. Participants will be invited to ask questions, share their own experiences, and partake in conversation.

Speaker Bio: Danielle LaSusa, Ph.D. is a Philosophical Coach, teacher, and mom who helps people use philosophical thinking to transform their lives. She specializes in helping new and expectant mothers grapple with what it means to make a human being. In addition to the joy Danielle finds in serving her clients, she delights in swing dancing, cooking, gardening, yoga, and hikes in the woods with her husband and daughter. She is a recovering self-improvement addict, but nevertheless she regularly intends to watch less TV. She neglects everything for a meditation retreat every year or two. Her work has appeared on the TEDx stage, The New York Times, and Literary Mama and her memoir about her experience with postpartum psychosis is in progress.

Links to works:

• TEDx talk

• “Death Was a Theory, Until I Became a Mother” The New York Times, January 14, 2021.

• "White Noise," Literary Mama, September 2017. 

• "A Monstrosity Beyond Reason" Oregon Humanities

Danielle LaSusa, Ph.D.

Abstract: This presentation will investigate the potential relationship between meditation and psychedelics. The first part will cover the research to date on the potential relationship between meditation and psychedelics, while the second part will cover preliminary (and so far unpublished) findings from two large-scale longitudinal surveys that have investigated if and how psychedelic use might impact meditation practice and vice versa. The third and final part will briefly cover unanswered research questions and possible avenues for future research.

Otto Simonsson, PhD

Speaker Bio:

Otto Simonsson received his PhD from the University of Oxford, where he conducted experimental and epidemiological research on meditation. After his PhD, he did a one-year postdoc at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds, working on both meditation and psychedelic research. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Karolinska Institutet's Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, where he uses both qualitative and quantative methods to better understand the spread of meditation and psychedelics in society and their potential risks and benefits in various contexts and for different populations.

Abstract:

This presentation will explore traditional descriptions of challenging stages of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic meditative paths and some of the ways in which contemporary teachers and students in the West interpret them. It explores how these “dark nights” are under­stood in some contemplative systems as part of an oscillatory trajectory between expan­sive and constricting states of consciousness that ultimately lead to traditional goals. The contemporary traditions often draw upon classical mystical texts to appraise such challenging experiences but translate their medieval frameworks of purification into the arena of depth psychology.  In introducing the conception of “non-linear paths,” this presentation will highlight the ways in which certain meditation-related difficulties are normalized even as individual variability and the unpredictable nature of these paths has been acknowledged for centuries in these traditions.

Speaker Bio:

Nathan is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Santa Barbara in Religious Studies and Cognitive Science. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2011 and then joined the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at Brown University where he managed the 'Varieties of Contemplative Experience' (VCE) study from 2012-2014. While at Brown, Nathan began a replication study of the VCE project investigating meditation-related difficulties in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic contemplative traditions, and has continued this research project into his PhD program. The first paper based on the study, "Dark Nights of the Soul in Abrahamic Meditative Traditions," was published in 2019 and the second was published in 2022, “Flavors of Ecstasy: States of Absorption in Islamic and Jewish Contemplative Traditions.” Both papers focus on traditional appraisal processes related to challenging experiences, whereas in his dissertation he presents phenomenological data from the study and proposes a person-centered cultural psychological framework that can be used by clinicians and teachers to provide better care for those suffering from these experiences.

Nathan Fisher

With a plethora of mindfulness programs and practices offered — from brief, app-based practices to online programs, to face-to-face courses, to retreats — how do we know which “dose” of mindfulness is most helpful for individuals? There is a common belief that more is better when it comes to engaging in mindfulness programs and practices. However, this may not always be the case, especially for people with different prior experiences of mindfulness. This talk presents some unexpected research evidence of studies examining and comparing different doses of mindfulness programs and practices, followed by a discussion on which mindfulness dose might be best, and for whom.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Sarah Strohmaier is a mindfulness researcher and lecturer in Psychology currently based in the UK, with a background in business psychology. Sarah’s main research focuses on the question of dose in mindfulness programs and practices and whether some doses are more helpful for some individuals than others. Sarah has published several research papers on this topic, including a review comparing over 200 different mindfulness studies. In addition to research, Sarah is passionate about making the information around what works and what doesn’t in mindfulness programs and practices more accessible for everyone, and has given talks on mindfulness and dose for both academic and general public audiences.

Annie Murphy Paul

"Use your head." That’s what we tell ourselves when facing a tricky problem or a difficult project. But a growing body of research indicates that we’ve got it exactly backwards. What we need to do, says acclaimed science writer Annie Murphy Paul, is think outside the brain. A host of “extra-neural” resources — the feelings and movements of our bodies, the physical spaces in which we learn and work, and the minds of those around us — can help us focus more intently, comprehend more deeply, and create more imaginatively.

Annie Murphy Paul is an acclaimed science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Scientific American, and The Best American Science Writing, among many other publications. Her latest book is The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain. Published in 2021, it was selected as a one of 100 Notable Books by The New York Times and as one of 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction by The Washington Post. She is also the author of Origins, an exploration of the science of prenatal influences, and The Cult of Personality, a cultural history and scientific critique of personality testing. Paul is a recipient of the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship, the Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship, and the Bernard L. Schwartz Fellowship at New America. A graduate of Yale University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she recently completed a Learning Sciences Exchange Fellowship at New America. She is currently a senior writer at the podcast and radio program Hidden Brain

Cultic Dynamics in Meditation Spaces

Matthew Remski

Meditation spaces are supposed to be safe, right? What happens when cultic dynamics disrupt them and how can you recognize when it’s happening? An introductory presentation in charismatic control, somatic dominance, guru jargon, and how harm can be reframed as spiritual development.

Matthew Remski is an author and freelance journalist who has written for The Walrus and GEN by Medium. He’s published eight books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, including Threads of Yoga: A Remix of Patanjali’s Sutras with commentary and reverie, and Practice and All is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, and Healing in Yoga and Beyond. His upcoming book, co-authored with Derek Beres and Julian Walker, is Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Become a Health Threat. He lives in Toronto with his partner and their two sons.

Bad Trips and Meditation-Gone-Wrong: What I Learned From Writing My Story

In fall of 2022, Rachael Petersen published a long-form article in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin titled “A Theological Reckoning with Bad Trips.” In the piece, Rachael recounts harms she experienced from both a psychedelic clinical trial and a weeklong silent meditation retreat, and explores what she frames as risks in popularizing these “technologies of transcendence.” In this talk, Rachael will share why and how she chose to write this piece, reflect on the process of publishing, and summarize reactions from readers alongside impact the piece has had in the world. She will offer her perspective on factors to consider when making meaning of harms from meditation, and potentially crafting that meaning into a story to be shared with the world. 

Rachael Petersen

Rachael Petersen is a writer, consultant, and graduate student at Harvard Divinity School. She dedicated the first decade of her career to international environmental policy, completing extensive fieldwork in remote sites from the Arctic to the Amazon. Rachael served as Senior Advisor to National Geographic Society and founding Deputy Director of Global Forest Watch, advocating for sustainable agriculture and land use with a focus on tropical forests. Following significant burnout, she felt called to support others overwhelmed by ecological crises. Now enrolled as a graduate student and fellow at Harvard Divinity School, her body of work covers the intelligence and animacy of the more-than-human world, technologies of transcendence, and writing as a spiritual practice. She holds a BA in Anthropology and Environmental Policy from Rice University. Her poetry and nonfiction have appeared in The Sun, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The Rumpus, The Outline, Psymposia and elsewhere. She practices Zen Buddhism in the Sōtō tradition, and is training as a Buddhist Ecochaplain through the Sati Institute

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions: How Altruism Can Become Pathological

Barbara Oakley, PhD, PE

Heaven or Hell? The Varieties of Ego Dissolution

We have all heard of the positive changes that “mystical experiences,” “ego-death” and “becoming one with everything” can evoke. Yet similar experiences that are distressing or destabilizing are often left out of this narrative. What makes the difference between a transformational positive experience and an experience that is distressing or destabilizing? This research presentation will attempt to answer this question by investigating the nature of experiences in which self or self-boundaries are lost as a result of multiple causes, including meditation, psychedelics, trauma, and psychosis

Nicholas Canby, PhD

Dr. Canby received his PhD in clinical psychology from Clark University in 2022. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Brown University’s Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory with Drs. Willoughby Britton and Jared Lindahl, where he studies challenging meditation and psychedelic-related experiences, especially changes in sense of self.