Noetic Sciences: The Frontiers of Consciousness Research and Practice with Dean Radin, Ph.D. and Cassandra Vieten, Ph.D. (20 CE Credits)

Sunday September 23^rd, 2012

Welcome and reception with introductions (7pm to 9pm).  Optional dinner afterwards, but anti-pasta is usually enough.

Monday September 24^th

Consciousness Matters: From Ordinary to Extraordinary Human Capacities

9:00 – 11:00

In this session, we will introduce what science has learned about the potentials of human consciousness. Consciousness encompasses all of the aspects of our subjective or noetic grasp of reality, including perception, attention, intention, awareness, intuition, gut feelings, instincts, and beyond. Limitations in our understanding of consciousness constrains us from achieving our full potentials. Noetic Sciences investigate how consciousness matters, i.e., how consciousness may arise not only from complex interactions in physical matter (e.g., the brain), but also have a causal influence on the objective, external, physical world. While religion, spirituality, and to some extent academic psychology and the neurosciences have begun to study subjective experience, consciousness remains a vastly underexplored domain.

This session will discuss the orthodox scientific understanding of consciousness as well clues from frontier science suggesting that consciousness may have powers and potentials far beyond what our textbooks say. Participants will learn:

• Findings that challenge the prevailing scientific paradigm, such as studies on precognition/retro-causation, distant mental interactions/ESP, and remote viewing;
• Introductory theories that may underlie such findings;
• How this knowledge may be applied to clinical practice.

This session will draw upon several of our experiments involving precognition, distant mental interactions, mind-matter interactions, and telepathy. Participants will examine and share their own experiences, and we will discuss how the possibilities presented by these findings may be useful in clinical practice and in daily life.

11:00 – 11:15 Break

11:15 – 1:15                   

In this session, we will experiment with how to navigate new information, whether in the scientific or clinical practice domains, with equal parts open-mindedness and discernment. Being locked into a particular belief system can be limiting, but lacking dedication to any one discipline can be a “cut flower” approach that lacks depth or discipline. This session explores how to go to the edge without going over, and how to use head and heart, mind and body, observation and intuition to make insightful decisions. The purpose of the workshop up to this point is to be empowered to consciously participate in how we evolve as clinicians, as scholars, and as humans.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

·       Discuss some of the most recent findings in the frontiers of consciousness science;

·       Describe at an introductory level theories that might underlie some of these controversial findings;

·       Define ways to use the possibilities that these studies suggest in clinical practice;

·       Use a noetic science approach to grappling with new information and experiences – balancing intuition and observation to make more conscious decisions.

Tuesday September 25^th

The Art and Science of Transformation

9:00-11:00                 

This session will explore how consciousness transforms: How people make fundamental shifts in their worldview that result in long-lasting changes in behavior and ways of being. Based on over a decade of multidisciplinary research on transformational experiences and practices, participants will learn:

• What catalyzes transformation, and what differentiates between difficult experiences being traumatic vs. transformative;
• How we are hard-wired to resist new information that contradicts current meaning systems;
• The four elements of transformative practice;
• How transformative practices can be integrated into everyday life;
• The role of self-transcendence and loosening ego identification in psychological well-being;
• How quality of life and psychological health is being redefined;
• How transformation often begins with a “noetic experience” and results in “extended human capacities” arising from a greater sense of our essential interconnectedness

We will present a model of the transformative process based on a decade of research on how, through a variety of experiences and practice, people find greater richness, joy, peace and meaning in their lives. Participants will explore their own transformative pathways through inquiry and small group work, and will learn about factors that support and inhibit the transformative process.

11:00 – 11:15 Break

11:15  - 12:15                 

In this session, participants will learn about barriers to the transformative process, and how limitations in cognition and perception conspire to maintain the status quo and defend against information that challenges current meaning systems. Participants will examine their automatic reactions and implicit biases.

12:15 – 1:15                  

This session will proceed through the model of transformative change, examining what the outcomes of transformation can be, and asking: What does it mean to “live deeply”? How can we actively engage with the process of transformation each day? We will examine how attention, intention, and perception can be directed each day toward what holds meaning, toward the “little glimmers everywhere.” We will continue the exploration of consciousness through an exercise “seeing with new eyes” while on a walking tour of Lucca after lunch.

Learning Objectives

After this session, participants will be able to:

·       Identify the factors and conditions that catalyze positive transformations in consciousness;

·       Describe stages in the process of transformation, as well as pitfalls associated with each stage;

·       Discuss practices that support adult development and how they can be integrated into everyday life;

·       Describe several elements of flourishing or “living deeply” that represent stages of human development beyond what is currently appreciated as optimal psychological health and quality of life.

Wednesday September 26^th

9:00 – 10:30

This session begins with a survey of yogic and other esoteric legends about “supernormal powers,” or exceptional mental abilities associated with disciplined mental practices such as meditation.

We will discuss how to discern the boundaries between enticing fantasies and often not-so-enticing facts, and how science has been brought to bear in investigating stories of enhanced abilities associated with some spiritual practices.

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 11:45

This session will include participation in experiments and experiential exploration of practices that can be used in one’s practice with clients and in one’s own life to stimulate and support the transformative process, and to enhance one’s conscious experience of interconnection.

11:45 – 1:15                 

This session will focus on how mindful awareness practices can be applied in a variety of ways to broaden perception, build internal resources, enhance self-regulation, and stimulate epistemological experiences of meaning, beauty, awe, wonder, and curiosity. We will weave the latest findings from contemplative neuroscience into the experiential session. In this session, we will introduce a mindful eating practice (to be engaged in at lunch after the session) to again explore how shifting perception, paying attention, and directing one’s intention can significantly transform even ordinary everyday activities. We will also engage “seeing with new eyes” on a walking tour of Pisa after lunch.

Learning Objectives

After this session, participants will be able to:

•       Describe research methods and key conclusions of research on interconnectedness and extended human capacities;

•       Learn ways to explore consciousness and interconnection in their own lives and with patients/clients;

•       Describe the fundamental elements of mindful awareness;

•       Employ a number of mindfulness-based concepts and practices in work with clients.

Thursday, September 27^th

Thursday and Friday will explore implications of this line of research for understanding the far reaches and capacities of human potential.

9:00 – 11:00                   

In this session we learn about the history and practice of remote viewing (a modern euphemism for clairvoyance), and then conduct remote viewing experiments to illustrate how easy it is to experience this form of “non-local” perception, and also the many ways that such perceptions can be hidden from conscious awareness or significantly distorted. All participants will have the opportunity to act as a remote viewer and to see how the information produced by remote viewing is objectively verified.

11:00 – 11:15 Break

11:15 – 1:15                   

During this session we will engage in a creative process of mapping our own transformative journey, engaging in a playful and deep inquiry into the major turning points of our own lives, our own extraordinary experiences, catalysts for change, the practices that have been meaningful to us, and identifying our own “portals to the sacred,” or places/people/activities that bring us healing, joy, and meaning.  By engaging in this process ourselves, we will be able to bring this life mapping process to our clients.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

·       Describe how remote viewing tests are conducted and evaluated.

·       Describe personal healing and its relationship to how they function as a healer.

• Deepen and integrate intuition as a tool in their practice with patients.
• Utilize transformative life mapping with clients to gain perspective and meaning;

Friday September 28^th

Moving Forward: Connecting the Pieces towards Change

9:00-11:00                 

This session will focus on participants’ personal and professional goals, using thought experiments for values, priorities, and goals clarifications. This session will help participants see how their personalities can either help or hinder them in moving towards desired goals. The tools and processes used have been derived from well established organizational development programs in the corporate world. They will assist the participant in:

• Setting goals
• Identifying key blocks and competing priorities that inhibit reaching your goals
• Increasing work-life balance
• Action planning using your intelligence, emotions and intuition

·       Each participant will create an action plan to integrate what they have learned into their clinical practice and lives

11:00 – 11:15 Break

11:15 – 1:15                                     

Using guided visualization, appreciative inquiry, small group breakouts, we will create specific action plans for integrating what was learned in the workshop into clinical practice and everyday life.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

·       Use and apply practices for ongoing clarification of values, priorities, and goals both for themselves and in their work with clients;

·       Describe a process for identifying blocks to achieving goals and understanding and meeting those blocks in a new way;

·       Identify concrete ways to integrate insights into practical tools for enhancing clinical practice and everyday life;

·       Use tools for creating action plans that rely on both intellect and intuition

The seminar will be held at Villa Rinascimento

All rates are half board (breakfast and lunch included):

Historic Villa

Double room € 180
Double room, Single use € 147
Extra beds € 45 / € 28,50  (children until 12 years old)

Rates for Villini (50 meters from the Historic Villa):

Double room € 130 Per Person
Double room, Single use € 97
Extra beds € 45  / € 28,50 (children until 12 years old)

Registrants who do not cancel according to the following guidelines will forfeit all fees. You must write, email or fax your cancellation request.

• 100% less $100 administration fee will be refunded for cancellation requests received by May 31, 2012
• 75% of Registration fee will be refunded on all cancellation requests made after June 1, 2012.
• 50% of Registration fees will be refunded on all cancellation requests made after August 1, 2012
• 25% of Registration fee will be refunded on all cancellation requests made after August 15, 2012
• There are no refunds after September 1, 2012.