How to Develop a Successful Private Practice
Michael Klein

This practical, skills-based workshop provides the essential tools to transform academic learning into a successful private practice. Topics include developing an individualized business plan; learning the different stages of setting up and maintaining a private practice, including the nuts and bolts of finance, marketing, advertising, and networking; and learning strategies to avoid many of the common shortcomings clinicians often confront during their professional development.

Workshop participants develop and hone skills that are designed for either the student or licensed clinician to do the work that he/she wants to do—rather than has to do—in order to become self-sustaining. Former participants highly recommend this workshop, particularly for issues related to developing a practice and manifesting goals.

Psychology of the Future: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness
Stanislav Grof

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.

In this workshop, we will review this 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. We will also explore the sociopolitical implications of these findings.

Music Therapy in Medicine: From Life to Death
Joanne Loewy

Music and sound are part of our life-world, from prebirth in the womb through the passage to death. Before being born, we synchronize the coordination of our breathing and heart-beating to the sound environment of the womb. As we prepare for death, our sound environment becomes filled with memories and meaningful contexts that connect the history of our moments. Music and music therapy provide important nurturance, release, integration, and a means of collaboration in ease and disease.

Music therapy, which has important health implications for prevention, function, and the ultimate treatment of disease, can enhance wellness and spirituality, especially in a specific psychotherapeutic context.

This course will teach you how to use music as an agent of healing, health, and transformation. Participants will learn how to create live music therapy practices and explore possibilities for experiencing music therapy as it is used clinically in urban hospitals and schools, for specific disease applications, trauma, and end-of-life care.

The Way of the Shaman: The Basic Workshop
Michael and Sandra Harner
Susan Mokelke

Widely considered an international authority on shamanism, Michael Harner introduces participants to core shamanism—the universal and near-universal basic methods shamans use to enter a nonordinary reality for problem solving, well-being, and healing. During this experiential workshop, participants receive an initiation into shamanic journeying, aided by drumming and other techniques for experiencing the shamanic state of consciousness, as well as for divination and healing.

This workshop is a prerequisite for advanced workshops and training courses given by approved faculty members of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. (www.shamanism.org.)

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The Art of Indian Ragas & Rasas
Introduction to Raga Singing and Devotional Chanting
Silvia Nakkach

Module 1
The ancient ragas are the most important components of Indian classical music. The appreciation and experience of the raga becomes profoundly meaningful to spiritual seekers as well as to the trained musician. The Hindi/Urdu word “rag” is derived from the Sanskrit “raga” which means “color,” or “passion.” Ragas, therefore, may be thought of as an acoustic method of coloring the mind of the listener with an emotion. Ragas are not just musical scales, modes, or any construct for which an English word exists; they are described by master musicians of India as divinely inspired melodic entities. In addition to the main characteristics of each raga, their transformational power is related to particular seasons and times of the day. It is said that the great Tansen was able to create rain by singing a monsoon raga.

This class focuses on raga singing by cultivating familiarity with the tonal and modal structure of the alap or the introductory melodic movement of several ragas. Through the slow movement of ascending and descending notes, we will discover the beauty of the shrutis (micro-tones that are revealed in the space between the notes).

We will experience raga-based styles of devotional chanting: Dhrupad singing, Saregam, Khyal and Kirtan. Students will be able to appreciate different ragas, create a vocal practice, learn about vocal technique, and get acquainted with various modalities of music healing applications informed by devotional chanting. For related articles, visit www.voxmundiproject.com.

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Judaism, Christianity, Islam: Mysticism, Fundamentalism, and the World
Karen Armstrong

Today’s pluralistic society requires that we study religious and spiritual traditions other than our own so that we may engage in dialogue and foster greater mutual understanding. Given the current political landscape, the need for this discussion is urgent.

Join us for this daylong seminar as we explore the conception, development, and growth of the three Abrahamic traditions. We will review the history of each and the emergence of fundamentalism and mysticism in all three faiths.

Bodymind Healing and Qigong:
The Self-Healing Path
Michael Mayer

Tai chi and qigong are initiatory traditions stemming from a long-lost lineage that includes self-healing, spiritual enfoldment, self-defense, and changing your life-stance. In this workshop, you will learn self-healing practices from the 10-system integrative method, Bodymind Healing Qigong, that Mayer has synthesized over 30 years of training with some of the most respected tai chi/qigong masters. Drawing from his two books on the integration of qigong and Western mind-body healing methods, Mayer will present a blend of anthropological research, case examples from his work in an integrative medical clinic, and stories from ancient, sacred wisdom-traditions. You’ll discover ways to work with common ailments—insomnia, anxiety, hypertension, chronic pain—as part of your lifetime preventative medicine program.

Deeper into the Soul:
Renewed Approaches to Aging and Dementia
Nader Shabahangi and Elizabeth Bugental

Deeper into the Soul highlights a basic attitudinal shift: dementia and aging as our teachers, not as conditions to be belittled. In this spirit, the recognition to replace the diagnostic label of dementia with the everyday word and concept of Forgetfulness is of great importance.

Rather than looking at them as diseases, Forgetfulness and aging have purpose and meaning; rather than people simply in need of our care, people who are aging with Forgetfulness can teach us about life and living.

Topics include: Changing Attitudes, Understanding Aging and Forgetfulness, Learning Skills, and Communicating with a Person with Forgetfulness Symptoms, among others. This is an important workshop for professionals working with the elderly, as well as anyone attending to an older parent or family member.

Finding Your Inner Musician
David Darling and Sylvia Nakkach

We are all born with the innate ability to sing, to dance, and to live a celebratory creative lifestyle. Music is one of the most natural ways through which we can heal and celebrate our spirit. Singing, chanting, drumming, and playing the piano or any instrument allows us to nurture a loving relationship with ourselves through music.

This workshop provides a humorous and energetic environment for practicing exercises that will deepen our relationship with our own natural musical self. Through improvisational techniques and musical gestures from the music of India, Brazil, Africa, and the West, students discover how distant worlds of music complement and complete each other, engaging in optimally balanced left and right brain activity.

This all-levels workshop is designed to help you develop confidence through creating a positive musical experience and cultivating a balanced approach to a long-term musical journey.