An Evening of Rumi with Music and Commentary – A Turning Night of Stars. The ecstatic poetry of 13th century Persian mystic Rumi, the most widely read poet in America today, performed by Coleman Barks, acclaimed poet, translator and interpreter with Grammy award winning cellist, David Darling.

Genpo Merzel – Four-week Introduction Course to Big Mind as Western Zen. Course starts on March 2, 2013 at 10AM PST.
Price: $169 for four hours classes of video (Internet streaming or DVD), Study Guide, two Q&A conference calls with Genpo Merzel and 3 CE’s.
Get a short free preview of the intro pre-lecture HERE.

Ken Wilber has described Genpo Merzel’s Big Mind Process as “arguably the most important and original discovery in the last two centuries of Buddhism.” Big Mind is rooted in Jungian Psychology and in Eastern Zen.

Study with Zen Master Genpo Merzel to learn and deepen your knowledge of Big Mind.
In this four-week course you will study by watching one hour of video lectures every week and follow that week’s assignments in your study guide. You will also have a chance to ask Genpo Merzel questions during the course via an audio conference call (done twice during the course). After the four weeks the post-test will be provided and you will receive your certificate of completion upon successful completion.

In this talk we will explore the relationship between mythology and health: how the visceral beliefs—the myths—of both patient and physician interact either to positively impact or impede, not only their interpersonal relationship, but more importantly, the healing process itself.

We will investigate some of the biological bases for such mythic understandings, and scrutinize the ways in which technological development, globalization, and the ubiquity of mass media are continually redefining and reshaping our understanding of what it means to be “healthy.”

The question of how the placebo works, and why it works, has never been scientifically explored as rigorously as it has been by Jungian Analyst Richard Kradin. Dr. Kradin will share his findings on the healing power of the placebo. He will discuss the scientifically proven mind/body connection demonstrated by placebos, and look at the ways they can enhance or retard medicinal and mental health therapy.

On the surface, lucid dreaming seems deceptively simple – a paradoxical state in which you know you are dreaming, while you are dreaming. There, you can fly through space, create fire breathing dragons, and cast spells like Harry Potter, all in the safety of your subconscious mind. Scientifically validated for thirty years, recent neuroscientists have deemed lucid dreaming a “hybrid state of consciousness,” since the dreaming brain and portions of the waking/conscious brain show simultaneous activation. Yet some experienced lucid dreamers, like our presenter, will argue that lucid dreaming allows a person to interact directly with one’s inner Self. Moreover, these interactions meet the criteria that Carl Jung established to show the existence of an “inner awareness.”

Jungian Analyst David Schoen will present an overview of the psychological dynamics of addiction, treatment and recovery, as seen through the dual lenses of the 12 steps of Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) and Jungian Psychology. He will draw from the famous correspondence between AA cofounder Bill W., and Carl Jung, which shows how Jung’s psychology forms a cornerstone of AA and recovery. Schoen will describe the development and nature of a typical addiction, the archetypal shadow in the addiction process, and why the principles of AA are such an effective treatment approach in addressing addiction.

The pain of mourning and heartbreak is neurologically similar to being submitted to torture. There seems to be only one way to end that agony. Neuroscience calls it an “evolutionary jump” and Jungians call it the process of Individuation. The good news is, if you love, your heart should be broken at some point in your life. If not, your love may remain the innocent love of a child. Ginette Paris will demonstrate how neuroscience agrees with the basic tenants of depth psychology and will discuss how the process of Individuation begins with heartbreak.

Based on Jung’s work with shadow, this evening will explore shadow from and Integral point of view. Designed at the Integral Institute, the process uses three shifts in perspective as a way of identifying disowned projections and integrating them into conscious awareness. The evening is sure to be compelling, uncomfortable, and energizing as we work with the parts of ourselves that we would rather ignore.

C. G. Jung is widely recognized as a pioneering twentieth-century psychologist. At the same time, over the last century he has also often been labeled a mystic, a gnostic heretic, or even a new-age prophet. In fact, Dr. Jung was a very practical physician who saw a terrible human wound, and then dedicated himself to its care and healing. The wound he recognized is a pervasive alienation from the imaginative life and the symbolic voice of the soul. Without meaningful relationship to this human fact, Jung recognized we are ill – We are not whole.

Ken Wilber has described Genpo Merzel’s Big Mind Process as “arguably the most important and original discovery in the last two centuries of Buddhism.” Big Mind is rooted in Jungian Psychology and in Eastern Zen.

The mind is a wonderful thing, capable of brilliant thought and creativity, as well as bringing misery and suffering. How can we understand and work with it? How can we channel this great gift and resource to bring love and joy to our lives and relationships? In this hour long introduction, Zen Master Genpo Merzel will work with us to explore and directly experience how our minds can become our greatest friend and ally.

Money is a subject often more taboo than sex, religion or political affiliation. And psychology, for the most part, has been no braver or wiser than other forums in hosting useful dialogs on the topic.

The myriad money complexes clients and therapists both bring to the consulting room reveal many parallels between money and psychology through metaphors such as: inflation, depression, mania, value, allure, obligation, worth, deficit, loss, gain, promise, transference, confidence, failure and trust. Money is the number one reason married couples separate and many families are torn apart by their economic issues, yet money is seldom mentioned in any of our trainings.

Whether it be the fear of financial crisis or the uncertainties of climate change, the world has a more fearful and uncertain place. Yet, soul often awakens in the darkest hours as something deeper and wiser stirs within us.

The soul is the light hidden inside the dark that secretly holds things together within each of us and within the world. Often when all seems lost, the things that are most essentially ours can be found again.

For thousands of years, the Antarctic has been a place in the collective imagination as well as a geographical location. Just as explorers have traveled to those regions, poets and writers have explored the polar regions of the soul. In November 2009, Dr. Robert Romanyshyn traveled to the Antarctic, connecting to a dream he had over thirty years ago about a journey to the polar regions of the Earth.

This exciting Jung Platform launch lecture will explore the intertwining of psyche and nature in the context of the ecological crisis of the melting polar ice. After reviewing how Carl Jung’s description of the psychoid nature of the archetype – the non-psychic aspect of the archetype seen as a bridge to matter in general – Dr. Romanyshyn will draw on a series of images from this journey that have been set to music. They will show how the body as an aesthetic response to the world is the place where psyche becomes nature and nature becomes psyche.