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IONS Research and Education Project Highlights From its inception, the Institute of Noetic Sciences
has blazed new trails in exploring the big questions:
Who are we? How does consciousness impact the physical
world? What are our potentials, and how can we achieve
those potentials? What leads to beneficial personal
and societal healing and transformation?
Because limited consciousness underlies many of
the problems we face as a species, our research
focuses on the fundamental nature of consciousness,
its interaction with the physical world, and how
the human experience of consciousness can dramatically
transform. We conduct basic science and laboratory
research on mind-matter interactions, social science
investigations of transformational experiences and
practices and their impact on individual and collective
wellness, and clinical and applied studies testing
the real-world effectiveness of consciousness-based
interventions.
We also advance the study of consciousness by training
young scientists interested in noetic topics through
our internship program, stimulating innovative new
work through our awards and small grants programs,
and facilitating strategic collaborations and invitational
meetings among scientists to accelerate development
of new, cross-disciplinary studies. In addition,
we synthesize bodies of knowledge, such as the science
of meditation or the role of compassion in healing,
disseminate these summaries, and use what we’ve
learned to identify next steps.
Finally, we communicate what we’ve learned
in peer-reviewed scientific journals and scholarly
meetings as well as to the general public, and we
translate our findings into educational products
and curricula for targeted audiences
IONS’ Research and Education program is organized into
three primary areas:
Extended Human Capacities
Consciousness and Healing
Worldview Transformation
Extended
Human Capacities
This program investigates the physical basis of
interconnectedness; noetic states of consciousness
including nondual awareness, intuition, and presentiment;
the effects of intention on the physical world;
and human capacities that extend beyond the conventional
constraints of space and time. By studying these
phenomena, we seek a more comprehensive understanding
of noetic experiences, consciousness, the self,
and the nature of reality. Additional funding
in this program area will support upgrades to
our unique laboratory, further scientific study
on the nature of consciousness and its role in
the physical world, and the training of emerging
young noetic scientists through our internship
program.
Highlighted Projects
• Consciousness and the Physical World –—
This project
studies two fundamental challenges in understanding
the nature of consciousness:
In psychology, it’s the problem of how immaterial mind arises
from the material world; in physics, it’s the problem of how
and why observation affects activity in the quantum realm. One experiment
currently under way is studying how the “mind’s eye” interacts
with photons in a doubleslit optical apparatus.
This and other experiments are moving beyond mere demonstrations of
mind-matter interactions and
linking the effects to well-established physical
theories.
• Nondual States of Awareness –—
Mystics, meditators, and everyday people who have
had peak experiences describe subjective states of awareness in which
they experience what has been termed “nondual awareness”—the
dissolving of boundaries between self and other, feeling at one with
everything that is, and often a sense of timelessness. Are these
experiences fantasy, hallucinations, or do they accurately reflect
awareness extending beyond the accepted boundaries of time and space?
We are studying this question by monitoring brain activity during
states of nondual awareness and assessing brain and autonomic reactions
to sensory stimuli. We hope to upgrade our equipment and expand our
work to include a larger participant population and more comprehensive
assessments.
Consciousness and Healing
Although great strides have been made in the study
of complementary and alternative medicine, our
health care system remains primarily disease-centered
rather than focused on whole-person healing. The
consciousness and healing research program supports
a new model of health care that allows for the
inner wisdom of both patients and health care
providers to be combined with scientific and technological
advances for the promotion of health and well-being.
Additional funding in this program area will support
our strategic efforts to help integrate this new
model into hospitals and healthcare systems, as
well as further research on the efficacy of consciousness-based
interventions.
Highlighted Projects
• Consciousness in Health Care –—
Despite many studies supporting
the efficacy of mind-body approaches to healing, mainstream health
care remains still largely resistant to integrating such methods.
IONS researchers are developing approaches for
overcoming these barriers at both individual and institutional levels.
Through research and field formation, project objectives include convening
key stakeholders, developing workable strategies, assessing the outcomes
of those strategies, and providing educational programs for health
professionals.
• Mindful Motherhood –—
In the year 2000, IONS developed
an intervention program to encourage maternal
infant bonding and communication in Latina pregnant
teenagers of Marin County. Now, in collaboration
with California Pacific Medical Center, we’ve developed a meditation
and yoga-based program that has been shown to
reduce stress and improve mood in pregnant women
and early mothers, while enhancing the bond
between mothers and their babies. The book Mindful
Motherhood and an educational website were released
in May of 2009. Additional efforts
are being directed toward further research, wider
circulation of our intervention-educational classes
and workshops, and development of
an online course.
[learn more]
Worldview Transformation
Transforming our world will require fundamental
shifts in consciousness— changes in our
worldviews—on both individual and collective
levels. This research program area focuses on
the phenomena of consciousness transformation:
how it occurs, how it can be stimulated, and how
it can be translated into long-term beneficial
changes for oneself and one’s community.
Additional funding for this program area will
allow for continuing investigation into the experiences
and practices that can stimulate such worldview
shifts, as well as translating what we’ve
learned into training programs and curricula.
Highlighted Projects
• Transformative Practices and Well-Being –—
We recently
completed a study in which 50 people were followed
over the course of one-year to determine how their engagement
in transformative practices affected their lives.
The results of the study clearly showed psychological
and physical benefits associated
with such practices and also allowed us to develop
new and improved ways to study the transformative
process. Building on this work and
in collaboration with California Pacific Medical
Center, we are now tracking 150 people to explore
how their involvement in spiritual practice
affects their health and well-being.
• The Science of Peace –—
The predominant worldview regards
human nature as self-centered and self-interested. Insights from the
world’s wisdom traditions, however, combined with emerging research
on neuroplasticity and the science of prosocial emotions, are painting
a different picture—one that recognizes our innate capacities
for compassion, forgiveness, and altruism. We are engaged in a comprehensive
strategy to form a new multidisciplinary “science of peace.” It
is directed toward accelerating research and scholarship to identify
tools for cultivating inner and outer peace and to promote a new view
of humanity in which peace is possible.
Tools, Training, and Curricula
Because education is a key catalyst for change,
we are translating our own and our colleagues’ research
findings into practical evidence-based tools,
training programs, and curricula for youth, professionals,
and lifelong learners. Additional funding for
this area will allow us to further expand these
educational programs. Our goal is to offer people
experiences that will inspire them, information
and ideas that will empower them, and tools they
can use in their own arena to foster individual
and collective transformation.
Highlighted Projects
• Worldview Literacy –—
Based on our research on transformation, we are
developing a new curriculum on “worldview literacy” for
grades 8–12, currently being pilot-tested in classrooms across
the country. Using guided classroom activities
and immersive learning experiences, the curriculum
is designed to increase students’ capacity
for self-understanding and compassion. Our goals
for this program are to publish the curriculum
and expand its use; develop and implement
outcome measures; develop a “train the trainer” program
for teachers; create an interactive web program
to connect students and teachers from all over
the globe; and create a multiplayer online game
featuring collaborative challenges and
adventures. [learn more]
• Online Professional Development
Continuing Education Programs –—
Grounded in three decades of research on the relationship
between consciousness and healing, using the rich archive of the Institute’s
books, articles, and audio/video materials, and engaging our network
of doctors, nurses, and healers, we are developing an innovative catalog
of training programs for health professionals and the general public.
Through a focused business plan, our goal is to create renewable revenue
while helping stimulate positive transformation in the health care
system.
mini-sites:
There are a number of interesting and innovative projects that
the institute has worked on in the
past and will develop into the future. We have
created "mini-sites" for
several of these projects as a way
of making the information easily accessible.
Consciousness
and Healing
Spontaneous
Remission
Distant
Healing
The
Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation
Searchable Bibliography
of Meditation Research
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