Bahman Shirazi: Haridas Chaudhuri and The Roots of Integral Psychology at CIIS

This is the first part in a series of episodes exploring the historical roots of California Institute of Integral Studies and its foundations in Integral Yoga as brought to California in the 1950’s by Haridas Chaudhuri. In this episode we speak with Bahman Shirazi, who recounts the early history of Haridas Chaudhuri coming to the west, and the academic and cultural conditions which lead to what became CIIS. Bahman speaks about his dissertation completed in EWP in the 1980’s which develops Haridas Chaudhuri’s vision of Integral Psychology, asking what is the role of personality in spiritual development. We also discuss how the East-West Psychology department was formed to situate the intersectionality of Integral Yoga, spirituality, religion and transpersonal psychology.

Bahman A.K. Shirazi, PhD, has been an adjunct faculty in the Integral Counseling Psychology, and East-West psychology programs at CIIS since 1995. His doctoral dissertation, entitled Self in Integral Psychology, was supervised by ICP founder Dr. Paul Herman.

In addition, Bahman has worked in various administrative positions at CIIS for over twenty years, including several years as Director of Graduate Studies. In recent years he has served as CIIS archivist and historian and has been involved in the production of a documentary and an online interactive website on the history of CIIS.

Bahman has published a number of book chapters and articles on various topics in integral psychology and has served as guest editor for ReVision and Integral Review journals. He has also taught in several other Bay Area schools such as JFK University, ITP/Sofia University, and Dominican University in the areas of integral and transpersonal psychology, Sufi psychology, and research methodology. He has presented at conferences in the U.S., Europe, and India and organizes the annual Founders Symposium on Integral Consciousness at CIIS.

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Hosted by Stephen Julich (EWP adjunct faculty, program manager) and Jonathan Kay (PhD student, EWP assistant)

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