CIIS Public Programs

After observing modern shamanic trainings with a growing concern, clinical psychologist and scholar Anotonio Ramirez began exploring more traditional forms of shamanism by interviewing elder shamans in Latin America. In this talk, recorded at CIIS on May 21, 2019, Antonio shares his ideas about the dangers of shamanism as it is practiced today in urban areas, how these practices are affecting native shamanism, and suggests ways to avoid falling prey of unethical practitioners.

This episode featuring spiritual teacher Thomas Hübl along with cosmologist and CIIS professor Brian Swimme was recorded during a live streaming webinar on May 9th, 2020. During their conversation, Brian and Thomas explore the cosmos and discuss ways to move from being a society informed by trauma to a society that heals trauma. To find out more about CIIS and public programs like this one, including our upcoming online trauma healing workshop with Thomas Hübl, visit our website: ciis.edu

This episode featuring digital artist Rhonda Holberton and curator Ceci Moss was recorded during a live streaming webinar on April 10, 2020. Their conversation explores the intersection of art and technology and ways art in the digital age can provide new pathways for understanding our world and ourselves.

This episode featuring CIIS professor and renowned scholar Richard Tarnas was recorded during a live streaming webinar on April 23rd, 2020. In his talk, Richard shares astrological insights into the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he describes as “a time in which there are volcanically intense evolutionary pressures for the radical reconfiguration of all life’s structures.” To see the image referenced by Richard during this episode, visit our website: ciis.edu

This episode showcases selections from three previous episodes featuring poets who explore a variety of social justice issues through their work. This episode contains explicit language. Part One The episode begins with poet and scholar Cameron Awkward-Rich joined in conversation with writer and curator James Fleming. Cameron reads first from his recent award-winning book Dispatch followed by a poem from his 2016 book Sympathetic Little Monster, which broke new ground in Trans, Queer, Black, and American poetry. Part Two This excerpt features the poet Layli Long Soldier in conversation with San Francisco poet Brynn Saito. Layli reads a selection from her collection of poetry WHEREAS, and talks with Brynn about her journey writing these poems in response to the congressional resolution “Apology to Native Peoples.” Part Three The episode closes with diversity and inclusion specialist Denise Boston in a conversation with author and academic DaMaris B. Hill that spans poetry, history, and current events to illuminate the lives of extraordinary women and their impact on today's society. DaMaris also reads from her book A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing: The Incarceration of African American Women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland.

Author and psychedelic explorer Chris Bache’s book, LSD and the Mind of the Universe chronicles his experiences and insights from 73 high-dose LSD sessions conducted between 1979 and 1999. This became the philosophical adventure of a lifetime, but one Chris had to keep largely hidden from his colleagues and society. In this episode licensed psychotherapist and CIIS Professor Gisele Fernandes talks with Chris about his 20-year journey into the depths and heights of consciousness.

Modern technology has, and continues to transform the ways we grow, prepare, distribute, eat, and think about our food. In this episode, food journalist Larissa Zimberoff and social sciences professor Julie Guthman share insights into food culture and examine the trends and technologies that are transforming the world of food. Is the future of food looking bleak or better than ever? This episode contains explicit language.

Suzy Ross is an assistant professor and coordinator of recreation therapy and complementary and alternative medicine at San Jose State University, California. In this episode, CIIS Chief of Staff and psychologist Richard Buggs talks with Dr. Ross about finding our path in life, journeys of personal transformation, and her book The Map to Wholeness.

With over 20 years of experience practicing and teaching Kingian Nonviolence, leading trainer Kazu Haga offers a practical approach to resolving conflict first practiced by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. In his work, Kazu reclaims the energy and assertiveness of nonviolent practice and shows that a principled approach to nonviolence is the way to transform not only unjust systems, but broken relationships. In this episode, Kazu Haga is joined by CIIS professor and restorative justice expert Sonya Shah for a conversation about his life, Kingian Nonviolence, and his book, Healing Resistance. This episode contains explicit language.

For most of his life, Boston-based artist P.Carl lived as a girl and a queer woman, building a career, a life, and a loving marriage, yet still waiting to realize himself in full. After fifty years, he embarked on his gender transition amid the rise of the Trump administration and the #MeToo movement—a transition point in America’s own story. In this episode, recorded shortly after the release of P. Carl’s memoir, Becoming a Man: The Story of a Transition, CIIS Human Sexuality Program Chair Michelle Marzullo talks with P. Carl about his personal journey, as well as gender, power, and inequality in America.