Advance Consciousness Studies and Explore the Conscious Brain
The brainchild of renowned cognitive neuroscientist Bernard Baars and artist, educator, and seasoned media producer Natalie Geld, the Society for Mind Brain Sciences (MBSci) is a nonprofit corporation focused on advancing knowledge, education and public understanding of consciousness in the brain. MBSci aims for scientific integration and media synthesis.
“Ultimately it’s all about helping people and helping families,” says Dr. Jay N. Giedd, NIMH. "Using the power of information exchange around the world is going to be one of the most essential parts of moving forward.
Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) August 08, 2013 The Society for Mind Brain Sciences today announced its official launch.
How can we use the mind – brain sciences to expand our potential? Better communication in science, medical professions, and education can have vast ripple effects for advancing creativity, innovation, entrepreneurialism, and humanity. mbSci intends to have direct impact via publications, digital content, multimedia programs, and curriculum across the disciplines. Ms. Geld and Dr. Baars are joined by a board of top scientists, medical professionals, scholars, innovators, and artists committed to creating vibrant educational programming that remains true to the science it represents.
mbSci aims to communicate that "sweet spot" by combining excellent science with absorbing media. Their first collaboration is a broadcast quality, high level science series called The Feeling Brain: Exploring the Neural Basis of Emotion, integrating scientists across diverse fields with award-winning clinicians and journalists. This pilot episode features mastery tutorials, provocative discussion and debate.
"Ultimately it’s all about helping people and helping families," says Dr. Jay N. Giedd, Chief of the Unit on Brain Imaging in the Child Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Giedd participated in their groundbreaking series, The Feeling Brain. "Getting information out to wide audiences by using the digital revolution and the power of information exchange around the world is going to be one of the most essential parts of moving forward." More information about mbSci, its mission, programs, and how to become a member can be found at http://mbscience.org/.
Cortical Spray of Neurons Connecting the Two Hemispheres of the Human Brain This image illustrates a spectacular fountain of cortical connectivities, a massive array of connections between the two hemispheres, along with major neural highways flowing up and down to the spinal cord and cerebellum. Credit: BrainSuite.LONI@ucla.edu
Society for Mind Brain Sciences Overview
Our Mission and Goals
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”Fler måste få ta del av forskningen” Natalie Geld, kreativ chef på Why Consciousness Organization, Los Angeles, USA.
Fler måste få ta del av forskningen”
Natalie Geld, kreativ chef på Why Consciousness Organization, Los Angeles, USA. Bygger en community och tar fram utbildningsmaterial om forskning kring medvetandet:
– Vi riktar oss till alla – från mellanstadiet till universitetet. Alltför många har i dag vetenskapsfobi, tror att vetenskap är för några få andra ”där ute”. Också inom högskolorna kan forskare sitta i sin ensamhet och försöka nå ut till en allt mer krympande publik.
– Vi brinner för att öka spridningen av all forskning som över huvud taget finns kring medvetandet – det som gjorts tidigare, studier som görs nu och sådant som är på väg att utvecklas. Med nya medier och Internet-teknologi kan forskningen få en betydligt
effektivare spridning. Vi hoppas kunna skapa en sund debatt om möjligheterna med det mänskliga sinnet.
– Och vad är inte medvetandet? För mig handlar det om att lära sig tänka bortom vad man lärt sig att tänka. När vi ser stora genier tror vi att de är så avvikande – men de bara använder sin hjärna annorlunda. Nyckeln är medvetandet, att öppna upp alla nivåer och inte bara se gamla teser och teorier.
Why Consiousness Organization bildades under förra årets konferens och samarbetar med Neurosciences Institute i La Jolla, Kalifornien. Det grundades av neuro-
biologen Bernard Baar, mest känd för”global workspace theory”, en teori om tänkandets uppbyggnad av medvetandet.
– För mig handlar en ökad kunskap om medvetandet om att bli mer människa.
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"Research will benefit from scientific integration" Natalie Geld, Creative Director at Why Consciousness Organization, Los Angeles, USA.
- We target everyone - from primary school to university. Too many today have science phobias, believe that science is for a few others "out there." Even within universities, researchers work in solitude and try to reach out to an ever-shrinking audience.
- We are passionate about increasing the dissemination of all research in general are about consciousness - it is timely with the advances in consciousness studies. With new media and Internet technology, education and innovation can have global impact. We hope to create a healthy debate about the possibilities of the human mind.
- And what is consciousness? "What isn't consciousness? is a good question to ask." it's about learning to think beyond what we have learned to think. When we see the great geniuses, we believe that they are so different - but they just use their brain differently. The key is awareness, to open up all levels and not only see the old theses and theories.
Why Consciousness Organization was formed during last year's conference in collaboration with Dr. Bernard Baars, Neurosciences Institute Affiliate Fellow, La Jolla, California, best known for "global workspace theory", a theory of thought structure of consciousness.
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At the recent Science and Nonduality Conference, Natalie Geld offered a groundbreaking panel discussion that explored the profound connections of sexuality, stress, consciousness and well being. Panelists include Dr. Peggy La Cerra, Caroline Muir, Dr. Shauna Shapiro, Dr. Bruce Mangan.
San Rafael, CA (PRWEB) October 28, 2010
Although sex is the primary phenomenal experience that drives evolution, sexuality is not sufficiently discussed in consciousness studies, according to Dr. Bernard Baars of The Neurosciences Institute. For the first time ever, in this year's Science and Nonduality Conference, Natalie Geld offered a groundbreaking panel discussion that explored the profound connections of sexuality, stress, consciousness and well being. Neuroscientist and author Dr. Peggy La Cerra, sexual pioneer Caroline Muir, co-author of Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving now in its 20th anniversary printing, Dr. Shauna Shapiro, co-author of The Art & Science of Mindfulness, and Bruce Mangan of the Institute of Cognitive and Brain Studies, UC Berkeley discussed and debated sexual and emotional health in connection with spirituality for the first time. Researchers have confirmed that this dialogue is unprecedented and timely for human potential.
"Keeping sexuality out of our awareness is like trying to keep ping-pong balls under water. Or trying not to move your bowels."Even though sex seems to be everywhere in the media, much of the information throughout culture and history is antiquated, oppressive, superficial, sensationalized, or questionable in its accuracy. 40 million American adults have anxiety disorders, over 19 million people are treated for recurrent stress and depression annually, and scores of Americans that participated in a Kinsey Institute Sex Information Test failed. Prominent scientists, psychologists, physicists and educators rally to examine the causes. People are bombarded left and right with information and events that they take at face value and simply do not question, making their health and well being suffer.
Sex is a natural form of communication. People want to open up and talk about their sexuality, but it often feels complicated and stressful, so they avoid it. But as Mantak Chia says, "Keeping sexuality out of our awareness is like trying to keep ping-pong balls under water. Or trying not to move your bowels." Sexual impulse is often an overwhelming force. Ignorance, fear and emotional suppression – what psychologists call ‘shadows’ – fuel stress symptoms, and significantly affect perceptions, health, sexual response, and how people relate to one another.
Geld comments, "From our first flickering of consciousness we are taught what to think, not how to think. We're systematically disembodied and often carry shame, fear, guilt and resentment at a cellular level. Many people spend decades cultivating love by transcending self and the ego - they 'get it' intellectually but still don't 'feel' it." She has sparked a dialogue with dozens of scientists, therapists, educators, mystics and doctors about the interdependence of consciousness and health and the intelligence of our body. "We are not passengers in our lives; we are the authors of our experience."
“Sexuality for most of us, even people who are evolving spiritually, is a part that remains really separate; very un-integrated," adds Dr. Cassi Vieten, author and research scientist at IONS. "Aside from Tantric practices, it’s taboo even in the deepest spirituality. How can that be… that one piece of who we’re being is somehow not allowed into the conversation?" Dr. David Kipper, M.D., an eminent physician in Los Angeles for over 30 years, discusses why this is important. “Our sexual and emotional health is essential to our physical vitality, and our mental health and well being.”
Other topics explored included: Transcendence, Sexuality, and Mystical experiences: flesh, blood, matter, energy, and orgasm. Is sex a neutral force?
"Fear cannot exist where this is love," says Dr. Amit Goswami, Theoretical Quantum Physicist. The room was brimming. Audience participants said they needed more time to explore these important issues fundamental to love and being human - and that they were just getting warmed up. "As a species really – service, contribution and struggle are heralded and we have almost lost the value of joy and play – they’re not aspirational," says Dr. Shauna Shapiro.
About Natalie Geld Natalie Geld is the Editorial Director, Author and Founder of Why Are We Whispering.com. This web magazine continues to explore topics such as how negating play and joy affect people. It investigates how cultivating greater joy, fun and playfulness in intimacy and in daily life influence human potential and happiness.
About the Science and Nonduality Conference The Science & Nonduality Conference was held in San Rafael October 20-24. It was a unique opportunity to explore various approaches to the relationship between the self and the universal. International presenters offered four days of conferences, panels, networking opportunities and experiential workshops exploring various aspects of nonduality.
About the Panelists
Sexual Pioneer and Founder of the Divine Feminine - Awakened Masculine Institute, Caroline is celebrated as mother of the modern sacred-feminine movement. Her book, Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving, co-written w/ Charles Muir, & their seminars have inspired over 100,000 readers & 25,000 students. Her forthcoming book, Queen of Hearts provocatively details her maverick life.
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Shauna L. Shapiro, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University, and previously served as adjunct faculty in Andrew Weil’s Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Shapiro’s research investigates the clinical applications of mindfulness meditation in psychotherapy and health care. She has published over 50 book chapters and journal articles, and is co-author of the forthcoming book, The Art and Science of Mindfulness. Dr. Shapiro is the recipient of the American Council of Learned Societies teaching award, acknowledging her outstanding contributions to graduate education in the area of mindfulness and psychotherapy.
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Peggy La Cerra, PhD is author of The Origin of Minds: Evolution, Uniqueness, and the New Science of the Self and Director of the Center for Evolutionary Neuroscience, a research and educational nonprofit that examines human nature and the human condition from the perspective of an energetic (thermodynamic) evolutionary model of the neurocognitive architecture. She is also a columnist for Spirituality & Health Magazine (‘Our Evolving Selves’) and a neuroscientific consultant to The Baumann Institute.
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Bruce Mangan, Institute of Cognitive and Brain Studies, Barrows Hall UC, Berkeley. Failed war correspondent and actor, Mangan received an interdisciplinary PhD in Cognitive Science and Aesthetics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1991. He has taught there since in various capacities, inaugurating the Scientific Approaches to Consciousness course offered jointly by the Psychology and Cognitive Science departments. Mangan is one of the founding members of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. His research investigates the interface mechanisms that weld conscious and non-conscious processes into a single cognitive system. To this end he has developed a phenomenological method (Convergent Phenomenology) expressly designed to integrate first and third person evidence. William James practiced a nascent version of this approach.
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Neuroscientists and Educators Examine How Fear, Stress, and Sexuality Affect Well Being
At the recent Science and Nonduality Conference, Natalie Geld offered a groundbreaking panel discussion that explored the profound connections of sexuality, stress, consciousness and well being. Panelists include Dr. Peggy La Cerra, Caroline Muir, Dr. Shauna Shapiro, Dr. Bruce Mangan.
San Rafael, CA (PRWEB) October 28, 2010
Although sex is the primary phenomenal experience that drives evolution, sexuality is not sufficiently discussed in consciousness studies, according to Dr. Bernard Baars of The Neurosciences Institute. For the first time ever, in this year's Science and Nonduality Conference, Natalie Geld offered a groundbreaking panel discussion that explored the profound connections of sexuality, stress, consciousness and well being. Neuroscientist and author Dr. Peggy La Cerra, sexual pioneer Caroline Muir, co-author of Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving now in its 20th anniversary printing, Dr. Shauna Shapiro, co-author of The Art & Science of Mindfulness, and Bruce Mangan of the Institute of Cognitive and Brain Studies, UC Berkeley discussed and debated sexual and emotional health in connection with spirituality for the first time. Researchers have confirmed that this dialogue is unprecedented and timely for human potential.
"Keeping sexuality out of our awareness is like trying to keep ping-pong balls under water. Or trying not to move your bowels."Even though sex seems to be everywhere in the media, much of the information throughout culture and history is antiquated, oppressive, superficial, sensationalized, or questionable in its accuracy. 40 million American adults have anxiety disorders, over 19 million people are treated for recurrent stress and depression annually, and scores of Americans that participated in a Kinsey Institute Sex Information Test failed. Prominent scientists, psychologists, physicists and educators rally to examine the causes. People are bombarded left and right with information and events that they take at face value and simply do not question, making their health and well being suffer.
Sex is a natural form of communication. People want to open up and talk about their sexuality, but it often feels complicated and stressful, so they avoid it. But as Mantak Chia says, "Keeping sexuality out of our awareness is like trying to keep ping-pong balls under water. Or trying not to move your bowels." Sexual impulse is often an overwhelming force. Ignorance, fear and emotional suppression – what psychologists call ‘shadows’ – fuel stress symptoms, and significantly affect perceptions, health, sexual response, and how people relate to one another.
Geld comments, "From our first flickering of consciousness we are taught what to think, not how to think. We're systematically disembodied and often carry shame, fear, guilt and resentment at a cellular level. Many people spend decades cultivating love by transcending self and the ego - they 'get it' intellectually but still don't 'feel' it." She has sparked a dialogue with dozens of scientists, therapists, educators, mystics and doctors about the interdependence of consciousness and health and the intelligence of our body. "We are not passengers in our lives; we are the authors of our experience."
“Sexuality for most of us, even people who are evolving spiritually, is a part that remains really separate; very un-integrated," adds Dr. Cassi Vieten, author and research scientist at IONS. "Aside from Tantric practices, it’s taboo even in the deepest spirituality. How can that be… that one piece of who we’re being is somehow not allowed into the conversation?" Dr. David Kipper, M.D., an eminent physician in Los Angeles for over 30 years, discusses why this is important. “Our sexual and emotional health is essential to our physical vitality, and our mental health and well being.”
Other topics explored included: Transcendence, Sexuality, and Mystical experiences: flesh, blood, matter, energy, and orgasm. Is sex a neutral force?
"Fear cannot exist where this is love," says Dr. Amit Goswami, Theoretical Quantum Physicist. The room was brimming. Audience participants said they needed more time to explore these important issues fundamental to love and being human - and that they were just getting warmed up. "As a species really – service, contribution and struggle are heralded and we have almost lost the value of joy and play – they’re not aspirational," says Dr. Shauna Shapiro.
About Natalie Geld Natalie Geld is the Editorial Director, Author and Founder of Why Are We Whispering.com. This web magazine continues to explore topics such as how negating play and joy affect people. It investigates how cultivating greater joy, fun and playfulness in intimacy and in daily life influence human potential and happiness.
About the Science and Nonduality Conference The Science & Nonduality Conference was held in San Rafael October 20-24. It was a unique opportunity to explore various approaches to the relationship between the self and the universal. International presenters offered four days of conferences, panels, networking opportunities and experiential workshops exploring various aspects of nonduality.
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- Natalie Geld
Big Hands Productions
646-386-7466
Email contact at whyarewewhispering dot com
Natalie Geld, Founder - WhyAreWeWhispering.com
Natalie Geld - Founder and Editorial Director of Why Are We Whispering.com is a roving, curious messenger asking "Why do we feel this way?" and "How can we evolve?" Understanding the science of consciousness fuels awareness, catalyzes exploration and respons(e) ability.
Caroline Muir, Divine Feminine Institute
Sexual Pioneer and Founder of the Divine Feminine - Awakened Masculine Institute, Caroline is celebrated as mother of the modern sacred-feminine movement. Her book, Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving, co-written w/ Charles Muir, & their seminars have inspired over 100,000 readers & 25,000 students. Her forthcoming book, Queen of Hearts provocatively details her maverick life.
Dr. Shauna Shapiro, co-author of The Art & Science of Mindfulness
Shauna L. Shapiro, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University, and previously served as adjunct faculty in Andrew Weil’s Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Shapiro’s research investigates the clinical applications of mindfulness meditation in psychotherapy and health care. She has published over 50 book chapters and journal articles, and is co-author of the forthcoming book, The Art and Science of Mindfulness. Dr. Shapiro is the recipient of the American Council of Learned Societies teaching award, acknowledging her outstanding contributions to graduate education in the area of mindfulness and psychotherapy.
Dr. Peggy La Cerra, Neuroscientist
Peggy La Cerra, PhD is author of The Origin of Minds: Evolution, Uniqueness, and the New Science of the Self and Director of the Center for Evolutionary Neuroscience, a research and educational nonprofit that examines human nature and the human condition from the perspective of an energetic (thermodynamic) evolutionary model of the neurocognitive architecture. She is also a columnist for Spirituality & Health Magazine (‘Our Evolving Selves’) and a neuroscientific consultant to The Baumann Institute.
Bruce Mangan, TSC 2010
Bruce Mangan, Institute of Cognitive and Brain Studies, Barrows Hall UC, Berkeley. Failed war correspondent and actor, Mangan received an interdisciplinary PhD in Cognitive Science and Aesthetics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1991. He has taught there since in various capacities, inaugurating the Scientific Approaches to Consciousness course offered jointly by the Psychology and Cognitive Science departments. Mangan is one of the founding members of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. His research investigates the interface mechanisms that weld conscious and non-conscious processes into a single cognitive system. To this end he has developed a phenomenological method (Convergent Phenomenology) expressly designed to integrate first and third person evidence. William James practiced a nascent version of this approach.
