Events
Wednesday, September 17th - 1pm EDT
What Can We Learn About “Meditation Sickness” from Chinese Buddhism?
Abstract: We know that a certain percentage of people experience adverse side-effects from practicing meditation. While contemporary scientific literature is just beginning to document these phenomena, Buddhist communities across Asia have for millennia warned practitioners about “meditation sickness.” In China, historical writings were explicit about these dangers, not only identifying the symptoms of adverse events, but also explaining why these issues arise and how they can be effectively prevented and treated. What can we learn from reading 1500-year old texts about meditation sickness? Could taking these materials seriously transform the way we think about meditation in the West?
Learning objectives:
Participants will gain a general historical understanding of meditation-related issues and how they have been treated and prevented.
Participants will develop critical thinking skills in the understanding cross-cultural approaches to mental health.
Participants will develop a broadened understanding of meditation in its traditional and historical context and how that can inform our current thinking and research.
Disclosure: Pierce Salguero has no conflicts of interest
This lecture has been approved for 1 APA CE credit.
Cost: $40, financial assistance available
Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary scholar of health humanities who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and crosscultural exchange. He holds a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches courses in Asian religions, history, and health humanities at Penn State University’s Abington College, located near Philadelphia. Dr. Salguero has also been the editor in chief of the journal Asian Medicine: Journal of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine since 2016.
Cheetah House is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Cheetah House maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Thursday, October 9th - 12pm EDT
Serpents Everywhere: Spiritual Emergency and the Varieties of Kundalini Experience
Anya Foxen
Sravana Borkataky-Varma
Abstract: Originally grounded in the South Asian traditions of Goddess Tantra, Kundalini entered the global spiritual landscape as the “Serpent Power.” Often described as a fiery serpent rising up the spine, the term has been applied to a variety of “energy” experiences, some arising from various forms of practice, and others occurring spontaneously. Beginning in the 1970s, in particular, Kundalini became associated with a “syndrome” afflicting those in a state of “spiritual emergency.” This talk provides context for the often challenging nature of Kundalini experience while pushing back at the understanding of such experiences as pathological. While there is no normative Kundalini experience, practitioners who identify their experiences as Kundalini benefit from not only psychological support, but also access to cultural and historical frameworks that allow them to construct a “container” of meaning.
Learning objectives:
Participants will be able to describe the basic historical evolution of Kundalini as a concept.
Participants will be able to identify common features associated with the “standard” model of Kundalini.
Participants will be able to identify and contextualize rhetoric of pathology surrounding Kundalini experience.
Anya Foxen is a historian and comparativist scholar of religion. She is an associate professor of religious studies at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo as well as a research affiliate at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. Her scholarly research focuses on the intersection of South Asian yogic and tantric traditions with Western esotericism and metaphysical spiritualities. Her special areas of interest include embodiment, as well as the interplay of religion and science. She is the author of four books, including Inhaling Spirit: Harmonialism, Orientalism, and the Western Roots of Modern Yoga (2020). Learn more about Anya’s work here.
Sravana Borkataky-Varma is an instructional assistant professor of comparative cultural studies at the University of Houston as well as a research affiliate at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. She is coeditor of Living Folk Religions (2023), among other books. Learn more about Sravana’s work here.
Disclosure: The speakers have no conflict of interest
This lecture has been approved for 1 APA CE credit.
Cost: $40, financial assistance available (Sign up by September 14th using code ‘EBSERPENTS’ for 50% off)
Cheetah House is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Cheetah House maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Wednesday, October 22nd - 12pm EDT
New methods for old traditions: What meditation-related challenges are teaching us about where psychological research methods fall short
Deanna Kaplan, PhD (she/hers) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. Trained as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Kaplan’s work develops and optimizes ambulatory assessment methods for research in clinical science and behavioral medicine, with a particular focus on investigating mechanisms of integrative, mind-body approaches to care. She holds an adjunct appointment in Emory’s Department of Psychology and is appointed faculty for several Emory centers, including the Winship Cancer Institute, Emory Spiritual Health (ESH), the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality (ECPS), and the Advancement of Diagnostics for a Just Society (ADJUST) Center. She also holds an appointment as an adjunct Assistant Professor at Brown University in affiliation with the Center for Digital Health. Dr. Kaplan received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arizona, completed her predoctoral clinical internship at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Brown University, where she received an F32 National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her research has been funded by the NIH, the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance, and the Philanthropic Educational Foundation, among others. Learn more about Deanna’s work here.
Abstract: This talk shares the story and epilogue of the CALM trial, a large NIH-funded clinical trial that tested multiple meditation interventions and found no reliable evidence that they improved participants’ well-being. The most important lessons from this trial weren’t about meditation itself, but about the limits of psychology’s so-called gold-standard methods. Traditional research tools often miss the complex, dynamic realities of daily life—where meditation practice actually happens, and where meditation-related difficulties often also arise. They also struggle to capture patient voices and lived narratives in meaningful ways. In response, my lab has been developing new research tools, including Fabla, a smartphone app that enables participants to securely share voice memos with researchers, offering rich, first-person accounts in real time. This talk will explore the unique challenges of studying meditation-related adverse effects and highlight how Fabla is opening new possibilities for capturing these experiences in meditation research and across a wide range of disciplines.
Learning objectives:
Participants will be able to identify the methodological limitations of traditional psychological research tools in studying meditation practices and related outcomes.
Participants will be able to explain how ecological assessment methods, including voice-based ecological momentary assessment, can address these limitations by capturing real-time, first-person experiences.
Participants will be able to evaluate the unique challenges and opportunities in studying meditation-related adverse effects, and discuss how first-person daily speech narratives can be applied across disciplines to improve research and clinical practice."
Disclosure: Deanna Kaplan has received research funding from: the National Institutes of Health, the Vail Health Foundation, the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, the Sarlo Foundation, and Legacy Health. I have received consultation fees for: the Mind and Life Institute and Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Global Public Health.
This lecture has been approved for 1 APA CE credit.
Cost: $40, financial assistance available (Sign up by September 14th using code ‘EBTRADITIONS’ for 50% off)
Cheetah House is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Cheetah House maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Tuesday, October 28th - 12pm EDT
Meet a Cheetah: Peter Warren
Join this free Q&A between Dr. Willoughby Britton and Peter Warren to learn more about Peter’s personal journey through contemplative practices, adverse affects, and his experiences as a Cheetah House Care Team member.
Postponed: January 16, 2026
The Neuroscience of the Mind-Body Relationship in the Aftermath of Trauma: Implications for Treatment
Abstract: Trauma can have a profound impact on the mind brain body relationship, frequently leaving lasting imprints on both emotional/cognitive and somatic domains of the sense of self. Recent pioneering neuroscience research is beginning to shed light how somatic sensory processing, a key process underlying how the physical body exists and relates to physical space, plays a critical role in how we regulate ourselves in interact with the world around us. These functions are frequently profoundly impaired in the aftermath of trauma, where individuals feel not only estranged from their bodies but also lack a sense of purpose and the ability to take ownership of their actions. How can we work with the traumatized self to restore the sense of self at an emotional/cognitive and somatic level to reunite brain, mind, and body? This workshop will describe an integrative, neuroscientifically-guided approach to facilitate a mind-body connection that was, or was not ever, there before, thereby laying the foundation for the restoration of an embodied self that is capable of feeling fully alive in the aftermath of trauma.
Ruth A. Lanius, M.D., Ph.D. is a Psychiatry Professor and Harris-Woodman Chair at Western University of Canada, where she is the director of the Clinical Research Program for PTSD. Ruth has over 25 years of clinical and research experience with trauma-related disorders. She established the Traumatic Stress Service at London Health Sciences Centre, a program that specializes in the treatment of psychological trauma. Ruth has received numerous research and teaching awards, including the Banting Award for Military Health Research. She has published over 150 research articles and book chapters focusing on brain adaptations to psychological trauma and novel adjunct treatments for PTSD. Ruth regularly lectures on the topic of psychological trauma both nationally and internationally. Ruth has co-authored four books: The Effects of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease: The Hidden Epidemic, Healing the Traumatized Self: Consciousness, Neuroscience, Treatment, and Finding Solid Ground. Ruth is a passionate clinician scientist who endeavours to understand the first-person experience of traumatized individuals throughout treatment and how it relates to brain functioning.
Learning Objectives:
discuss four dimensions of consciousness and their relationship to trauma, dissociation, and meditation-related adverse effects
To be able to describe the relevance of altered states of consciousness for the treatment of trauma-related disorders