Cheetah House First Do No Harm Meditation Safety Training

LEVEL 2: FOUNDATIONS

The Foundations series takes a deep dive into different types of meditation-related challenges (phenomenology), including fear and terror states, traumatic re-experiencing, energy-like somatic experiences (ELSEs), visual hallucinations, delusion-like ideation, changes in sense(s) of self, and meditation-induced dissociation. 

The foundations series consists of 4 parts: two on phenomenology (A +B) one on cultural comptencies (C), and one on interpersonal dynamics, power, and control (D)

Level 2A reviews the most common presentations of hyperarousal and hypoarousal symptoms, namely fear, anxiety, terror, traumatic re-experiencing and dissociation.
Level 2B reviews more unusual experiences that require more nuanced consideration of both biomedical and culture or tradition-specific explanations.

The Foundations cultural context (2C) module includes sessions on the historical Buddhist view(s) of “meditation sickness” and the role of Buddhist Modernism,  and influencing factors, including the role of worldviews, and criteria for distinguishing between “progress” and pathology and when to intervene.

Each module is comprised of a didactic component, which includes a journal article and video lecture, followed by a group discussion with a faculty member.