Kundalini Splendor

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Saturday, May 08, 2010

Kundallini Research Network Conference 





It occurred to me that I had not posted an updated version of the Kundalini Research Network Conference for quite some time. Here is a more detailed description of the conference that is, as far as I know, the only conference of its kind (offered by an organization rather than an individual presenter) in the country. As I said earlier, it offers a wonderful opportunity for like-minded folk to gather, get acquainted, and share stories with one another.


Kundalini Research Network Presents

Perspectives on Kundalini:
Clinical, Research and Traditional Views


Spring Conference: May 14th-16th, 2010
Friday 7:30-9pm, Sat. 9am-5pm, Sun. 9am-noon

Registration Fee: $150
Register on or before March 15, 2010 for only $125!

To register for the Kundalini Research Network Conference
and for accommodations please contact the Himalayan Institute
by clicking on their name below or calling them directly. Directions to
the Himalayan Institute can be found on their website.

The Himalayan Institute
Honesdale, PA
800-822-4547


Please check the website for updated information as program is subject to change without notice.

This conference will offer participants and presenters the rare opportunity to gather and discuss the powerful impact that yoga and meditation practices, spiritual emergence, transcendent experiences and the transformative power of Kundalini have on individuals. Through keynote presentations and panels of experts we will explore what the process of transformation and change looks like from clinical, research and traditional spiritual and yogic perspectives.

The conference will be held at the wonderful retreat setting of the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA. People attending the conference can also participate in the yoga classes, make use of the relaxing and healing services of their spa and stroll the hiking trails that cross their hundreds of acres of hills and forests. Delicious vegetarian meals are included in the modest accommodation fees for those staying at the Institute. There are also hotels nearby that people can stay at while attending the conference. Accommodations at the Institute and conference registration can be done directly with the Himalayan Institute.



Presenters' Biographies (alphabetical order)

Teri Degler award winning writer, is the author/co-author of ten books - including The Fiery Muse: Creativity and the Spiritual Quest (Random House of Canada) and The Divine Feminine Fire: Creativity and Your Yearning to Express Your Self (Dream River Press USA). Her books have been published in the United States, Canada, and Germany. Known for her sense of humor and the warm, supportive atmosphere in her workshops, Teri has taught in the United States and Canada. She has been featured on many radio and television programs, and her freelance writing has appeared in Family Circle, More Magazine, Today's Parent, The Toronto Star, and many other publications in the U.S. and Canada. Originally from Idaho, Teri has an MA from the University of New Mexico. For more information please visit Teri Degler.

Lawrence Edwards, Ph.D., LMHC, BCIAC EEG Fellow is the President of the Kundalini Research Network. He is on the faculty of New York Medical College and maintains a private practice in Bedford, NY providing biofeedback, psychotherapy, peak performance and meditation training (optimalmind.net). He did his doctoral research on Kundalini in the early 1980's at Temple University where he was honored as a University Scholar. He was the director of a private Jungian psychiatric treatment center in Connecticut. He prepared to become a monk under the guidance of Swami Muktananda and spent years teaching and studying Kundalini yoga in India as well as in the US. He has run ashrams, meditation centers, meditation programs and retreats internationally. He has served 5 terms as President of the Kundalini Research Network. His critically acclaimed book, The Soul's Journey: Guidance From The Divine Within, (www.thesoulsjourney.com) brings together his professional background and his extraordinary personal experiences of mystical states unfolded by Kundalini. It enables readers to grasp their potential for the direct experience of Divine in their own lives. He is also one of the authors in the new anthology published by Sounds True titled Kundalini Rising. This is a compilation of the writings of 24 leading authors in the field of Kundalini, several of whom are also part of the Kundalini Research Network. He also authored "Meditation as Medicine" in the May 2003 issue of the journal ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners in which he discusses the many health benefits of meditation and his research on the practice of mantra and its effects on heart rate variability. He is the founder and director of The Anam Cara Foundation, a non-profit 501 (C) 3 educational organization dedicated to teaching meditative practices to all. He also serves currently as President of the Northeast Regional Biofeedback Society. Dr. Edwards helps people from around the world dealing with Kundalini processes and spiritual emergence. He created a support website: Kundalinisupport.org in addition to all the information and resources made available on Kundalini through his website thesoulsjourney.com.

Penny Kelly is a writer, teacher, consultant, speaker, publisher, and Naturopathic physician. She is the owner of Lily Hill Farm and Learning Center in southwest Michigan where she teaches courses in Developing the Gift of Intuition, Getting Well Again Naturally, and Organic Gardening. She has a small publishing company, Kelly Networks LLC, that publishes books on the subjects of spirituality and health, and she is one of the founding members of the Tipping Point Network. Penny holds a degree in Humanistic Studies from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. a degree in Naturopathic Medicine from Clayton College, Birmingham, AL, and is currently working toward her Ph.D. in nutrition from the American Holistic College of Nutrition. She is the mother of four children and has written several books including: The Evolving Human; Robes - A Book of Coming Changes and Consciousness and Energy, Vol 1, Multi-dimensionality and A Theory of Consciousness. She is a contributing author to Kundalini Rising, published by Sounds True. For more information please visit: www.pennykelly.com

Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Associate Neuroscientist, Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital. Sat Bir S. Khalsa, Ph.D. has been involved in the practice of a yoga lifestyle for over 35 years and is a Kundalini Yoga instructor. He has conducted neuroscience research for over 25 years and is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and is also the Director of Research for the Kundalini Research Institute and the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. His current research is on the effectiveness of yoga and meditation practices and includes studies on yoga for insomnia, music performance anxiety and public schools among others. He has traveled internationally meeting and collaborating with yoga research scientists and assists in coordinating the research component of the annual Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. He is the author of a comprehensive review and analysis of yoga therapy research and he also teaches an elective course at Harvard Medical School in Mind Body Medicine. Dr. Khalsa is also a contributor to the new anthology, Kundalini Rising, published by Sounds True.

Russell Park, Ph.D. is a transpersonal clinical psychologist and neurotherapist in practice in California. He is deeply experienced in working with people going through Kundalini processes and works with his wife, Jyoti Prevatt, Ph.D., running a healing retreat center, Kayumari, in Columbia, California. Dr. Park is co-author of The Power of Humility: From Conflict to Peace (written with Charles Whitfield, Russell Park and Jyoti, HCI 2004). He has been on the faculty of the institute of Transpersonal Psychology for 18 years and integrates biofeedback and neurofeedback into his life-transforming work with people. He teaches internationally along with his wife Jyoti. He is on the board of directors of the Kundalini Research Network.

Dale Pond has been involved in Kundalini Research for more than 30 years and is the corresponding secretary of the Institute for Consciousness Research. In 1975 she was introduced to meditation and spiritual laws and had a transformative experience that changed her life from the inside out. In 1977 she was fortunate to meet Gopi Krishna who shared his understanding of the Kundalini process. Then in 1988 she was blessed with an interior experience that would alter her perceptions about life as we know it and open her up to the hidden realms of our Spiritual Reality.

Paul Pond, Ph.D. is Director of Research for the Institute for Consciousness Research, has a doctorate in physics and has been involved in Kundalini experience and research for more than 30 years. He has written and spoken extensively on the subject. His focus has been on lifestyle issues and their impact on individual spiritual experience. Ever since he was first introduced to and experienced the concept of Kundalini, Paul was struck by the fact that there are laws of consciousness just as there are laws of physics. These “mental” laws operate on a much more subtle level than the physical laws of everyday experience and are contained in the basic tenets of traditional religious and esoteric thought. Kundalini is held to be responsible for mystical experience, genius and other exceptional states of mind.

Jyoti Jean Prevatt, Ph.D is an internationally renowned author, spiritual advisor and psychological consultant. She is one of the founders of the Kundalini Research Network. Her Ph.D. is in Transpersonal Psychology and her training includes two and half years of postgraduate study at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. She is a former director of the Spiritual Emergence Network and co-founder of Kayumari, a healing retreat center in Columbia, California. She experienced Kundalini awakening and subsequent transformative processes that continued for many years. She shares her experience in her book An Angel Called My Name. She and her husband, Russell Park, Ph.D., who is a clinical psychologist and author work with people going through Kundalini processes and spiritual transformation. For more information on Jyoti please visit her website: mothersgrace.com.

Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Ph.D. is the spiritual head of the Himalayan Institute. He has two doctoral degrees, one in Sanskrit from the prestigious University of Allahabad, India and the second from the University of Pennsylvania in oriental studies. He is the successor to Swami Rama and an accomplished yogi deeply learned in the practices and the yogic texts related to hatha yoga, pranayama, Kundalini, tantra, meditation and more. He is the author of numerous books on these subjects and is thoroughly committed to living the ideals and practices of yoga in the world through humanitarian projects, eco-friendly agriculture and renewable energy programs, Ayurvedic medicine and more.

Dorothy Walters, Ph.D., experienced a dramatic and totally unexpected Kundalini awakening in l981,at age 53, while serving as a professor of English literature and women’s studies at Wichita (Kansas) State University. She shared her ongoing experience with almost no one for some 15 years, but kept a journal of her process. This event totally transformed her life, and since then her focus has been on exploring the Kundalini process through her own and others’ experiences. In l988 she took early retirement and moved to San Francisco, where she remained for the following 21 years. While there, she published three books based on her own spiritual awakening: Unmasking the Rose, A Record of a Kundalini Initiation;Marrow of Flame, Poems of the Spiritual Journey and A Cloth of Fine Gold, Poems of the Inner Journey. Dr. Walters also contributed an essay to the anthology Kundalini Rising. She has her own blog, Kundalinisplendor, featuring poetry, writing, photography and creative expressions related to the power of Kundalini in all Her forms. She hears from many people who read this blog and are seeking advice and counsel as to how to proceed on their own Kundalini journey. She serves as unofficial advisor and mentor to many of these, who often have no one else to turn to or are located in remote areas where no qualified teachers or counselors are available. She collaborated with Dr. Edwards in creating the Kundalinisupport.org website.

Barbara Harris Whitfield, RT, CMT is a researcher, therapist and author. She shares a private practice in Atlanta, with her husband Charles Whitfield, MD helping adults who were traumatized as children. She presents workshops on near-death experiences, thanatology (the study of death and dying), and spirituality. Barbara is the author of many articles and books including Full Circle: The Near-death Experience and Beyond (Simon and Schuster 1990), Spiritual Awakenings: Insights of the Near-Death Experience and other Doorways to Our Soul (Health Communications Inc 1995), Final Passage: Sharing the Journey as this Life Ends (HCI 1998), and The Power of Humility: From Conflict to Peace (written with Charles Whitfield, Russell Park and Jyoti, HCI 2004), and The Natural Soul (Muse House Press, January 2010). These books are the result of interviewing hundreds of people on the after effects of their near-death experiences and spiritual awakenings in general. Barbara is also one of the contributors to the new book Kundalini Rising (Sounds True 2009). Barbara has been interviewed on Larry King Live, Good Morning America, Unsolved Mysteries, Oprah, Donahue, CNN Medical News, etc. and appeared in many documentaries for Japan, Germany, France, Belgium, Canada and American Television. She is member of the Board of Directors of KRN and has sat on the executive board of the International Association for Near-Death Studies. She is a consulting editor and contributor for the Journal of Near-Death Studies. For more information please visit www.barbarawhitfield.com.

Charles L. Whitfield, MD, is a pioneer in trauma recovery, including the way we remember childhood and other trauma and abuse. A physician and front-line therapist who assists trauma survivors and spiritual seekers in their healing, he is the author of fifty published articles, and ten best-selling books on trauma psychology and recovery including Healing the Child Within and Alcoholism and Spirituality. He lives and practices addiction medicine, trauma psychology, and holistic psychiatry in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Whitfield is one of the authors in the compilation, Kundalini Rising, published by Sounds True. For more information go to www.cbwhit.com.



Conference Program

Friday Evening: 7:30-9pm

Conference Welcome and Opening: Barbara Whitfield, RT, CMT, Co-Founder and former President of the Kundalini Research Network
President's Address: Lawrence Edwards, Ph.D., BCIAC EEG Fellow and President of the Kundalini Research Network:
"Search and Research: Kundalini Encompasses All"
Networking Time
Saturday Morning - Clinical Views of Kundalini- 9am-Noon

Lawrence Edwards, Ph.D. - case studies of individuals seeking guidance for difficult Kundalini related and unrelated processes drawn from his 35 years of experience working with people.

Barbara Whitfield, RT, CMT - Expanding on her chapter in Kundalini Rising, she describes her experience with kundalini and near-death experiences and what she has learned about the difficulties. She will discuss what she calls a "spiritual bypass" or what happens when we try to ignore the lower levels of consciousness to get to the higher levels. Whitfield also outlines the differences between the voice of the ego and the voice of the soul, asking us to consider this question: Are we able to use the power of humility and compassion to find our True Self during spiritual awakening?

Charles Whitfield, MD - Spiritual Energy: Perspectives from a Map of the Psyche and the Kundalini Recovery Process - Charles Whitfield has worked for decades with people who have had spiritual awakenings and emergencies, using a comprehensive understanding of the psyche, the recovery process, and how they relate to our True Self, Higher Self, and ego. Whitfield outlines the pitfalls or "traps" that those who experience a kundalini awakening may encounter and the stages of recovery they can expect to undergo. He also explores these questions: How can we overcome past traumas brought up by spiritual awakenings? How do we cope with post-traumatic stress or denial when kundalini energy causes these kinds of unconscious issues to resurface? In this talk, he will review and expand on his chapter in the book Kundalini Rising.

Dale Pond - "Kundalini: A Psycho-physiological Response to Spiritual Reality" - In this presentation Dale will intimately share her psycho-physiological responses to the awakening of Kundalini Shakti and how this divine impulse continues to educate her about Spiritual Reality. After an experience in 1988, that she calls "Looking Back Through the Eye of God" an outpouring of spontaneous poetry and music flowed and a "blossoming of her intellect" inspired a passion for reading the lives of mystics and geniuses from all faiths. Through this reading she found understanding and guidance about the interior workings of the spiritual life for which she is forever grateful. To close this presentation she will share a meditation of poetry and music that has been weaved together to open us up to our Spiritual Reality.

Saturday Afternoon - Research Views of Kundalini- 1:30-5pm

Sat Bir S. Khalsa, Ph.D - Yoga Research: Past, Present and Future and from the Mundane to the Transcendent
Yoga was originally a practice for spiritual advancement; for the appropriate channeling of the innate Kundalini energy into the transformation of consciousness into higher and deeper domains. In modern society, yoga has been adopted widely both as a technique for health maintenance, stress management, and well-being enhancement as well as a therapeutic intervention for a variety of disorders. The scientific research in yoga and yoga therapy, past, present and future will be reviewed. This research in general confirms that yoga is indeed an effective mind-body practice that serves as a valuable self-care strategy to maintain health and reduce disease severity. However, there are also yoga and meditation research studies which have elucidated yoga's effects on more subtle psychological and spiritual characteristics. Although this research is in its early stages, it represents a promising future direction for yoga research.

Russell Park, Ph.D. - discussion moderator

Paul Pond, Ph.D. - Kundalini: Evolution, Lifestyle and Epigenetics
This presentation draws on the traditinal concept of Kundalini to illustrate the " biological" impact the process has on the human body and brain. The works of R.M. Bucke and Gopi Krishna are used to explore the evolution of human consciousness in terms of its relation to Kundalini. This relationship underscores the improtance of lifestyl both personally and globally. Finally, recent scientific research is sited to expand our understandin in modern terms of the Kundalini process and our evolutionary potential.

Penny Kelly - Eternity & The End of Time
Understanding the nature of eternity and what is meant by "the end of time" offers us an entirely new way of organizing consciousness and as the same time moves us forward dramatically in the evolution and unfolding of our selves.
Saturday Evening - Kirtan chanting with Satya and Ma Kirtan chanters - 7:30-9pm


Sunday Morning - Traditional Views of Kundalini - 9am-noon

Teri Degler - The Divine Feminine Fire: Shakti's role in creative inspiration and personal transformation. Ancient myths, legends, and texts from Tantra and yoga assert that your longing to know the divine, to become a better person, and to ease the suffering you see around you are related to your desire to express yourself creatively - and all that is fueled by the cosmic feminine force known as Shakti. This talk will explore Shakti's role in evolution, personal transformation, and creative inspiration - and delve into the surprising parallels found in Christianity and Jewish mysticism in Sophia and Shekinah.

Dorothy Walters, Ph.D. - Kundalini and the Elder: A Constant Unfolding. Many descriptions of Kundalini awakening focus on the earlier stages. How does the process change over many years? Can people experience awakening as elders?

Jyoti - Prayer Into Action - We are living in a time that is re-shaping our reality. The Great Mother's Global Awakening takes place through the individual and then spreads into a collective happening that is redefining our global villages. We have now arrived at a time of collaboration, a time of unity between all peoples. This is the time that brings us back to a way of life that is connected to the Earth and embraced by the Heavens. This is a time when the Mother of It All is moving amongst us.

Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Ph.D. - our closing Keynote Speaker will give a presentation titled:Traditional Views of Kundalini And Its Therapeutic Applications in Modern Times



(c) 2001 by the Kundalini Research Network. All rights reserved.

(Image taken from internet--please ignore the referenced website under the image)


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