This thesis proposes a methodology that melds theological inquiry with cinematic analysis ultimately arguing that cinema can serve as a site of mystical encounter. In an age of increasing irrationality, spiritual expression in cinema has shifted from a meditative, passive transcendentalism toward an active, urgent, and often violent mysticism. Drawing on contemporary cinematic examples from...
Indigenous Peoples in North America face distinct barriers to accessing mental health care, including psychedelic assisted psychotherapy (PAT). Although PAT has demonstrated efficacy for treatment-resistant mental health disorders, limited diversity in psychedelic research and the importance of set and setting highlight the need for Indigenous cultural safety (ICS), an approach to care that is...
This dissertation investigated autonomic physiological correlates of two fundamental experiential states: presence and absence. Presence was defined as self-regulated attention to present-moment experience, which is the first component of mindfulness. Absence was defined as a lack of such attention, encompassed by the state of mindlessness or dearth of mindful awareness to the moment. Guided by...
This thesis combines cognitive linguistic and phenomenological approaches to investigate how people communicate the experience of psychosis through memoirs and graphic novels. I start from an understanding of psychotic language as rhetorical, in the sense that it is used to express one’s viewpoint on the world and to change the cognitive states of others; it is not merely ‘word salad’....
This thesis is concerned with three fundamental questions. First, why does North American higher education minimally engage with the existential dimensions of its students (their interests and inquiries regarding the formation of their personal narratives of meaning, moral directions, and a sense of stable identity)? Second, what are the potential psychological and social consequences of such...
The potential psychotherapeutic value of psychedelic drugs has recently generated much scientific and public interest. Many comparative trials have suggested that these drugs can produce significant benefits for individuals suffering from various treatment-resistant psychological disorders. However, recent work in the philosophy of medicine has emphasized the importance of complementing...
Introduction: During a difficult life event, such as dealing with a chronic health condition, practicing acceptance of the difficulty alters the context in which a person views that difficulty. Acceptance of that difficulty reduces negative avoidant emotions that are key aspects of anxiety and depression. Acceptance is a central training feature of many contemplative practices, such as yoga....
Yoga is a popular alternative mental health intervention and an integral component of leading mindfulness-based interventions. Yoga helps with concerns like anxiety and depression (e.g., Field, 2011), but we do not yet understand how it helps. With the aim of developing more potent theoretical models of therapeutic yoga, there have been calls in the literature to explore yoga’s underlying...
In creating the psychokinesis hypothesis, twentieth-century American and British psychical researchers, psychoanalysts, and parapsychologists moved the poltergeist away from centuries of religious and spiritual attribution – that it was actions of unseen spirits of the dead, elementals, or demonic forces – into the realm of scientific boundary-work that explored unseen worlds: the human mind,...
Yoga is a mind-body practice that is widely practiced in North America and has demonstrated physical, mental, and emotional benefits, many of which overlap with the benefits of counselling and psychotherapy. Yoga postures, philosophy, breathing, and meditative practices have begun to be used within the counselling paradigm. However, little research has been done on the use and integration of...
This written thesis presents reflections and analysis of my thesis performance, Room to Breathe: A Retreat for Educators. As both a contemporary theatre practitioner and an educator, my theoretical and practical cross-disciplinary research has culminated in the creation of this interdisciplinary theatre event. Simultaneously a workshop and a work of art, this three-hour evening experience takes...
Stress-impacts, both short and long term, are well-documented occupational “land-mines” that counsellors navigate throughout their careers (Baker, 2003; Guy, Poelstra, & Stark, 1989). Novice therapists and trainees are particularly vulnerable to these effects (Shapiro, Brown, & Biegel, 2007). Protective practices to prevent impairment and distress are paramount; one significant antidote is...
The processes of learning mindfulness were explored in this case study by analyzing the transcripts of teacher-student interactions in the Dialogue and Inquiry periods of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. The following research questions guided the inquiry: What is the process of learning mindfulness through Dialogue and Inquiry of an MBSR course? How does the social learning...
This thesis treats the concept of romantic love in relation to women. It attempts to show that the stereotype of romantic love is a fantasy construction which supplies compensation to women who lack status and identity. The qualifier 'romantic' refers to the ecstasy which is thought to occur within the love experience. This ecstasy was present within the concept of courtly love and it has now...
From 1947 to 1959 the late Oxford philosopher J.L. Austin lectured on several of the main philosophical problems of sense-perception. After his death, his former student, Mr. G.J. Warnock, working from Austin's lecture notes, published Austin's views on the philosophy of perception in a book entitled Sense and Sensibilia. Austin's purposes in lecturing on the philosophical problems of...
This study is of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a religious experience popularly known as speaking in tongues. Our concern is with its role as a transforming experience in the lives of those who witness to it. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, while deeply embedded in Christian tradition, has until recently been a relatively rare phenomenon. There is currently a marked increase in its...
Following training to discriminate their own alpha and non-alpha production, five subjects were tested over five sessions to determine whether EEG alpha autocontrol by this method was similar to that produced in initial meditation practice sessions by five naive meditators. Both groups were compared with a control "resting" group of five subjects. Besides alpha data, an adjective checklist and...
This study is based on analysis of ethnographic literature; personal observation of contemporary spirit dance and healing ceremonies in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia; individual interviews with Coast Salish Indian leaders, ritualists, and other spirit ceremonial participants; and on five years of close contact with the Upper Stalo Indians as physician and regional mental health officer....
Within the field of positive psychology, investigations of human potential and well-being have recently focused on mindfulness, a unique quality of consciousness. Mindfulness has been defined as the practice of being aware of one's thoughts and actions in the present moment, non-judgmentally. Investigations of mindfulness have primarily focused on adult populations and have revealed mindfulness...
This thesis proposes a unified theory for reading and interpreting Leaves of Grass (1891-92), by American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892). This theory proceeds from the premises that spiritual themes are foundational for the poems, and that Whitman's chief poetic aim is to lead readers toward a spiritual understanding of human experience. This theory proposes that the material and spiritual...
The following paper presents a comparative examination of shamanism as practised traditionally among a number of British Columbian Northwest Coast Indian groups. Case studies representing groups about which information is readily available, from each of the six major linguistic divisions in the area, have been presented in terms which indicate the ordered relationships between shamanistic...
The post-war 1920s and 30s were decades of uncertainty in the world, where a resurgence of popular interest in mysticism, magic and other "occult" spiritual practices coincided with the growth of extreme political movements. Between 1927 and 1933, a man known as Brother XII ran a notorious spiritual commune in southern British Columbia, which he identified as the spiritual center of the world....
This thesis attempts to explain some essential aspects of the literature of Henry Miller by concentrating on an explication of three terms as they apply to Miller's novels. The thesis does not take a stance involving a certain critical "distance", that is, it does not deal with an evaluation of the success or failure of his vision, nor with the validity or invalidity of his world. This, I...
Mindfulness-based programs have become popular clinical interventions and are receiving attention in the scientific literature. This qualitative study explored the initial experiences of adolescents with “Sitting Mindfulness Meditation” (SMM: Kabat-Zinn, 1994, 2002), a technique that involves intentionally focusing one’s attention on the physical sensations of the breath while engaging in...
Dream theorists propose that dreams can balance conscious reality, and provide clues to unconscious processes complicating psychosomatic conditions. Little research has been done in the area of dreams and eating disorders. Based on data from a pilot study, and reports of eating-disordered women's dreams in the literature, the researcher hypothesised that eating-disordered women's dreams would...