cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
September 18, 2026
Jacob Noah Pascoe
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
September 4, 2026
Lakoda Thomas
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
September 4, 2026
Lisa Anne van den Beld
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
July 10, 2026
Joshua Levesque
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’....
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2018
Andrew Jones
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2016
Christopher Laursen
2 citations
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,...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2011
Brenda Lee Dyer
2 citations
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2011
Donald David Todd
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2011
Julia Ann Warrington
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2011
Grace Mairi McIntyre Jorgensen
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2011
Bābak Farzāneh
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2011
Wolfgang G. Jilek
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....
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2011
Amanda Klang
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....
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2011
Mariann June Catherine Lythgoe
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2011
Molly Stewart Lawlor
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2010
S Brink
1 citation
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...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2010
Wayne Gary Kreger
This paper aims to compare and contrast the concepts of “delusion” and “knowledge” as found in the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi and the Platform Sūtra. Employed in this analysis is the methodology of conceptual metaphor analysis, a method that identifies the source domain for metaphors employed in the dissemination of both doctrine and mystical experience. By acknowledging their metaphorical...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2010
Gary Nixon
A single case study research format was used to understand what happens when Western people are involved in meditation over a long period of time. This research examines what problems are faced in integrating meditation into a modern Western style of living. In this single case study of the long term process of meditation, the co-researcher was interviewed for his account of his twelve year...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2010
Rosanna Rachelle Ferrer
The increase of community home care nurses' work stress has been identified as more acutely ill patients discharged into the community create greater demand based on larger case loads with more complex case management. Surprisingly, no research to date has evaluated stress reduction interventions which claim to protect community home care nurses' from the long-term effects of work stress. The...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2010
Sallie B. King
This thesis is a translation, with notes and introduction, of the Commentary to the Hua-yan Dharma-realm Meditation, This text is a commentary to the Dharma-realm Meditation, which is incorporated into the former. The core text is by the first patriarch of the Hua-yan school of Buddhism in China, Du-shun (557-64-0); the commentary is by the fifth patriarch of the Hua-yan school, Zong-mi...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2010
David Neil Cox
Heart rate, respiration, skin conductance, muscle activity, cephalic vasomotor activity and electroencephalograph measurements were obtained from twenty-four subjects in order to test the hypothesis that the practice of Transcendental Meditation is associated with a hypometabolic state. Sixteen of the subjects were experienced practitioners of Transcendental Meditation and were randomly divided...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2010
Eleanor Rogers
Current literature in the field of counselling psychology shows a great deal of interest in spirituality, meditation techniques, and how these may be more fully included in counselling practice. There are very few studies that examine contemplative practices such as Christian Centering Prayer, and very few that look at professionals who hold these practices. The purpose of this study is to...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2009
Winifred Anne Bruce
3 citations
Mind-body approaches such as mindfulness meditation are increasingly incorporated into health care. Despite a growing interest in mindfulness, its Buddhist philosophical underpinnings remain unexplored in nursing. Without an awareness o f the nondualistic assumptions embedded in mindfulness and Buddhism, interpretations of this Eastern practice are limited. This inquiry engages Buddhist...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2009
Gordan Djurdjevic
3 citations
The Nāth Siddhas are North Indian yogis with tantric associations who claim guru Gorakhnath, their founding adept, to be an incarnation of the god Śiva. They strive to obtain the eternal body through a regime of yogic practices, which are aimed at transmutation of sexual fluids into elixir. The masters of this yoga are the siddhas, the possessors of the siddhis, which are occult powers that...
cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
2009
Chuck MacKnee
1 citation
This qualitative study explored the meaning and description of profound sexual and spiritual connection among practising Christians. Investigations of the conditions and events that led to these peak encounters as well as the aftereffects of such experiences were also conducted. It was purposed that this research would enhance understanding of sexual and spiritual connection, inform theories of...