Integral Yoga Events in USA -

Psychology in the Light of Sri Aurobindo's Vision

October, 1999
Mt. Tremper, New York

ANNOUNCEMENT: Invitation to participate in the first International Conference on Integral Psychology.
PURPOSE: To bring together all those interested in IP to discuss our work and share experiences.
DATES: Friday afternoon October 15, through Sunday October 17, 1999.
LOCATION: Matagiri, a Sri Aurobindo Center in Mt. Tremper, NY, near Woodstock.
EVENTS: Talks, small group activities, panel discussions, experiential exercises based on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
LODGING: At local motels near Matagiri. Rooms run about $70 per night.
FOR MORE INFO: Contact Michael Miovic at mmiovic@pol.net with any questions, feedback, and especially suggestions for events and small group activities. For help with accommodations near Matagiri, contact Julian Lines at Jhl@aol.com or telephone 914-679-5358.

FULL TEXT OF ANNOUNCEMENT: Last winter we sent around a questionnaire regarding a conference in Integral Psychology tentatively scheduled for next fall. We are now pleased to announce that we have obtained funding for the event and will thus proceed with our first International Conference on Integral Psychology.

The theme of the conference will be "Integral Psychology: Future Psychology in the Light of Sri Aurobindo's Vision." It will be a two and a half day event held over the weekend of Friday October 15 through Sunday October 17, 1999, at Matagiri. For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of visiting Matagiri, it is a Sri Aurobindo center located in an enchanting rustic setting in the Catskill mountains in upstate New York, near Woodstock. Sam and Eric, who co-founded the center some 30 years ago, have recently completed a new Library building there and have generously offered to let us use the space for our conference. We will also have access to other meeting rooms in and around Matagiri, and will be privileged to be able to intersperse our work with meditations in the presence of Sri Aurobindo's relics.

The purpose of the conference is to gather together all those who are interested in Integral Psychology and foster a greater working alliance. Since most of us have yet to meet each other in person and crystallize a fully engaged working community, the participants of this first conference will be limited to those who have both an active familiarity with the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and an ongoing interest in some field of modern psychology. This year we hope to have about 30-40 people attend. In later years we can expand the scope of conferences as we grow.

We are putting a lot of thought to the content and structure of the conference, and although the details will be modified based on feedback we get from you, the participants, the general plan is as follows: we will start with informal introductions and sharing on Friday afternoon, for those who arrive early. Formal introductions and opening presentations begin Saturday morning, and activities will run through the rest of the weekend and conclude on Sunday afternoon. We plan to have 1-2 short lectures each day, not to exceed one hour total per day. The purpose of these will be to set the stage for later small-group discussions and to delineate key issues and questions in the field of Integral Psychology. Some of these talks will be given by two members of the Ashram in Pondicherry who will be attending. Matthijs Cornelissen, known to many from the online Psych Forum, will address issues of Methodology in IP research. He works for the Ashram Archives and has an extensive background in modern psychology. Dr. Soumitra Basu, who is one of the editors of NAMAH, the ashram's journal for alternative medicine, will also attend. He is a practicing psychiatrist in Calcutta and has a wealth of knowledge to share with the group. He will help outline for us key areas for further exploration. One or two other members of our group may also give a formal presentation, including Don Salmon, who has been deeply involved in the development of the Psych Forum.

The rest of the conference will be organized around a series of small-group discussions and activities counterbalanced with plenary session discussions in which insights and experiences elaborated in the small groups can be woven together in a larger tapestry of emerging consciousness. We hope that this back-and-forth movement between small and large groups will make the conference lively, interactive, and experiential. As much as possible, we would like people to participate in an active fashion and get to know each other well.

The precise content and duration of the small group meetings remain to be determined, and we would greatly appreciate feedback and suggestions in this regards. A brief list of possible topics collected thus far includes:

Growth exercises based on Mother's teachings
Relationship between Integral Psychology and Yoga
Planes and Parts of the Being
Developmental Stages
Experiential Research
Integral Psychotherapy (methods and theory)
Flower Essence Therapy
Psychopathology from the perspective of Yoga
Role playing a model therapy session (or discussing a videotape of a real therapy session)
Methodology and Epistemology

One way we definitely plan to use some of the small-group time is for the various "working groups" which have developed on the internet Psych Forum. This will be a chance for these groups to consolidate work accomplished to date, set goals for the future, and share both of these with the whole community during the plenary discussions. Another way we may use the small group time is to explore experiences with specific psychological exercises which participants may agree to practice for some time before the conference, i.e., Mother's method of reviewing one's day in the light of the psychic being or highest ideal before going to bed.

However, we do want to assure people that neither prior preparation of any kind nor participation in the online Psych Forum is a prerequisite for coming to the conference. We do understand that people have a variety of learning styles, interests, and preferences, and we very much want to respect each persons inner calling and movement toward the Light of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The aim of the conference, really, is to foster a rich interweaving and interconnection of many souls moving individually and collectively towards a many-sided multitudinous realization of the One manifested in a harmonious diversity of work and action. So, whatever be the nature of your participation in this process, you are welcome.

We expect that the final outcome of this conference will be the formation of an active working community dedicated to the study of Integral Psychology, the formulation of guiding principles to inform the development of a new science of consciousness, one or several publications to summarize our findings, and an agenda for further work and research.

Finally, please note that we have purposefully scheduled the conference at a particularly beautiful time of year. The Catskills will be in high autumn, with the leaves in their supramental stage of incendiary golds, oranges, and reds. Since this is a popular time for tourists, we suggest that you plan ahead and make reservations early. Rooms run around $70 per night for a double, and we will be asking $60 per day for participation in the conference to help cover custodial fees and catered lunches. Dinners will be separate, but we do plan to dine as a group on Saturday night.

If you are interested in attending the conference, or have suggestions as to its structure and content, please contact me via e-mail. For help with reservations for rooms near Matagiri, contact either myself (Michael Miovic at mmiovic@pol.net or Julian Lines at Jhl@aol.com. The core planning group for this project comprises several members of the Boston Study Group (John Schlorhaus, Will Moss, Susan Curtiss, and Michael Miovic), and Don Salmon. We welcome your comments and feedback! Michael Miovic Boston Study Groupil: mmiovic@pol.net).

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Last modified on May 18, 1999