Social anthropologist, consciousness researcher, Professor at Sofia Univ, and curious explorer of culture, science, and the wonder of it all.

Marilyn Schlitz, Ph.D., M.A.

Dr. Schlitz is an acclaimed social scientist, award-winning author, and charismatic public speaker. She has conducted clinical, laboratory and field-based research into consciousness, human transformation, and healing. Her books include Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life; Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind Body Medicine; and Death Makes Life Possible (and companion film by same title). Having taught at Stanford, Harvard, and Trinity University, she is currently Chair of the doctoral program in Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University, CEO/President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Schlitz has published hundreds of articles in scholarly journals and popular publications, and has lectured extensively in diverse venues, including the United Nations, Smithsonian Institution, Commonwealth Club, and community groups across the world.

Blog

09 Dec

Posted at 09:00h in Featured, healthcare

[video width="532" height="432" mp4="http://marilynschlitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Untitled.mp4"][/video] Welcome to Part 3 of this blog series that explores the many cultural and religious perspectives on healing. Using video excerpts from two DVDs, Consciousness & Healing, and Compassionate Intention, Prayer, and Distant Healing, this series illuminates the diversity of perspectives and the common threads that unite the many distinct approaches to healing. In the video excerpt above Nancy Maryboy, who is Navajo and Cherokee and has a doctorate in Native American cosmology, shares Native perspectives on distant healing. She tells us that while there may be spatial differences between on-site versus distant (e.g. across the country) healing,...

05 Dec

Posted at 09:00h in Featured, healthcare, News and Press

Centuries ago, adventurers exploring the frontiers of our planet discovered, again and again, that they lived in a wider world than previously assumed. During this period, the art of mapmaking made tremendous strides. Fictitious lines of latitude and longitude became as important to navigators as the force of currents and the direction of winds. Perceptions of the world changed as new tools were discovered and new ideas unfolded. More recently, the quest to understand the universe and our place in it follows a similar pushing of boundaries with its own inventive mapmaking. New maps are being made to reflect new discoveries....

01 Dec

Posted at 09:00h in Featured, healthcare

[video width="576" height="432" m4v="http://marilynschlitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/clip-2.m4v"][/video] Welcome to Part 2 of this blog series that explores the many cultural and religious perspectives on healing. Using video excerpts from two DVDs, Consciousness & Healing, and Compassionate Intention, Prayer, and Distant Healing, this series illuminates the diversity of perspectives and the common threads that unite the many distinct approaches to healing. In the video excerpt above we hear from two unique healing worldviews -- Sufi and Johrei. Arife Hammerle, a pyschotherapist and Sufi teacher, describes how the process of meditation and prayer aligns the healer to the purity of the divine and enables him or her to transfer...

24 Nov

Posted at 09:00h in Featured, healthcare

[video width="720" height="480" m4v="http://marilynschlitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/clip-1.m4v"][/video] Welcome to Part 1 of a blog series exploring diverse cultural and religious perspectives on healing. The series is based on interviews I conducted with masters and teachers from the world’s traditions. This unique series will illuminate the diverse approaches to healing as well as the common threads that unite the many distinct practices that connect consciousness, healing and transformation. In this first video Sylver Quevedo, MD, a professor of comparative healing, speaks of compassion as a defining quality of healers across traditions. Steven Aung, MD, reflects on "loving kindness" and the importance of the mental state of the...

25 Jun

Posted at 10:00h in Featured

The Mindful Life Conference was a gathering of eminent thought leaders delivering contemplative talks and workshops in Tallberg, Sweden. I had the privilege of joining these individuals as a presenter. My talk spoke to the potential that is created through the evolution and transformation of consciousness. You can hear this presentation in its entirety by clicking the image below. Enjoy! ...

22 Jun

Posted at 10:00h in Featured, News and Press

I have presented at various conferences and events around the world in the past year. At one conference, in Sweden, I also sat down for a filmed dialogue about the nature of consciousness. Joining me were Lothar Schafer and Anna Bornstein, both pioneering minds in the realm of consciousness theory. Please click below to enjoy this compelling conversation from the Mindful Life Conference 2014. You can also view a trailer for the conference itself by clicking here. ...

19 Jun

Posted at 11:31h in Featured, News and Press, Research, Transformation

Recently the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies (IJTS) published a paper I co-wrote titled: "Engagement in a Community-Based Integral Practice Program Enhances Well-being." The article reports on a study examining a wellness intervention and its effect on health outcomes. In publication for over 30 years, the IJTS is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the California Institute of Integral Studies, and serves as the official publication of the International Transpersonal Association. Participants in the study used a community-based program called Integral Transformative Practice (ITP) and provided questionnaire data before, during, and after the one-year period in the program. Significant improvements were seen in overall health,...

12 Jun

Posted at 14:09h in Death and Afterlife, Death Makes Life Possible, Featured, Transformation

The following is an audio excerpt taken from the audio learning course “Living the Noetic Life: Transformation and Healing at the Convergence of Science and Spiritual Practice.” Produced by Sounds True, this learning course offers a new worldview for fully perceiving and engaging with life. Marilyn Schlitz, author of Death Makes Life Possible, shares how grief and grieving can guide us to embrace the flow of life's transitions, let go of fear and accept the beauty of change. Understanding our own perspectives on loss can enable us to see and use grief itself as a transformative tool that connects us with deeper parts of ourselves. Ultimately,...

05 Jun

Posted at 14:28h in Featured, Transformation

The following is an audio excerpt taken from the audio learning course "Living the Noetic Life: Transformation and Healing at the Convergence of Science and Spiritual Practice." Produced by Sounds True, this learning course offers a new worldview for fully perceiving and engaging with life. In this audio excerpt I invite you to explore the aging process in a conscious way by cultivating love, happiness and wisdom.   [audio mp3="http://marilynschlitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/11-Cultivating-Love-Happiness-and-Wisdom.mp3"][/audio] If you would like to hear more, click here to purchase the CD....

30 May

Posted at 10:00h in Death and Afterlife, Death Makes Life Possible, Featured

I first met Rick Hanson at a small café in Mill Valley, California. The founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, Hanson is a psychologist who studies evolutionary neuropsychology. Given his background, it isn’t surprising that Hanson’s understanding of death is informed by a big picture of the natural cycle of life: Death clears the way for young to come forward, and it enables a species itself to adapt and improve itself over time. In other words, if members of the species do not die, the species could not evolve. So, we’re sitting here today, 3.5 billion years...

25 May

Posted at 10:00h in Death and Afterlife, Death Makes Life Possible, Featured

[caption id="attachment_1926" align="alignleft" width="150"] Betsy MacGregor[/caption] Conversations about death may be frightening, because death touches each of us at very unique personal and emotional layers of experience. Such conversations may also be deep and transformative. Betsy MacGregor, MD, is especially sensitive to the complexities of how we think and talk about death. She worked in a busy city hospital for three decades, caring for seriously ill patients. In particular, she has focused on how her own profession relates to end-of-life issues. “Until people in the healthcare professions really begin to look at their relationship to death and to dying, they don’t bring themselves...

20 May

Posted at 18:16h in Death and Afterlife, Death Makes Life Possible, Featured

[caption id="attachment_1919" align="alignleft" width="99"] Lee Lipsenthal[/caption] Someday you will face your own mortality. At that moment, I hope you see that your life has been well led, that you hold no regrets, and that you loved well. On that day, I hope that for you, it has become a good day to die. - Lee Lipsenthal, Enjoy Every Sandwich Lee Lipsenthal was fifty-three years old when he was told by his doctor that he was dying. He’d been living with esophageal cancer for two years. After a dance with remission, the disease had returned full force. As a physician who was married to...

24 Apr

Posted at 14:14h in Death and Afterlife, Death Makes Life Possible, Featured, Transformation

Experiences that bring us close to death have an enduring impact on our lives. Marilyn Schlitz, author of the Death Makes Life Possible book, will be interviewed on the popular radio program Coast-to-Coast AM about how these experiences have the power transform. Tune in on Wednesday April 29th from 10:00PM to 12:00AM to hear the insightful conversation. You may also enjoy the following Death Makes Life Possible book excerpt which explores these themes.   Simon Lewis was a rising film producer. With the production of Look Who’s Talking under his belt, he had set up a deal for Nick Nolte’s next...

27 Feb

Posted at 10:24h in Death Makes Life Possible, News and Press, Transformation

Earlybird Rates End February 28th CLICK HERE TO REGISTER The Science of Being. The Spirit of Community. July 22 – 26, 2015 Hilton Oak Brook Hills Resort near Chicago Picture yourself at an inspiring gathering of fellow explorers and like-minded friends. The menu of options speaks to your deepest passions, and luminaries from science, the environment, and wisdom traditions spark new insights. Music, dance, conversations that matter, and exercises that help deepen your experience are woven into a rich tapestry of renewal and transformation. You share your dreams and your vision, find inspiration, celebrate, reorient toward your deepest purpose, and take away tools you can...