THE CUYAMUNGUE INSTITUTE
Experience Education Exploration
Cuyamungue, The Felicitas D. Goodman Institute is an independent, 501c3 not-for-profit educational organization committed to the study of “ASC” Altered States of Consciousness as a natural extension of the human experience. Our focus is reflected in three main areas: Experience, Education and Exploration.
The Cuyamungue Institute is the international headquarters for the practice of Ecstatic Postures, established by anthropologist Dr. Felicitas D. Goodman and has provided the home for the discovery and experiences of Ritual Body Postures for over five decades.
Experience: The Ritual Body Postures. The tradition of expanding consciousness via direct experience provided by the practice of postures. This is Embodied Spirituality. We are committed to transforming consciousness through the ancient wisdom of Ecstatic Trance Postures and are committed to the study of “ASC” Altered States of Consciousness as a natural extension of the human experience.
Education: Research. Current understanding of the fields of Trance, ASC and consciousness via Anthropology, Archeology, Wisdom traditions, Psychology, neuroscience, physiology and more. Empowering, engaging, informing, and inspiring people. Provide universal access and facilitate personal development, both through direct experience and sharing studies for learning, service, and leadership. Support research projects that assist in fulfilling our mission as an educational institution. Devoted to academic balance, distinguished by the creative interplay of direct experience, teaching and scholarship. The creative pursuit of science while advancing, conserving and restoring the deeper human connection to all life.
Exploration: As part of our mission is to promote the exploration via educational outreach. Advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects. “C4E” Conversation4Exploration: the continued exploration into trance states, consciousness and human experience – broaden the scope of our work to the latest discoveries and theories. Pushing the envelope of Self Discovery – “Moving the Dial with Dialogue” — Laura Lee
About This Work
Ritual Body Postures. Ancient Technique for Safe, Natural Physiological Shift into Direct Experience of the Eternal Now and Ancestral Wisdom – commonly thought of as an avenue of “Embodied Spirituality.” Embodied spirituality refers to the idea that spirituality is not separate from our physical bodies and experiences but is instead intimately intertwined with them. It is a perspective that recognizes the physical body as a vessel for spiritual experience and growth, and emphasizes the importance of incorporating the body into one’s spiritual practice.
This Sunday, September 17th 9-11AM Pacific / Noon-2PM Eastern
Noosphere: Global Connection of Humanity
Brian Swimme Ph.D, Monica DeRaspe-Bolles
The Noosphere refers to the sphere of thought that encompasses the Earth. Its name is derived from the Greek words “noos” meaning mind and “sphaira” meaning sphere. This concept represents the third stage of Earth’s development, following the geosphere (comprising rocks, water, and air) and the biosphere (encompassing all living things). The three spheres are interconnected and build upon one another in a symbiotic relationship. For instance, life in the biosphere relies on the geosphere for essential elements such as matter, water, and air. Similarly, the Noosphere is dependent on the biosphere, as it finds its expression through living brains, including those of human beings, and our technological advancements.
In essence, the Noosphere can be perceived as the emergence of a planetary superorganism, which integrates geological, biological, human, and technological activities into a new and elevated level of planetary functioning. This interconnected network fosters a profound exchange of ideas, knowledge, and understanding among all life forms on Earth, leading to a collective consciousness that influences the course of planetary evolution.
Brian Swimme is co-founder and Director of the Center for the Story of the Universe and the Third Story of the Universe at Human Energy, a public benefit organization, and a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, and host and co-creator of PBS’s Journey of the Universe. Monica DeRaspe-Bolles is the co-writer of The Story of the Noosphere, a series of short videos “exploring the ways humanity is building the nervous system of a super-organism.”
Every Sunday:
Join the conversation as we talk with the leading edge of new discoveries. We go exploring, and its a big universe out there! To broaden the scope of our work, we look to the latest research in neuroscience, anthropology, archeology, archaeoastronomy, eco-spirituality, ecology, philosophy, psychology, mythology, shamanism, ritual, the heroes journey, the roots of theatre, deep history, art history — from the arts to the sciences. That’s why we call this forum Conversation4Exploration.
Our Mission
Our mission at the Cuyamungue Institute is to introduce, sustain, and support the practice and research of trance states we believe were once widely enjoyed by our early, indigenous ancestors worldwide. A tradition lost through the millennia on our march to our modern day, it was the daring and insightful work of anthropologist Felicitas D. Goodman who revived the practice. She looked to some of the oldest, most authentic records we have — the world’s collection of early and indigenous art — and decoded selected artifacts as “ritual instructions”.
For over fifty years, students of the Cuyamungue Institute have employed the simple “access codes” Goodman rediscovered for a natural, easy, drug-free physiological shift into ecstatic states. The term “ecstatic” is an appropriate description for both the experience of blissful oneness with the Universe at large, as well as the dramatic surge of beta-endorphins, the body’s internally manufactured biochemicals support states of well-being and joy, that we see in lab tests of this process. If you have ever had a daydream, you can easily slip into this trance state. “Waking dream” is also an apt term for this state, characterized in EEG tests by the highly unusual combination of Beta plus Theta Waves.
Unusual in that Theta Waves, the brain waves of that delicious mystical dream state, are not ordinarily simultaneously present with Beta Waves, the dominant brain waves of daily waking life. So we know something out of the ordinary is happening with this trance state — out of the ordinary, yes, but within the realm of normal and natural.
This is a unique, specific physiological shift, surprisingly easily achieved, and once known, enjoyed, valued and held sacred by early societies. While today the general consensus is that only mystics can achieve this mystical state, early societies held that everyone had equal access, and those who could not were the exception, not the norm..
It is all about the experiences…
It Works
The reports of thousands of participants have confirmed that ordinary people can have quite extraordinary visionary experiences. Mystical experiences are not for mystics only, but for all of us! The Cuyamungue Method of Ecstatic Trance Postures is a technique with a 40,000 year track record, handed down through time from our earliest ancestors, who recorded ritual instructions in selected artworks the world over. We invite you to join us, and see for yourself!
We may ask, just how ETP works as readily and profoundly as it does? Do we bend our limbs to a specific configuration as we bend an antennae to amplify a specific frequency? Do we activate meridians, chakras, organs or neuronal pathways by placing our hands just so?
What and where is the “Alternate Reality” we enter — is it just between our ears, or are we for a brief spell crossing a magical threshold into a realm where the Universe may speak with us directly? Its dialects are many: direct knowing, visions, gestures, symbols, downloads of energy, emotional resolution, deep insights… all in a spirit journey writ large with meaning and wonder. Why does it feel like a territory we know? As though, having answered its call… we’ve been here before. Our soul knows this language, this place, the beings we meet. And they know us, better than we know ourselves.
Ultimately, while each of us must answer this for ourself, it’s certainly more fun to share our journeys with one another, to ponder it all together. We invite you to join the CI Circle!
“Mystical experiences are achievable via a normal and natural physiological shift, easily accessible to everyone with a healthy nervous system. Such states are our birthright, independent of any belief system or dogma. Mystical states are not for mystics only — they are for all of us, and have been for the entirety of human existence. This our ancestors knew well, and handed us the keys.”
Laura Lee
Practitioners enjoy many benefits
- Feelings of strength
- Reduced anxiety and stress
- The opening of inner portals for continued communication with the greater Universe
- Increase in positivity and synchronicities
- Sense of well-being lasting for hours
- Sense of oneness with all things, the Universe
- Sense of acceptance and belonging
- Awakened creativity
- Aid in memory and concentration
- Have positive immune system responses
- Enhance communication – better understanding and relationship with people in your life
- Support peace of mind
- feelings of comfort, and release of anxiety.
- feelings of expansion – greater intuitive insights into ones life.
