The Cuyamungue Institute is very fortunate to have the following advisors — they have joined us to support our mission by sharing with us their insights and experiences in developing needed and effective programs. Thank you for your support!
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Christine VanPool, Professor / Cultural Anthropologist at the University of Missouri Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Missouri Christine’s work with her husband Todd, a cognitive anthropologist who also teaches at the University of Missouri, encompasses archeological field work at ancient sites in MesoAmerican and the American Southwest. They have presented and published at several academic venues. The VanPools along with Laura Paul recently published a paper and are collaborating on more, are compiling a database to compare our practice with others, and the VanPools initiated our recent visit to the University of Missouri’s Neuro Research lab for EEG tests on the physiological shift during our practice. They are frequent guests on Conversation4Exploration, and our Community Leadership Roundtable Events. |
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Todd VanPool, Professor / Cognitive Anthropologist at the University of Missouri Todd studies the evolution and cognitive structure of religion and its relationship to pilgrimages, social status, economic organization, and cultural stability and change. Much of his research has focused on the archaeology of the ancient North American Southwest, especially the late prehistoric occupation of the Casas Grandes region of Chihuahua, Mexico, and southernmost New Mexico. Along with Christine VanPool, he is exploring how trance can be initiated with and without entheogens. |
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Tony Hull, Adjunct Professor of Physics and Astronomy at University of New Mexico
Tony Hull is the architect of a NASA study for a large space observatory in ultraviolet astrophysics, led the team that polished the mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope, served as NASA technologist for Terrestrial Planet Finder for direct imaging of exoplanets. Tony’s extensive fieldwork and research at Chaco Canyon National Park and other archaeoastronomy sites cites evidence for use of gnomons to align buildings with the cardinal points. Tony is a frequent guest on Conversation4Exploration. |
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Brian Tucker, Chair, Global Consciousness Committee at the Cuyamungue Institute Cuyamungue Institute (CI) is a leading organization dedicated to advancing the understanding of human consciousness through rigorous research and impactful outreach initiatives. Guided by Brian, CI is committed to fostering global awareness and innovative approaches to explore the depths of consciousness. Brian guides CI in outreach projects to help identify the institute’s contributions and align with other organizations on a similar mission to foster a sustainable and flourishing world that recognizes humanity’s interconnectedness with all life. Respecting all relevant disciplines, experiences, understandings, and available resources, As the chairperson for CI’s Global Collective Consciousness Project, Brian collaborates in an inclusive process that synthesizes with the world community of changemakers, who are contributing to the growing evidence of a Global Collective Consciousness. |
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Liv Russo, Chair of the Intergenerational Outreach Committee at the Cuyamungue Institute Liv Russo is a budding social scientist from Birmingham, Alabama with a Bachelor Degree in Sociology, and a double minor in Anthropology and Psychology. Her research focus spans collegiate-level pedagogical methods, ethnic diasporas, media, and historic and contemporary Civil Rights in America, and she has a passion for using research findings as a tool for developing public policy and cultivating awareness.Liv suggests that embracing generational diversity goes beyond mere inclusion—it might be the key to innovation, unity and addressing the growing divisiveness in today’s society. Every generation brings valuable knowledge and perspectives, which can lead to new opportunities for collective growth and learning. Liv is joining the changemakers of all ages who are gearing up to help make a better world. As part of supporting the Cuyamungue Institute’s Global Collective Consciousness Project, Liv is focused on intergenerational communication and implementing strategies to enhance collaboration and connection to the global community. |
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Frederick M. Smith, Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Classical Indian Religions, University of Iowa Fred Smith spent sixteen years in India, and a long career at the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures, a unit of the Division of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Fred is a member of the CI Community and frequent guest on C4E, and working with us on a special project exploring yogic postures in context of Ritual Body Postures. |
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Cherilynn Morrow is an astronomer, solar astrophysicist, and former NASA Educator Cherilynn is the director of the Public Engagement (or Outreach) program embedded in NASA’s PUNCH mission. PUNCH (Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere) is designed to study the Sun’s outer corona and the space weather of the entire inner heliosphere as a unified system. Cherilynn served as a Project Director in the Education Division of the SETI Institute. She is the leader of international education and public outreach for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to be launched in fall 2008. |
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Geert Mayer, Associate Professor in Neurology at the Philipps University in Marburg, former Director of the Hephata Klinik in Schwalmstadt-Treysa, Germany. For 25 years Geert worked with sleep disorders, specializing in psychiatry, psychotherapy and neurology, with degrees in German and European sleep medicine, epilepsy and EEG. His analysis from his practice of Ritual Postures is that we enter “the hybrid state of a waking dream, where both the waking and dreaming mind are activated and converse.” |
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Thomas Riccio, Professor of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Texas, Dallas Thomas combines Ritual Body Postures with ethnography, drama therapy, aesthetic production, activism, education, and cultural development. He has created performances while conducting research with numerous indigenous groups worldwide, in South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Russia, Alaska, Korea, India, and Nepal. In his recent articles, film, and book, he cites his introduction to Ritual Postures during a week-long visit with Dr. Goodman, and insights gleaned in conversations with us on his many interviews as a guest on Conversation4Exploration. |
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Lawson Malnory, Ethnomusicologist Lawson is a musician, arts manager, singer-songwriter, filmmaker, and percussionist trained in orchestral, popular, and world music, and earned his MA in Ethnomusicology at Arizona State University, conducting research on the relationship between sound and altered states of consciousness. His dissertation featured his experience with Ritual Postures, and his talks for Conversation4Exploration explored the correlation between rhythmic sounds found in our natural environment, as inspiration for many indigenous musical instruments, and the effect on shifts in consciousness. |
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Brian Tucker, Chairperson, CI’s Global Consciousness Committee Brian is guiding CI in research and outreach projects within our community to help our members identify and actualize our individual and collective skills to contribute to the advancement of our world at this critical stage of planetary evolution. He is also aligning with other organizations on a similar mission to foster a sustainable and flourishing world that recognizes humanity’s interconnectedness with all life, and to respect all relevant disciplines, experience, understanding, and available resources, collaborating in an inclusive process that allows the synthesis with the world community that addresses global collective consciousness. |
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Barbara Cox, Founder & Principal, Photokunst.com Barbara founded Photokunst to help shape the careers and work of fine art, cause-oriented photographers. She packages and markets their work in art books, exhibits, and presentations for publishers, galleries, museums, collectors and events worldwide, and she consults worldwide for archival, institutional, and private art collections, exhibitions, publications, film, social media, and content delivery in a wide array of mediums. Barbara has invited us and is advising us on creating a multi-media, experiential museum exhibit on Ritual Postures. |