This program begins with the presenters offering a conversation about what they hope to accomplish regarding the personal and relational context of neohumanism as we strive to put into action a more benevolent sense of responsibility for others and ourselves.
Linda Baker then does a “presence” exercise to begin the internal work. The presence exercise will be a way to become present to the circles of systems around us starting with our community system then walking into a smaller circle of family/close relationship systems and then walking into becoming present with ourselves.
Sid Jordan follows with a visualization and meditation introduced as a internal means of coping with your emotions in a resilient manner and caring for yourself with the positive transformative power of meditation.
Marcus Bussey offers a synthesis of the relational context of neohumanism as a pragmatic philosophy that expands consciousness by engaging with the surrounding world. He described this time we live in as a “neohumanistic moment” in the midst of multiple crises- covid, environmental and relational. The thesis is that neohumanism offers a new narrative and new tools to transform self and society through a relational context.
Presenters:
Sid Jordan
Sid JordanSid Jordan, also known as Acarya Vishvamitra, has combined a career as a licensed clinical psychologist and meditation teacher since 1971. As a clinical psychologist, he taught individual, group and family psychotherapy, meditation, yoga and community psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical University of S. C. for 25 years. During this period he also served for five years as director of the Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Services at the Franklin C. Fetter Neighborhood Health Care Center in Charleston S. C.
In 1994 he moved to Asheville NC to develop an eco-village to support the service community of Ananda Girisuta (Daughter of the Mountain) on the French Broad River near Marshall, NC. In 1997 he trained to be an Ananda Marga Family Acarya (Yoga Teacher) in India committed to giving personal instructions in meditation and yoga. He currently serves as president of the Ananda Marga Gurukula Inc. Board in the US, supporting Neohumanist Education kindergarden thru college worldwide. He is President of the Board of the Prama Institute on the Ananda Girisuta property where he helps direct programing and teaches yoga psychology and spiritual practices. At the Prama Wellness Center he teaches yoga therapy and stress management to individuals and groups. Currently he is working with the Board of the Neohumanist College of Asheville in creating a 33 acre campus to offer online and mentoring training for Neohumanist Educators globally. He continues to offer his 40 years of experience and teaching of yoga psychology, philosophy and practices to audiences worldwide
Linda Baker
Linda BakerLinda Baker is a certified K-8 teacher and holds an M.S. in counseling with K-12 certification. She worked as a teacher and school counselor for grades pre-K through 8 in a public magnet school in New Haven, Connecticut for 33 years. Linda was not only a classroom instructor but a specialty teacher in Science and Social Studies in the middle school grades for ten years. She developed the school’s counseling program, served as a school counselor and supervised counseling and Yale University Dwight Hall interns for over two decades.
Trained in numerous innovative curricula and educational programs, Linda has consulted in a range of areas. Career highlights include training, consulting, online curriculum writing and articles for Neohumanist Education; writing and publishing a curriculum for the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute; PIMMS (Project to Increase Mastery in Math and Science education) Fellow; consultant and founder of Amistad Academy (Achievement First); AVID school coordinator and Student Support Facilitator with an emphasis on ECL (Emotional Well-Being, Creativity and Learning).
Linda completed five years of facilitator training with the New England Institute of Systemic Constellations and additional training with the ECL Foundation. For three years she was a catalyst for ECL by bringing the systemic lens and ECL practices to staff, students, counselors, school leaders and parents at Conte West Hills Magnet School in New Haven. In addition, she led ECL workshops at other schools and conferences.
In September 2017 Linda started Supporting Systems LLC . Her practice provides ECL and neohumanist education workshops, training, consulting and on-site services to schools, conferences and other organizations. Linda has presented and trained in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Marcus Bussey
Marcus BusseyDr Marcus Bussey is Deputy Head, School of Social Sciences at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. He is a founding member of The Sustainability Research Centre. As a cultural theorist, historian and futurist he works on cultural processes that energise social transformation. He uses futures thinking and embodied workshops to challenge the dominant beliefs and assumptions that constrain human responses to rapid cultural, social, environmental and technological change. He is currently focused on the role of anticipatory aesthetics as a process-oriented approach to understanding and accessing human transformative potential.
Marcus has co-authored with Professor Richard Slaughter Futures Thinking for Social Foresight (2005). He has also co-edited two books with Sohail Inayatullah and Ivana Milojević – Neohumanist Educational Futures (2006) and Alternative Educational Futures (2008). In addition, he has edited Tantric Women Tell their Stories (2007) and Dynamics of Dissent: Theorising Movements for Inclusive Futures (Palgrave forthcoming) with Meera Chakravorty and John Clammer. Marcus has held fellowships at Nanyang Technical University, Singapore and Tamkang University, Taiwan. He is currently Program Leader in Futures Studies at his university. Marcus is on the editorial boards for the Journal of Futures Studies, Foresight, and On the Horizons. His new book of poetry (as social theory) The Next Big Thing! (Studera Press) is being released in early March.
For more information on Marcus: http://www.usc.edu.au/explore/structure/faculty-of-arts-business-and-law/staff/dr-marcus-bussey