As part of the charge, the Strauss-Wisneski Committee hosts regular educational events, including a quarterly lecture series, to inform the community about integrative whole-person health practices and indigenous, culturally based therapies. The Strauss-Wisneski Lectures are offered virtually and are open to the public. If you would like to be informed of upcoming lectures, please fill out the form below to be added to our email list.
Upcoming Conferences & Lectures
The Mystery of Life Energy
Presented by:
Dr. Rick Leskowitz
Date:
Lecture Information:
Western medicine is the world's only healing tradition that does not recognize the existence of an invisible healing energy. This talk will present evidence for the reality of life energy and the biofield model of health and illness. We will discuss the institutional forces that have resisted this new/old perspective over the past 250 years, and then look at energy's role in chronic pain (especially phantom limb pain), describe some energy-based group processes (team chemistry, fan energy, global consciousness), and outline the energetics of Mother Earth (from sacred sites and ley lines to stone circles and crop circles).
Dr. Eric (Rick) Leskowitz was a consultant psychiatrist for over 25 years with the Pain Management Program at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, where he founded the Integrative Medicine Task Force. He holds an appointment at Harvard Medical School, has studied energy healing, meditation, and hypnosis for over 40 years, and has had more than 50 articles published in leading scientific journals. He has also edited three textbooks, and his documentary film about group energies and sports, The Joy of Sox: Weird Science and the Power of Intention, was broadcast on PBS. The Mystery of Life Energy is his latest book.
All are welcome and registration is not required, you can access the lecture using this Zoom meeting link.
This lecture will be held on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 from 12:00 - 1:00pm.
Past Conferences & Lectures
2024
The Sacred Use of Plants
Presented by:
Sofia Chavez, DNM & Sharona Thompson
Date:
With the rising costs of healthcare, interest in herbal remedies is growing as a more affordable way to support health. This webinar will promote cross-cultural herbalism exchange and expose the public to direct knowledge of ancestral healing medicine, instilling respect for all healing traditions.
This lecture was held from 12:00 p.m.- 1:00 p.m. MST.
Virtual lecture full title: The Sacred Use of Plants: Multicultural, Traditional Perspectives
Ceremony is Medicine
Presented by:
Kylie House, MD & Wesley Black Elk, Lakota Public Speaker
Date:
Much like how psychedelics challenge individual rigid worldviews, they are also challenging the conventional paradigms of modern medicine. Among one of the most important shifts which these catalysts call for is the understanding that how we relate to our medicines is part of the medicine itself. While some of us are being reminded of this fact, indigenous peoples have not forgotten. In this webinar, Lakota spiritual leader, Wesley Black Elk, and psychedelic psychiatrist, Kylie House, M.D., will describe how the way in which we relate to our “medicines,” better known as ceremony, gives us the direction and intent to come into alignment with the one true medicine: the healing intelligence that permeates our universe.
Spiritual & Psychedelic Experiences
Presented by:
Edward MacPhee, MD
Date:
While modern science is starting to explore both spiritual and psychedelic experiences, they have long been a part of cultural practices and have been described for millennia. What is now necessary is a synthesis to bridge the worlds and bring all the aspects of spiritual and psychedelic experiences together under one metatheory. This webinar will attempt to create a proto-synthesis to serve as a foundation for the exploration in these areas going forward into the future.
Virtual lecture full title: Spiritual and Psychedelic Experiences: Finding a Theory to Bridge the Worlds
Coloring within the Lines (CO Natural Medicine Health Act)
Presented by:
Jonathan Treem, MD
Date:
** This lecture will be held from 12pm - 1pm MST
Due to technical difficulties, the recording of this webinar is unavailable.
The Natural Medicine Health Act was passed in Colorado by popular referendum in 11/2022. Since then, the Colorado state regulatory agencies have been hard at work creating the scaffolding for how the law will be operationalized. This initial seminar is a discussion of how the law is being implemented, and a look into the real-time process of psychedelic public policy creation as it attempts to balance the considerations or public, private, medical, cultural, geographic, and indigenous perspectives.
Virtual lecture full title: Coloring within the Lines: Legal and Regulatory Considerations of Colorado’s Natural Medicine Health Act
Bridging the Worlds
Presented by:
Multiple Speakers
Date:
2023
How to Become a Psychedelic Care Provider
Presented by:
Sara Lewis, PhD, LCSW & Victor Cabral, LSW
Date:
Join the Director of Training and Research and Assistant Director for Community Care at Naropa University's Center for Psychedelic Studies to explore pathways to becoming a psychedelic care provider. The webinar is suitable for those seeking to begin a career in this area, as well as for therapists, physicians, chaplains, and other care providers interested in expanding their scope and expertise to include work with psychedelic medicines/entheogens. We will explore legal frameworks, including credentialing and will also discuss community use. This webinar may be useful for professionals wanting to compare and understand more about the variety of training programs offered in the psychedelic space.
Whole Person Pain Care
Presented by:
John Finnell, ND, PhD(C), MPH, LAc & Sharad Kohli, MD
Date:
Virtual lecture full title: Whole Person Pain Care: Integrative Models in a Federally Qualified Health Center and the Veterans Health Administration
Practical Stress Reduction for a Whole Health Approach
Presented by:
Dr. Eileen Yager
Date:
2022
Shamanism
Presented by:
Dr. Michael Winkelman, M.P.H., Ph.D.
Date:
Lecture full title: Shamanism: The Biological Bases of an Evolved Healing Capacity
Philosophy of Yoga Therapy & its Clinical Applications
Presented by:
Dr. Ganesh Mohan
Date:
Medical Intuition in Healthcare
Presented by:
Wendie Colter, MCWC, CMIP
Date:
Traditional & Indigenous Medicine Lecture: Health Equity & Curanderismo, Bridging the Gap in Underserved Communities
Presented by:
Sofia Chavez
Date:
2021
An Introduction to Mayan Traditional Healing
Presented by:
Grandmother Flordemayo
Date:
The Physiological and Clinical Significance of the Cranial Rhythmic Impulse
Presented by:
Gail Wetzler, PT, DPT, EDO, BI-D
Date:
Developing Resilience in an Era of COVID
Presented by:
Michelle Simon, PhD, ND
Date:
Outcomes of the VA System-Wide Implementation of Integrative Medicine and Whole Health
Presented by:
Benjamin Kligler MD, MPH
Date: