In this talk, Dr. Warter will delve into the transformative potential of psychedelics in psychiatry and beyond. This presentation will explore his fifty+ years of study in this area and highlight how psychedelic substances can facilitate profound healing and growth. When we transit from the labeling of “hallucinogens” to “psychedelics” one leap occurs.   When we move to enthrone their effects on knowledge of self we have “entheogens” – this opens the doors to the realization of the human promise that is the initiatory act of mystical awakening and has been used by healers for thousands of years. Mainstream psychiatry largely abandoned psychedelics by the 1970s for a variety of reasons. There is renewed hope for their efficacy because current treatments are inadequate yet calling them "medicine" is problematic.

Despite burgeoning research on psychedelics, best practices for their safe and effective use in and out of clinical settings are still poorly understood. Like psychedelics, meditation can involve non- ordinary states and psycho-spiritual impacts and has the potential for adverse effects despite well- recognized benefits. This talk will describe how meditation research can inform key questions in psychedelics, including monitoring adverse effects, addressing spirituality, and developing culturally responsive treatments.

Ceremonial practices bring a spiritual context to work with sacred plant medicines and psychedelic medicines. This expansive context facilitates shifts in emotional processing that appear to underlie relevant mental health improvements. In this lecture, Dr. Tafur will draw upon his experience in traditional ceremonies and on research in the fields of psychedelic clinical medicine, emotional biology, and spiritual well-being.

Ceremonial practices bring a spiritual context to work with sacred plants and psychedelic medicines. This expansive context facilitates shifts in emotional processing that appear to underlie relevant mental health improvements. In this lecture, Dr. Tafur will draw upon his experience in traditional ceremonies and on research in the fields of psychedelic clinical medicine, neuroscience, emotional biology, and epigenetics.

Dr. Cahn will provide an overview of his 20+ years of studies of the neurophysiologic and psychological correlates of meditation in expert vs. novice practitioners and psychedelics. He will also present research findings on the brain & mind effects of both meditation and psilocybin, specifically focusing on how the brain correlates to sensory and cognitive processing, highlighting similarities and differences.

Dr. Linda Carlson will discuss the Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery (MBCR) program development and research, with a focus on current innovative studies, including Virtual Mind, which evaluates a Virtual Reality mindfulness program for chronic cancer pain, and the SEAMLESS research, which is evaluating a mindfulness app in a clinical trial of cancer survivors across Canada. She will also review current research assessing the effects of MBCR on the gut microbiome and work in developing mindfulness-based psilocybin-assisted therapy.

Dr. Linda Carlson will review the development of the Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery program and summarize research evaluating its efficacy for treating anxiety, depression, stress symptoms, sleep, fatigue, and other psychosocial outcomes. She will also review recently published oncology clinical practice guidelines recommending mindfulness-based interventions and the overall evidence supporting these recommendations.

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have long shown evidence of medium-sized effects for stress, chronic pain, and anxiety. Dr. King's research group and others have shown that MBIs can lead to enduring alterations in large-scale neural networks. This talk will explore specific adaptations of MBIs for depression and trauma / PTSD, potential neural mechanisms and treatment targets underlying their effects, and possible shared and unique pathways for MBIs in the treatment of depression and PTSD.

What is neurophenomenology? Dr. Aviva Berkovich-Ohana will examine the neurophenomenological approach, which aspires to bridge the gap between and integrate first- person and third-person processes to understanding consciousness. Her presentation will explain a proposed framework to study self-consciousness and its embodied and minimal aspects (phenomenology and related cortical networks). She will also explore theory in practice by describing a series of neurophenomenological studies investigating the sense of self accessed via the dissolution of the sense of boundaries with trained meditators, shedding new light on the multi- dimensionality and flexibility of embodied selfhood.

Meditation training shows promise for alleviating anxiety and stress symptoms, but a rigorous trial methodology is necessary to assess its effectiveness and determine how it compares to other treatments. In this talk, Dr. Hoge will present research findings that address the capability of mindfulness meditation training for anxiety, stress, depression, and resilience in the psychiatric setting, including exploration into biological processes associated with anxiety and resilience, such as stress hormones and neuroimaging. Large randomized, controlled clinical trial results that address whether mindfulness meditation training could be equivalent to an antidepressant when compared head-to-head will be included.