California Institute of Integral Studies

This manifesto seeks to challenge dominant narratives about the future of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Current predictions are mainly driven by technological developments—technologies usually being developed for different markets—and are often based on ableist assumptions. In online conversations and a discussion panel at the 2023 International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication conference, we explored alternative futures by adopting different starting positions. Our case is presented under five headings: questioning the dominance of predictions that artificial intelligence and brain-computer interfaces will define the future of AAC; resisting disability being framed medically, as a problem to be solved, yet acknowledging both the pleasures and pains of being disabled; declaring that people who use AAC—as cyborgs of necessity rather than choice—should have choice and ownership of our technologies; challenging notions of independence as the necessary end goal for disabled bodies and considering interdependence as a human right; imagining alternative futures in which all people who use AAC are accepted and embraced for our communication and self-expression. This manifesto is an invitation for further discussion, and we welcome responses. While our focus is AAC, and three of the authors use AAC, we believe that our stance could be relevant to other disability communities in turn. This paper is about who gets to imagine disability futures and whose voices are left out. It is about how uncritical these futures can be, often presuming values that disabled people, in all their diversity, may not share.

The term “acupuncture” commonly refers to a non-pharmacologic therapy that is increasingly employed by diverse segments of the population for a wide variety of complaints including pain, insomnia, anxiety, depression, frozen shoulder, and other issues. The term is also used as a short-hand for the wider medical system from which the placement of needles into the skin for therapeutic benefit and related techniques evolved. Thus “acupuncture” refers both to the therapeutic technique and the therapeutic system of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine (AHM). The other modalities included within AHM include a wide variety of physical and mechanical manipulations, herbal medicines, dietary recommendations, and lifestyle modifications. Clinically, acupuncture is increasingly offered in a variety of conventional medical settings such as hospitals, medical school clinics, veterans’ healthcare centers, oncology facilities, and rehabilitation centers, and its safety profile is excellent overall. Barriers to further incorporation of acupuncture into biomedical sites include insurance coverage of acupuncture, education of conventional medical practitioners and other stakeholders about the utility, efficacy, and evidence base of acupuncture. Acupuncturists in the United States are skilled practitioners who are highly educated in the complex therapeutic system from which acupuncture arose and in the technical aspects of its utility as a treatment modality. The training, certification, licensure, and regulation of acupuncturists is similar to that of conventional providers such has physician’s assistants, advanced practice nurses, and medical and osteopathic doctors. While clinical use and acceptance of acupuncture continues to grow, there is to date no definitive composite document explaining the utility of acupuncture in various healthcare settings, the current understanding of how acupuncture works, and the training, professional regulation, and certification of acupuncture practitioners. This article will address these topics and strive to create a reference for practitioners, administrators, legislators, insurance providers, patients and their families, and other stakeholders.

We report a northern expansion of the breeding ranges of the Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) and Blue-footed Booby (S. nebouxii) with the first successful breeding of these species at Sutil Island off Santa Barbara Island, California, USA, in 2017 and 2020, respectively. We documented the arrival and breeding of both species through opportunistic monitoring and annual aerial photographic surveys from 2013 to 2022. We first noted Brown Booby attendance on the island in October 2013, and we confirmed breeding 4 years later in October 2017. The number of observed apparent Brown Booby nests (i.e., nest structures attended by adults or where a chick was seen) increased over time from 4 in 2017 to 31 in 2022. The number of birds observed attending the colony also increased overall to a high count of 164 in September 2021. We first observed Blue-footed Boobies in August 2018 and confirmed breeding 2 years later in June 2020 with a Brown and Blue-footed Booby pair that fledged a hybrid chick. We documented 2 nests with chicks in 2021 and observed a non-hybrid Blue-footed Booby in juvenile plumage in July 2022. These are the first confirmed breeding records for Sula species in the continental USA and represent a northward shift of both species’ breeding ranges.

Medical gendered racism in the USA has been and continues to be a significant issue for Black women across various healthcare domains, including sexual and pelvic healthcare. The experiences of Black women with Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder, characterised by pain with sexual intercourse, are particularly understudied in relation to medical gendered racism. This paper advances existing research on Genito-Pelvic Pain/Penetration Disorder by employing Black feminist thought and intersectionality as theoretical frameworks. We seek to conceptualise how medical gendered racism impacts Black women's experiences with genito-pelvic pain and the quality of their healthcare. We offer a nuanced, culturally sensitive approach to doing so and to clinical practice, and provide actionable recommendations for healthcare professionals. This work aims to equip researchers and healthcare practitioners with the knowledge and tools to acknowledge, understand, and support effective treatment of genito-pelvic pain experienced by Black women in the USA.

Introduction: “Flow states”, characterized by intense focus during complex tasks, are proposed as common to the practice of reconstructive microsurgery. Existing literature establishes close relationships between the experience of flow and key aspects of mental health. Taking a holistic approach, the paper defines flow and establishes its relevance to both microsurgical practice and to the life and well-being of microsurgeons. Means of cultivating and enhancing flow are offered with important acknowledgement of the benefits and potential pitfalls involved. Methods: The paper is based on an extensive literature review. Numerous sources are critically evaluated for research design, methodology, and consistency of results with existing literature before being synthesized for relevance to microsurgical practice. Results: Existing literature defines flow with precision by way of environmental preconditions and experiential characteristics. The relationship of flow to more general psychological health is also well-established. The effects of flow on performance and how to optimally utilize and balance flow are burgeoning topics of study. Conclusion: Microsurgeons may benefit from the explicit recognition of flow states and the application of strategies that foster and balance flow within microsurgery. Techniques such as mental visualization, mindfulness practices, and attention training are tools that may potentially enhance flow experiences, reduce stress, improve performance, and mitigate burnout. Overemphasizing flow within surgery at the expense of finding flow in life more broadly, however, can lead to negative consequences. The paper highlights the potential benefits of integrating flow states into reconstructive microsurgery, offers suggestions for finding flow effectively, and underscores the importance of harnessing flow not only within surgery but also across different life spheres to ensure a well-rounded, sustainable, and fulfilling professional and personal existence.

Background: Research investigating high-dose, high-support psilocybin-assisted therapy reports significant psychological benefits, increased consciousness, and an enhanced socio-cognitive niche, resulting in empathy, connection, creativity, and overall well-being. These qualities lend themselves well to the bonding, emotional regulation, and attachment required for thriving family systems. Research from social scientist Darcia Narvaez on the evolved developmental niche (EDN) acts as a unified orientation to healthy familial systems that emphasizes the psychological, biophysical, and social benefits of following the human social mammal physiological design. Objective: In this narrative review, I outline the rationale for a curated family-centered psilocybin-assisted therapy model that can bridge modern contradictory trends of birth, parenting, and family culture to realign with the EDN. This article supports a theoretical construction weaving high-dose psilocybin with family systems therapeutic interventions of family constellations, somatic integration, and emotional intelligence to customize a healing modality that supports the creative integration of EDN components within modern-day family systems. Methods: I examine the transdisciplinary evidence for psilocybin-assisted therapy and the complementary components, family constellations, somatic integration, and emotional intelligence. Additionally, I investigate the EDN and the respective research indicating the health and morality of adhering to these practices. Results: There is increasing evidence for the construction of a family-centered psilocybin-assisted therapy that follows the values of the EDN. Conclusion: A family-centered psilocybin-assisted therapy protocol may positively heal intergenerational trauma and resurrect elements of the EDN, supporting the cultural shift to align with the social mammalian physiological needs of the human being.

Humans need to experience meaning in their lives yet often find it difficult to do so. We argue that, for nonreligious individuals in many Western cultures, the materialist and reductionist ideology that surrounds scientific practice and data may be an impediment to attaining a robust sense of meaning in life. Furthermore, scientific materialism and reductionism may be especially problematic for existential mattering—the form of meaning entailing a belief that one’s life matters in the context of the universe as a whole. We review new research supporting this account, along with implications for those immersed in the materialist worldview. We conclude by suggesting possible means of finding meaning, including a sense of existential mattering, without abandoning science, and highlight research directions to further examine these possibilities.

There is an increasing prevalence of students identifying as a sexual or gender minority. This study investigates the prevalence of assaults within different types of higher education institutions over time. This study used the point research surveys, conducted from 2016 to 2020, using the variables of bullying, teasing, discrimination , assault, and sexual violence. Descriptive statistics and frequencies were used to demonstrate the prevalence of violence among LGBTQ+ students in regard to the type of institution at various points of time. The majority of institutions saw an increase in bullying, teasing, being discriminated against, and assaults. This study suggests that higher education institutions provide comprehensive training to staff and students on LGBTQ+ issues to foster a safer environment for LGBTQ+ students. K E Y W O R D S assaults, higher education, LGBTQ+, sexual assaults, sexual orientation

Origin stories reveal the myriad causes that converge to birth a new initiative. On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, this essay looks back to document the context and intellectual lineage out of which the Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion graduate program at the California Institute of Integral Studies ( CIIS ) emerged in 2013, and suggests some possibilities for the future of transdisciplinary education and the fields of religion and ecology (e.g. Tucker and Grim 2001), religion and nature (e.g. B. Taylor 2010), and spiritual ecology (e.g. Sponsel 2012) more broadly.

Exploring southern Black women’s sexual messaging is important for appropriately contextualizing their sexual experiences. This study advances the literature on southern Black women’s sexuality by analyzing the valence, content, and sources of sexual messages using #HotGirlScience. Twenty-five Black women’s semi-structured interview responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. Thirteen women reported mixed messages, followed by positive messages ( n = 10) and negative messages ( n = 2). Seven major content themes were constructed: 1) sex is taboo, 2) sex is painful, harmful, and/or violent for Black women, 3) sex prioritizes male partner’s pleasure, 4) consent and safety, 5) agency and sexual pleasure, 6) pleasure expansiveness, and 7) sexual communication.

In this paper, we have compared the fractal calculus on fractal sets and fractal curves. The analogues of the Riemann-Liouville fractional integrals and derivatives and Caputo fractional derivatives are defined on the fractal curves which are non-local derivatives. The analogues fractional Laplace is defined to solve fractal non-local differential equations on fractal curves. The fractal local Mellin and fractal non-local transforms are defined to solve fractal differential equations. We present tables and examples to illustrate the results.