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The CIIS Public Programs summer season is now live! ☀️

We’re so excited to bring you a season full of teachers, leaders, and changemakers who are offering frameworks for living our values every day, caring for our communities, and charting new paths for personal and collective transformation. We hope to see you at an event this summer!

Want free tickets to our summer season? Become a member at ciis.edu/public-programs.

The CIIS Public Programs summer season is now live! ☀️

We’re so excited to bring you a season full of teachers, leaders, and changemakers who are offering frameworks for living our values every day, caring for our communities, and charting new paths for personal and collective transformation. We hope to see you at an event this summer!

Want free tickets to our summer season? Become a member at ciis.edu/public-programs.

The CIIS Public Programs summer season is now live! ☀️

We’re so excited to bring you a season full of teachers, leaders, and changemakers who are offering frameworks for living our values every day, caring for our communities, and charting new paths for personal and collective transformation. We hope to see you at an event this summer!

Want free tickets to our summer season? Become a member at ciis.edu/public-programs.

On April 23 we had the absolute pleasure of hosting Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche for an incredible conversation about consciousness through the lens of Tibetan Bön. Thank you @wangyalrinpoche, Dr. Constance Jones and Dr. Fernando Ona for a night filled with wisdom and laughter!

Thanks to everyone who joined us online and in-person - you made it a night to remember! ✨

On April 23 we had the absolute pleasure of hosting Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche for an incredible conversation about consciousness through the lens of Tibetan Bön. Thank you @wangyalrinpoche, Dr. Constance Jones and Dr. Fernando Ona for a night filled with wisdom and laughter!

Thanks to everyone who joined us online and in-person - you made it a night to remember! ✨

On April 23 we had the absolute pleasure of hosting Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche for an incredible conversation about consciousness through the lens of Tibetan Bön. Thank you @wangyalrinpoche, Dr. Constance Jones and Dr. Fernando Ona for a night filled with wisdom and laughter!

Thanks to everyone who joined us online and in-person - you made it a night to remember! ✨

What if dreams are not simply images that dissolve upon waking, but living communications from the depths of the soul?

CIIS professor Willow Pearson Trimbach and co-author Eva Tuschman Leonard explore how dreams reveal emotional truths that transform psychotherapeutic and spiritual practice.

The book just launched and has already drawn recognition from leading voices in psychoanalysis and contemplative practice, and now anyone from the community is welcome to experience the conversation.

Want to hear from the authors and meet them in person?
Pearson Trimbach and Tuschman Leonard will celebrate the release of The Emotional Truth of Dreams at a book launch event hosted by CIIS Public Programs on July 22, 2026.

#IntegralEducation #DiscoverCIIS #ClinicalPsychology #EmotionalTruthOfDreams

How do Audre Lorde and James Baldwin illuminate Buddhism's path to liberation? Join Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad, author of "The Fire Inside," as she explores Dharma through Black, queer, radical thought. Discover how liberation depends on inner well-being, authenticity, art, and embodiment alongside organizing. Learn Buddhist principles through Lorde and Baldwin's enduring legacies. Celebrate how creative fire and love ignite revolutionary transformation.

Event name: On Black Buddhism and Radical Thought (Livestream and In Person)
Date & Time: Jun 04, 2026, 6:00pm - 7:30pm PDT
Location: Online and California Institute of Integral Studies - Main building
Tickets: $11 - $32 (Members: Free)

June 4th, 6pm, in-person and online. Use the @anthciis link in bio to sign up! $11 - $32 sliding scale. @ciispubprograms member or happen to be a @ciis_sf prospective student? Get free admission!

A co-production of @blackbuddhiststudies and @ciispubprograms with book partner, @marcus.books

Join author Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad for a conversation exploring a Dharma of liberation, offering timely lessons to help us meet this moment, using the writings of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin to provide real world examples of this dharma in practice.

Dr. Vesely-Flad’s latest book The Fire Inside, examines the writings of Lorde and Baldwin through a Dharmic lens, and discusses how two of America’s greatest literary voices reflect—and expand—Buddhism’s most timeless truths toward justice and liberation. In this conversation with mindfulness teacher Rhonda V. Magee, she will share how the writers’ enduring legacies show that liberation depends not only on organizing and mass movements, but the generative power of inner well-being, authenticity, art, and embodiment. She invites us to examine Baldwin and Lorde through key Buddhist principles such as suffering as teacher, impermanence, karma, anger, and compassion in order to deepen and enhance our own understanding of Buddhism, and liberation.

Through her work and writing, Dr. Vesely-Flad centers and celebrates Black, queer, radical thought and invites us to embrace the ways our inner lives, creative fire, sensuality, and expressions of love can ignite and sustain revolutionary liberation.

1. The new book, The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin & Audre Lorde on @natlanticbooks
2. Rima Vesely-Flad, PhD
3. Rhonda V. Magee, M.A., J.D.

June 4th, 6pm, in-person and online. Use the @anthciis link in bio to sign up! $11 - $32 sliding scale. @ciispubprograms member or happen to be a @ciis_sf prospective student? Get free admission!

A co-production of @blackbuddhiststudies and @ciispubprograms with book partner, @marcus.books

Join author Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad for a conversation exploring a Dharma of liberation, offering timely lessons to help us meet this moment, using the writings of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin to provide real world examples of this dharma in practice.

Dr. Vesely-Flad’s latest book The Fire Inside, examines the writings of Lorde and Baldwin through a Dharmic lens, and discusses how two of America’s greatest literary voices reflect—and expand—Buddhism’s most timeless truths toward justice and liberation. In this conversation with mindfulness teacher Rhonda V. Magee, she will share how the writers’ enduring legacies show that liberation depends not only on organizing and mass movements, but the generative power of inner well-being, authenticity, art, and embodiment. She invites us to examine Baldwin and Lorde through key Buddhist principles such as suffering as teacher, impermanence, karma, anger, and compassion in order to deepen and enhance our own understanding of Buddhism, and liberation.

Through her work and writing, Dr. Vesely-Flad centers and celebrates Black, queer, radical thought and invites us to embrace the ways our inner lives, creative fire, sensuality, and expressions of love can ignite and sustain revolutionary liberation.

1. The new book, The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin & Audre Lorde on @natlanticbooks
2. Rima Vesely-Flad, PhD
3. Rhonda V. Magee, M.A., J.D.

June 4th, 6pm, in-person and online. Use the @anthciis link in bio to sign up! $11 - $32 sliding scale. @ciispubprograms member or happen to be a @ciis_sf prospective student? Get free admission!

A co-production of @blackbuddhiststudies and @ciispubprograms with book partner, @marcus.books

Join author Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad for a conversation exploring a Dharma of liberation, offering timely lessons to help us meet this moment, using the writings of Audre Lorde and James Baldwin to provide real world examples of this dharma in practice.

Dr. Vesely-Flad’s latest book The Fire Inside, examines the writings of Lorde and Baldwin through a Dharmic lens, and discusses how two of America’s greatest literary voices reflect—and expand—Buddhism’s most timeless truths toward justice and liberation. In this conversation with mindfulness teacher Rhonda V. Magee, she will share how the writers’ enduring legacies show that liberation depends not only on organizing and mass movements, but the generative power of inner well-being, authenticity, art, and embodiment. She invites us to examine Baldwin and Lorde through key Buddhist principles such as suffering as teacher, impermanence, karma, anger, and compassion in order to deepen and enhance our own understanding of Buddhism, and liberation.

Through her work and writing, Dr. Vesely-Flad centers and celebrates Black, queer, radical thought and invites us to embrace the ways our inner lives, creative fire, sensuality, and expressions of love can ignite and sustain revolutionary liberation.

1. The new book, The Fire Inside: The Dharma of James Baldwin & Audre Lorde on @natlanticbooks
2. Rima Vesely-Flad, PhD
3. Rhonda V. Magee, M.A., J.D.

Can AI deepen human connection? Kaamna Bhojwani and Dr. Michelle Marzullo explore how we can use AI in ways that expand human flourishing. This hybrid event is part of Human + Tech Week 2026.

In a world where technology simulates connection, what do we lose—and what might we become? Sexologist Kaamna Bhojwani and AI leader Dr. Michelle Marzullo explore engaging AI not as a substitute but as a tool for deepening human flourishing. As the personal and systemic mirror each other, discover how to create technology that's pro-social and aligned with our values. A necessary conversation for disconnected times.

Event name: AI and Human Connection
Date & Time: May 12, 2026, 6:00pm - 7:30pm PDT
Location: California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco (In-Person and Online)
Tickets: $20 (Members: Free)

Next week! Don’t miss award-winning poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong, author of National Book Critics Circle Award winner “Minor Feelings,” in conversation with CIIS Clinical Psychology Chair Dr. Stephanie Chen. Explore Asian American personhood, internalized racism, and how depth-oriented therapy creates space for understanding structural dynamics impacting individuals and communities. #cathyparkhong #minorfeelings #ciispubprograms #ciispublicprograms

Event name: Exploring America’s Racial Consciousness
Date & Time: May 7, 2026, 5:30pm - 7:00pm PDT
Location: Online
Tickets: $11 - $32 (Members: Free)

Happening Tonight! Join CIIS faculty Dr. Alfonso Montuori and Dr. Nick Walker exploring how somatic practices cultivate capacities for creative leadership. Discover how intentional body work develops distributed, collaborative leadership that views difference as opportunity for growth and envisions positive futures. Transform leadership through embodied wisdom.

Event name: On Somatics and Creative Leadership
Date & Time: Apr 29, 2026, 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
Location: Online
Tickets: $11 - $32 (Members: Free)

Our event with Carl Lorenz Cervantes with Niralli D’Costa on Filipino Indigenous Wisdom for Personal and Shared Wellbeing was full of so much wisdom and joy! ✨🍃🥹

Carl’s advice on how to respect and learn from Indigenous communities is pure perfection.

If you missed it, make sure to sign up for our newsletter and visit ciis.edu/publicprograms to ensure you never miss an event. #ciispublicprograms #ciispubprograms #ciissf #filipino

This illuminating conversation explores the potential role of somatic practices in creative leadership. Somatic practices are practices that aim to bring about positive psychological change through intentional adjustments to how one uses one’s body. Dr. Montuori, a founding faculty member in the Transformative Leadership program at CIIS and co-editor of the Routledge Handbook for Creative Futures, and Dr. Walker, a somatic psychologist and longtime practitioner/teacher of aikido and other forms of somatic work, will examine how such practices can help us to cultivate the psychological capacities associated with effective creative leadership.

👉REGISTRATION LINK: https://www.ciis.edu/events/somatics-and-creative-leadership

👉COMPLIMENTARY TICKET FOR POTENTIAL CIIS STUDENTS: https://apply.ciis.edu/register/?id=46bc184a-20d2-477c-8f2b-af480901e3f8

#ciis #somatics #onlineevent #creativeleadership #creativity

Choosing Earth Day every day!

There is a reason CIIS is called an integral institution. For more than five decades, it has brought together mind, body, spirit, community — and Earth. The natural world is a foundational teacher, partner, and home.

From experiential learning along waterways to leadership retreats among ancient forests, from ancestral healing practices woven into clinical training to doctoral research conducted at mountain retreat centers, CIIS offers an education rooted in — and in reverence of — our living world.

#DiscoverCIIS #IntegralEducation #EarthDayEveryDay #Ecology #EarthDay

Choosing Earth Day every day!

There is a reason CIIS is called an integral institution. For more than five decades, it has brought together mind, body, spirit, community — and Earth. The natural world is a foundational teacher, partner, and home.

From experiential learning along waterways to leadership retreats among ancient forests, from ancestral healing practices woven into clinical training to doctoral research conducted at mountain retreat centers, CIIS offers an education rooted in — and in reverence of — our living world.

#DiscoverCIIS #IntegralEducation #EarthDayEveryDay #Ecology #EarthDay

Choosing Earth Day every day!

There is a reason CIIS is called an integral institution. For more than five decades, it has brought together mind, body, spirit, community — and Earth. The natural world is a foundational teacher, partner, and home.

From experiential learning along waterways to leadership retreats among ancient forests, from ancestral healing practices woven into clinical training to doctoral research conducted at mountain retreat centers, CIIS offers an education rooted in — and in reverence of — our living world.

#DiscoverCIIS #IntegralEducation #EarthDayEveryDay #Ecology #EarthDay

Choosing Earth Day every day!

There is a reason CIIS is called an integral institution. For more than five decades, it has brought together mind, body, spirit, community — and Earth. The natural world is a foundational teacher, partner, and home.

From experiential learning along waterways to leadership retreats among ancient forests, from ancestral healing practices woven into clinical training to doctoral research conducted at mountain retreat centers, CIIS offers an education rooted in — and in reverence of — our living world.

#DiscoverCIIS #IntegralEducation #EarthDayEveryDay #Ecology #EarthDay

Choosing Earth Day every day!

There is a reason CIIS is called an integral institution. For more than five decades, it has brought together mind, body, spirit, community — and Earth. The natural world is a foundational teacher, partner, and home.

From experiential learning along waterways to leadership retreats among ancient forests, from ancestral healing practices woven into clinical training to doctoral research conducted at mountain retreat centers, CIIS offers an education rooted in — and in reverence of — our living world.

#DiscoverCIIS #IntegralEducation #EarthDayEveryDay #Ecology #EarthDay

Choosing Earth Day every day!

There is a reason CIIS is called an integral institution. For more than five decades, it has brought together mind, body, spirit, community — and Earth. The natural world is a foundational teacher, partner, and home.

From experiential learning along waterways to leadership retreats among ancient forests, from ancestral healing practices woven into clinical training to doctoral research conducted at mountain retreat centers, CIIS offers an education rooted in — and in reverence of — our living world.

#DiscoverCIIS #IntegralEducation #EarthDayEveryDay #Ecology #EarthDay

Choosing Earth Day every day!

There is a reason CIIS is called an integral institution. For more than five decades, it has brought together mind, body, spirit, community — and Earth. The natural world is a foundational teacher, partner, and home.

From experiential learning along waterways to leadership retreats among ancient forests, from ancestral healing practices woven into clinical training to doctoral research conducted at mountain retreat centers, CIIS offers an education rooted in — and in reverence of — our living world.

#DiscoverCIIS #IntegralEducation #EarthDayEveryDay #Ecology #EarthDay

Choosing Earth Day every day!

There is a reason CIIS is called an integral institution. For more than five decades, it has brought together mind, body, spirit, community — and Earth. The natural world is a foundational teacher, partner, and home.

From experiential learning along waterways to leadership retreats among ancient forests, from ancestral healing practices woven into clinical training to doctoral research conducted at mountain retreat centers, CIIS offers an education rooted in — and in reverence of — our living world.

#DiscoverCIIS #IntegralEducation #EarthDayEveryDay #Ecology #EarthDay

Choosing Earth Day every day!

There is a reason CIIS is called an integral institution. For more than five decades, it has brought together mind, body, spirit, community — and Earth. The natural world is a foundational teacher, partner, and home.

From experiential learning along waterways to leadership retreats among ancient forests, from ancestral healing practices woven into clinical training to doctoral research conducted at mountain retreat centers, CIIS offers an education rooted in — and in reverence of — our living world.

#DiscoverCIIS #IntegralEducation #EarthDayEveryDay #Ecology #EarthDay

Choosing Earth Day every day!

There is a reason CIIS is called an integral institution. For more than five decades, it has brought together mind, body, spirit, community — and Earth. The natural world is a foundational teacher, partner, and home.

From experiential learning along waterways to leadership retreats among ancient forests, from ancestral healing practices woven into clinical training to doctoral research conducted at mountain retreat centers, CIIS offers an education rooted in — and in reverence of — our living world.

#DiscoverCIIS #IntegralEducation #EarthDayEveryDay #Ecology #EarthDay

This Thursday, join us for a rare conversation with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a master of the Bön Dzogchen tradition, as we explore consciousness through the lens of Tibetan Bön.

Rooted in ancient practices and ritual technologies, Tibetan Bön offers a unique understanding of mind and awareness that resonates with modern questions in psychology and consciousness studies.

Join us for a nuanced exploration that bridges ancient wisdom and modern inquiry.

✨ EVENT: An Evening with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
🗓️ DATE: April 23, 2026
🕕 TIME: 6:00 PM
📍LOCATION: Online and In-Person
🎟️ TICKETS: $11-32 (FREE for members)