{"id":3945,"date":"2025-01-27T21:42:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T21:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/psychedelics\/?page_id=3945"},"modified":"2025-01-27T21:42:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T21:42:30","slug":"naina-eira","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/psychedelic-colloquium-archive\/naina-eira\/","title":{"rendered":"Naina Eira"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Contributor – Speaker<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Naina is a scholar-practitioner of Buddhist Vajray\u0101na Tantra and a psychedelics and meditation researcher at the University of Exeter, supervised by Dr Peter Sj\u00f6stedt-Hughes, Dr Leor Roseman, and Professor Celia Morgan. Her research explores Mapping Unitive States\u2014profound mystical and metaphysical experiences of oneness\u2014through The View<\/em> from the N\u0101land\u0101 tradition, drawing on M\u0101dhyamaka philosophy to deconstruct dualities and cultivate non-dual awareness. These states hold therapeutic potential for both meditation and psychedelic-assisted therapies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By bridging direct experience with analytical inquiry, her work highlights the transformative potential of non-dual states. She integrates phenomenology, ontological inquiry, and East-West philosophical perspectives, alongside empirical methods such as micro-phenomenology, to systematically map the subjective dimensions of these states\u2014contributing to psychedelic therapies, contemplative science, and consciousness research. Naina also developed the Ved\u0101nta course for Exeter\u2019s postgraduate Psychedelics programme, integrating ancient wisdom with modern scientific approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Colloquium Presentation: 3:35-5pm, 7th February 2025 (G17, Mood Disorder Centre, Sir Henry Wellcome Building)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mapping Unitive States<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we think of \u2018unitive states<\/em>,\u2019 visions of cosmic oneness or mystical bliss often arise. Yet beneath these poetic descriptions lie deeper questions: How do these states reshape our sense of self, and how are they cultivated\u2014culturally, cognitively, and pharmacologically?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This talk explores the significance, ontology (the study of being), and transformative potential of unitive states. Drawing from the N\u0101land\u0101 tradition\u2014an ancient Buddhist university renowned for its rigorous philosophical inquiry and meditative practices\u2014these states have been systematically mapped for centuries, providing profound insights into the nature of mind and reality. Today, psychedelic research offers new pathways to access such states, presenting possibilities for healing and the dissolution of self-boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By bridging contemplative traditions, Western metaphysics, and psychedelic science, this talk presents an integrative framework for understanding unitive states\u2014bringing together ancient wisdom and contemporary insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The session will open with a guided meditation based on non-dual principles, offering participants a direct experience of the themes explored.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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