Contemplative Studies Initiative and Concentration

The Catherine Kerr Vital Energy in Health and Healing Lecture and Workshop Series

The Catherine Kerr Vital Energy in Health and Healing Lecture and Workshop Speaker Series was originally conceptualized by the late Catherine Kerr, PhD to catalyze a new field of integrated discovery around the role of vital energy ("Qi/chi") in health and healing.

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The Catherine Kerr Vital Energy in Health and Healing Lecture and Workshop Series

Building off of recent advances in the sciences, as well as the longstanding scholarship in the humanities examining how contemplative practices (eg meditation and qigong) may promote health, this speaker series will bring together humanistic, scientific, clinical, and practitioner perspectives. In honoring Cathy’s work and vision, this speaker series will provide an important forum to continue and deepen a critical interdisciplinary approach to studying the role of vital energy in health. We will accomplish this through the exploration of current and future scholarship and research pathways and collaborations.

The Kerr Vital Energy Research Collaborative Members

Larson DiFiori
Stephanie Jones
Christopher Moore
Harold Roth
Simona Temereanca Ibanescu
Chloe Zimmerman
Dylan Daniels
Anne Heyrman-Hart

Lecture

Please join us for Daoist Medicine, a lecture by Josh Paynter, L.aC. on February 9th, 2023 from 7 - 8:30 pm. EST. This is a virtual event.

Abstract

In this talk we will explore the complexity of the notion of Qi in the context of disease, medicine and the practitioner. Investigating obsolete materia medica as a forensic tool, we will look at the various ways in which an object takes on its medically useful qualities. We will also look at this principal of imbued qualities as it pertains to the practitioner. The various practices and parameters of Daoist medicine (Zhuyou 祝由, Fuzhou 符咒 or talismanic practices etc.) will be central to this discussion.