Crewmembers set up shots while project manager Leila Kozak applies gel to subject’s EEG cap.
In late February 2004, a film crew for National Geographic co-opted a Bastyr University hallway and consciousness science lab on the fifth floor to shoot footage for a highly anticipated new series, scheduled to debut in autumn 2004 on the National Geographic cable channel. This 13-part series will explore problematic areas in scientific research, much like the celebrated PBS Nova series. The footage shot at Bastyr will appear in episode one which features telepathy research. Bastyr was selected for a segment in this installment because show producers feel Bastyr recently completed some of the most cutting edge research in the field.
Study subject meditates while brain waves were measured and checked for correlations using EEG technology.
Bastyr senior researcher Leanna Standish (PhD, ND, MS, LAc) and project manager Leila Kozak
(MS, Dipl.Hom, Manager Bastyr Consciousness Science Lab) together with their team of consultants
from the University of Washington and Neuro Research Associates will be featured in the very first
episode of this exciting new science series. The Bastyr studies of interest for this segment were the
Neural Energy Transfer and SynchroDestiny studies performed in 2000-2003 by Dr. Standish and research
partners Clark Johnson, PhD and Todd Richards, PhD. This work measured the ability of participants to share a transfer of neural energy, or in
lay terms, a “telepathic” connection. Dr. Standish and team tested whether meditating pairs of bonded subjects showed correlated brain signals even when isolated from each other in different rooms. EEG and fMRI neurophysiological diagnostic methods were used to test brain wave similarity and differences between subjects.
Members of the research team (L to R) Leanna Standish
(principle investigator); Todd Richards (consultant,
Neuro Research Associates); Clark Johnson (consultant, Neuro Research Associates)
Funding for these studies came from the NIH/NCCAM in addition to Dr. Deepak Chopra’s Chopra Foundation and the
Institute of Noetic Sciences . Study subjects were chosen because they were meditation instructors or had attended
trainings in Primordial Sound Meditation Technique (PSM). Dr. Chopra’s training teaches that synchronicity and
connectedness between people may be increased by the regular practice of PSM.
Study results showed there is evidence that human brains may produce correlated EEG signals under certain conditions,
and that humans may therefore be capable of exerting influence on other living systems at a distance. This has
ramifications for future research about related topics such as “intentional healing” and the further
understanding of human connectedness.
Crewmembers set up shots while project manager Leila Kozak applies gel to subject’s EEG cap.
Study subject meditates while brain waves were measured and checked for correlations using EEG technology.
Members of the research team (L to R) Leanna Standish
(principle investigator); Todd Richards (consultant,
Neuro Research Associates); Clark Johnson (consultant, Neuro Research Associates)
