ITP President Neal King delivers keynote address at European Transpersonal Conference in Bulgaria
ITP President Neal King travelled to Bulgaria last month to attend the 13th annual European Transpersonal Association Conference held in Varna, Bulgaria on the shores of the Black Sea.
The Conference explored the full spectrum of states of consciousness: altered, discrete, ecstatic, enhanced, modified, holotropic, shamanic, healing, meditative, etc., that are different from the ordinary or normal states of consciousness.
The Conference focused on the potential of non-ordinary states for healing, changing, improving and transforming ourselves and our communities, our relationships, communications, private and social environment.
ITP Alumnus Steven Schmitz (who sits on the EUROTAS board), along with ITP faculty member David Lukoff and his wife Chrystal, gave excellent and well-received presentations at the conference. Attendees came from 25 countries and included EUROTAS veterans of up to four decades as well as college students and spouses/ friends of attendees. Schools in Italy, Russia and Estonia are very interested in collaborative relationships with ITP – and a good number of conference attendees are interested in coming to ITP for their next degree.
The conference program mixed lectures with experiential workshops and panel discussions. EUROTAS members hold fond memories of other past ITP attendees, including Bob Frager and Jim Fadiman, Olga Louchakova and a group of faculty and students who attended and made presentations at the 2006 conference held in France. Saturday evening's "Soul of Europe" concert, feast and talent show took place in front of a 14th century monastery carved from a mountainside.
ITP became an institutional member of EUROTAS at this conference. At an ITP-sponsored dinner for the EUROTAS board, the president Ingo Jahrsetz said in a toast that it was a "great honor" for them to have ITP as a member, and recalled past ITP participation. The high respect in which the group holds ITP was clear. It would not be surprising to see a new population of students and guest faculty from Europe over the next few years.
