Kai's Note

I've spent the last twenty-five years exploring the human experience through the lens of embodied consciousness and enactive cognition in our physical, spiritual, and emotional worlds. What is and where does consciousness live? What capacities do we hold as human beings? To transform, to make meaning, and contribute to our own and the larger community's learning. We all comprise a unique, individual universe that is in constant relationship with a multitude of interdependent systems — the energetic, organic, and physical. This is the intersection of what it is to be human, and where my personal journey is rooted.

During the ten years I spent working on physiological trauma and stress, the work of Peter Levine, Bessel van der Kolk, M.D, and others brought me back to formal education to study the intersections of philosophy of mind, contemplative practices, and systems thinking. As I began to develop a new theory, and subsequent approach, I reached out to learn from wisdom traditions, neuroscientists, and philosophers.

Welcomed as a visiting scholar at the Mind & Life Institute in 2013, I began integrating research and practices to enhance the Engaged Identity™ theory and approach after seven years of research and programming where we tested its efficacy on a global scale.

Turning to the work of Francisco Varela and Evan Thompson on embodied cognition to provide insight into how the body's structure and experiences shape cognitive processes. A beautiful dance began that included the theory of enactive cognition, which suggests that cognition fundamentally emerges from the dynamic interaction between an organism and its environment. Integrating the interdisciplinary nature of the approach, and including a broader scope of healing traditions from my work with the United States Institute of Peace's groundbreaking work on neuroscience, spirituality, and peacebuilding - Peace ReWire, the EI theory was refined and now sits as the Human Adaptive Capacity Architecture™ and HACA Model™.

It's been an extraordinary combination of lived experiences, a Masters degree in conflict transformation specializing in identity and trauma, and a PhD in peace & conflict specializing in human adaptive capacity, and certifications in somatic bodywork, yoga, and QiGong. With 1000's of hours of practice, and 1000's of people from over 110 countries I've had the pleasure to share this architecture.

I believe our time here is meant to explore and learn as much as we can about the experience of being human. So let's all learn as much as we can, feel deeply, and take this time to connect to our own innate wisdom. I'd love you to join me and create space in your life to explore being human.