Leanne Whitney
Dr. Leanne Whitney is an independent scholar in the fields of depth psychology and consciousness studies. She specializes in the intersection of Western psychology and the Eastern liberatory traditions. She earned her MA in statistics from the University of St. Andrews and her PhD in depth psychology from the Pacifica Graduate Institute. Leanne’s professional papers include Depth psychology through the lens of Classical Yoga: a reconsideration of Jung’s ontic reality.
Biography
Dr. Leanne Whitney is an independent scholar in the fields of depth psychology and consciousness studies. She specializes in the intersection of Western psychology and the Eastern liberatory traditions.For over twenty-five years Leanne has researched the mind body connection and, over the last fifteen plus years, their interrelation with pure consciousness. Trained in depth psychology, yoga, and craniosacral therapy, in her private practice, she works with clients one-on-one to resolve mental, emotional, and physical blocks which obscure the ever-present alignment of the authentic Self. Working with clients online as well as in person, her practice is international, spanning four continents.
Leanne frequently presents her research at domestic and international conferences on psychology and consciousness studies. Her published papers include Depth Psychology Through the Lens of Classical Yoga: A Reconsideration of Jung’s Ontic Reality for the International Journal of Jungian Studies and Innate and Emergent: Jung, Yoga and the Archetype of the Self Encounter the Objective Measures of Affective Neuroscience, for Cosmos and History: the Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy. Leanne also contributed Clear or Distorted: Understanding Our Instruments of Perception and Their Interdependence with Pure Consciousness, the final chapter in Brain, Mind, Cosmos: The Nature of Our Existence and The Universe, an e-book edited by Deepak Chopra, which features articles by several international scientists and philosophers in the field of consciousness studies, including Stuart Hameroff and Peter Bruza.
Leanne holds two degrees, a Masters degree in Statistics from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and a Doctorate in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara California. Leanne lives in Southern California with her fourteen-year-old son. She can be reached directly through her website at leannewhitney.com
Education
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PhD, Depth Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute
MA, Statistics, University of St. Andrews
Websites
Books
Articles
Innate and Emergent: Jung, Yoga and the Archetype of the Self Encounter the Objective Measures of Affective Neuroscience
Published: Aug 27, 2018 by Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy
Authors: Leanne Whitney
Jung’s individuation process, the central process of human development, relies heavily on several core philosophical and psychological ideas including the unconscious, complexes, the archetype of the Self, and the religious function of the psyche. While working to find empirical evidence of the psyche’s religious function, Jung studied a variety of subjects including the Eastern liberatory traditions of Buddhism and Patañjali’s Classical Yoga.
Yoga and Affective Neuroscience: Towards A Contemporary Science of the
Published: Jan 18, 2018 by Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy
Authors: Leanne Whitney
Subjects:
Religion
Materialist and fundamentalist reductive ideologies obscure our capacity to directly experience the numinous. Thus, importantly, given the weight of the observable and measurable in orthodox science, a viable means of reconciling science and religious experience has continued to elude us. However, affective neuroscience may be able to offer us a contemporary and objective means of languaging the bridge between the transcendent and immanent and fostering a contemporary science of the sacred.
JUNG IN DIALOGUE WITH FREUD AND PATAÑJALI: INSTINCT, AFFECTIVE NEUROSCIENCE, AND THE RECONCILIATION OF SCIENCE AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
Published: Mar 27, 2017 by Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy
Authors: Leanne Whitney
For both Jung and Patañjali our human desire to understand “God” is as real as any other instinct. Jung’s and Patañjali’s models further align in their emphasis on the teleological directedness of the psyche, and their aim at reconciling science and religious experience. As an atheist, Freud was in disagreement, but all three scholars align in their emphasis on the study of affect as an empirical means of entering into the psyche.
Depth psychology through the lens of Classical Yoga: a reconsideration of Jung’s
Published: Oct 05, 2016 by International Journal of Jungian Studies
Authors: Leanne Whitney
Looking at Jung through the lens of Classical Yoga this paper invites a reconsideration of the Jungian ontic reality.
Jung and non-duality: some clinical and theoretical implications of the self
Published: Oct 22, 2015 by International Journal of Jungian Studies
Authors: Lionel Corbett and Leanne Whitney
Jung and non-duality: some clinical and theoretical implications of the self as totality of the psyche
Videos
Published: Dec 31, 2017
Leanne Whitney PhD, compares the western depth psychology of Carl G. Jung with the yoga tradition of India, as outlined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. She notes that Jung never accepted the eastern ideal that spiritual enlightenment could free one from mental suffering. Nor did Jungian theory address the concept of pure consciousness that is central to yoga philosophy.