California Institute of Integral Studies

The California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) grew out of the earlier American Academy of Asian Studies, founded by Louis Gainsborough in 1951.[9][10] Other early contributors to the founding of the academy includes Frederic Spiegelberg.[11] The academy was an independent educational institution set up to study Eastern culture and philosophy [9] and improve the dialogue between east and west.[10] Soon after the founding of the institution Gainsborough was joined by Alan Watts and Haridas Chaudhuri; two persons that played a crucial role in the development of the academy's academic profile.[10]

Both Watts and Chaudhuri were oriented towards eastern religions and philosophy and integrated this into their teaching and colloquium. Watts, a teacher of eastern mysticism, established the academy as a meeting place for counter-cultural movements, also known as the San Francisco Renaissance. Chaudhuri, a scholar of Aurobindo, developed the field of Integral counseling psychology, an integration of eastern philosophy with the growing field of counseling psychology.[10] According to sources “Chaudhuri’s vision of integral education, like that of Alan Watts, was based on connecting the cultural traditions of the East and the West”.[10]

In 1968, Chaudhuri was instrumental in the founding and development of a new institution called the California Institute of Asian Studies.[10][12] The new institution grew out of the former American Academy of Asian Studies, which was winding down. In this period several developments took place. Paul Herman continued the work of Chaudhuri and also designed the Institutes first graduate degree in Integral Psychology, the Integral Counseling Psychology (ICP) degree, which was established in 1973.[10]

Frederic Spiegelberg, who helped found the predecessor American Academy of Asian Studies, served as the institutes second president, from 1976 to 1978.[9][11]

In 1980 the institute underwent a change of name, now emerging as the California Institute of Integral Studies.[12]

In 1981, the institute was granted regional accreditation [12] and became member of the national community of colleges and universities.[10] By the mid-eighties several academic programs were available, including the Clinical Psychology program, the Counseling Psychology program, and the East/West Psychology program. Several new programs were also launched in the 1985-86 academic year, including the Organizational Development and Transformation certificate program, and the External Studies program. Other services, available to students at this time, included an extensive library, as well as the Integral Counseling Center, a community-based service facility that supported the training needs of clinical and counseling students.[12]

In 2008, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that psychology students at the New College of California were transferring to the California Institute of Integral Studies, due to the closing down of the former institution.[13]

In 2012, the CIIS, with support from the Aetna foundation, announced that it was introducing its new onsite health and wellness coaching program to San Francisco's Mid-Market District. The program was to be of benefit to children and families living at 10th & Mission Family Housing, a supportive housing project run by Mercy Housing California .[14] In 2013 Jordan[15] published a case report that summarized the experiences from the integrative wellness coaching (IWC) project among homeless and low-income individuals in San Francisco. The IWC model was, at this time, included in the master of arts program in Integrative Health Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Central to the early history of the Institute is a model of so-called integral education. Originally set up to study Eastern culture and philosophy in the beginning of the 1950s,[9] the institute developed further in this direction with the arrival of Haridas Chadhauri. Chaudhuri introduced the integral philosophy of Sri Aurobindo as a navigating principle for education and established a perspective that sought a holistic view of the human being; an integration of material and spiritual values; as well as an integration of eastern and western philosophies and worldviews.[10][12] By the mid-eighties this model of education was firmly established. In 1985 Voigt [12] reported on the graduate programs at CIIS and elaborated on the experience of integral education at the institute. In the late 1990s, the CIIS was one of several institutions in the USA associated with the study of Holism and Consciousness.[16]

There is also a connection between the roots of CIIS and the Human Potential Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Among the students who attended the colloquia at the American Academy of Asian Studies in the 1950s was Michael Murphy and Dick Price, founders of the Esalen Institute at Big Sur.[10] According to Gleig and Floress,[17] "one can trace a direct line from Integral Yoga through [the Cultural Integration Fellowship] to two of the major centers of the Human Potential movement and the transpersonal psychology field it birthed: Esalen and the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)."

Gleig and Flores further explain that:

CIIS's distinctive signature is the development of an integral education that combines academic scholarship with spiritual transformation and through its student body, faculty publications, and popular public program it has significantly shaped contemporary East-West spiritualities. As with the other main creative lineage centers - Esalen and CIF - CIIS is committed to a pluralistic spiritual vision and its Aurobindo roots are somewhat hidden.[17]

According to Jim Ryan, CIIS, as developed by the founder (Chaudhuri), "had a very wide academic reach, far beyond its basic East-West philosophy concentration. Theses and dissertations were done over many years on the politics, economics, anthropology, sociology, and area studies of many nations of the world."[18]^:52