Turning the Self Inside Out: An Integral Framework and Methodology of Meditative Journaling for Graduate Students

This dissertation is a model of the Integral Methodology of Meditative Journaling (IMMJ). IMMJ positions graduate students toward their unique contribution to their field, their community, and the world, through the practice of Meditative Journaling. It disrupts traditional academia by using uncertainty as a teacher, rather than an experience to fear or avoid. Meditative Journaling allows students to create a relationship with their innermost self, what I call the Usable Core. I used the data of my own 17 journals to build a Curriculum of Contribution, which includes three distinct stages. They are: Stage 1 – Who Am I, Individually? Stage 2 – Who Am I, Authentically? Stage 3 – Who Am I, as a Collective Contributor? I created an objective tool, called the Circle of Integration, to guide students through the Curriculum. The Circle of Integration allows students to better understand the being and doing parts of their personal and collective consciousness, all influenced by Emotions, Behaviors, Societal Systems, and Culture. This helps students to face their particular enslavements and judgments, bringing them further towards the direction of their contribution. My own journey through the stages of the Curriculum is what led me to the birth of IMMJ. This dissertation details that journey. IMMJ was both my methodology and the culmination of my findings. The purpose of IMMJ is to orient graduate students toward contributing to our conscious evolution as a human species, in our emerging, integral world.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education Graduate Program – Educational Research

Grantor

Werklund School of Education

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Halvorson, Ellen

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bohac-Clarke, Veronika

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Danyluk, Patricia
• Winchester, Ian
• Clark, Douglas
• Bai, Heesoon

• Non-traditional thesis
• Meditation
• Journaling
• Integral Theory
• Conscious Evolution
• Uncertainty

Statement dc:rights

• Unless otherwise indicated, this material is protected by copyright and has been made available with authorization from the copyright owner. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/51327

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/124626