Nuria Ciofalo
Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, CA, USA
—
Indigenous psychologies are informed by their cosmovisions, philosophies, religions, spiritual traditions, and onto-epistemologies. This presentation will address Cem Anahuac conceptions of consciousness and altered states of consciousness, psyche, spirit, and mental and physical health among the Nahua and Maya of Mexico. Their knowledge and praxes systems have resisted colonization and erasure of their rich legacies due to the imposition of the conquerors’ only-one-world view still persisting in academic discourse. The rich Nahua and Maya cosmology, astrology, science, and mythology are preserved in texts written in the stones of their majestic archeological sites. Indigenous communities in this region continue to use sacred substances, such as medicinal plants, mushrooms, and some animals, that stimulate altered states of consciousness in rituals for holistic healing. The Western academy needs to learn from these knowledge and praxes systems, consciousness states, and spirituality to expand their hegemonic paradigm and promote decoloniality in the Euro-centric discipline of psychology.
—
Nuria Ciofalo is a researcher at Pacifica Graduate Institute focusing on indigenous psychologies, consciousness studies, and decolonial approaches to psychology. Her work explores Mesoamerican cosmovisions and knowledge systems.
—
The Parapsychological Association is an international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of psi (or ‘psychic’) experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition. The primary objective of the PA is to achieve a scientific understanding of these experiences.
Follow the PA: https://linktr.ee/parapsychologicalassociation
Donate to support the mission of the PA: https://donorbox.org/support-the-parapsychological-association
Published on March 10, 2026
