Mindfulness Techniques and Practices in Islamic Psychotherapy: The Power of Mu-raqabah

Isgandarova, N. (2025). Mindfulness techniques and practices in Islamic psychotherapy : the power of muraqabah. Routledge. ISBN: 978103263138

Episode 1a: CoP Interview: A Pedagogy of Kindness with Cate Denial

In this episode, Brenna interviews Cate Denial about her essay-turned-book, A Pedagogy of Kindness. Cate talks about her journey to kindness, the devaluing of teaching and learning in higher education, and the practice of ungrading (including an unessay assignment!). In doing so, Cate addresses what is radical about really assessing learning.https://scholars.wlu.ca/community-of-praxis/1001/thumbnail.jp

The Utility of The Eye Height to Shoulder Width Ratio When Determining the Passability of an Aperture

Aperture crossing tasks are commonly used to test an individual’s perception-action integration capabilities. Multiple studies have demonstrated that young adults use body-scaled information to guide behaviours while completing a static aperture task (Franchak & Adolph, 2014; Hackney et al., 2014; Hackney & Cinelli, 2013; Warren & Whang, 1987). However, it remains unclear as to what visual information young adults are using to determine the passability of an aperture. One theory proposed by Fajen (2013), is that young adults use a ratio of their eye height (EH) to shoulder width (SW). To test this theory, eye height manipulation studies have asked participants to make perceptual judgments, which may not reflect actions or had them walk on blocks, which altered their biomechanics. Therefore, the purpose of the thesis was to determine if eye height information is used to inform a person about their body size and is utilized as the driving information source which dictates actions. It was hypothesized that an increase/decrease in eye height would lead to participants’ self-perception of shoulder width (i.e., body size) being larger or smaller respectively and give themselves more or less space to pass through safely when compared to the no manipulation condition. Collision avoidance behaviours were used to determine if a change in perception of body size occurred in two different virtual environmental tasks, those being a static aperture crossing task (Study 1) and a closing gap task (Study 2). Participants across both studies experienced the same three eye height conditions/manipulations, Normal (no EH manipulation), Tall (+30cm to EH), and Small (-30cm to EH). Eye height manipulations occurred in the VE by having the headset view of the VE increase/decrease in virtual eye height based on each participant’s normal eye height without necessarily changing gait biomechanics. Study 1; Fifteen young adults (9 male, 22.3 +/- 1.5) walked along a 7.5m long pathway in virtual reality (VR), towards a goal with an aperture created out of two vertical poles (20cm in diameter) located along the path 5m from the start. The objective of the participants was to reach the goal either by passing through or around stationary poles without rotating their shoulders or colliding with one of the 9-block randomized aperture sizes (ranging from 0.8-1.8x SW). Using head position of the participant, head position at the time of crossing (M-L), critical point, and deviation onset (A-P) were calculated. Study 2; Sixteen young adult participants (10 males; 22.2 +/- 1.6 years) walked along a 7.5m long pathway in virtual reality (VR), towards a goal with a closing doorway (initially opened to 4m wide) located along the path 3.5m from the start. The objective of the participants was to reach the goal square without rotating their shoulders or speeding up to pass through one of 9 door closing speeds relating to each participant\u27s average walking speed (0.6, 0.7, 0.75, 0.80, 0.85, 0.90, 0.95, 1.0, 1.2x walking speed). Using head position of the participant, average slow down distance from the doors, and 50% switch point were calculated. Results from both studies revealed that what information source a young adult is utilizing, will depend on the task. The results from study 1 revealed that young adults are utilizing information from their eye height to inform them about their body size while completing a static aperture task. When young adults were in the Tall condition, their self-perception of body size was wider. While the opposite was true for the Small condition, where young adults\u27 collision avoidance behaviours shifted to acting narrower. Interestingly, study 2 did not have the same results, as young adults were not utilizing eye height information when completing the closing gap task. Instead, young adults were utilizing optical variables such as beta angle as the primary information source to determine passability. The results revealed that while completing a static task that relies on body scaled information, eye height information is utilized to inform about body size to drive actions. While during a closing gap task that relies on action-scaled information, body size is disregarded, and optical information such as beta angle is utilized to determine passability

Review of “Dread Danger: Cowardice and Combat in the American Civil War” by Lesley J. Gordon and “Invisible Wounds: Mental Illness and Civil War Soldiers” by Dillon J. Carroll

Review of Dread Danger: Cowardice and Combat in the American Civil War by Lesley J. Gordon and Invisible Wounds: Mental Illness and Civil War Soldiers by Dillon J. Carrol

Introduction

This is the introductory chapter of Deyohahá:ge:: Sharing the River of Life, edited by Daniel Coleman, Ki\u27en Debicki, and Bonnie M. Freeman. Deyohahá:ge:, “two roads or paths” in Cayuga language, evokes the Covenant Chain-Two Row Wampum, known as the “grandfather of the treaties.” Famously, this Haudenosaunee wampum agreement showed how Indigenous people and newcomers could build peace and friendship by respecting each other’s cultures, beliefs, and laws as they shared the river of life. Written by members of Six Nations and their neighbours, this book introduces readers not only to the 17th-century history of how the Dutch and British joined the wampum agreement, but also to how it might restore good relations today. Many Canadians and Americans have never heard of the Covenant Chain or Two Row Wampum, but 200 years of disregard have not obliterated the covenant. We all need to learn about this foundational wampum, because it is resurging in our communities, institutions, and courthouses—charting a way to a future. The writers of Deyohahá:ge: delve into the eco-philosophy, legal evolution, and ethical protocols of two-path peace-making. They tend the sacred, ethical space that many of us navigate between these paths. They show how people today create peace, friendship, and respect—literally—on the river of everyday life.https://scholars.wlu.ca/books/1006/thumbnail.jp

Negotiated Cultural Identity and Belonging of Self-Identified Indo-Guyanese Immigrant Women

This dissertation examines how young, self-identified Indo-Guyanese women who immigrated to Southwestern Ontario in the 1970s negotiate cultural identity and belonging. Utilizing a bio-ethnographic bricolage narrative methodology, the study explores the impact of postcolonial diaspora and social displacement on these women’s experiences within the third space or borderlands. Grounded in relativist ontology and constructivist epistemology, storytelling serves as the primary data collection method through a critical theory lens. Interviews with 12 participants were analyzed thematically and reflexively, revealing how participants construct meaning and navigate cultural identities. The analysis, conducted through feminist, decolonial, and trauma-informed perspectives, offers insights into psychological homelessness resulting from otherness. Considering the dual migrations across continents, the study employs a bricolage approach, integrating theological, epistemological, and psychological perspectives to understand generational implications and cultural straddling. As philosopher John O\u27Donohue (2002) expressed, the hunger to belong is at the heart of our nature (p. xxi). This research resonates with those exploring the generational effects of negotiated cultural identity and aims to document these lived experiences for future generations, emphasizing the preservation of diasporic cultural heritage

Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation

Sinclair, M., Sinclair, S., & Sinclair, N. J. (2024). Who we are: four questions for a life and a nation. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN: 978077109910

Sustaining While Disrupting: The Challenge of Congregational Innovation

Review of Sustaining While Disrupting: The Challenge of Congregational Innovation by F. Douglas Powe Jr. and Lovett H. Weems Jr. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2022

Soldiers, Alcohol, and Insanity at Richmond Asylum, 1860s-1900s

This article examines the role of alcohol in the etiology of madness through a case study of soldiers and veterans at Richmond Asylum in Dublin. It argues that the diagnostic process was a complex practice informed by medical and military authorities and patient and family histories. Like any medical records, Richmond casebooks are mediated through the medical gaze, but they do contain significant glimpses into what role patients and families believed alcohol played in soldiers’ mental health. The study highlights moments of consensus and disagreement rather than a singular theory on the role of alcohol in mental illness. Through a detailed study of casebooks and registers, the essay explores the connections between the carceral and asylum systems, competing charges of malingering and feigning sanity, and the specific influence of army life and imperial climate on soldiers’ drinking habits. This article is a case study exploring how the heated debates over alcohol’s role in mental illness unfolded around a military population in a civilian asylum

Review of Empty Spaces by Jordan Abel

A book review of Jordan Abel\u27s Empty Spaces