CQ-i Research Team
Sona Ahuja | Research Director, CQ-i Assessment Studies
Hello! I am from Gujarat, India originally, born and brought up there and now live in Dayalbagh, Agra, India. I am a teacher-educator and a researcher of consciousness. As part of my academic interest, I prepare prospective teachers for conscious education for over a decade.
I started my journey of research in consciousness studies through the Centre for Consciousness Studies, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (CCS-DEI), India. I attended various workshops and conferences in this area. While looking for a psychological measurement of consciousness, I came across CQ-i. I had a rigorous discussion over this topic in the ‘Basic Course on Neuro-Sciences and Cognitive Sciences’ organized by CCS-DEI. Though initially, researchers at the center were cynical to accept CQ-i, presently, numerous researches are conducted in India relating consciousness with other factors using CQ-i. I have conducted various experimental studies at CCS-DEI, Agra, and presented the results at ‘Toward a Science of Consciousness’ conference series held annually. CQ-i has given me a new perspective in studying consciousness and conducting research in this area. Using CQ-i, I wish to continue seeking answers to unexplored research questions in the science of consciousness. Hi! My research focuses on the psychology of inner evolution and the Consciousness Quotient Inventory (CQ-i), which introduces conscious experience as a research variable in psychological assessment. This process took some years, while trying to ascertain a way to identify and scientifically measure the collective patterns of conscious experiences. My growth journey toward maturity and inner harmony has been a long and messy process, with many ups and downs. Amazing insights and openings unfolded, simultaneously with stressful entrepreneurial failures in Romania, which forced me to go deeper within myself, to be truthful, compassionate, more flexible, and adapt to life as it is. The beta version of the CQ-i was developed through 14 studies on a population of 6,800 individuals. It was released in 2008 and presented the next year at the Toward a Science of Consciousness conference. The standardized version of the CQ-i was released in 2020, using a normative sample that included 2,266 participants from 96 countries. Our research revealed that collective conscious experiences have 15 patterns common to all of us, comprising the Consciousness Quotient model. In 2020 I began working on a new project, in artificial intelligence. Our mission is to advance toward artificial conscious intelligence and harmonic intelligence, develop AI Mind OS – the first conversational AI technology using a human-like AI mind architecture embedded in an AI psyche, and create mobile apps for conversational usage (www.harmonic-intelligence.ai). My mission is to help individuals and organizations to become more conscious, awake, and alive to life and all of its opportunities. Along with the team, we help bring training, and development of people, based on assessments, to help strengthen organizations one person at a time. I am certified as a yoga therapist and meditation teacher, I have practiced and studied mindfulness/meditation for over 25 years. I bring over 30 years of experience to my practice. An alumnus of Price Waterhouse Coopers, I was the founder of IT Enabled Services Alliance, Inc., a global consulting firm. I was the Director for Global Solutions at British Telecom, AT&T, and MCI Telecommunications, later to become Verizon Business. I designed communications solutions to engage and connect people and organizations globally, for customer service support and outsourcing experiences. I have helped develop solutions for Best Buy, CUNA, Apple, McGraw-Hill, Time Warner, Autism Speaks, General Electric, Citibank, and Merrill Lynch, among others. Conscious Work | Life Coach I was born in Muskegon Heights, Michigan on January 3, 1964. I am the oldest of seven children. I have three adult children, two sons, and a daughter, and I am also the proud grandmother of two grandsons. I am a social scientist, trained, and experienced working within diverse and demanding environments including educational, administrative, and community. I hold an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, an M.A. in Postsecondary Educational Leadership, and BA degrees in both Psychology and Africana Studies. Additionally, I have several certificates in Management and Leadership, Community College Teaching, both from San Diego State University, and a certificate from the University of Oklahoma, College of Continuing Education, and Institute on Crisis of Young Black Males. While in my doctoral program, I developed a new leadership framework, that is focused on what I call Conscious Leadership. Conscious leadership is grounded in being purposeful and intentional, incorporates the sociocultural knowledge of reciprocity, allows for shared accountability and responsibility and is highly functional within organizations, which are networked and interconnected. I believe leadership is a natural state of being, however, it must be shared and built on reciprocity. I think we have to begin re-educating and re-teaching what it looks like to be a conscious human being, therefore a conscious leader. I regard myself as highly knowledgeable about the functionality of higher education systems and organizations. I have worked in community colleges, private and public universities, which has provided me with the opportunity to gain valuable insight, while shaping me as a conscious systems thinker. As an adjunct professor I have taught courses in the following areas: Cultural Competency, Educational Leadership in a Diversity Society, Introduction to Psychology and Cooperative Work Experience. I have an extensive background in qualitative research, leadership, student affairs and human development and functioning. I believe consciousness is universal, however, sometimes its best explained from a familiar worldview, one that may be grounded in cultural ways of being and traditions. I enjoy facilitating the human development process for people, especially from a conscious cultural lens/paradigm. My formal self-imposed title/role is Sakhu Sheti. This is an ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) term meaning one who is an illuminator of the soul/ healer. In my current position, I serve as the Administrative Director & Pathways Research Analyst within the Diversity & Community Partnerships (DCP) Office in the School of Medicine (SOM). I interface professionally with a broad range of collaborative contacts across campus, as well as external organizations throughout the San Diego community, while advising faculty, staff and students on procedures and outcomes related to PRIME-HEq and PRIME-TIDE programs. However, I consider myself a cultural custodian and spiritual librarian. I believe it is my “purpose” to assist human beings in awakening and becoming conscious. I want to do that through a process of education, research, and coaching, so that we create a different world that is purposeful. My primary goal is to fulfill my “purpose” and practice being a universal citizen of the world, who is focused on being a practitioner of enlightenment, using the message of oneness, vibrational love, awareness and consciousness. Using the principles of balance (Maat)… truth… justice… order… love… harmony… peace… reciprocity, thereby growing a more conscious and informed world citizen! Hello! I have a fervent passion for knowing life through as many perspectives as possible. You will often find me arguing very fervently on topics related to Feminism. This field is essential to me, as its system of values inspired my desire to contribute to improving our present-day societies. Throughout my inner evolution, Feminist academia and activism provided the tools for observing dominant ideologies and helped me analyze and question myself. Becoming a part of the Feminist movement changed me profoundly in the past ten years. Another essential moment of my inner development was the acknowledgment that I am a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), a neuro-divergent trait known to correlate with a depth in processing information and stimuli. This trait gave me the ability to notice subtleties, make exciting connections between emotional and cognitive streams of information, and have in-depth empathy. Over the years, I studied and wrote about HSP, its ramifications, and its impact at a collective level. I have delved into various humanistic fields, from Political Science and Cultural Theories to Contemporary Dance, Body Awareness Practices, and Psychology. I am defined by this powerful inner drive to be of service to our human collectives, towards an expansion of perspectives and capabilities. At the same time, I’ve always been curious to understand the possibilities of human development, and this is how I was drawn to Consciousness Quotient Institute’s work. Here, I wish to contribute with my knowledge, unifying streams of information and giving rise to new reflections, topics, and opportunities for studying personal and collective phenomena related to conscious evolution. Hi! I am a fan of psychometrics since 1997. After completing the military service, I worked as a chief psychologist in the gendarmerie, until 2001. During this time, in addition to psychological assessment and counseling, I was interested in building a comprehensive computerized psychological evaluation methodology. Since 2007, I teach at Ovidius University in Constanta, a nice town near the Black Sea. In recent years, I have been interested in organizations and communication management issues in organizations, for which I have developed a series of computer tools, based on an original concept, designed to optimize decision-making and psychological assessment. In addition, my doctoral thesis aims at the same area of interest, focusing on the psychological evaluation models, based on item response theory. Other professional activities include studies and research on organizational climate in a cable company (RDS-RCS Iasi) and the Constanta County Council, translation and adaptation of organizational diagnostic tools (with Filaret Sintion from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences), writing scientific books on data analysis, research methodology, and psychometrics. Hello. I was born in Agra, India and my bringing up was done in different states of India. I am a Senior Research Fellow at Dayalbagh Educational Institute in Agra. My research interests include consciousness-based education and contemplative pedagogy. I did my Master’s degree in education, which helped me explore the practices prevalent in the field of education. I discovered that it was educational psychology and particularly the field of consciousness, which can help in the development of learner-centered approaches in teaching. I have completed my doctoral research in the field of contemplative pedagogy., with a research involving exploration and testing of the techniques and methods for adolescents that can be employed in the mainstream classrooms to evolve conscious learners. During my Ph.D. research, I also tried to explore how much adolescents understand and comprehend the CQ-i. The research paper based on the study is entitled as ‘Consciousness Quotient Inventory administration on adolescents: difficulty level assessment’. Some of the other research papers upon which I have worked include: “Consciousness Quotient as a predictor of executive functioning”, “Blend of phenomenology and scientific approaches in yoga and meditation researches” and “Leadership Approach in relation to levels of consciousness: a correlational analysis”. Presently, all my endeavors are aimed at the development of a component in the curriculum which can help the learners in the realization of the witnessing awareness or the conscious being. The Human Connection Institute is an internationally-based institute exploring how every man, woman, and child is linked by our innate capacity for being collectively conscious. We have found that how we pay attention to ourselves, to one another and to nature determines the quality of our relationships in concrete tangible ways. Our research spans all the branches of science exploring inter-subjectively as well as objectively why we have avoided sharing a common sense, how we have been designed by nature to unlearn this habit, and how our interconnectedness can be felt and thought intuitively by every human being. Thirty years of trial and error research with hundreds of multicultural groups has shown how to live in harmony. As millions of us learn to pay attention together this promises to eliminate poverty, pollution, disease, crime and war. Rapid decision making in business allows organizations to by-pass hours of meeting time. By effortlessly producing and attracting beneficial behavior patterns, these processes strengthen originality and authenticity for creative development in families, relationships, communities and problem solving in politics, including optimum performance in sports and any type of collaborative activity from surgical teams to symphony orchestras. Sperry Andrews Iolee is a collaborative ecosystem for learning, research and product development. Our programs aim at cultivating the personal and social resiliency capable of resolving the complex challenges currently facing humanity. Contributing our innovative approach, ensures participants acquire the ability to comprehend and implement solutions that restore balance. This adds value to our own lives, and the lives of participants in our programs. We hope this will in time reflect in positive shifts in our planet’s Eco-system. Neither we or our partners can make change happen on a global level all on our own. Carlo Monsanto DMT Quest is non-profit research and educational organization that focuses on discovering innate pathways to unveil the mysteries of human perception as well as potential. The mission encompasses truths so deep that they can seem “movie-like” at times. It signifies the ultimate quest for answers about life. It will comprise of a comprehensive, interdisciplinary study of the mechanisms related to and responsible for internal dimethyltryptamine (DMT) production within the human body. We believe that the significance regarding naturally produced DMT is potentially far greater than simply providing “hallucinatory” visions within the mind. A combination of transparency in terms of lab results, finances, open discussion, and the journey of the study in video documentary format (as well as audio/written) will provide the platform for the general public to comprehend the implications. John Chavez Jeff Warren teaches meditation. He co-wrote “Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics” (with Dan Harris), wrote “The Head Trip”, and founded “The Consciousness Explorers Club”. His mission is to empower people to take charge of their own mental health, through the creative application of meditation and personal growth practices. He also teaches people how to guide and share practices in community. Having gone through two kundalini awakenings, Jana Dixon was compelled to attempt to present a manual for others to guide them through the difficult stages of the inner transformation. Kundalini awakenings are completely out of the ordinary and so we must go to extraordinary lengths to explore, explain and investigate how to make the most of this… the most wonderous time of our lives. John Stewart is an Australian evolutionary thinker, and a member of the Evolution, Complexity and Cognition Research Group of the Free University of Brussels. His main interest is in the development of an evolutionary worldview that reveals to us who we are, and what we should be doing with our lives. Cornelia Cacu was born in Romania in 1984; she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Cybernetics and Bachelor’s Degree in Theatrical Arts, both universities having a major impact in her vertical development. She currently works in Finances and is a Founding Member of the “Sounds of Om Association” which promotes projects for sustaining the transformational processes and personal growth. Alison Crosthwait is a transformational coach living in Toronto, Canada. She believes that healing herself is the most important part of her service and her journey of self-growth and understanding is long and varied. Raluca Ciobanu is an art therapist and works with children on the autism spectrum, using various methods focused on developing a better adult-child connection, and finding new ways to improve the acquisitions sustainably.Ovidiu Brazdău | Research Director, CQ-i Development
Keith Fiveson | Partner, Work Mindfulness
www.workmindfulness.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mindful-leader/
Valita Jones | Research Associate, Conscious Leadership
Julia Sima | Research Associate, Conscious Evolution
Cristian Opariuc | Psychometrics Research Coordinator
Sadhna Sharma | Research Associate
Research Partners
Human Connection Institute
U.S.A. Skype #: 505-629-0700
www.connectioninstitute.org Iolee R&D
www.iolee.lifeDMT Quest
www.dmtquest.org
“Becoming Conscious” Collection | Guest Authors
Jeff Warren
www.jeffwarren.orgJana Dixon
www.biologyofkundalini.comJohn Stewart
www.evolutionarymanifesto.comCornelia Câcu
www.sunetedeom.roAlison Crosthwait
www.alisoncrosthwait.comRaluca Ciobanu
www.facebook.com/kaRAmearttherapy/