Research

Dr. Schlitz is an acclaimed social scientist, award-winning author, and charismatic public speaker. She has conducted clinical, laboratory and field-based research into consciousness, human transformation, and healing. Her books include Love Study: A Novel; Death, Let's Talk About It; Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life; Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind Body Medicine; and Death Makes Life Possible (and companion film by same title). Having taught at Stanford, Harvard, and Trinity University, she is currently Professor of Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University, CEO/President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Schlitz has published hundreds of articles in scholarly journals and popular publications, and has lectured extensively in diverse venues, including the United Nations, Smithsonian Institution, Commonwealth Club, and community groups across the world.

Marilyn has conducted basic science research on the powers of the mind, including remote viewing, mind over matter, and distant intention and healing. Working with psychologist, William Braud, she developed a methodology for studying distant interactions between living systems (DMILS) that has now been replicated in laboratories around the world. She has engaged in clinical studies of healing, including a NIH sponsored study looking at the power of compassionate intention on wound healing in women undergoing reconstructive surgery. She has conducted fieldwork in the West Indies, rural Texas, the Ecuadorian Amazon, and among healers and spiritual teachers from a broad representation of the world’s traditions. She is a pioneer in the area of Integral Healthcare, including a book entitled, Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind Body Medicine, together with Tina Amorok and Mark Micozzi. She has also completed a decade-long study of transformation, culminating in the book, Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transformation in Everyday Life, together with Cassandra Vieten and Tina Amorok.

Her current work focuses on individual and social transformation and healing, applying what she has learned from her basic research to major institutional sectors including science, healthcare, and education. She has just completed a feature film entitled, Death Makes Life Possible, together with Deepak Chopra and Petaluma Pictures. Her book by the same name is now in production with Sounds True Publishers. This work explores diverse worldviews and belief systems about death and what lies beyond. The goal is to transform the fear of death into an inspiration for living.