Josh Brahinsky

Psychological Anthropologist

Josh Brahinsky is a psychological anthropologist who uses ethnographic neurophenomenology to investigate interpersonal synchrony and altered states of consciousness. He focuses on relationships between emotion and cognition in high-arousal contemplative practices such as speaking in tongues, jhāna and taoist meditation.

His research is housed in the Contemplation and Psychedelics Lab at McGill University and the Religious Studies Department at Stanford University.

Dr. Tristan Bekinschtein

Professor of Neuroscience, University of Cambridge

Dr. Tristan Bekinschtein is an Anglo-Argentine neuroscientist renowned for his pioneering work on consciousness and altered states. He serves as Professor at the University of Cambridge and leads the Consciousness and Cognition Lab, where his team investigates the neural underpinnings of cognition during diverse conscious experiences. His academic journey began with a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Buenos Aires, followed by research positions at institutions including the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and INSERM-CEA in Paris. He is also a Turing Fellow and invited neuroscientist in Papworth Sleep Hospital and Psychiatry Cambridge Foundation Trust.

Dr. Bekinschtein’s research encompasses a broad spectrum of consciousness states, from wakefulness to sleep to sedation and disorders of consciousness. His lab employs multidisciplinary methods—such as EEG, fMRI, and psycho-physics—to explore how the brain transitions between these states. In the last few years focus of his work has been on non-pharmacological methods of inducing altered states.

In a 2024 study, his team demonstrated that breathwork practices can elicit “psychedelic-like” experiences, marked by increased neural complexity, particularly in Lempel-Ziv complexity measures. This research highlights how intentional breathing can modulate consciousness in ways similar to psychedelic substances, which is what is discussed in a subsequent psychedelic publication using DMT. In the last few months the CCC-Lab has turned to kundalini, as a technique that allows to combine movement, meditation, energy and breathworks, to investigate non-pharmacological altered states.