Cheetah House Courses
Resources for understanding and navigating meditation-related adverse effects
Featured Courses
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First Do No Harm - All Access
BundleFirst Do No Harm Levels 1 + 2, all required courses, electives, and live Q & As included. Over 45 hours of content and 25+ hours of APA credit available. Valued at over $1500.
$1,000
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First Do No Harm - Level 2d
BundleInvestigate social dynamics & harm in meditation spaces. Explore teacher roles, cultic dynamics, and coercive control and understand the impact of altered states and institutional betrayal. Note: Courses still being added.
$210
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First Do No Harm - Level 2c1 & 2c2
BundleAnalyze meditation-related challenges through critical historical & modern contexts. Study "meditation sickness," Kundalini, and wind disorders with various experts. Note: Courses still being added.
$355
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First Do No Harm - Level 2b
BundleLevel 2B reviews more unusual experiences that require more nuanced consideration of both biomedical and culture or tradition-specific explanations than those found in Level 2B. Please note: additional courses for 2b will be available soon.
$135
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First Do No Harm - Level 2a
BundleLevel 2 dives deep into different types of meditation-related challenges (phenomenology). Level 2A reviews the most common presentations of hyperarousal and hypoarousal symptoms, namely fear, anxiety, terror, traumatic re-experiencing & dissociation
$243
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First Do No Harm - Level 1
BundleMeditation challenge essentials: research overview and survivor stories. These workshops cover adverse effects, mechanisms, and mitigation/trauma strategies with a focus on mindfulness-based programs.
$200
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Level 1 Q & A with Scott Lippitt & Jennifer Lang
CourseThis Q & A session is available only for students who have taken the First Do No Harm Cheetah House Training, Level 1.
$35
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Meditation-induced visual lights
CourseLearn all about meditation-induced visual light hallucinations, the neurobiology, tradition-specific interpretations and what they mean about your brain and meditation practice. A reading-based course. ✅ 1 CE Credit
$35
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Fear and Terror in Buddhist Meditation
CourseFear states like panic and anxiety some of the most common meditation-related challenges. This reading-based course unpacks Buddhist views and neurobiological mechanisms of meditation-induced fear and hyperarousal ✅ 1 CE Credit
$35
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Level 1 Q & A with Dr. Britton
CourseThis Q & A session is available only for students who have taken the First Do No Harm Cheetah House Training, Level 1
$35
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Survivor Story: Scott
CourseScott Lippitt recounts his journey through meditation-challenges to the Cheetah House Care Team.
Free
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Coercion and Control: Who Is Responsible and Why?
CourseDeveloped by Dr. Lalich, the bounded choice framework explains how high-control groups create "self-sealing" systems through charismatic authority, transcendent beliefs, and rigorous systems of control and influence.✅ 1 CE Credit
$40
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Diet & Meditation-Related Challenges
CourseThis talk presents secondary findings of the Varieties of Contemplative Experiences study and offers biological and psychological hypothesizes regarding how and why dietary changes can impact meditation-related experiences. ✅ 1 CE Credit
$40
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New Methods for Old Traditions
CourseTraditional research tools often miss the complex, dynamic realities of daily life—where meditation practice actually happens and where meditation-related difficulties often arise. Explore new tools for capturing these experiences. ✅ 1 CE Credit
$40
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Spiritual Emergency and the Varieties of Kundalini Experience
CourseDrs. Anya Foxen and Sravana Borkataky-Varma explore Kundalini experience and how practitioners may be better supported with access to cultural and historical frameworks. ✅ 1 CE Credit
$40
Main instructors
Regular contributors to Cheetah House courses
Willoughby Britton, Ph.D.
Dr. Willoughby Britton is founder of Cheetah House and director of the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab at Brown University.
Jared Lindahl, PhD
Dr. Jared Lindahl has been leading the data collection, analysis, and writing of papers for the Varieties of Contemplative Experience study since 2014.
David Cooper
David Cooper has been a research associate and project coordinator on the Varieties of Contemplative Experience study since 2014. His contributions include recruitment, interviews, data analysis, and both lead and co-authorship on nearly every project publication.
Guest instructors
Nicholas Canby, PhD
Dr. Canby holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology and specializes in the assessment of self-boundary phenomenology across various contexts, including meditation, psychedelics, and psychopathology.
Sarah Strohmaier, PhD
Dr. Sarah Strohmaier is a Psychology lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. Her PhD in Psychology explored the role of dose in mindfulness-based programs and practices to improve wellbeing.
Annie Murphy Paul
Annie Murphy Paul is an acclaimed science writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Scientific American, Slate, Time magazine, and The Best American Science Writing, among many other publications. She is the author of The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain and two other books.