PHI SEMINARS
WELCOME TO PHILOSOPHICAL HEALTH SEMINARS. BELOW YOU WILL FIND RECORDINGS OF PAST SEMINARS. IF YOU SIGNED UP VIA THE PH SEMINARS INTEREST FORM YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED OF UPCOMING LIVE SEMINARS VIA EMAIL.
COLLECTIVE FLOURISHING
In this seminar, Clare will share insights from her doctoral work on Collective Flourishing and explore how the SMILE_PH method integrates with her self-to-collective leadership model. This session will introduce key ideas on developing adaptive capacity, deep relational intelligence, and a commitment to human flourishing as an embedded way of being rather than an output to strive for. Through practical reflections and discussion, Clare will offer a fresh perspective on how leadership can move beyond individual optimization to create environments where both people and systems naturally thrive together.
DAO & PHILOSOPHICAL HEALTH
In this session, Patrik will look at Philosophical Health through the lens of "Inner Sustainability". He will be sharing his approach to the inner work, which is inspired by Daoist cosmology and the methods of Zen Coaching. We are also going to explore how these methods intertwine with the six elements of philosophical health. Finally, Patrik and Luis will be presenting the Philosophical Health retreat that we are planning for in June in the Swedish wilderness. Luis will be there and it will be a regenerating feast for the body and mind!
'Self-Transcendence Unpacked: Linking Trait, Process, and Practice for Personal Growth
In this talk, Christian addresses the notion of self-transcendence and it’s contribution to meaning in life and personal growth — specifically, with a view on realizing it by means of the SMILE_PH method. Researchers discuss self-transcendence in terms of personality trait, personal growth process, and spiritual practice. Drawing on a philosophical analysis of the concept of human personhood, Christian presents a philosophical framework that captures all three meanings. As a result, it will become explicit why talking about someone feeling a sense of belonging or pursuing a higher purpose is considered equivalent to self-transcending. In addition, it will also become clearer why the method of SMILE_PH (intended to strengthen the sense of belonging, sense of purpose and philosophy of life) contributes to personal growth and meaning in life.
Philosophy at the End of Life: A Practical Approach to Dying, Caregiving, and Grief
In this session, Jonathan Carroll explores how philosophy can support those facing death, those who care for them, and those living with grief. Drawing on traditional wisdom and the SMILE_PH method, Jonathan shows how philosophy offers practical frameworks for meaning, belonging, and purpose—especially for secular or non-religious worldviews—while highlighting new resources for palliative care practitioners and institutions.
Screens, Rooms, and the Spatial Dimension of Philosophical Health'
In this talk Dr. N. Sena Arslan explores how space — whether digital or physical — shapes the way we think, feel, and connect in dialogue. Far from being a neutral backdrop, space directs attention, alters perception, and changes what becomes possible in conversation. Online settings often support introspection and self-reflection, while in-person dialogue fosters presence, mutual regulation, and relational depth. Rather than seeing one as better than the other, the talk invites us to reimagine space as a co-creative element in philosophical and therapeutic practice, shaping care, reflection, and transformation.
PHILOSOPHY GyMS: CULTIVATING PHILOSOPHICAL HEALTH FOR TRANSFORMATIVE BUSINESS PRACTICE
In this talk Dr. Jessica Bohme highlights how today’s global landscape is shaped by a metacrisis—a web of environmental, social, economic, and mental health challenges. Conventional responses often address only the “outer dimension” through technical or policy solutions, while neglecting the deeper “inner dimensions” of mindsets, values, and worldviews.
PhilosophyGyms offer SMEs a space to reflect, reframe, and respond to complexity by engaging these inner dimensions and the philosophies that shape them. This approach builds new capacities for navigating uncertainty and driving transformative change. Currently being developed in an EU-funded project across five countries (Germany, Sweden, Poland, Bulgaria, and Portugal), 'Philosophy Gyms' explore how philosophical health—and its six elements—can be integrated into training, not as a final state, but as an ongoing process of “philosophy-ing
HEALING THROUGH DIALOGUE IN CLASSICAL INDIA: THE CASE OF UPADEŚASĀHASRĪ OF ŚAMKARA BHAGAVATPĀDA
This talk explores philosophy as a transformative way of life and a genuine therapy for the soul. Drawing on Pierre Hadot’s work and Luis de Miranda’s SMILE_PH method of “philosophical health,” it shows how dialogue and reflection can deepen our sense of body, self, belonging, possibility, purpose, and meaning. It then turns to classical Indian philosophy, focusing on Śaṃkara’s Upadeśasāhasrī, to show how philosophical dialogue on the nature of the Self was understood as deeply therapeutic, and ends with intercultural reflections on the healing power of philosophical conversation.
WHERE PHILOSOPHY CAN MEET PSYCHOANALYSIS
William Perez, LCSW, discusses his experiences with the SMILE_PH method and the ways the method was personally useful and general implications for his practice in New York City, and his project to combine psychoanalysis with philosophical insights.