Lawrence Edwards, PhD, BCN Senior Fellow, LMHC has practiced and taught meditation for over 40 years. He is the Founder and Director of The Anam Cara Meditation Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching meditative practices from a variety of traditions. The name Anam Cara is ancient Gaelic for “friend of the soul.” Meditation empowers people to live from their highest nature in everyday life. The mission of the Anam Cara Foundation is to make meditation instruction available to everyone. There are free guided meditation audio instructions on MP3 files and written instructions on the Anam Cara Foundation website, www.anamcarameditation.org. Lawrence has offered thousands of free meditation programs at universities, hospitals, churches, meditation centers, yoga centers, hospice groups, prisons and more. Please visit the Anam Cara Meditation Foundation website for information on programs, retreats or to arrange a private retreat for your group. For free videos on meditation, mantras and other teachings visit: https://www.youtube.com/@AnamCaraMeditation. Also visit www.thesoulsjourney.com for free podcasts and other resources.
Dr. Edwards is trained in biofeedback and neurofeedback and he is board certified in neuro-biofeedback (BCIA Senior Fellow). He is also New York state licensed psychotherapist – LMHC. He has served on the board of directors of the Northeast Regional Biofeedback Society from 2006-2011, including a term as President from 2009-2010. He was on the faculty of New York Medical College as a clinical instructor in the Department of Family Medicine from 1998-2022. He was recruited by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to help them develop a pediatric integrative medicine outpatient program in 2010. He returned to New York in 2013 and offers programs through the Anam Cara Meditation Foundation in Armonk, NY.
Lawrence is a recognized expert in the field of Kundalini, our innate power of Consciousness that creates the highest order of transformation and revelation. This power is the foundation of all yogic, mantra and meditation practices. Lawrence is regarded by many as a modern mystic known for his love of the Divine. In 2001 he founded the The Anam Cara Meditation Foundation, a 501 (C) 3 non-profit educational organization dedicated to teaching meditative practices from a variety of traditions, making them freely available to everyone. On the Meditation page you will find written meditation instructions as well as free downloadable MP3 files of guided meditation and deep relaxation instruction.
Dr. Edwards retired from clinical practice in 2022. He continues to work with people interested in meditation, spiritual growth, dream work and Kundalini processes. He served as President of the Kundalini Research Network from 2003-202 and is recognized around the world for his wisdom and skill in working with Kundalini.
Lawrence grew up on Long Island, New York. In 1970 he began studying meditation and psychology in college. He studied with the transpersonal psychologist, Dr. Kenneth Ring, at the University of Connecticut, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1974. During this time he practiced meditation and hatha yoga and then began studying Tibetan Buddhism with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Dr. Edwards has studied with His Eminence Tsewang Sitar Rinpoche, head of the ancient Sangye Teng Monastery in Bhutan and received empowerments from him. He has also received teachings and empowerments from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Gelek Rinpoche.
Years of study at ashrams in the United States and India are just part of Dr. Edwards’ extensive background in yoga, meditation, and the dynamics of Kundalini. He spent three years preparing to become a sannyasin, a renunciate monk in the Vedic tradition, under the direction of Swami Muktananda and then for many years with Swami Chidvilasananda. He has run meditation centers and an ashram in the United States and he has taught meditation at a variety of institutions in Canada, India and the United States. For years he helped to train meditation teachers and meditation center leaders for the SYDA Foundation. He headed up a team of professionals who dealt with individuals going though intense Kundalini processes in the ashrams. At Swami Muktananda’s ashram in Ganeshpuri, India he served as clinic manager and helped to run the mobile hospital that provided care for the desperately poor native villages in the rural area surrounding the ashram.
Dr. Edwards has studied and practiced in the Kundalini yoga tradition, Tibetan Buddhist and Huichol Indian shamanic traditions. These rich reservoirs of wisdom have expanded and deepened the transpersonal and Jungian psychological perspectives of his professional training. His mystical experiences began as a young child and have continued throughout his life. They have been the real guiding force behind his studies and training. His profound experience of the Divine present in everyone, at all times, and in all places has lead him to a life of service in teaching and supporting others on their journeys into the Divine.
Many people contact Lawrence because he offers the wisdom that can only come from a life time of deep practice deep in the Kundalini, yogic, and Buddhist traditions. Every spiritual tradition has its name for the power of the Infinite that compels us to seek the highest, to look beyond the mundane to know the Source, to know what transcends the mind. It is called the Holy Spirit, Shekinah, Chi, N’um, Shakti, Consciousness, and by many more names. Kundalini is the yogic term for the power of the Divine that propels us along our journey beyond the ordinary mind into the infinite expanse of unspeakable Oneness. This awesome, transpersonal power, Kundalini, is often misunderstood, especially in the West. Kundalini is referred to as a Goddess in the East, as the Divine Feminine is the archetypal power of creativity, giving birth to all forms. Her effects, while transformative and supremely uplifting, may feel challenging at times and dis-integrative, especially as Kundalini does the work of setting the mind and body free from the many layers of conditioning that bind them. This allows for a higher order of integration and wholeness of Self to emerge. Traveling the path of Kundalini requires a truly experienced and learned mentor/guide.
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