Shelly Buckman

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About
Living in the Light
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Resources
- Coherence Blog
- Science

~Science is the language of nature, not its authority~

This page is a living reference. Sections are updated as research evolves. Use the Table Of Contents for easy navigation.

Core Consciousness & Reality Sciences

Neuroscience of Change

Joe Dispenza, DC
Chiropractic physician, neuroscience researcher, epigenetics educator

Dr. Joe Dispenza is an author and educator whose work integrates neuroscience, epigenetics, quantum physics, and meditation research to study how intentional mental and emotional states can produce measurable biological change. He is known for translating complex scientific concepts into models of intentional mental and emotional self-regulation.

Modality summary:
Dispenza’s research supports how repeated internal states rewire the brain and body, demonstrating that coherence, intention, and embodied awareness can shift physiology, identity, and lived reality. ~Research Link~

Consciousness Physics (My Big TOE)

Thomas W. Campbell, PhD
Nuclear physicist, consciousness researcher

Campbell is a former NASA physicist who developed a comprehensive model of reality known as My Big TOE (Theory of Everything), proposing that consciousness is fundamental and physical reality is a derived information system that emerges from it.

Modality summary:
Campbell’s model provides a scientific framework for consciousness as primary, supporting the view that inner coherence and awareness evolution directly shape lived experience. Consciousness physics explores reality as an information-based system, suggesting that matter, space, and time emerge from underlying conscious processes rather than existing independently of them.

Enactivism

Evan Thompson, PhD
Philosopher of cognitive science

Thompson is a leading theorist in embodied and enactive cognition, integrating neuroscience, phenomenology, and contemplative philosophy in the study of mind.

Modality summary:
Enactivism supports the theoretical framework that consciousness arises through lived interaction, not abstract thinking — meaning awareness is enacted through the body, environment, and relationship, proposing that cognition arises through dynamic interaction between organism and environment, emphasizing perception, action, and lived experience rather than internal representation alone.

Biology of Belief (Epigenetics)

Bruce H. Lipton, PhD
Cellular Biologist

Lipton’s research demonstrated that environmental signals — including perception and belief — influence gene expression by regulating cell behavior, contributing to the modern understanding of epigenetics.

Modality summary:
Epigenetics studies how gene expression is regulated by environmental and internal signals, including beliefs and emotional states, showing that genes respond dynamically to biochemical, emotional, and perceptual inputs rather than operating as fixed determinants, shaping health, resilience, and long-term adaptation.

Morphogenic Fields

Rupert Sheldrake, PhD
Biologist, consciousness researcher

Sheldrake proposed the theory of morphic resonance, suggesting that patterns of organization are influenced by collective memory fields rather than solely by genetic or mechanical processes.

Modality summary:
Morphogenic field theory proposes that natural systems inherit memory through fields, influencing development, behavior, and pattern formation across space and time.

Somatic, Nervous System & Trauma-Informed Sciences

Polyvagal Theory

Stephen W. Porges, PhD
Neuroscientist

Porges developed Polyvagal Theory to explain how the autonomic nervous system governs safety, connection, and survival responses.

Modality summary:
Polyvagal Theory describes how distinct vagal pathways regulate states of safety, mobilization, and shutdown, shaping emotional regulation, social engagement, and physiological resilience and explains why the body must feel safe before transformation can integrate, grounding somatic work in nervous-system-first coherence.

Embodied Cognition

Francisco Varela, PhD
Neuroscientist, philosopher

Varela was a pioneer in cognitive science who helped establish the study of embodied cognition, showing that mind and body are inseparable.

Modality summary:
Varela’s work validates the position that awakening and insight must be lived through the body, not bypassed cognitively.

Somatic Experiencing

Peter A. Levine, PhD
Psychologist, trauma researcher

Levine developed Somatic Experiencing to resolve trauma by completing interrupted nervous system responses.

Modality summary:
Somatic Experiencing shows us that healing happens through sensation, not story, allowing integration without re-traumatization. It focuses on resolving trauma through bodily sensation, emphasizing nervous system regulation rather than cognitive processing alone.

Neuroception & Autonomic Regulation

Deb Dana, LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker)
Clinician, Polyvagal educator

Dana expanded Polyvagal Theory into practical therapeutic and self-regulation tools.

Modality summary:
Her work supports the tracking of internal safety signals so students can navigate expansion without overwhelm.

Interoception & Felt Sense

Eugene T. Gendlin, PhD
Philosopher, psychologist

Gendlin developed the Focusing method, emphasizing the body’s implicit, pre-verbal knowing.

Modality summary:
Grendlin’s work supports listening to bodily intelligence as a reliable guide for integration and truth, known as “Interoception” – a felt sense describing the capacity to perceive internal bodily signals that carry meaning, guiding decision-making and psychological integration..

Neuroplasticity, Learning & Brain Repatterning

Neuroplasticity

Michael Merzenich, PhD
Neuroscientist

Merzenich’s research demonstrated that the adult brain remains capable of structural and functional reorganization throughout life.

Modality summary:
Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change in response to experience, learning, injury, and attention. Merzenich’s work confirms the view that identity and capacity are trainable, not fixed.

Attention & Brain Training

Norman Doidge, MD
Psychiatrist

Doidge is known for documenting clinical case studies through applications of neuroplasticity in rehabilitation and mental health.

Modality summary:
His work supports intentional attention as a driver of structural brain change, reinforcing conscious practice. Attention-based brain training examines how focused mental activity reshapes neural networks, supporting learning and recovery.

Predictive Processing

Karl Friston, MD, PhD
Neuroscientist

Friston proposed the Free Energy Principle, a unifying theory of brain function and biological self-organization, explaining how the brain predicts reality.

Modality summary:
Predictive processing models the brain as a prediction-generating system that minimizes uncertainty by updating internal models of reality.

Psychoneuroimmunology & Systems Biology

Psychoneuroimmunology

Candace Pert, PhD
Neuroscientist, pharmacologist

Pert discovered neuropeptides linking emotion, immunity, and physiology.

Modality summary:
Psychoneuroimmunology studies the interactions between mind, nervous system, and immune function, linking emotional states with biological response. Her work supports the understanding that emotions are biochemical signals, not abstract states.

Complex Adaptive Systems

Ilya Prigogine, PhD
Physical chemist

Nobel laureate who showed that systems reorganize through instability – non-equilibrium thermodynamics and self-organizing systems.

Modality summary:
Complex adaptive systems theory explains how order emerges from instability, emphasizing transformation through dynamic reorganization. This explains why breakdown often precedes coherence, validating transformation phases in meditation and/or energy work.

Systems Biology & Terrain Theory

Zach Bush, MD
Triple board-certified physician (Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Metabolism)

Bush focuses on root-cause systems biology rather than symptom management, emphasizing environmental signaling and root-cause health dynamics.

Modality summary:
Systems biology examines the body as an interconnected signaling network, prioritizing terrain, inputs, and regulatory balance over isolated symptoms. His work reinforces the emphasis on environment, coherence, and signaling over isolated interventions.

Inflammation & Metabolic Signaling

Robert M. Sapolsky, PhD
Neuroendocrinologist

Sapolsky studies stress hormones and their long-term biological effects.

Modality summary:
Sapolsky’s work explains how chronic stress distorts regulation, blocking higher coherence.

Placebo, Expectation & Meaning Response

Placebo & Meaning Response

Ted J. Kaptchuk, OMD
Placebo researcher

Kaptchuk studies how meaning and belief activate healing pathways.

Modality summary:
The meaning response describes how context, belief, and expectation activate physiological healing pathways, independent of pharmacology. Kaptchuk’s work validates the understanding that belief is not imaginary — it is biologically active.

Expectation Biology

Alia Crum, PhD
Psychologist

Crum studies how mindset influences physiological and behavioral outcomes.

Modality summary:
Expectation biology examines how interpretation and belief shape biological responses, including stress, metabolism, and recovery. Her work reinforces how interpretation shapes biology.

Quantum, Information & Field-Based Models

Quantum Biology

Stuart Hameroff, MD
Anesthesiologist; professor (University of Arizona)

Hameroff is an anesthesiologist and professor known for research and conferences on consciousness, and for proposing (with Roger Penrose) a quantum-based model of consciousness involving neuronal microtubules.

Modality summary:
Quantum biology explores how quantum effects may influence biological function. In consciousness discussions, it’s often used to examine whether brain processes could include quantum-level coherence, non-classical computation, or timing effects beyond standard neural signaling.

Orchestrated Objective Reduction

Sir Roger Penrose, PhD
Mathematical physicist and mathematician; Emeritus Professor (University of Oxford)

Penrose is a Nobel Prize–winning physicist/mathematician known for foundational work in mathematical physics and cosmology. With Hameroff, he co-developed the Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) theory of consciousness.

Modality summary:
Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch OR) proposes that conscious moments arise from objective reductions (collapses) of quantum states that are “orchestrated” by biological structures (notably microtubules). It remains controversial and is debated within neuroscience and physics.

Information Theory of Reality

David Bohm, PhD
Theoretical physicist

Bohm made major contributions to quantum theory and proposed an interpretation emphasizing underlying order (often summarized as “implicate order”) beneath observed phenomena (including the de Broglie–Bohm/pilot-wave interpretation) and developed philosophical-physical concepts such as implicate and explicate order and “wholeness.”

Modality summary:
Bohm’s “implicate order” frames reality as an underlying enfolded whole from which the familiar “unfolded” world emerges. His work is often used to discuss interconnectedness, nonlocality (in a conceptual sense), and the limits of fragmenting reality into separate parts.

Developmental, Attachment & Relational Biology

Attachment Theory

John Bowlby, MD
Psychiatrist; psychoanalyst

Bowlby originated modern attachment theory, arguing that early caregiver bonds shape emotional development and later relationship patterns. His work emphasized real relational experience (not only fantasy) and drew on ethology and developmental science.

Modality summary:
Attachment theory describes how humans form secure or insecure bonding patterns based on early caregiving, shaping “internal working models” of self/other that influence emotion regulation, trust, intimacy, and resilience across the lifespan.

Interpersonal Neurobiology

Daniel J. Siegel, MD
Psychiatrist; clinical professor of psychiatry (UCLA); author

Siegel trained at Harvard Medical School and completed postgraduate training at UCLA across pediatrics and psychiatry; he is known for synthesizing neuroscience, attachment research, and mindfulness into an integrative framework.

Modality summary:
Interpersonal Neurobiology is an integrative field describing how relationships shape the brain and nervous system, emphasizing integration (linking differentiated parts) as a basis for mental health, coherence, and flexible functioning.

Consciousness, Meditation & Endogenous States

Meditative State Science

Richard J. Davidson, PhD
Neuroscientist; founder (Center for Healthy Minds); professor (University of Wisconsin–Madison)

Davidson is a leading affective neuroscientist with extensive publication history researching emotion, well-being, and meditation’s effects on brain function and behavior.

Modality summary:
Meditative state science uses methods like EEG/fMRI and behavioral measures to study how meditation relates to attention, emotion regulation, compassion, and trait-level change, including how repeated practice can alter neural patterns associated with well-being and reactivity.

Default Mode Network Research

Judson A. Brewer, MD, PhD (commonly listed as MD, PhD)
Psychiatrist; neuroscientist; mindfulness and habit-change researcher

Brewer researches the neural mechanisms of mindfulness and has developed/tested mindfulness-based programs targeting habit loops (e.g., anxiety, smoking, overeating).

Modality summary:
Default Mode Network (DMN) research examines a brain network associated with self-referential thought and mind-wandering. In mindfulness research, DMN activity/connectivity is often studied to understand changes in rumination, craving loops, narrative selfing, and attentional stability.

Contemplative Neuroscience + Adverse Effects Research

Varieties of Contemplative Experience (VCE)

Willoughby Britton, PhD
Clinical psychologist, contemplative researcher

Britton leads the VCE project at Brown University, documenting both positive and destabilizing meditation effects.

Modality summary:
VCE supports your work by normalizing difficult integration phases, preventing spiritual bypass and pathologization. ~Research Link~

Shelly Buckman

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