Dr. Jana Lemke has an academic degree in psychology from the University of Potsdam and attended a Masters course in Transpersonal Psychology and Consciousness Studies at the University of Northampton. The masters aroused her personal and professional interest in the concept of mindfulness and drew her deeper into the exploration of the two main driving forces of our civilization: science and spirituality. This enquiry sparked a novel awareness and deep fascination for the human-nature relationship and led to years of personal and professional research on this topic at the European University Viadrina. Her PhD research focused on the investigation of facilitated experiences of nature and self that bear the potential to empower individuals and contribute to sustainability. However, throughout the research process, this focus extended to include the exploration of a systemic worldview and research methodology. Her passion lies in exploring “subjectivity as a touchstone for outer objectivity” (C.G. Jung) and its integration as a valuable part of research and academic writing. In practice this specifically includes working with dreams and the researcher’s reflexivity as data sources and integrating different ways of knowing as an expanded view on validity.
Jana Lemke has published several articles on mindfulness and is currently working on a series of articles covering autoethnography and working with dreams as research data. She has facilitated and accompanied several programs for young adults, which included 24-hour solos in the wild as well as a 3-day solo, the so-called vision quest in the wilderness. She is a professionally trained Zen Yoga teacher and a trained process facilitator in wild nature.
