ABOUT THE LOVE & POWER INSTITUTE
Marsha Hudson, Ph.D. and Norman Brown, Ph.D. founded the Institute in the Spring of 2018 to promote the evolution of humankind as individuals, groups and societies in order to help resolve the world-wide climate crisis. They noticed that many organizations and groups currently acting to improve the condition of land, waters, plants, animals, oceans and skies were engaged in the outer world but not the emotional world inside of us. Few, if any, were trying to improve the fundamental emotional nature of humankind itself and find ways to strengthen our love and stewardship of earth.
The Love and Power Institute began with regular small group sessions for developing empathy between adult women and men around painful interpersonal issues that often challenge the ability of one sex to understand and make common cause with the other. They also led weekly dream interpretation groups, which each of them had done for decades before. After a year of developing these groups as labs for emotional growth, they began to offer workshops in the vulnerable emotions of shame, distress, fear and joy. The Covid pandemic shut down their in-person work, but they continued to offer courses on-line.
They incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in 2021 and designed their flagship course on Emotional Versatility based on Silvan Tomkins’ Affect and Script Theory and related psychological innovators. This course has been piloted as a 20 week in-person class in the Spring and Summer of 2024. They have also added two more staff members to the Institute, Ajoy Mallik as Director of Development, and Daniel Bilog as Executive Assistant and Director of Marketing. They are also developing nature programs to intensify the connection between interpersonal emotions and human relationships with the environment.
Norman M. Brown, PhD
CO FOUNDER OF THE Love and Power Institute for Planetary Sustainability
Norman Brown Earned a Ph.D. in Humanities and German Studies at Stanford. During his first professorship he found a calling as a leader in experiential education, both in dramatizations of folklore, literature and dreams and in summer backpacking courses in the Sierra. He also cofounded his first of many men’s groups, where he focused on emotions many years before this gained popularity.
His second calling was to psychotherapy, leading to an M.A. in Clinical Psychology, an MFT license and nearly 50 years of practice. His second professorship included both humanities and psychology, where his central teaching focus was on love relations and led to a Psychology Ph.D. and writing the textbook “Love and Intimate Relationships” (2000) that combines current research and clinical and practical understanding. He has studied scientific approaches to understanding and changing emotions for over 30 years, which has led to his present endeavor to develop an effective program for improving our emotional versatility and thus stimulating the evolution of our species.
He is a feminist and member of the Millennial Association for Humanity and the Biosphere, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, the International Society for Study of Personal Relationships, the Silvan Tomkins Institute and the Pachamama Alliance.
Marsha Hudson, PhD
CO FOUNDER OF THE Love and Power Institute for Planetary Sustainability
Marsha Hudson earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature at UC Berkeley with a focus on poetry. During her academic career she taught composition, critical thinking, and women’s studies at colleges in California, ending with UC Santa Cruz. As a graduate student she was active in the women’s movement, which included leadership in the development of the Women’s Studies Department at UC Berkeley. In the 80’s she entered management in the financial services industry and rose to the level of senior vice president with responsibility for a $11 billion portfolio. In 2002 Dr. Hudson earned a certificate as a gestalt practitioner and in 2005 she was certified as a dream work practitioner.
Dr. Hudson is active in the Association for the Study of Dreams, the Pachamama Alliance, The Human Awareness Institute, the Sierra Club, and the Milllenial Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere. In 2013 she co-founded Next Stage Productions in Santa Cruz, California, and in 2018 with her partner Norman Brown, she co-founded the Love and Power Institute for Planetary Sustainability. She was Editor-in-Chief of the Berkeley Literary Women’s Revolution: Essays From Marsha’s Salon (2005).
Our Board members
Norman Brown, PhD
Secretary
Educator, Counselor, Author
Marsha Hudson, PhD
Chairman of Board
Experienced in teaching, financial services, and gender relations.
Ajoy Mallik
Treasurer
Global Expert in Business Development, Operations, Management, and Talent
Amitav Mallik, PhD
Environmental
Energy, Environment, and Climate Change Policy, Scientist, Technology Advisor
Dr. Jennifer Choate
Medicine
Oncologist, Author, Researcher, Medical Director
