The founder of Acem, Are Holen (born 1945), started practicing yoga when he was 16 years old. Soon, he also developed an interest in meditation and practiced various kinds of meditation of Western and Eastern origin. In particular, he was fond of Japa, using bija-mantras derived from the Indian tradition. Somewhat later, he met the Indian Mahesh Yogi, also known as Maharishi, in Oslo. Half a year later, in 1963, he decided to try the method taught by Mahesh Yogi's movement, at the time called SRM—Spiritual Regeneration Movement. The form of meditation taught by Mahesh Yogi and SRM was then called Deep Meditation, later known as Transcendental Meditation, or simply TM. It was a kind of Japa that did not use a mala (rosary), in order to make it more acceptable to Westerners. This meditation technique was already well known to Are Holen.
As a psychology student at the University of Oslo, Are Holen established a new organization called Academic Meditation Society, AMS, later called Acem. Seven students, all of whom had experience with meditation techniques, met at the founding meeting which took place in Oslo, Norway, on January 27th, 1966. The aim was to increase interest in and knowledge of meditation among students and academics.
Early on, Are Holen had a central position in Mahesh Yogi’s movement. Parallel with this, AMS was an independent organization that held beginner’s courses in Deep Meditation to those interested. Initially, AMS collaborated with Mahesh Yogi’s movement, but had its own board, leadership training, and ways of teaching meditation.
This year, Are Holen traveled to India and spent three months at a training course for meditation initiators in Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh; the training ended in Kashmir. After the completion of the training, he followed Mahesh Yogi on a tour of India for yet another three months. During this period and in the subsequent years, he became closely acquainted with Mahesh Yogi, the international leadership, and the workings of the movement. What he saw and learned did not increase his trust in Mahesh Yogi, his motives, integrity, or insight. He had serious doubts during his time in India, which grew in intensity in the following years. Sooner or later, a break was bound to happen. In the early years, however, he remained loyal in his collaboration with the movement.
In the fall of this year, the AMS organized a meeting in the Old Banquet Hall (Gamle festsal) at the University of Oslo where Are Holen shared some of his experiences from India. The meeting was entitled “With Maharishi in India and Kashmir” and attracted an audience of 500 people.
That same fall, Acem held its first weekend retreat in meditation for university students at Tyriheim by the lake Tyrifjorden, an hour’s drive west of Oslo.
The beginner’s course in the AMS had up to this point had a more extensive format than in the SRM. Intially, the beginner’s course consisted of ten lectures, given to all beginners every semester. However, from the fall this year, the beginner’s course was restructured into six lectures and four smaller group meetings. The group meetings were led by instructors trained and authorized by Are Holen. The first four instructors had completed their training. Many students learned Acem Meditation this year.
The AMS collaborated with the SRM of Norway in organizing a one-week summer retreat attended by around 150 participants. The event took place at NMBU—the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet—at the time called Norges landbrukshøgskole) in Ås, about 40 kilometers south of Oslo, where the participants lived in student dormitories.
Are Holen was the main lecturer at the retreat. Mahesh Yogi was present for a few days.
The board of the AMS was renamed the Council of the AMS (Rådet i AMS). It consisted of Are Holen and all qualified AMS instructors. The Council was the highest executive body of the organization.
The AMS established its first office, consisting of two small rooms at the address Torvet 2 (Stortorvet) in Oslo. These offices had previously served as the private dermatology practice of Are Holen’s father, who had retired at this point.
The AMS organized a weekend retreat at a small house used by the SRM in Trangsrud, Årnes, about 70 kilometers northeast of Oslo. For the first time, beginner’s courses were offered for students in Trondheim, a city about 500 kilometers north of Oslo, and the AMS Trondheim was established. Activities were led by Rune Aaslid, who became an initiator during the summer that year after a brief course with Mahesh Yogi in Squaw Valley in the US.
Are Holen and the instructors in the AMS spent a week together right after Christmas at the house in Årnes. AMS organizational matters were extensively discussed as well as personal and meditative issues. This first assembly became a lasting tradition in the AMS and later Acem. These annual assemblies were later called Christmas gatherings. They were very important for activites in the AMS and later Acem, because they reinforced the spirit of collaboration and functioned as a source of renewal and inspiration.
This year, Are Holen started the Norwegian School of Yoga (Norsk Yoga-skole, later called Acem School of Yoga in English).
In January, the AMS collaborated with the SRM to organize a week-long winter retreat conducted by Are Holen at Midtstuen Hotel in Oslo. In accordance with the request of Mahesh Yogi, the concept of “rounds” was introduced for the first time at this retreat. A round consisted of half an hour of meditation followed by a sequence of yoga exercises. Retreat participants were expected to do several rounds per day. Rounds were introduced into Mahesh Yogi’s movement to replace long meditations. Mahesh Yogi’s movement had a rather negative attitude toward modern psychology and its application. For instance, initiators were not allowed to teach meditation to psychoanalysts or psychotherapists, and the movement’s ability to deal with people’s psychological problems was rather poor. The movement’s approach and advice could increase the person’s psychological problems. Rounds were introduced as an effort to circumvent meditators’ psychological problems.
The idea of rounds never really gained support in the AMS. The attitude, understanding, and approach to psychological problems were different, and the way in which meditators’ psychological issues were met seldom created major problems. (See the chapter The psychology of meditation, p. 269). The AMS preferred long meditations and adhered to this practice at the retreats. Long meditations are seen by the organization as more powerful and unproblematic. This is one of many points on which the AMS took a different stance than Mahesh Yogi’s movement.
The number of students who learned Acem Meditation in 1969 rose to new heights, and the number of instructors increased. The introduction of trained instructors increased the capacity of both the beginner’s courses and the follow-up activities.
In February, the first issue of AMS Information ( AMS-informasjon ) a stenciled periodical, was published. Eight issues were published per year, and there were approximately 250 subscribers at the outset. The periodical was circulated to meditators in the AMS and the SRM. Two years later, AMS-informasjon developed into the periodical Dyade.
On the day of the annual winter sports event in Oslo, “Holmenkolldagen”, the AMS organized stands to earn money by selling hot pea soup and soft drinks to spectators passing by. This was the AMS’s very first attempt to raise money for the organization’s activities based on volunteer work. The profits were however modest.
In the summer, a retreat was held in Ås together with the SRM, though in reality it was organized in full by the AMS. Brahmachary Satyananda, a retired civil engineer from the Indian railroad sector and one of Mahesh Yogi’s distant relatives, gave lectures.
After the summer, the AMS rehauled its organizational structure due to growth-related organizational needs. Tor Hersoug was appointed leader of the Oslo chapter. At this point, there were nine instructors. During the fall, the AMS also started regular activities in Bergen, a city on the West Coast of Norway. Formal membership and a membership fee were introduced. There were 130 paying members the first year.
The first study circle on meditation, health, and psychology was held during the fall by the AMS. Study circles were follow-up activities for interested meditators. No fewer than 60 such groups were started by the end of the year. A modest public financial support for these AMS activities was channeled through the Workers’ Organization for Adult Education (AOF—Arbeidernes Opplysningsforbund), an organization that the AMS/ Acem collaborated with until 1978.
An old hostel of simple standard in the forest in Lommedalen near Oslo, called Langebru, was purchased by private meditators but made available for activities mainly in the AMS. In September, three courses in vegetarian cooking took place there. These were led by Are Holen, with a total of 112 participants. The hostel was also used for other activities, such as weekend retreats. It was sold approximately five years later.
The surge of interest in learning meditation continued; this year, there were 90 participants at the beginner’s course during the spring term at the University of Oslo’s Blindern campus. A weekend retreat was arranged at a hostel in Gjøvik, approximately 100 kilometers north of Oslo, with 60 participants. In the fall, the AMS organized its own stand at Blindern for the first time, and 130 people participated in the beginner’s course that fall. During this year, instructors in the AMS gave many lectures around the country to spread knowledge about meditation and to attract new participants to the beginner’s courses.
An offset printing machine was bought for approximately NOK 10,000 late in the fall with funds donated by members of the AMS and subscriptions to AMS-informasjon.
AMS organized a cultural event for the general public called “Moments of Eternity” (Evige øyeblikk). It was held in the Old Banquet Hall (Gamle festsal) at the University of Oslo. Approximately 150 people attended. The program included artistic contributions in the form of music and poetry by members of the AMS.
Between Christmas and New Year, the leadership and instructors in the AMS gathered at a vacation home in Hurum on the Drammensfjord, approximately 50 kilometers south of Oslo.
The first communication group was started late in the fall. It was designed for instructors and the AMS leadership to enhance their leadership skills and improve their meditative processes and development. The communication groups were developed and structured by Are Holen. He also led the very first group, which continued for a full week at the Christmas gathering in Årnes and continued into January of the next year. The introduction of communication groups represented a significant step forward for Acem; it strengthened the organization as well as the understanding of meditation and its guidance. Later, from the early 1980s, this training in interpersonal communication was made available to anyone interested, regardless of whether or not the participant was a meditator.
Communication groups became a regular part of Acem’s activities. Apart from being helpful for the Acem leadership in their cooperation with others, communication groups also served as a very useful tool for enhancing the introspective dimension of long meditations and the working through of psychological issues that could interfere with the meditation processes. The processes could touch on issues relating to self-esteem, dysfunctional behavioral patterns, ways of relating to a partner or to authority, or even autonomy issues, all of which the person might not be aware. The communication groups thus served a variety of purposes.
Due to considerable interest, the AMS had to limit the number of participants admitted to the beginner’s courses to one hundred in the spring term, and follow up previous participants and strengthen the organization in other ways. The AMS arranged a week-long winter retreat together with the SRM. It was held in Dombås, situated in a mountain valley between Oslo and Trondheim, and led by initiator Rune Aaslid from the AMS and initiator Gerd Hauger from the SRM. There were nearly 100 participants, two thirds of them from the AMS. Are Holen attended the retreat for a few days and gave lectures.
Starting with its first issue this year, AMS-informasjon was now printed on the recently-acquired offset machine. The number of subscribers increased to 450.
The AMS organized a weekend retreat in February with more than 70 participants. The venue was Mariaholm, owned by the Catholic Church, situated near the lake Øyeren, approximately 50 kilometers southeast of Oslo. This was the first time the AMS rented Mariaholm, which was to be used regularly for the AMS and then Acem retreats for many years.
In March, the AMS arranged a meeting for members at Blindern with the astrophysicist and philosopher Jeremi Wasiutynski. The lecture was entitled “The way to inner transformation and the current historical situation of humanity” (Den indre forvandlings vei og menneskets nuværende historiske situasjon). Approximately 200 people attended.
As in the preceeding year, the AMS arranged stands along Holmenkollveien on the day of the big annual winter sports event. Two hundred fifty liters of pea soup were prepared, and a trumpet and other instruments were played to attract attention. Forty members contributed their time. The net profit was NOK 800, which was a rather modest outcome considering all the volunteer effort. Accordingly, this sales attempt was never repeated again. In subsequent years, the volunteer contributions were instead redirected toward organizing flea markets. The AMS had its first flea market in the fall at Bislett Stadium, a sports arena in Oslo. The surplus amounted to NOK 19,000. Flea markets were held more or less annually for several more years, and the income grew sizably each year. The chief organizer for the flea markets was Svein Løvås, instructor in the AMS/Acem.
In June, Are Holen led two weekend courses in Langebru about the use of herbs in food and for simple bodily ailments. Such courses were repeated a few times in the following years and also sporadically in other places in Norway.
This summer, the AMS organized three week-long retreats in Norway together with the SRM, held in Ås, Trondheim, and Bergen. The retreat in Ås was organized in its entirety by the AMS. Brahmachary Satyananda was present a few days at each of the retreats.
The AMS held its first so-called meeting of representatives on October 1 with 30 participants. This type of meeting comprised all who had some responsibility and involvement in the activities of the AMS, not only instructors and initiators.
A contemplative group was established with weekend retreats twice a year for the initiators and some of the most central instructors. The first such retreat was arranged in the fall. The idea was to give more of the leaders an opportunity to work in more depth with their meditation. The final contemplative retreat was held in the fall of 1977.
The AMS organized a large number of activities for its members. Some of these had been started in earlier years; the number peaked in 1970. Activities included club evenings, guitar lessons, choirs, a mime course, theater groups, and membership meetings. In addition, 85 members attended the Senegal Ballet together in a theater in Oslo.
In the summer, the SRM and AMS organized separate retreats in Ås. A representative of Mahesh Yogi, an American named Ned Wynn who later left the TM movement, came to the SRM retreat to play tapes of lectures given by Mahesh Yogi for the participants.
Are Holen was also asked to visit the retreat and give a philosophical evening lecture. Two days later, Ned Wynn insisted that a private letter from Are Holen to the President of SRM Norway, E. Kjell Mortensen, be read out aloud to the participants. In the letter, Are Holen described the tapes intended for all retreats that summer as being of little interest. This stirred up a lot of feelings. Some participants informed Are Holen about the incident. Along with a few instructors, he traveled from Oslo to Ås that evening to clarify his stance to the participants at the SRM retreat. After the evening meeting, leaders of the SRM and AMS discussed the incident with Ned Wynn. At this meeting, the AMS announced that Ned Wynn was not welcome at the AMS retreat to be organized shortly after.
At the AMS summer retreat, on the evening of July 29, nine uninvited SRM initiators abruptly marched on stage and interrupted the evening lecture given by Are Holen. They informed the audience that they were acting on direct telephone orders from Mahesh Yogi and declared on his behalf that Are Holen was no longer to be the head of the student organization in Norway. Aware of the fact that the AMS was an independent organization, they also announced that a new student organization was to be founded in Norway, called SIMS—Students’ International Meditation Society. Furthermore, they read out aloud the private letter from Are Holen to E. Kjell Mortensen mentioned above, eliciting a strong emotional reaction in the audience. In the immediate aftermath, several letters of protest were signed by nearly all participants and sent to Mahesh Yogi.
The reasons given by Mahesh Yogi for this act changed several times. It appeared that Mahesh Yogi put considerable emphasis on the impression that Are Holen did not consider him to be his guru. According to E. Kjell Mortensen, Mahesh Yogi said the following to him in a phone call: “As long as he doesn’t have faith in me and doesn’t consider me to be his master, he cannot be my representative in Norway.”
In a later phone call, Mahesh Yogi clarified to E. Kjell Mortensen that Are Holen was welcome to continue as lecturer and initiator, but not as an organizational head, national leader, or the like. The AMS was an independent organization, so Mahesh Yogi had no legal authority to dismiss Are Holen. However, if the AMS wanted to continue to collaborate with Mahesh Yogi, Are Holen could no longer be the head of AMS.
Are Holen declared that after what had happened and the way it was done, he chose to resign from all involvement with Mahesh Yogi and his movement and teaching of meditation.
During the summer, AMS-informasjon (now Dyade ) made it clear to its readership that it was an independent periodical for interested meditators.
In September, the AMS held member meetings in Oslo, Trondheim, and Bergen. At these meetings, a communique was passed almost unanimously, stating that Mahesh Yogi’s decision was unacceptable, but that it was assumed that he would change it. On this assumption, the AMS would continue to collaborate with the international movement, with Rune Aaslid as its leader. In January, the AMS organized a four-day weekend retreat for members, and in February a four-day weekend retreat for SRM meditators, both led by Are Holen in Mariaholm. Both courses were overbooked, each with approximately 70 participants, the maximum that could be accommodated.
Starting with the second issue this year, the periodical AMS-informasjon changed its name to Dyade and gradually changed in character, focusing more on general philosophical, psychological, and cultural content and less on issues related to Transcendental Meditation and organizational activities.
During the winter term, AMS instructor Anders Lindseth completed a three-month training course at Mallorca and become an initiator. The course was organized by the international movement of Mahesh Yogi.
In the spring, various communication groups were held for members of the AMS. For the first time, the above-mentioned AMS summer retreat lasted two weeks (16 days). Two-week retreats were repeated again in 1973 and 1974, whereas the retreats in 1972 and 1975, and for many years thereafter, usually lasted one week (nine days).
In June and July, the SRM arranged a month-long inter-Scandinavian retreat and a course in the SCI (Science of Creative Intelligence), which was Mahesh Yogi’s new name for his teachings. These were held at the Moholt student dormitory complex in Trondheim. There were several course leaders from the US. Mahesh Yogi also planned to attend for a few days. A large number of AMS members were there in order to have a chance to discuss organizational problems with Mahesh Yogi. However, he did not appear, probably as a way to avoid any confrontation with the AMS. Efforts were made at the course to stifle any critical comments from members of the AMS. Distribution of Dyade was forbidden at the retreat. Close to midnight on July 9, a phone message from Mahesh Yogi stated that the AMS was dissolved. In protest, Rune Aaslid withdrew from all affiliation with the TM movement.
The AMS called a meeting of its representatives on July 13, where it was unanimously decided to continue the activities of the AMS without the cooperation with Mahesh Yogi.
Later in the summer, the AMS organized its own retreat. At the invitation of the leaders and participants, Are Holen—who at that time was doing his military service—attended for a couple of days toward the end of the retreat in order to discuss his possible reentry as head of the organization. Are Holen said he needed time until December of that year to consider the matter. On the last day of the retreat, August 13, a meeting of representatives elected a triumvirate— Anders Lindseth, Carl Henrik Grøndahl, and Anders Nesvold—to constitute the national leadership. In December, Are Holen accepted the invitation to again act as the leader of the AMS.
In January, the first cooperative housing for AMS meditators was established. Six people moved into a rented villa in the Heggeli district in Oslo. During the following years, several cooperatives of this kind were formed by members of the AMS/Acem, most of them students. The aim was to maintain a meditative lifestyle.
In April, three AMS instructors returned after completing a three-month initiator course at Mallorca: Ole Gjems-Onstad, Tor Hersoug, and Oddbjørn Birkeland. (Oddbjørn Birkeland withdrew from all work with meditation two years later, for personal reasons.)
In the spring, the AMS moved its office from the two small rooms at Stortorvet in Oslo to an office consisting of eleven small rooms at Frimanns gate 22, also in Oslo. The AMS rented the property, which needed considerable refurbishment.
During the period January 8th to 14th, the leadership of the AMS gathered at Mariaholm to discuss topics including the new structure of the organization and to revise the content of the beginner’s course. Furthermore, it was decided to drop the brief ceremony given during the initial instruction of meditation for beginners; it served as a central function in Mahesh Yogi’s movement. The ceremony had been simplified and reduced in the AMS during the previous year. In general, the teachings of the AMS were given a secular form based on the conviction of the importance of the neuro-psycho-physiological elements of meditation.
On January 24, the new principles and organizational structure of the AMS were announced at a public meeting in the Old Banquet Hall (Gamle festsal) at the University of Oslo. Five hundred people attended.
Rune Aaslid returned as initiator in the AMS, but withdrew for personal reasons at the end of 1974.
Mahesh Yogi’s movement was strongly opposed to the communication groups developed in the AMS, arguing against the inclusion of psychological elements in the teaching and understanding of meditation. In order not to damage the relationship unnecessarily, the AMS only arranged a few communication groups after the summer of 1971, and then only as unannounced, private groups. From 1973, the AMS was free to put renewed energy into this activity openly. The first four communication group leaders were trained during the spring. In the fall, four more leaders were trained. The training was thorough, based on complete written transcripts from each group meeting, and the developments within the communication groups were supervised and discussed in considerable detail. The communication groups were called “Group Training in Open Social Reflection.”
There was considerable interest in the new AMS. A number of meditators from the SRM joined the AMS, and this caused some friction with the leadership of the SRM in Mahesh Yogi’s movement. There were several critical exchanges reported in the press. The AMS started many new centers throughout Norway and offered beginner’s courses outside of universities; this work had been initiated in 1972, but now gained much more momentum. The AMS no longer regarded itself as a student organization active only on university campuses. Its efforts and energies were directed toward the whole of Norway—and with quite a bit of success. Soon, the AMS became the largest meditation organization in the country.
The AMS organized annual public meetings called Meditative Forums. The first occurred on October 12 in the University of Oslo’s Old Banquet Hall. The 14 Dalai Lama was the guest speaker and gave a lecture entitled “Peace of Mind.” This was the first time that the Dalai Lama traveled outside of India. Five hundred fifty people including meditators and other invited guests were present; among the latter were bishops, members of the Norwegian Parliament, and several university professors. The meeting was a collaboration between the AMS and the Norwegian organization “Tibetanerhjelpen” (an NGO dedicated to helping Tibetan refugees, primarily in Norway).
The periodical Dyade became a central part of the AMS’s activities. From this point on, however, it seldom contained news on meditation activities or articles that covered meditation. The sixth issue in 1973 was an exception. It was a special edition on meditation, which aimed to clarify the AMS’s approach to meditation based on a psychological and experience-oriented understanding, to explain that this form of meditation was independent of any religion, and to spell out the distinction between Mahesh Yogi’s movement and that of the AMS. Fifteen thousand copies were sold. There was one article on meditation in the seventh issue as well, but in general, Dyade did not publish articles directly related to meditation for quite some time. The aim of the periodical was rather to shed meditative light on psychological, philosophical, and cultural topics of interest. Articles on meditation topics were instead printed in AMS News ( AMS-Nytt ), which was circulated to members. Several years later, however, Dyade again began to discuss topics directly related to meditation, this time in a general-interest format, not restricted to members of the AMS or those who practiced meditation.
AMS-Nytt started up in the spring, with eight to eleven issues a year, initially in a stenciled format. There was a division of labor between Acem-Nytt and Dyade; AcemNytt aimed to reach people practicing meditation, while Dyade was aimed at the general public.
The AMS started a weekly activity for preschool children over four years of age (called barneskolen). Meetings took place in the early evening. Their purpose was to develop natural and spontaneous engagement by playing and learning. Emphasis was on absorption in activity rather than learning facts. Topics included biology (the child’s own body, plants, animals, cells, chromosomes, etc.), letters and words, electrons and magnetism, Nordic mythology, fairy tales, and drawing. The teachers were instructors in the AMS/Acem who donated their time. Up to 20 children participated at any given time. The activity was offered many times from this year to the beginning of the 1990s. During the week prior to Easter Sunday, NRK (the public Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) broadcast a radio program about meditation and Christianity with Are Holen, Johan Køhler-Ellingsen (initiator in the SRM), and Leif Michelsen (associated with a seminary within the Church of Norway). A group of Christians in Norway were suspicious of this kind of meditation, thinking it was a way of worshipping pagan gods and contrary to the Christian faith. This was the start of a controversy that lasted for several years.
In addition to instructors, some people were trained to be moderators of study circles, at the time called study leaders (studieledere). They were not trained to lead the beginner’s courses. Study leaders had existed since 1970, but their role was now more structured. This system was abandoned the following year.
In the fall of 1983, a new one-year training program for study leaders was started, and continued for some years. The role was reintroduced with the title moderator several years later (first in Acem Germany in 2006, and then in 2010 in all countries). Now, moderator status was necessary in order to become an instructor. Some chose to remain at the moderator level, while others went on to become instructors at the meditation courses.
The Institute for AMS studies (AMS Studieselskap) was established. This was an entity of the AMS whose sole purpose was to hold meditation courses. The collaboration with AOF continued. A study circle called M1 was introduced, which aimed to clarify and elaborate central concepts in meditation psychology as an extension of the beginner’s course. The first study circle on the psychology of C. G. Jung was developed during the summer, as well as a study circle on Meditation, Christianity and Society, and one on the novel Kransen ( The Wreath ) by the Norwegian Nobel laureate, the author Sigrid Undset.
A report was issued on the various AMS approaches and methods toward personal growth and development, such as respiromental exercises, group training in open, social reflection (communication groups), yoga, and contemplative work. Moreover, another report elaborated on the communication groups in particular.
The AMS arranged a gathering for instructors and initiators in Gran Canaria, one of the Canary Islands, Spain. It began in the end of December and lasted into early January 1974. The previous gatherings for leaders at Christmas and New Year during the period of 1968 to 1972 had been more informal with ample time for vacation. From this point on, the Christmas gatherings became far more structured, with meetings on topics of central importance to the organization and the teaching of meditation at all levels. The program sessions started during the day and continued on into the evenings. The focus was for example on issues related to group dynamics, how to foster personal development by means of meditation, communication groups for leaders and instructors, and discussions about organizational matters, public relations, and teaching. Christmas gatherings have been arranged every year since. They took place from 1973 to 1977 in the Canary Islands, Spain, at the Acem House in Oslo from 1978, and were often at Acem’s venue Skaugumåsen from 1983. From 2003 onward, they have been held at Acem’s meditation center Halvorsbøle. Daily communication groups have been a part of most such gatherings, though in the period from 2010 to 2013 there were no such groups.
The AMS changed its name from the Academic Meditation Society to Acem on September 1. Acem is not an abbreviation; it is a name without any linguistic or symbolic meaning. AMS activities were no longer restricted to students or other academics; hence, a more appropriate name was needed. Since all activities at the time took place in Norway, it was preferable not to have a name in English. At the same time, the organization needed a name that could be used in any country in the future, as expansion to other countries was foreseen.
There was an open conflict between the AMS and the SRM during the entire year. The SRM sent people to AMS meetings in order to create a disturbance and warn people not to learn to meditate in the AMS. The SRM inserted ads in the newspapers in the wake of ads from the AMS. They organized lectures on meditation in several locations just before the AMS planned to arrange public lectures there. The SRM also dispatched press releases attacking the AMS. At their information meetings, they warned people about the AMS and gave negative descriptions of the AMS. They felt they had a “divine” right to warn the world about the AMS.
Negotiations about the use of the terms Transcendental Meditation and TM, and about economic issues started during the spring. The 46-page third issue of the 1974 volume of AMS-Nytt was entirely devoted to the relationship between the AMS and the SRM/SIMS.
The SRM proposed a settlement with Acem in September; it was not to be subject to any further negotiations. It stated that Acem without any compensation should stop any use of the terms Transcendental Meditation and TM as of November 1 of that year. If not, the SRM would press charges against Acem. Acem gave an orientation of this proposal in AcemNytt no. 4, 1974, and also held open meetings for meditators in Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, and Tønsberg. In a vote among Acem members, 93 percent voted for Acem to reject the settlement, which Acem did. Acem had contributed more than the SRM to make the terms Transcendental Meditation and TM known to the public in Norway, and this was the brand name used by Acem, even though the teaching in Acem was essentially different from that of the SRM. The SRM filed legal charges against Acem in November.
A week-long retreat for members was organized in Gran Canaria immediately following the 1973 Christmas gathering for instructors.
In January, a four-day leader training was held in Oslo as an open offer to members of the AMS.
In February, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast a TV interview with Are Holen about yoga on a popular evening program. The topic was stress and relaxation, and he demonstrated some yoga exercises.
In the winter, Are Holen gave a seminar on the topic of death at the University of Oslo at Blindern for members of the AMS. This seminar formed the basis for an issue of Dyade (no. 3, 1974) on death.
The first “nodes”—groups of meditators who met regularly, for instance, once a month—started during the spring term. These groups were not sufficiently followed up by the organization and fizzled out after a couple of years, but the activity was taken up again in 1979.
Ten thousand copies of the first issue of the publication Symp —a free student newspaper published by the AMS—was produced in the spring.
In Norway, there was a great interest in meditation throughout the winter, partly due to an extensive report in the weekly magazine Hjemmet about meditators who found TM to be a way to help with personal problems not resolved by other means. At this point, Acem still used the terms Transcendental Meditation and TM for its method of meditation.
Refurbishment and reconstruction of the offices at Frimanns gate 22 took place through volunteer work by instructors and other members. The work was more or less completed at the start of the fall, and in addition to the office functions, the initiation of new meditators in Oslo could now take place there.
The office was intially open every Tuesday from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., staffed by volunteers. In addition, instructor Inger Halvorsen started to work at the Acem office on a regular basis. She was there three days a week from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.; these hours were later gradually expanded. She became the head of the Acem secretariat and worked full time for many years, retiring at the end of 2013. She also worked with Acem’s accounts, which were approved by an authorized public accountant from the fiscal year 1974.
The AMS in Stavanger, Norway, was established, and regular activities started in the spring. Four new communication group leaders were educated during the spring, and another four during the fall.
The AMS sports club (AMS-IL) was established, later in the year renamed Acem-IL. The club took part in Holmenkollstafetten—a huge relay-running competition in Oslo in May—for many years.
The beginner’s course was thoroughly revised, and for the first time, a detailed manual for instructors was produced.
Study circle no. 2 on C. G. Jung’s psychology was produced, as well as a study circle on death.
A “fantasy group” with a few instructors as participants was started and met regularly for about a year. The purpose was to work with one’s life story through the use of fantasy via written tasks, drawing, and other exercises. Are Holen designed the content. Another fantasy group was organized the year after, but afterwards they were found to demand too many leadership resources. However, elements of the group design were used in some later workshops. Some aspects of the fantasy group were also used in communication groups.
The first weekend with communication groups and role-play was organized at Mariaholm in September.
The second Meditative Forum was organized on October 15 in the Munch Museum in Oslo. At this meeting, the Catholic Bishop J. W. Gran, Father A. Squire, and Brother R. Anderson spoke of the Cistercian monks and the contemplative life. The venue was overcrowded with nearly 500 participants.
The Christmas gathering this year was again held in Gran Canaria.
Starting in 1974, Dyade generally dealt more thoroughly with one theme in each issue instead of each issue being a collection of articles on different topics. At times, issues with mixed content were still produced.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Tibet—landet utenfor verden? (Tibet: The country outside the world?)
No. 2: Psykologi som teori og praksis (Psychology as theory and practice)
No. 3: Om døden (On death)
No. 4: Om Kristen meditasjon (On Christian meditation)
No. 5: Om familien (On the family)
No. 6: Om kosthold og natur (On food and nature)
No. 7: Blandet stoff (Mixed content)
In Oslo, a week in November was dedicated to meditation guidance. Members were actively approached with an offer to receive individual guidance. Several instructors undertook guidance sessions every day.
Are Holen led a seminar on meditation guidance for instructors every evening that week, where analysis of transcripts of individual guidance sessions were central. The focus of meditation guidance underlines the importance Acem placed on understanding the meditation process, how it could activate psychological issues, and how to help people benefit from the practice.
Acem organized a one-week retreat for Acem members in Gran Canaria for the second and last time in the beginning of January, just after the Christmas gathering.
In January, the instructors Rolf Brandrud and Torbjørn Hobbel became initiators.
Rolf Brandrud was employed as traveling secretary in Acem for the spring term. He held beginner’s courses in various places in the Norwegian counties Møre og Romsdal (Ålesund, Kristiansund, Sunndalsøra) and Nordland (Glomfjord) for a total of 68 participants, as well as ten public information lectures and ten newspaper interviews. After Easter, he traveled to various residential educational institutions for youth (folkehøyskoler) to give talks about meditation.
Are Holen held a seminar for Acem members at the University of Oslo, Blindern, consisting of three lectures on “Love and sexuality” (Kjærlighet og seksualitet).
A campaign to attract more subscribers to Dyade (Aksjon 2000 Dyade) started the preceding fall and lasted the entire year. Issue no. 2 this year of Dyade was about youth cultures in the 1960s; it received a lot of media attention, including a broad review in the newspaper Dagbladet.
Christian groups arranged a conference against TM in Denmark in January. There were repercussions in Norway from the resulting newspaper reports and debates.
For the first time, an issue of Acem-Nytt was dedicated entirely to summer meditation retreats. Films from this year’s summer retreat were edited into a summer retreat movie, which was shown to beginner’s course participants the two following years.
In September, the newspaper Aftenposten printed a long interview with Are Holen. The newspaper presented him as a leading personality in a meditative youth culture. The third and last Meditative Forum was held on October 23, with a lecture on Zen meditation by Hans Hof, leader of Rättvik Meditationscenter (meditation center) in Sweden. Approximately 400 people attended the meeting in the Munch Museum in Oslo. (The term Meditative Forum was not used again until 2015, this time for a public Acem meeting in Oslo.)
There was considerable Acem activity in the northern part of Norway. In connection with their jobs, various instructors spent time in Mosjøen, Sandnessjøen, Bodø, Andenes, and Tromsø.
The first local Acem News— StavAcemNytt —was published in the fall in Stavanger.
A bulletin for instructors was produced and published several times a year, in order to collect and coordinate relevant information for instructors. It was eventually given the name Acem Info, and was still in existence at Acem’s 50th anniversary.
An attempt to give information lectures in other organizations was undertaken, including the Lion’s Club, housewife associations, Rotary, etc. Letters with offers to give such lectures were mailed on several occasions, and Acem received some positive responses.
Acem-Nytt publised a report on life in and stimulated the formation of housing cooperatives. The Acem office offered to coordinate those who wished to form cooperative living environments. This activity continued in 1976. Meetings for those interested in housing cooperatives with a meditative lifestyle were held during summer retreats.
Acem’s activities were advertised once a week under the title “What’s happening in Acem” (Hva skjer i Acem) or “Acem this week” (Acem denne uke) in the newspaper Aftenposten in the section for societies (foreninger).
The Christmas gathering this year was organized in Lanzarote, another of the Canary Islands. One of the activities this year was to try out exercises based on gestalt therapy.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Om filosofiens oppgave (On the task of philosophy)
No. 2: Ungdomskulturer i 60-åra (Youth cultures in the 1960s)
No. 3: Gullalderdrømmer (Dreams of the Golden Age)
No. 4: Om yoga (On yoga)
No. 5: Blandet stoff (mixed content)
A completely revised M1 study circle (originally from 1973) was produced in the spring. It was described as a “revolution in the understanding of meditation” (see the chapter The psychology of meditation, p. 269).
Are Holen established a writing group supervised by him to work with the production of new written material connected to meditation. At the same time, Ole Gjems-Onstad became chief executive of Acem. Are Holen continued to be head of the organization while Ole Gjems-Onstad took care of organizational matters and day-to-day activities.
Acem Senior was established as a separate division of Acem, with its own meetings for meditators over 35 years of age. Acem Senior was closed down in 1979. In 2014, a new Acem Senior was established, this time intended for people over the age of 60. A new issue of Symp dedicated solely to meditation in Acem was produced and distributed at universities and schools. Thirty thousand copies were printed.
During the winter, Are Holen gave a seminar at the University of Oslo at Blindern consisting of two meetings on the theme “Freedom” (Frihet). This formed the basis for the year’s first issue of Dyade.
A dance form called Dreiva was invented by Are Holen and introduced at the summer retreat this year. Dreiva was a means to come in contact with and give expression to emotions in a social setting and combined rhythm, movement, and contact with one’s partner in order to set free impulses that are often inhibited. For more than twenty years, it was often practiced at retreats and on other occasions where many meditators were assembled. An art lottery was held in the fall. The prizes were paintings donated by the artists Gunnar Dietrichson, Reidun Tordhol, and Jon Spilde. The purpose was to raise funds for Acem in order to acquire a new venue for its activities.
Acem bought the property at Sporveisgaten 37, centrally located in Oslo, from the local Christian congregation Fagerborg Menighet after it had overcome its scepticism toward Acem. Two years of intense renovation followed.
The Christmas gathering this year took place in Tenerife, another of the Canary Islands.
As a cultural magazine, Dyade received a moderate annual support from Arts Council Norway (Norsk Kulturråd, a government-financed institution to support cultural activities in Norway) from 1976.
Inititator Anders Lindseth moved to Tübingen in Germany for a period and held meditation courses there.
Acem’s first book Psychology of Silence ( Stillhetens psykologi ) was published at the end of the year, see above.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Mister vi friheten? (Are we losing our freedom?) This was a double issue, in reality covering no. 6 of 1975 and no. 1 of 1976
No. 2: Om samisk historie og kultur (On Sami history and culture)
No. 3: Barn og bøker (Children and books)
No. 4: Møte med sjøormen (Meeting the sea monster)
No. 5: Hva er eksistensialisme? (What is existentialism?)
No. 6: Reiser og bøker (Travels and books)
The court proceedings in Oslo district court between Acem and the MIKI (Maharishi Institutt for Kreativ Intelligens, as Mahesh Yogi’s organization in Norway now called itself) took place from January 24 to February 3. Acem was represented by Are Holen, Ole Gjems-Onstad, and Tor Hersoug. The charge from the MIKI was that Acem had no right to use the terms Transcendental Meditation and TM. They demanded a compensation of NOK 100,000 for Acem’s prior use of the terms, a compensation of NOK 100,000 for Acem’s critical statements about Mahesh Yogi’s movement, as well as all of Acem’s financial resources and possessions at the time the collaboration ended (July 1972). The purpose was evidently to wipe out Acem completely. The verdict came on February 21 and was in favor of Acem on all accounts. The MIKI was also required to pay NOK 79,000 to Acem to cover legal costs. A special issue of Acem-Nytt (no. 7, 1977) was devoted to various aspects of the legal case. The MIKI decided to appeal the verdict.
Warnings about Transcendental Meditation from Christian groups continued on a larger scale. In particular, three Christian theologians were active. Cand. theol. Torleif Elgvin issued three brochures in the period 1974–76 about modern religious beliefs, in which he declared TM in the Mahesh Yogi movement to be idolatry and argued that even in Acem, TM was not compatible with an exclusive faith in Christ, despite the fact that the organization had broken with its Indian connections. Academy teacher Leif Michelsen published a book in 1974 with the title Transcendental Meditation and Christian Faith ( Transcendental Meditasjon og kristen tro ). Most of the book was directed against the Mahesh Yogi movement. He attacked its Hindu orientation, but also accused Acem of having kept the philosophy of TM even though Acem had distanced itself from the Mahesh Yogi movement. Arild Romarheim, who was lecturer at Menighetsfakultetet (later MF Vitenskapelig Høyskole, the Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society), at the time a conservative institution for the education of priests, published a book in 1977 called Modern Religiosity ( Moderne religiøsitet ), devoting much space to criticizing the Mahesh Yogi movement and only one page to Acem. Although he admitted that Acem was an interesting attempt to disentangle meditation from religion, he claimed it still contained Hindu elements and promoted a vision in conflict with the Christian faith.
This critique of TM triggered aggressive letters from readers in local newspapers stating that TM destroyed people and was dangerous. When two Acem representatives planned to give an information lecture in Berkåk, a small town in the middle of Norway, local residents organized a door-to-door campaign warning that the apostles of the devil were coming. The campaign had the opposite of the intended effect, as many people became curious and came to listen.
For the first time, Acem held its flea market outside Ullevål Stadium (a sports arena) in Oslo in tents rented for the occasion. All the preceeding flea markets had been held at Bislett Stadium, but this venue was no longer large enough for the expanded flea markets. This year’s flea market mobilized 250 Acem volunteers for a total of 10,000 hours. The gross income amounted to NOK 203,000, and Acem’s flea market was now the largest in Norway. This continued for several years.
Local flea markets were also held in Kristiansand and Bergen.
In the early summer, the Mahesh Yogi movement started its publicity campaign for the so-called Sidhi techniques, claiming that people could learn to fly through the air, make themselves invisible, go through walls without making a hole, see all diseases in the body, etc. Photos of followers in the lotus position “flying” above ground were published internationally. This became an important part of their PR from this point on.
In May, an enormous amount of volunteer work was undertaken at the Acem House at Sporveisgaten 37 in Oslo. An estimated 200 tons of clay, sand, and old cement was dug out in order to give the basement sufficient headroom for it to be used for group rooms, etc.
As in the preceeding year, the summer meditation retreat featured a communication group for Acem members, but this was the last time.
For many years, there was a dramatic performance toward the end of the summer retreat, with Carl Henrik Grøndahl in the role of theater director. This year, he had also written the manuscript, called Jason, later published as a book with the title The Daughter of Jerusalem ( Jerusalems datter ). Similar performances, written and directed by Grøndahl, were shown in 1979 ( The Flute Player — Fløytespilleren ) and in 1980 ( The Big Wolf Hunt — Den store ulvejakten ).
In August, Christopher Barnekow, program secretary for TV2 in Sweden, visited Acem in Norway. He brought with him a film crew and shot various Acem activities. The program was shown on Swedish TV2 on January 4, 1978 and was rebroadcast in August the same year. The program also included Zen meditation, Christian meditation, and the Scandinavian School of Yoga and Meditation (Skandinavisk Yoga- og Meditasjonsskole). The intention was to include the Mahesh Yogi movement in Sweden as well, but they withdrew when they discovered they were not the exclusive focus of the program. This was the reason Acem was contacted.
In August, instructor Maria Drageset (later Maria Gjems-Onstad) became an initiator.
By the fall, a new study circle called M2 was ready, introducing some new concepts (see the chapter The psychology of meditation, p. 269).
In the fall, books were published in Sweden and Denmark in which Christian critics made public a list of mantras used in the Mahesh Yogi movement. The list was also printed in some newspapers and magazines. To defuse some of the tension this produced, the controversy was written about in Acem-Nytt no. 9, 1977.
The organizational structure of Acem changed. Sections (originally called seminars) were established, with responsibility for course activity and publicity in various parts of Norway. The instructors were allocated to different sections. The changes were in place by the beginning of the fall.
The education of Acem instructors had gradually become more thorough and formalized. The first one-year basic training course for new instructors took place in the academic year 1977–78.
Are Holen led a seminar on psychoanalysis for initiators and some instructors based on the book The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis by Otto Fenichel. There were regular meetings this fall and the following spring. This seminar was important for the development of the psychological understanding among instructors. Later, other theories of psychology were studied and discussed among instructors.
Late in the fall, the selling of symbolic shares (Sporveis-parter) started. They had values of NOK 250, NOK 350, and NOK 500. The idea was to contribute financially to the renovation of the Acem House in Oslo. By September 1978, the total income was NOK 130,000.
This year, the Christmas gathering for instructors again took place in Gran Canaria. This was the last time the Christmas gathering was arranged in the Canary Islands.
Anne Grete Hersoug and Tor Hersoug lived in Palo Alto, California during the academic year 1976–77 and started activities in the USA. Nine people learned to meditate. An M1 group and a weekend retreat were arranged during the spring term. A certain level of Acem activity was maintained in the area for a period by other instructors living in Palo Alto and north of San Francisco during the years 1978–81.
The first edition of Psychology of Silence was sold out, and 5000 copies of a new revised and extended edition were printed.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1-2: Kontemplative oaser (Contemplative oases)
No. 3: Eksistensiell psykologi (Existential psychology)
No. 4: Om teater (On theater)
No. 5: Gestaltterapi (Gestalt therapy)
No. 6: Blandet stoff (Mixed content)
On November 13, the Acem House in Oslo was officially opened by the mayor of Oslo, Albert Nordengen. The renovation was completed, and on November 18 a large celebration was held for members of Acem and others who had contributed. Instructor Morten Helsing was in charge of the renovation process and led the organizing committee, which included the instructors Magne Bell, Olav Drageset, Einar Jenssen, and Peik Jenssen. To make it easier to hold courses in other countries and in smaller towns in Norway, the use of group meditation sounds was introduced. Group sounds were used in the US among other places at the end of the 1970s. Only initiators could give individual meditation sounds; experienced instructors could however give group sounds, meaning that all participants in the group received the same sound. Group meditation sounds have later been used consistently and for many years in many countries outside Scandinavia.
For the first time, a comprehensive brochure encompassing all Acem’s beginner’s courses in Norway for the entire semester was produced, for the purpose of being distributed to private mailboxes by Acem members on a volunteer basis. This was a predecessor to Acem Kursavis, which for several years was published twice a year and spread information about all beginner’s courses in the coming semester, as well as some informative material. This spring, beginner’s courses were offered in a total of 68 places in Norway. Earlier, all courses had been preceeded by an information lecture (at times followed by the first meeting of the course on the same evening). As of this year, there were fewer information lectures, and pre-registration was introduced in most locations.
At this point, the printing of all issues of Acem-Nytt was left to professional printing companies. Earlier, only a few of the issues had been professionally printed; most of the issues had been printed on the offset machine Acem acquired in 1969.
The Acem Study Organization (Acem Studieorganisasjon) was established on January 27. The driving forces on the board of directors were Roy Halvorsen and Morten Wærsted. A close collaboration with FU—Folkeuniversitetet (the main adult education organization in Norway) was established, and some public support for Acem’s course activity was from this point on channelled through FU rather than through AOF.
In the winter, Are Holen held a seminar at the University of Oslo at Blindern for members of Acem on the topic “What in our consciousness is closest to the ahistoric?” (Hva i vår bevissthet er nærmest det ahistoriske?) Approximately 180 people attended.
The educational aspect of the new section-based organizational structure was reinforced by connecting an initiator to each section.
A couple of months after the annual summer retreat in Ås, A-Magasinet, a weekly supplement to the newspaper Aftenposten, published a long report from the retreat, including photographs from the social aspects of the activities, such as Dreiva.
A silver lottery was held in the fall. For several years, an Acem lottery was organized annually, each time with a different prize profile, in order to raise money for Acem’s properties.
On October 27, the Oslo City Council approved Acem as an idealistic non-profit organization of benefit to society with respect to the law of property tax.
For the first time since the restructuring of the Christmas gatherings, the gathering took place in Norway in the recently opened Acem House in Oslo. Instructors from other cities were accommodated in the homes of instructors living in Oslo. From now on, the gathering started in the late afternoon of December 26, the end date varying between January 1 and January 4. A beginner’s course was held in Copenhagen in the fall.
Seven Germans from Tübingen came to the summer retreat in Norway this year.
Approximately 500 of the first subscribers to the Acem International Newsletter (see below) lived in India, where instructor Peik Jenssen had distributed some flyers, among other things, from a helicopter on a trip to Bombay, India. He also held a beginner’s course in Bombay.
The first issue of the Acem International Newsletter was printed in March. Subscription was free; approximately a thousand people subscribed the first year.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1-2: Amnesty International
No. 3: Vitenskapens grenser (The limits of science)
No. 4: Reiseopplevelser (Travel experiences)
No. 5: Levende viten? (Living knowledge?)
In the fall, the bishops of the Church of Norway adopted a statement called “The modern meditation movements and the Church” (De moderne meditasjonsbevegelser og kirken). In this statement, Acem was a particular focus and its activity was said to spread a pantheist worldview. The statement had been prepared by, among others, Arild Romarheim and Leif Michelsen, both theologians who had actively criticized Acem for being incompatible with the Christian faith. Objections against the official view of the Church later appeared in the Christian magazine Vår Kirke ( Our Church ).
On October 22, just two weeks before the legal proceedings were to start in the case MIKI vs. Acem, a settlement was offered by the MIKI. The terms of the settlement were that the MIKI was to pay Acem’s legal costs of NOK 130,000 and transfer NOK 300,000 to Acem as compensation for not using the terms Transcendental Meditation and TM in the future. Acem was to have a transition period of one year after the payment in order to have time to choose and make public a new term for its meditation technique. The money was transferred February 14, 1980. At the end of spring 1980, Acem introduced the new term Acem Meditation. Initially this new term was combined with the term Transcendental Meditation; as of February 13, 1981, Acem no longer used the terms Transcendental Meditation or TM in relation to any of its work. The pedagogical methods the two groups used were so different that it was not appropriate to say the techniques taught by Acem and the Mahesh Yogi movement were the same.
Acem hired instructor Thor Udenæs as fulltime head of the central administration of activities, the office, and finances. He held the position for six and a half years.
In January, Are Holen held a Dreiva course for the first time outside of the summer retreat, at the Acem House in Oslo. During the following years, Dreiva was taught several times in Oslo as well as other places.
In February, Are Holen held a cultural seminar at the University of Oslo at Blindern with two public lectures entitled “Strong life choices” (Sterke livsvalg) and “Spontaneity and insight” (Spontanitet og erkjennelse). The auditorium was packed, with approximately 400 people in the audience. In the spring, Acem produced an issue of Symp that was directed not only toward students, but to the entire population. The theme was TM as taught in Acem. One hundred forty thousand copies were printed. It was distributed to private mailboxes through an extensive campaign based on volunteer work by Acem members. The circulation of Acem Kursavis in the fall was 150,000 copies.
At the general assembly of FU—Folkeuniversitetet in May, Acem Studieorganisasjon was accepted as a member. The year after, Morten Wærsted was elected to sit on the board of FU, and he remained in that position 1980–86 and 1989–1999.
Acem acquired the property previously known as Hartmanns Pensjonatskole (a private boarding school which had been closed for several years), which was situated on 1.8 hectares of land in Hvalstad in Asker, approximately a 20-minute drive southwest of Oslo. It was later called Skaugumåsen after a hilltop nearby.
The so-called node service started up in the fall with the first node letters, which contained questions that members of a node could discuss at their meetings. A node is a group of meditators who meet regularly.
The four first Swedish instructors completed their training, and 40 Swedes came to the summer retreat in Ås in Norway. Acem-Sverige ( Acem Sweden ), a parallel to Acem-Nytt in Norway, published its first issue in the fall.
As of this fall, beginner’s courses were offered regularly in Copenhagen. The first were held by Atle Wærsted, who moved to Malmö, Sweden, during the fall and lived in Copenhagen from 1981.
A third edition of Psychology of Silence ( Stillhetens psykologi ) was printed in 3000 copies.
A Swedish edition of Psychology of Silence, ( Stillhetens psykologi ) was published by the Swedish publishing house Wahlström & Widstrand.
A Danish edition, Stilhedens psykologi, was published by the Danish publishing house Rhodos in the fall.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Finn Alnæs, Stein Mehren, Alexander Solzjenitsyn, Märta Tikkanen (the names of four authors, two Norwegian, one Russian, and one Finnish). This was a double issue comprised of no. 6, 1978 and no. 1, 1979.
No. 2: Isaac Bashevis Singer og de østeuropeiske jøder (Isaac Bashevis Singer and Eastern European Jews)
No. 3: Dans—kunst og livsform (Dance: Art and way of life)
No. 4: Det undrende møte. Dikt—noveller—tekster (Encounters filled with wonder: Poems, short stories, texts)
No. 5: Bob Dylan—inn og ut av lykken (Bob Dylan: In and out of happiness)
No. 6: Blandet stoff (Mixed content)
More people within the Church of Norway seemed to be eager to adjust the Church’s attitude toward Acem. In the spring, The Church Academy (Kirkeakademiet) held a seminar at Mariaholm for people in the Church interested in meditation. Acem representatives were invited, and they met much interest and understanding. Later that year, Dyade no. 3, 1980 was published with a title that asked if the Church was out of step with modern psychology. Here, Acem could clarify its view on the subject at length as well as the misunderstandings Acem felt were prevalent. Representatives of the Church did not comment on this issue of Dyade directly, and the bishops never adopted a new declaration. However, the debate died down considerably after this point, and Acem was later seldom faced with criticism from Christians.
Acem held a new giant flea market (gigantloppemarked), for the first time on Bogstadveien in Oslo. Acem was able to use a property formerly used to store cars for the flea market on the condition that it renovated it into a market place for fruits and vegetables afterwards. This location had more space than the tents that Acem had used in the preceding years, and the location was more central.
Early this year, Acem stopped referring to the meditation sound as a mantra. This change came shortly after Acem had agreed to accept compensation in exchange for stopping its use of the terms TM and Transcendental Meditation. The word “mantra” was not a legal issue, but it was important in Acem’s understanding of the meditation process that the meditation sound was referred to in neutral terms. “Mantra” has associations to mysticism, Hinduism, and names of Hindu Gods or Hindu scriptures. The meditation sounds now used in Acem had no linguistic or symbolic meaning, and they were not related to those used in the Mahesh Yogi movement. Therefore, Acem found it reasonable to avoid this term going forward.
During the fall, Are Holen gave a seminar for members entitled “The psychology of Acem Meditation” (Acem-meditasjonens psykologi), consisting of four meetings at the University of Oslo at Blindern. Friction, spontaneous perceptual organization, and other concepts were introduced. The seminar had great significance for the revision of the instructor manual for the beginner’s courses, and a revised version was ready for the Christmas gathering.
In September, Øyvind Ellingsen became an initiator.
In the fall, a so-called body group was arranged for some instructors, led by Are Holen. The participants worked with body language and non-verbal communication in weekly meetings. The experiment was not repeated, because such groups require a disproportionate amount of leader resources, and the processes stimulated by practicing meditation were regarded as more important. Aspects of non-verbal communication could also be expressed in Dreiva, and they are often the focus in communication groups.
Acem arranged a beginner’s course in the Canary Islands for 15 Swedes from a company in the Swedish city Helsingborg.
Weekend retreats in Sweden were held on the East Coast north of Stockholm (at Haga Turistgård, Älmsta, Väddö), and at Rögle Monastery near Lund. Retreats were held at these locations twice a year for several years.
About 60 Swedes attended the annual summer retreat in Ås, Norway.
A Norwegian instructor couple moved to the Netherlands in the fall of 1979, and courses taught in Dutch started in the spring of 1980. There was considerable interest in both the meditation courses and yoga courses offered by Acem. A local Acem News ( Acem-nieuws ) was established in the fall and was issued over many years. The first weekend retreat was arranged in November, and later one or two weekend retreats were organized annually.
A beginner’s course was offered at the University of Michigan.
Articles about meditation from issues of Acem-Nytt in 1978 and 1979 were published in a booklet called Articles on transcendental meditation ( Artikler om transcendental meditasjon ).
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Kunst—pynt eller ubehag? (Art: Decoration or discomfort?)
No. 2: Umoralen i moralen (Immorality in morality)
No. 3: Kirken i utakt med moderne psykologi? (Is the Church out of step with modern psychology?)
No. 4: Musikk—åpning mot det ukjente (Music: An opening toward the unknown)
No. 5: Narkorus og sjelesjokk (Drugs and soul shock)
No. 6: Blandet stoff (Mixed content)
On October 22, Acem invited to a celebratory meeting at Chateau Neuf—a large student institution connected to the University of Oslo—as part of the celebration of Acem’s 15th anniversary. The title was “Acem Meditation’s encounter with culture, society, and science” (Acem-meditasjon i møte med kultur, samfunn og vitenskap), and the meeting consisted of lectures given by Maria Drageset, Ole Gjems-Onstad, Carl Henrik Grøndahl, and Are Holen. Nearly a thousand people attended. These lectures were later published as an audio cassette and reworked into the book A Better Everyday Life ( Bedre hverdag ).
Are Holen gave a public seminar that consisted of two meetings in February on the subject “The family: Problem or center for growth?” (Familien—problem eller vekstsentrum?). Acem gave a beginner’s course for the blind at the NABP, The Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted (Norges Blindeforbund).
Training of four new communication group leaders took place in May, based on a communication group that met ten times. For a period of time, communication groups had been restricted to instructors; the participants in this group were people who had learned Acem Meditation but were not instructors.
This spring, Symp was devoted to opposition to the use of illegal substances.
The fall edition of Acem kursavis was printed in 400,000th, copies as part of the celebration of Acem’s 15 anniversary. It was distributed to households in Norway through the volunteer effort of instructors and other meditators.
Training of the first two Danish instructors was completed in the academic year 1980–81.
A beginner’s course was held in London with nine participants.
Ten meditators from the Netherlands participated in the summer retreat in Ås, Norway. In later years, six to ten Dutch participants came to Norway annually to attend a summer retreat or communication course.
The fourth, substantially revised edition of Psychology of Silence ( Stillhetens psykologi ) was published.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1-2: Med John Lennon i tankene (With John Lennon in mind)
No. 3: Teater eller vernehjem (Theater or protective institution)
No. 4: Filosofiske fordommer—Møte med Hans Georg Gadamers filosofi (Philosophical prejudice: Encounter with Hans Georg Gadamer’s philosophy)
No. 5: Sterke opplevelser (Extreme experiences)
No. 6: Forfalsker vi virkeligheten? Hvordan personlighet påvirker opplevelse (Do we twist reality? How our personality influences our experience)
In 1982, the Norwegian Government legalized independent, local radio stations. Prior to that, NRK, the public Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, had had a legal monopoly. Acem Radio was on the air in Oslo from August 16. The first chief editor was Carl Henrik Grøndahl. In the beginning, Acem Radio broadcast approximately four hours a week.
On September 22, Acem organized a debate at the Acem House in Oslo about the future of local radio stations. The panel included representatives from a large number of local radio stations. Introductory speeches were given by the Minister of Culture Lars Roar Langslet, the head of the Center Party Johan J. Jacobsen, and Tom Thoresen, the head of the Broadcasting Council of the Labor Party. During the period after the acquisition of the former Hartmanns Pensjonatskole at Hvalstad, southwest of Oslo, the old dormitory building was torn down, and three new buildings with individual rooms were constructed. Thor Udenæs led the construction work. A thorough refurbishment of other buildings was undertaken. Instructor Morten Helsing was employed for six months to be in charge of the refurbishment of the old headmaster’s residence. After considerable volunteer contributions, ASK—the Acem School and Cultural Center (Acem Skole- og Kultursenter) could finally open. (In 1985, the center was renamed SK— Skaugumåsen Conference Center [Skaugumåsen Kurssenter]; in this book, it is simply called Skaugumåsen.) An opening weekend with a celebratory dinner was arranged on October 22 –24. The official opening took place on October 28. The mayor of Asker, Mr. Eyvind Wang, was in attendance, as were invited guests.
In February, Are Holen held a seminar that consisted of two public lectures on the topic “Meditation and our times” (Meditasjon og samtid) at the University of Oslo at Blindern.
An Acem student workshop led by Ole Gjems-Onstad was held on a Friday and Saturday in March at the Acem House in Oslo. The workshop included group exercises and contact-creating activities, several talks, role-playing, Dreiva, fantasy groups, and yoga. Over a hundred participants attended. In September, another student workshop was held, and similar arrangements were held several times in Oslo and elsewhere.
In March, the first Acem Governing Board was elected. Each board member was elected for one year. The first board members were Halvor Eifring, Roy Halvorsen, Geir Høibye, Ole Nygaard, and Morten Wærsted. Only instructors were allowed to vote in this first election. In the following elections, all meditators who had paid the annual fee had the right to vote for members of the Governing Board. The Board’s tasks were initially limited, but were gradually expanded over a period of years.
The last giant flea market was held in the spring, on Bogstadveien in Oslo. It generated a net surplus of NOK 750,000.
The annual summer retreat in Ås, Norway had steadily attracted more and more participants and peaked this year with more than 400 participants.
Because of the construction of Skaugumåsen, the organization was in need of financial resources. In order to support Acem, twelve Norwegian artists donated their graphic art work: Håkon Bleken, Gunnar Dietrichson, Ludvig Eikaas, Dag Hol, Jens Johannesen, Terje Moe, Zdenka Rusova, Jon Spilde, Jon Ove Steihaug, Ove Stokstad, Reidun Tordhol, and Kåre Tveter. The art was organized into four different portfolios, each containing five pieces of art. The artwork was exhibited in the Acem House in Oslo September 9 –14. After the exhibition, portfolios were sold by going door-to-door.
In September, a public meeting entitled “Use Your Dreams,” with Professor of Psychiatry Montague Ullman from USA, was held at the Acem House in Oslo. Two hundred people attended.
Skaugumåsen was soon utilized for new types of activities:
• November 5 –7: “Workshop on dreams and fantasies” (Verksted for drøm og fantasi). The course was led by Are Holen and Acem instructors and partly used elements from Montague Ullman’s method of working with dreams.
• November 12 –14: A basic course in vegetarian cooking.
• November 19 –21: “Role-play and group psychology” (Situasjonsspill og gruppepsykologi).
• November 26 –28: Beginner’s course in Acem Meditation (organized as a weekend course). A yoga course was held during the same weekend.
• December 3 –5: A course in vegetarian festive food.
An introductory talk about Acem Meditation containing 50 slides was produced to be used at public orientation meetings. This was also offered to meditators as a means to inform friends, colleagues, and others.
On November 19, NRK featured Acem Meditation in a popular TV program series called “Across Norway” (Norge rundt). This was the first time NRK made a television program about Acem Meditation. The program led to an increase in the number of participants in beginner’s courses.
A student workshop, similar to the one held in Oslo in March, was held in Uppsala, Sweden, with 100 participants. It was later repeated once. A similar activity was held at the University of Copenhagen.
A beginner’s course was offered in Edinburgh.
A Dutch pamphlet, a simplified version of the Norwegian Acem Kursavis, was printed in 30,000 copies. Beginner’s courses were held in Groningen, Leeuwarden, and Amsterdam.
A beginner’s course in Singapore was held with seven participants.
At the beginning of the year, Acem published its first audio cassette, called Phases in the meditation process ( Faser i meditasjonsprosessen ). It consisted of edited extracts from lectures by Are Holen held at summer retreats.
Later in the year, the second audio cassette was published: Acem Meditation: Method and background ( Acem-meditasjon—metode og bakgrunn ); it consisted of the four lectures held at the meeting at Chateau Neuf the previous year. Before the end of the year, the third audio cassette was produced, with Are Holen discussing The problem of concentration in meditation ( Konsentrasjonsproblemer i meditasjonsutførelsen ).
The German book “Jugendsekten” und neue Religiosität—Notwendige Anmerkungen included a chapter by Geralda Kuhn Lindseth entitled “Meditation: TM and Acem compared” (Meditation—TM und Acem im Vergleich).
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Myter—fortid eller samtid? (Myths: Past or present?)
No. 2: Sigrid Undset vurdert i utlandet (Sigrid Undset evaluated abroad)
No. 3: Fra det moderne Amerikas åndsliv (From the spiritual life of modern America) No. 4-5: Narkotikadebatten—ideologisk slagmark (The drug debate: An ideological battleground)
No. 6: Om drøm (On dreams)
Ole Gjems-Onstad was elected chairman of the local radio stations’ TONO Committee, later called The Committee for Intellectual Property Rights of Norwegian Local Radio Stations (Norsk nærradioforbunds opphavsrettsutvalg), a position he held until 1998. On March 15, an agreement was made on the fee to be paid to TONO, the organization that represents the interests of music producers, by local radio stations when playing music. The agreement included a paragraph specifying that the fees should not exceed two percent of total running costs for any single station. This was important for Acem Radio, which was small, had no advertising income, and was operated by unpaid volunteers. Geir Høibye was elected member of the joint committee for the local radio stations.
For the first time, Acem arranged a week-long communication course at Skaugumåsen in the early summer. A similar communication course was arranged annually thereafter. In addition to communication in small groups, there were five large group meetings comprised of all the participants. For several years, these large group meetings had the format of a socalled chaos group; that is, the leader of the group did not direct participants to talk about particular topics, but rather tried to stimulate unconscious impulses.
On September 30 –October 2, a seminar on international literature was held at Skaugumåsen, entitled “Europe meets the third world” (Europa møter 3. verden). Lecturers were the Indian author Salman Rushdie and the Scandinavian authors Jan Myrdal, Stein Mehren, Tor Edvin Dahl, and Espen Haavardsholm, as well as Rolf Brandrud and Carl Henrik Grøndahl from Acem. The seminar attracted considerable attention in the press and NRK Radio. The lectures appeared in the double issue Dyade no. 4–5 this year. Rolf Brandrud was the driving force behind the organization of this seminar and of several later cultural seminars. This was the first time a cultural seminar of this format was held; it was repeated several times the following years.
Several activities took place at Skaugumåsen: In January, Acem arranged a weekend course in “Relaxation through massage” (Avspenning ved massasje). In February, a group psychology weekend took place with small groups working on communication and the processing of tension. For the first time since 1970, Acem arranged a week-long winter meditation retreat (also in February). Winter retreats were repeated in the following years.
On February 22, the student branch of Acem, called Acem Studentforum, arranged a debate at the University of Oslo at Blindern with the title “From the viewpoint of the AKP and Acem: What lives on from the student revolt of the 1970s?” (Sett fra AKP og Acem: Hva lever videre av 70-årenes studentopprør?). Introductory talks were given by the Norwegian author Dag Solstad, representing AKP, and Rolf Brandrud from Acem.
Due to the expenses in connection with the building of Skaugumåsen, Acem’s economy was in a precarious situation. The front page of Acem-Nytt no. 2, 1983 read “Acem in economic crisis” (Acem i økonomisk krise). Symbolic shares (ASK-parter) were sold to those who wanted to support Acem by helping to finance the costs of Skaugumåsen. They were valued at NOK 300 and NOK 700.
Acem continued to take part in the drug debate. On March 4 –6, a seminar on drugs was held at Skaugumåsen, with talks by the Minister of Justice Mona Røkke, Member of Parliament Anne Lise Bakken, Professor Per Sundby, Head of Research Ragnar Hauge, Supreme Court Attorney Tor Erling Staff, Police Inspector Arne Huuse, Medical Doctor Per Nyhus, Psychologist Jan Lanesskog, and representatives from Acem. Talks from the seminar were published in Dyade no. 3, 1983.
Acem had held one summer retreat anually in Ås since 1968. This year, however, three week-long summer retreats were arranged at Skaugumåsen in its place.
This summer, 15 people finished the instructor training: ten from Norway, four from Sweden, and one from Denmark. For the first time, an instructor training program took place in Trondheim, with six participants. The number of people following the instructor training program peaked in the middle of the 1980s.
In November, the weekend course “Workshop on dreams and fantasies” (Verksted for drøm og fantasi) with Montague Ullman was arranged at Skaugumåsen.
After having acquired Skaugumåsen, Acem could now hold its annual Christmas gathering for instructors there. This continued annually until Acem acquired Halvorsbøle in 2003, with the exception of the years during which Skaugumåsen was rented out to accommodate refugees and asylum seekers. During these years, the Christmas gatherings were held at the Acem House in Oslo.
Instructors Peik and Ellen Jenssen spent some years in Japan (1983–85) and gave courses in Acem Meditation there. In the fall of 1983, they held a beginner’s course in English in Yokohama and in Tokyo.
Audio cassette no. 4, The free mental attitude: The basic principle of Acem Meditation ( Ledighet—grunnprinsippet i Acem-meditasjon ) with Are Holen, was published.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Eksisterer Gud? Møte med teologen Hans Küng (Does God exist? An encounter with the theologian Hans Küng)
No. 2: Psykologi i grupper 1 (Psychology in groups 1)
No. 3: Acem narkotikaseminar 1983 (Acem’s drug seminar 1983) No. 4-5: Europa møter 3. verden (Europe meets the Third World)
No. 6: Hva kan vi vite? Rudolf Steiners erkjennelsesteori i lys av vår tid (What can we know? Rudolf Steiner’s epistomology in light of our times)
Acem Sweden elected its first governing board. One thousand five hundred Swedes learned Acem Meditation during the period 1978 to 1984.
On January 20, the Norwegian Student Association organized a meeting at Chateau Neuf in Oslo with the title “Muzak for the soul?” (Muzak for sjelen?) with talks by psychiatrist Finn Skårderud and Are Holen.
In February, Acem arranged a group psychology weekend at Skaugumåsen, which also included a large group meeting that included all the participants. Both Dyade no. 2, 1983 and no. 2, 1984 discussed group psychology.
The weekend course “Speak better” (Tal bedre) with Ole Gjems-Onstad was held at Skaugumåsen for the first time. It was repeated several times the following years.
A study circle on the basis of the book Psychology of Silence ( Stillhetens psykologi ) was produced as was another study circle entitled “Everyday life with growth: Meditation and social affiliation” (Hverdag i vekst—meditasjon og sosial tilhørighet). Study circles on the basis of audio cassettes nos. 3 and 4 were produced to be used in the so-called nodes (groups of meditators who meet regularly). An introduction package and several node letters were also produced. In the fall, there was a peak of 67 active nodes in Norway distributed throughout 17 counties. Several local Acem boards were established.
The position of manager of Skaugumåsen was filled on a volunteer basis by instructors. Apart from Acem’s own activities, the venue was rented out to other organizations. Acem spent a great deal of time and energy on the local radio stations. A national conference was arranged at Skaugumåsen on February 24 –26 for local radio stations, with 51 participating license holders. Ole Gjems-Onstad was the author of a feature article in the newspaper Aftenposten, entitled “The fight for cultural local radio” (Kampen for kulturell nærkringkasting).
Acem Radio in Bergen was on the air when the year started.
Acem became a license holder of a local televion station in Oslo.
An international summer retreat was held in Ås, Norway; another summer retreat took place at Skaugumåsen.
A flea market was held at Bislett Stadium in Oslo in October. This time, however, it was substantially smaller than the previous, giant flea markets.
New graphic works were donated to Acem in order to improve the financial situation of the organization. Gunnar Dietrichson, Dag Hol, and Jon Ove Steihaug each donated a new piece of graphic art in addition to those they had already donated. Donations from new artists came from Else Hagen, Liv Benedicte Nilsen, Torstein Rittun, Knut Rumohr, and Dag Rødsand.
The weekend cultural seminar “What has meaning in the 1980s?” (Hva gir mening i 1980-årene?) was held at Skaugumåsen. Talks were given by the Scandinavian authors Tor Edvin Dahl, Nina Karin Monsen, Torgny Lindgren, and Edvard Hoem, as well as Rolf Brandrud and Ole Gjems-Onstad from Acem. In December, Ole Gjems-Onstad led a weekend course at Skaugumåsen entitled “Personal efficiency and co-operation” (Personlig effektivitet og samarbeid).
The first beginner’s course in Taiwan was held by Halvor Eifring, who had gone there to study Chinese. On this first occasion, the course was held in English. Later, courses were held in Chinese.
A beginner’s course and a follow-up course were held in Kobe, Japan.
Audio cassette no. 5 was produced, with Are Holen discussing Awareness and insight ( Oppmerksomhet og erkjennelse ).
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Stress og avspenning (Stress and relaxation)
No. 2: Psykologi i grupper 2 (Psychology in groups 2)
No. 3: Vitenskap og livssyn (Science and philosophies of life)
No. 4: Andrej Sakharov—et symbol (Andrei Sakharov: A symbol) No. 5-6: Hva gir mening i 80-årene? (What has meaning in the 80s?)
Acem Radio in Trondheim had received a local radio licence in August the year before and was on the air from January this year for three hours each week. It stayed on air until 2007. Ruth Fagerhaug was in charge during the entire period. Acem Radio in Oslo increased its airtime from five and a half to 12 hours weekly as of January 1. Acem Radio in Asker started March 1 and broadcast regularly until the end of 1988. Acem Radio in Stavanger started in the beginning of January, continued until the end of 1986, and was on the air again in 1988–89. Acem Radio had to use the studios of other local radio stations in Asker and Stavanger.
Acem local TV in Oslo broadcast a test program on February 2.
Three summer retreats were held, two at Skaugumåsen and one in Ås.
A cultural seminar was held at Skaugumåsen August 23 –25. The title was “Man between fad and mystery” (Menneske mellom mote og mysterium), with talks by the Nobel Laureate in literature Isaac Bashevis Singer, the Scandinavian authors Stein Mehren, Poul Behrendt, and Cecilie Løveid, theater director Kjetil Bang-Hansen, and Rolf Brandrud and Carl Henrik Grøndahl from Acem. The next day, a public meeting with Isaac B. Singer was held at the Acem House in Oslo. Two hundred fifty people attended.
A flea market was held at Bislett Stadium in Oslo in November. A full-page interview with Are Holen was published by Svenska Dagbladet, one of the two large newspapers in Sweden.
In Copenhagen, Acem rented a small apartment in Ryesgade to serve as office space and a venue for course meetings.
Acem held a meeting about dreams with Montague Ullman in Copenhagen. The audience numbered 300, whereas more than 300 had to be turned away for lack of space.
Halvor Eifring held a beginner’s course in Taiwan in Chinese for eight participants. Three more courses were held later in the year with a total of 33 participants. Acem Meditation in Taiwan was mentioned in Taiwanese newspapers, radio, and the magazine Living Psychology ( Zhang laoshi yuekan 張老師月刊 ).
A beginner’s course with 11 participants was held in Rigny outside Lyon, France, in the spring.
A beginner’s course was held for hospital employees in Kanazawa, Japan, in the fall.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Vår beste kunnskap 1—Synet på vitenskap hos Aristoteles og Karl Popper (Our best knowledge 1: Aristotle’s and Karl Popper’s views on science)
No. 2: Vår beste kunnskap 2—Synet på vitenskap hos Aristoteles og Karl Popper (Our best knowledge 2: Aristotle’s and Karl Popper’s views on science)
No. 3: Norsk og svensk samtidslitteratur (Norwegian and Swedish contemporary literature) No. 4-5: Kulturkamp i eteren—Nærkringkasting og demokratisering (Cultural clash in the air: Local broadcasting and democratization)
No. 6: Problem eller mysterium? Et møte med Isaac Bashevis Singer (Problem or mystery? An encounter with Isaac Bashevis Singer)
Acem began broadcasting its local TV programs on February 13, intially on cable (Holmlia, Janco Oslo, TV-stikka in Bærum), later in the year over the air. Acem TV broadcast four hours a week: an Economic Magazine and Acem Arena—a magazine for health, culture, and society. Acem TV collaborated with 11 other license holders in what was called TV Oslo, where local programs were broadcast alongside international entertainment programs for which viewers had to pay. Instructor Roy Halvorsen became chairman of the board of TV Oslo.
A course in media and communication was held at Skaugumåsen April 4 –6. Culture clash and problems of monopolized airwaves were the topics of two double issues of Dyade (no. 4–5, 1985 and no. 3–4, 1987), both written by Ole Gjems-Onstad. In the fall, Acem and the Norwegian Student Association co-hosted a debate at Chateau Neuf on the topic “Media: A critic without self-criticism?” (Media—kritiker uten selvkritikk?), with introductory talks by the author Stein Mehren, the head of the Norwegian Journalists’ Association Anne Skatvedt, and Ole Gjems-Onstad from Acem.
The M1 and M2 courses were translated into Chinese, and groups were organized in Taiwan. Are Holen visited Taiwan for the first time in November, and Acem Taiwan was formally established during his visit. Professor of Sports Psychology Alfred Iao-hoei Chien was elected as chairman and Ingrid Kuei-hsiang Cheng as general secretary. Are Holen gave lectures at several universities.
In order to celebrate Acem’s 20th anniversary, a reception was held at the Acem House in Oslo at the end of January. Speeches were held by the leader of the national board of FU—Folkeuniversitetet Ragnhild Stein Andersen, the leader of the Norwegian Health Association (Nasjonalforeningen for folkehelsen) Fredrik Melby, the CEO of TIKI Data Lars Monrad Krohn, Are Holen, and others. An anniversary celebration was arranged for members at Skaugumåsen on February 22.
To further mark the anniversary, a series of five lectures was given by initiators in February–March, four of them at the Acem House in Oslo and one at Skaugumåsen on the last evening of the winter retreat.
Two summer retreats were held, one at Skaugumåsen and one “anniversary retreat” in Ås.
New types of weekend courses at Skaugumåsen this year included “Self perception and social interaction” (Selvoppfatning og samspill), “The role of parents: Responsibilities and challenges” (Foreldrerollen—oppgaver og utfordringer), and “Relation and reflection in marriage” (Relatering og reflektering i ekteskapet).
A cultural seminar was held at Skaugumåsen on October 3 –5, entitled “The truth is moving” (Sannheten beveger seg). It included talks by the German author Sigfried Lenz and the Scandinavian authors Tor Åge Bringsværd, Carl Fredrik Engelstad, Göran Tunström, and Herbjørg Vassmo, as well as Rolf Brandrud from Acem.
Are Holen gave a celebratory lecture in the town of Porsgrunn for 150 people. Anders Lindseth gave five lectures at the University of Tromsø on “The philosophy of meditation” (Meditasjonens filosofi). Acem held a flea market at Bislett Stadium in Oslo in October.
Acem Sweden acquired its own venue at Odensgatan 16 in the city of Uppsala.
Acem Denmark established its own governing board.
At this point, there were four instructors in Acem Netherlands.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1-2: Menneske mellom mote og mysterium (Man between fad and mystery)
No. 3: Reiser til India (Travels to India)
No. 4: Meditasjon og psykologi (Meditation and psychology)
No. 5: Romanhøsten’86 (Novels fall’86) No. 6-7: Prosessen mot Gud—om Elie Wiesels forfatterskap (The process against God: On the works of Elie Wiesel)
In December 1986, Skaugumåsen started receiving refugees and asylum seekers; during the spring, the entire venue was used for this purpose. Skaugumåsen became one of the largest reception centers for refugees in the eastern part of Norway, and a considerable amount of volunteer work was devoted to taking care of the approximately 200 refugees who stayed there. Seven or eight instructors were employed full time by the reception center to work in its school, social department, and medical office. The center also hired many other employees. Nearly 60 people were on the center’s payroll at times. In addition, many instructors contributed as volunteers. Four new buildings were built on the property by the Government. Morten Helsing was hired in a 50 percent position the first half year, thereafter 100 percent as general manager. As Skaugumåsen was occupied by the reception center, the communication course in June this year was arranged in Ås. Two week-long summer retreats were held, one in Ås and another at Solbakken Folkehøyskole in Sør-Odal, a small municipality in the countryside of Eastern Norway. For the first time, a meditator from Taiwan came to participate in a retreat in Norway.
Weekend courses that included accommodation, which had been arranged at Skaugumåsen, now had to be relocated. In the fall, courses in “Self perception and social interaction” (Selvoppfatning og samspill), “The psychology of relationships” (Parforholdets psykologi), “Personal efficiency” (Personlig effektivitet), and in media and communication were held during weekends at the Acem House in Oslo. These courses were without accommodation. A weekend retreat for meditators was held at Mariaholm, and a course in vegetarian cooking was held at Borgen skole in Asker.
The property Holmenkollveien 127 in Oslo, called “Gladheim,” was acquired shortly before Christmas in 1986. After an intensive period of volunteer work on the part of instructors during the period December–February, this venue was also used as a reception center for refugees and asylum seekers under an agreement with the municipality of Oslo. Morten Helsing was given the responsibility of running this venue, in addition to Skaugumåsen. After a year and a half, Gladheim was no longer used as a reception center, and the venue was instead rented out to a kindergarten.
Acem Radio in Trondheim started broadcasting a financial magazine and received sponsor support from 15 companies in the city. In October, a public meeting was held at the Acem House in Oslo, on “Estonian Literature in the Crossroads between East, West, and North” (Estisk litteratur i skjæringspunktet mellom øst, vest og nord) with authors Jaan Kaplinski, Jaan Kross, and Mati Unt from Estonia.
In December, a public meeting about political abuse of psychiatry took place at the Acem House in Oslo with Anatolij Korjagin, a Russian psychiatrist and former prisoner of conscience. This was still during the Cold War. The meeting was a collaboration between Acem, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (an NGO working for human rights), the Christian NGO Mission behind the Iron Curtain (Misjon bak jernteppet) and the Norwegian branch of PEN International (PEN-klubben).
Acem acquired an apartment to be used as office space and a venue for meetings at Oscars gate 71 in Stavanger. It was refurbished and put into use in the fall of the following year.
A beginner’s course was given in Leicester.
Beginner’s courses were given at two locations in Poland during the spring term, with a total of 27 participants. This was the first time a course was offered behind the iron curtain (and the last before the Iron Curtain fell).
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Symbolske historier (Symbolic stories)
No. 2: Sannheten beveger seg (The truth is moving) No. 3-4: Monopolrevyen (The monopoly of TV news)
No. 5: Forfatteren Sigfried Lenz—Historien kaster skygger (The author Sigfried Lenz: History casts its shadow)
No. 6: Ord frå ukjend nabo—eit litterært bilete av Estonia (Words from an unknown neighbor: A literary picture of Estonia)
For the first time, Acem held a so-called advanced summer retreat over two weeks. Prerequisites for attendance included a period of regular daily meditation prior to the retreat and some experience with long meditations. The retreat allowed more time for meditation than the ordinary summer retreats and more time for guidance groups, which focused on the psychological processes stimulated by the meditation practice. The venue was in Ås. The second week was also open for people who wanted to participate in an ordinary week-long summer retreat.
Several organizations collaborated in organizing a visit to Norway by the 14 Dalai Lama. He was interviewed by Halvor Eifring for one hour on Acem TV on October 7. Acem held a meeting with the Dalai Lama in the Great Hall (Aula) at the University of Oslo on the topic “A Human Approach to World Peace.” Torbjørn Hobbel was heavily involved in organizing the Dalai Lama’s visit, and the secretariat of Acem functioned as the secretariat for the Dalai Lama. Dyade no. 2, 1988 was about the Dalai Lama and Tibet. Dyade no. 3, 1989 also dealt with the Tibet issue. (In 1989, the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize.)
A week-long winter retreat and a weekend retreat in meditation were held at Mariaholm, and a communication course was held in June in Ås.
In the summer, a venue at Hesteløkka, originally owned by an organization and used for summer vacations, was acquired in Jeløya outside of the town of Moss, along the Oslo fjord. The standard was modest, and the venue was only suitable for summer use. A modest refurbishment and upgrade took place over several years by volunteers. In the following years, the venue was mostly used for vacations for instructors against payment. Later, other meditators were also invited to some events, but the standard of the venue was not high enough for longer meditation retreats.
In the fall, there was a weekend retreat at Mariaholm, and another at a youth hostel in Hønefoss (Hønefoss Ungdomsherberge).
Acem had acquired a house at Brodtkorbs vei 2 in Trondheim during the preceding year. It needed a great deal of refurbishment, which was accomplished through volunteer effort throughout this year. The house was inaugurated in the fall with, among other things, a meditation seminar led by Are Holen, with 80 participants. The house, an old villa, was used for various Acem meetings and as an office. It also housed the radio studio and included rooms that could be rented to students. Those who stayed there over the years have mostly been students who had learned Acem Meditation. The Swedish newspaper Uppsala Nya Tidning published an interview with instructors Margareta Hammarlund, Thor Udenæs, and Monika Johansson under the title “Acem Sweden celebrates its 10th anniversary: Meditation without mysticism” (Acem Sverige tioårsjubilerer— Meditation utan mystik).
For the first time, a week-long summer retreat was held in Sweden, in Svalöv outside of Landskrona in the county of Skåne. The retreat was organized jointly by Acem Sweden and Acem Denmark and it also marked Acem Sweden’s first decade.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Det larmende fellesskap—om kinesisk folkesjel (Noisy community: On the national character of the Chinese)
No. 2: Dalai Lama og Tibet (Dalai Lama and Tibet)
No. 3: Rapport fra det tause teater (Report from the silent theater)
No. 4: Temmede toner—musikkens rolle i vår tid (Tamed tones: The role of music in our times) No. 5-6: Hvem er paven? (Who is the Pope?)
On June 26, a public meeting with Andrei Sakharov (the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975) and his wife Yelena Bonner was arranged at the Acem House in Oslo in collaboration with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. The plans for the meeting were finalized only 23 hours before the opening, but the meeting attracted more than 200 people despite the lack of newspaper ads. Are Holen gave an introduction, and each of the two guests held an introductory talk and answered questions. The translator was Ivar Magnus Ravnum, and the meeting was organized by instructor Viktor Roddvik. Dyade had published a special issue about Andrei Sakharov five years previously (no. 4, 1984). By coincidence, the printing of Dyade no. 3, 1989, with a critical discussion of Norway’s relation to Tibet and China, was completed on the same day as it was announced that the 14 Dalai Lama would receive the Nobel Peace Prize for 1989. The topics of the articles in this issue were based on how Norwegian politicians behaved when the Dalai Lama visited Norway during the previous year. The issue was distributed to all members of the Norwegian Parliament.
In the fall of 1988, Acem had acquired a modest building at Huitfeldts gate 49 in Oslo for office space, meetings, radio and TV studio, etc., and started to use it in the spring of 1989. At the same time, Acem left Frimanns gate 22, where rooms had been rented since 1972. Half of the newly-acquired building was rented out as office space. A communication course and a week-long summer retreat (with four participants from Taiwan) were held in Ås.
This year, Acem Radio was on the air 14.5 hours a week in Oslo, two and a half hours in Stavanger, four and a half hours in Bergen, and five hours in Trondheim.
On the occasion of Dyade’s 20th anniversary, a seminar examining the direction the Soviet Union was heading took place at the Acem House in Oslo on November 24 –26, with speakers recognized for their expertise on the Soviet Union. Excerpts from the seminar were presented in Dyade no 1, 1990.
Acem in Kristiansand—a city on the Southern Coast of Norway—acquired an apartment for office space and as a venue for meetings at Markens gate 37.
Acem purchased a low-priced, centrally located property in Oslo that had been used as a drug rehabilitation center. It needed renovation and was rented out as office space from 1991. The purpose was to make an investment that could provide Acem with stable income.
In Sweden, a week-long summer retreat was held in Bona in Östergötland. Summer retreats were held there annually until 1998.
Acem Denmark acquired a house with a lawn at Kochs vei 26, centrally located in Copenhagen, for office space and meetings. Part of the house was rented out.
Taiwan’s Acem-Nytt ( Yaken tongxun 雅肯通訊 ) started publication. Ole Gjems-Onstad visited Taiwan, where he gave a lecture at the Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, and had meetings with Acem meditators, etc. The visit led to a report in the magazine Living Psychology ( Zhang laoshi yuekan 張老師月刊 ). Acem’s summer retreat in Norway received extensive coverage in the Taiwanese magazine Better Life Monthly ( Jiangyi zazhi 講義雜誌 ).
A new, revised edition of Psychology of silence ( Stillhetens psykologi ) in Swedish was published by Dyade Press.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Soloppgangens land—møte med japansk kultur (The land of the rising sun: An encounter with Japanese culture)
No. 2: Kjenn deg selv—meditasjon, psykologi, kunst (Know thyself: Meditation, psychology, art)
No. 3: Norsk dobbeltmoral—Norges forhold til Tibet og Kina (Norwegian double standards: Norway’s relationship to Tibet and China)
No. 4: Retorikk og vitenskap (Rhetoric and science)
No. 5: Språket—tankens fengsel? (Language: A prison for thoughts?)
No. 6: Genene i våre hender? (Genes in our hands?)
A housing collective for 10–11 students was established in a villa on Charlotte Andersens vei in Oslo.
A week-long winter retreat was held at Mariaholm, and a communication course and a summer retreat were held in Ås.
The refugee center at Skaugumåsen was phased out during the fall because the number of refugees and asylum seekers coming to Norway was in decline.
In the fall, instructor Monika Wirkkala was temporarily employed full time by Acem to spread information about Acem activities in Sweden.
Acem participated at the Swedish national meeting for medical doctors (Läkarnas Riksstämma) with an exhibition booth, and did so several times during the 1990s in Stockholm as well as once in Gothenburg (in 2006).
In March, the Danish weekly magazine Femina wrote a two-page article entitled “We get more energy from meditation” (Vi får mer energi med meditasjon), which included interviews with instructors Merete Lund Hetland and Eva Brandt.
By the tenth anniversary of Acem Netherlands activities, approximately 500 Dutch had learned Acem Meditation.
Dyade Press published Ole Gjems-Onstad’s book The joy of study: Planning, efficiency, quality of life ( Studieglede—planlegging, effektivitet, livskvalitet ) in the fall.
No. 1: Hva er det russiske? (What is Russian?)
No. 2: Hvordan ble vi så fornuftige?—Om mentalitet og mentalitetshistorie (How did we become so reasonable? On mentality and the history of mentality)
No. 3: Vår hemmelige storhet—Narsissismen i oss alle (Our secret greatness: The narcissism in us all)
No. 4: Når dragen blir sosialklient—Om myter, eventyr og barnelitteratur (When the dragon goes on welfare: On myths, fairy tales, and children’s literature)
To celebrate Acem’s 25 anniversary, a celebratory meeting took place in the Old Banquet Hall (Gamle festsal) at the University of Oslo on February 7. The actual founding date was January 27, but the celebration was delayed due to the funeral of Norwegian King Olav V. Carl Henrik Grøndahl held the prologue and talks were given by Are Holen, Ole Gjems-Onstad, and instructor Eva Skaar. Greetings were expressed by theater instructor Kjetil Bang-Hansen, Gudmund Sem from The Cardiovascular Council (Hjerte- og Karrådet), Kåre Hol from FU—Folkeuniversitetet, and Professor of Psychiatry Astrid Nøkleby Heiberg.
Are Holen traveled to California for psychiatric research and stayed there for nearly two years.
During the spring, Acem TV was on the air one and a half hours per week. Folke Gravklev was elected chairman of the national professional society for Norwegian television companies (Norske Fjernsynsselskapers Landsforbund) for the period 1991–93, and in that capacity was also a representative on the board of The Norwegian Press Association (Norsk Presseforbund). Acem Radio was on the air 14.5 hours a week in Oslo, one and a half hours in Bergen, and two hours in Trondheim.
A week-long winter retreat was held at Mariaholm.
A two-week advanced summer retreat was held in Ås. On the last of these two weeks, a separate retreat was held with an art exhibition and a celebratory dinner.
The Acem Student Group held a flea market at the Acem House in Oslo in September.
In the spring, Skaugumåsen—Acem’s retreat center southwest of Oslo—was returned to Acem to use for its own activities. The venue was run down after the period as a refugee center. After a total refurbishment of the new buildings and parts of the headmaster’s residence, the venue was ready for an opening weekend retreat in Acem Meditation on October 25 –27 with 100 participants. One of the four additional buildings set up for the refugees and asylum seekers was torn down, as was another the following year. The remaining two additional buildings were kept.
A student workshop called “Speak out! A workshop on assertiveness” (Si fra! Verksted for selvhevdelse) took place in the Acem student housing collective in Oslo on a Friday and Saturday in October. At the end of the year, Acem acquired a small house for its activities at Marken 17 on a central pedestrian street in Bergen. A refurbishment was planned.
Acem Denmark produced a small leaflet in Danish which gave a short introduction to Acem Meditation. It was sent to those who were interested in knowing more about the meditation technique, its results, and beginner’s courses.
In April, the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende wrote a two-page article entitled “The art of coming home to children” (Kunsten at komme hjem til børnene), which included interviews with the instructors Atle Wærsted and Merete Lund Hetland.
Acem acquired a small house in the center of the city of Groningen to be used as a venue for Acem activities. Most Acem activites took place in Groningen, but courses were also given regularly in Amsterdam.
A Taiwanese became the first instructor in Taiwan after having completed a two-month Acem education in Norway.
Six participants from Taiwan attended the meditation summer retreat in Ås.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Radikal stillhet—Acem: fordypelse og kulturkamp (Radical silence. Acem: introspective deepening and culture clash)
No. 2: Å sette livet i bevegelse—Acem-meditasjon: politikk og etikk (Setting life in motion. Acem Meditation: Politics and ethics)
No. 3: Grådighetens fornuft—Markedsøkonomien overtar (The rationality of greed: The market economy takes over)
No. 4: Den arabiske tragedie—mentalitet i Midt-Østen (The Arab tragedy: Mentality in the Middle East)
A cultural seminar was held at Skaugumåsen January 24 –26 with the title “Searching for life, fighting with leading lights of Norwegian cultural life: Alf Prøysen and Olav Duun” (På jakt etter livet, i nærkamp med bautaer i norsk kulturliv: Alf Prøysen og Olav Duun). Talks were given by cultural critic Magne Lindholm, singer Jørn Simen Øverli, author Stein Mehren, cultural journalist in NRK Gry Waage, theater director Kjetil Bang-Hansen, and Rolf Brandrud and Ole Gjems-Onstad from Acem. Included in the program was the theater performance Fellow Man ( Medmenneske ) by Olav Duun at Det Norske Teatret, directed by Kjetil Bang-Hansen.
A winter retreat and an early June communication course were arranged at Skaugumåsen, where four summer retreats also took place. One of these had a youth profile and was called “Around the Soul in Eight Days” (Sjela rundt på åtte dager). Another had an emphasis on yoga.
The Student Group held a flea market in the Acem House in Oslo in September.
A cultural seminar was held October 2 –4 at Skaugumåsen. The topic was “Norwegian self-understanding at a crossroads” (Norsk selvforståelse ved en korsvei), with talks by polar researcher Monica Kristensen, social anthropologist Long Litt Woon, professor of social anthropology Thomas Hylland Eriksen, author Jørgen Haugan, theater director Tom Remlov, as well as Rolf Brandrud and Ole Gjems-Onstad from Acem. Included in the program was the performance at the National Theatre (Nationaltheatret) Lady Inger of Austråt ( Fru Inger til Austråt ) by Henrik Ibsen.
A course consisting of two weekends was held at Skaugumåsen in November on the topic “Creating confidence in yourself” (Å skape tillit til seg selv). It included communication groups and lectures. A weekend course in personal productivity was also arranged in November. In December, a weekend course in group psychology called “Our many faces” (Våre mange ansikter) took place.
During the fall, Acem was again asked if Skaugumåsen could be used to accommodate asylum seekers, and initially the two additional buildings were used for approximately 50 refugees. On short notice right before Christmas, it was asked if another 150 refugees stemming from the war in Bosnia could be accommodated. These people moved into the remaining buildings during the Christmas week. Morten Helsing, who was still employed full time by Acem, became the leader of the center. Three more instructors were employed by the center, which was established under the name Solstad Mottakssenter.
For the first time, a week-long summer retreat took place in Denmark, in Malling in Jutland. The retreat was organized in cooperation with Acem in the Netherlands.
Acem Denmark offered study circles on “Concentration, Free mental attitude” (Koncentration, Ledighed) and “Awareness” (Opmærksomhed) as part of their regular course program. All study circles were based on the audio cassettes by Are Holen, supplemented with written material.
Acem obtained official recognition as an association from the Taiwanese Ministry of Interior. Thirteen Taiwanese participants participated in a summer retreat at Skaugumåsen.
In April and May, beginner’s courses, led by the Norwegian instructor Viktor Roddvik, were given in Moscow with 22 participants and St. Petersburg with 57 participants.
At the end of the year, the book Psychology of Silence ( Stillhetens psykologi ) was published in Dutch as Psychologie van de stilte. It was extended with three chapters from the book Meditation the Norwegian way ( Meditasjon på norsk ).
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Den store og lille verden (The big and small world)
No. 2: Rosenborg!—bak mytene (Rosenborg! [the leading football club in Norway at the time]: Behind the myths)
No. 3: Det vanskelige, til dels umulige livet—Olav Duun, Dag Solstad, Sigrid Undset (The difficult, partly impossible life: Olav Duun, Dag Solstad, Sigrid Undset)
No. 4: Det mektige offer (The powerful victim)
An event called Open House was arranged at the Acem House in Oslo on January 23 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with stands, video, theater, lectures, and yoga. A similar event was also held the following year.
As Skaugumåsen again was used as a center for refugees and asylum seekers, the winter retreat was moved to Mariaholm and the communication course to Tyriheim. An advanced two-week summer retreat was held in Ås, with a concurrent international retreat the second week.
A flea market was held at the Acem House in Oslo in September.
Acem was asked to run another center for asylum seekers in the fall at the Sundbakken conference center in the municipality Asker, fairly close to Skaugumåsen. The new center was opened as a branch of Solstad Asylum Reception Center (Solstad Mottakssenter) after one week of preparation. The new branch had room for 160 refugees. It existed for only one year and was led by Morten Helsing in collaboration with an instructor who was already an employee at the Skaugumåsen center.
The Norwegian instructor Terje Buuer traveled to Taiwan to hold courses in Dreiva. These courses were quite popular, and a total of 400 people attended. He held similar courses in 1994 and 1995.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Bedreviterens død—et innspill om problembasert læring (The death of the know-it-all: About problem-based learning). This issue was originally written by Swedish instructors and was translated into Norwegian.
No. 2: Når sjelen plager kroppen (When the soul bothers the body)
No. 3: Vellyst og lidelse—på sporet av Marcel Proust (Lust and suffering: On the trail of Marcel Proust)
No. 4: Sinne Sult Sex (Anger Hunger Sex)
Acem held a cultural seminar April 8 –12. The first part, April 8 –10, consisted of a “Wilderness Workshop for Men” with the American author Robert Bly ( Iron John—A Book About Men ) and was attended by 45 men. On April 11, a public debate at the Acem House in Oslo about “Gender roles and human growth” (Kjønnsroller og menneskelig vekst) attracted an audience of 250, with Robert Bly as the main speaker. On April 12, an evening of poetry with Robert Bly and the Norwegian poet Jan Erik Vold took place at the Acem House. The seminar formed the basis for two issues of Dyade (nos. 3 and 4, 1994).
A transition course of study (overgangsstudium) was conducted for the first time in 1994–95 with two participants. Tor Hersoug was in charge. The curriculum included texts on psychological and existential issues for 14–16 year-old participants. The study could be taken as an alternative or an addition to other forms of confirmation/transitional studies. This study was later offered many times.
Acem and The Norwegian Trekking Association (Den Norske Turistforening, DNT) held several meetings together at the Acem House in Oslo January 14 –15 on nature experiences, with lecturers from both organizations.
A five-day winter retreat was held at Skøien Gjestegård in Lunner in Hadeland, about 60 kilometers north of Oslo.
A workshop on spontaneity, self-image, and body sensations was held in the student housing collective in Oslo on a Friday and Saturday in March. A communication course and a summer retreat were held in Ås. Summer retreats were held at Peder Morset Folkehøgskole in Selbu in Mid-Norway and at Skøien Gjestegård.
A beginner’s course in Acem Meditation spanning a few days, led by Eva Skaar, was held in the mountains at Krækkja on the Hardangervidda in collaboration with the Norwegian Trekking Association. This was repeated annually for several years.
Initiator Torbjørn Hobbel was employed full time by Acem as of the fall.
On October 22, the Acem House in Oslo held a six-hour seminar on “Where is Europe heading? EU workshop for doubters” (Hvor går Europa? EU-workshop for tvilere), with talks by people with a prominent position in the public debate: Rune Haaland, Fredrik Bull-Hansen, Preben Munthe, Torill Brekke, and Ole Gjems-Onstad from Acem. One hundred twenty people attended. The seminar was held shortly before the referendum on whether or not Norway should join the EU.
During the fall, a complete refurbishment of the facade of the Acem office building on Huitfeldts gate in Oslo took place.
The center for refugees and asylum seekers at Skaugumåsen was closed in November. The venue needed thorough refurbishment and could not immediately be used for Acem activities.
The Danish weekly ladies’ magazine Alt for damerne (no. 14, 1994) published a two-page article about four different meditation techniques, including Acem Meditation, with the title “Give the brain a break” (Giv hjernen et frikvarter).
A one-week summer retreat was held in the Netherlands, in Havelte. The working language was English.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Du er din kropp—dans, yoga, meditasjon (You are your body: Dance, yoga, meditation)
No. 2: Natur og stillhet (Nature and silence)
No. 3: Menn i bevegelse—et møte med Robert Bly (Men in motion: An encounter with Robert Bly)
No. 4: Robert Bly og debatten om mannen (Robert Bly and the debate about men)
A milestone was reached in the development of deepening processes in Acem: The first deepening retreat was arranged over two weeks in the summer at Geijerskolan in Värmland in Sweden with more than 100 participants. A two-week summer retreat had been arranged a few times previously, and the concept of process groups had been introduced. Process groups gave space for reflection on the content of the mind’s spontaneous activity during meditation, in contrast to technical guidance groups, which focused on the technical aspect of meditation. On previous two-week retreats, participants could choose to participate only one week. At this retreat, all participants stayed for two weeks, and there was a clearer focus on the deeper aspects of the meditation process. Furthermore, the daily meditation time was longer. For the first time, participants worked systematically with advanced (also called mentalistic) repetition of the meditation sound, and these aspects were further developed in the deepening retreats that took place every year since.
The first scientific study of the effects of Acem Meditation was published in an international medical journal: the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The study was conducted by Erik E. Solberg, a medical doctor and instructor in Acem, in collaboration with other researchers. The topic was the effects of Acem Meditation on parts of the immunity system during stress. The following year, the same journal published another article on the effect of Acem Meditation on sports performance. From now on, scientific measurements of some of the effects of Acem Meditation played an important role in the presentation of the technique, and more research was to come.
A winter retreat was held at Skøien Gjestegård.
On January 21, a six-hour seminar on the topic “A uniform school or school democracy?” (Enhetsskole eller skoledemokrati?) was held at the Acem House in Oslo, with talks by the Norwegian professor of pedagogy Torstein Harbo, the Swedish professor of history and politician Gunnar Richardsson, the Danish professor of history Vagn Skovgaard Pettersen, and Rolf Brandrud and Ole Gjems-Onstad from Acem.
This year, there was no direct election of the members of the Governing Board of Acem. A Supervisory Board (Representantskap) was elected in February. This Supervisory Board consisted of nine members, three of whom were elected from and by the group of initiators and six of whom were elected from the group of instructors. The Supervisory Board elected the members of the Acem Governing Board and other leading positions. The system with a Supervisory Board did not last for many years. Later, the Governing Board was directly elected by instructors and initiators.
The Acem House in Marken in Bergen, which was acquired at the end of 1991 and which needed substantial renovation, was officially inaugurated on May 20, 1995, but had been in partial use before that point.
Acem launched its first home page on the Internet, set up by Torbjørn Hobbel.
A communication course was organized in Ås.
In addition to the retreat at Geijerskolan, there was an ordinary summer retreat at Fana Folkehøgskole outside of Bergen, Norway, and another in Ås, as well as the annual summer retreat in Bona, Sweden.
To celebrate Are Holen’s 50th birthday, which had taken place during the deepening retreat, a public morning seminar on “Stress, processing and change” (Stress, bearbeidelse og forandring) was arranged at the Acem House in Oslo on August 26. Talks were given by the professors of psychiatry Alv A. Dahl and Svein Friis, and by Acem members Are Holen, Carl Henrik Grøndahl, Rolf Brandrud, Margareta Hammarlund-Udenæs, and Ole Gjems-Onstad. A reception took place on the following evening at the Acem House.
On October 7, a morning seminar on “Vegetarian diet: Better, healthier, more adequate?” (Vegetarisk kosthold— bedre, sunnere, riktigere?) was held at the Acem House in Oslo with talks by people who had participated in the public debate about nutrition in various fields, including three medical doctors who also were instructors/ initiators in Acem. Topics from this seminar gave input to Dyade no. 1–2, 1996.
Acem acquired a new plot centrally located in Oslo, close to another property that had already been bought by Acem in 1989. This was regarded as a long-term investment for Acem. At first the plot was rented out as parking space; later, the construction of apartment buildings was undertaken. Renting out these apartments would give Acem a stable source of income. That started in 2007.
In the spring, Acem Sweden inaugurated its new venue, a large apartment at Drottninggatan 85 in Stockholm.
Acem Denmark launched its first home page on the internet, set up by the Norwegian initiator Torbjørn Hobbel. Soon after, and for years to come, instructor Knud Erik Meyer was the Danish webmaster.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Selvhjelp eller selvbedrag? (Self-help or self-deception?)
No. 2: Friskolene—en plage? (Private schools: A nuisance?)
No. 3: Kan jeg forandre meg?—meditasjon, terapi, kulturdebatt, organisasjon, læring (Can I change? Meditation, therapy, cultural debate, organization, learning)
No. 4: Når drømmer blir demoner—Ibsen, Hamsun, Jensen, Solstad, Dylan (When dreams become demons: Ibsen, Hamsun, Jensen, Solstad, Dylan)
As of this summer, Acem could again use Skaugumåsen for its own activities. A week-long deepening retreat was held there, as were two regular summer retreats, one of which was intended for younger participants, entitled “Around the soul in eight days” (Sjela rundt på 8 dager). A four-day yoga course was also held there in July. In addition, a five-day retreat was held at Veidarvon in the Fron mountains in inland Norway, entitled “Meditasjon i Peer Gynts rike” (Meditation in the kingdom of Peer Gynt).
On January 27, a cultural seminar was held at the Acem House to discuss whether the Internet was a new stronghold of commercialism or an opportunity for idealism. There were talks by Minister of Planning Bendik Rugaas, professor of law Jon Bing, researcher in education Dagny Stuedahl, author and journalist Torgrim Eggen, IKT specialist Børre Ludvigsen, as well as Rolf Brandrud, Torbjørn Hobbel, and Ole Gjems-Onstad from Acem.
A winter retreat was held at Skøien Gjestegård.
A communication course was arranged in Ås in June. In addition to small groups, large group meetings including all participants were held several times during the course. This year and the following year, the large group meetings were of the consensus type, the leader directing the participants to reflect on particular topics, in contrast to the “chaos groups” at earlier communication courses, where the leader stimulated the impulses of the participants in an undirected way. Acem acquired a small building in the Norwegian twin cities Skien/Porsgrunn. It was inaugurated on September 7.
In October, a weekend course for women about female roles was arranged at Skaugumåsen.
A week-long meditation retreat was held at Skaugumåsen in October–November.
In December, a deepening extended weekend retreat was held at Skaugumåsen, open for those who had experience from week-long deepening retreats. Later, this type of extended weekend was often held twice a year.
In the course of the year, the magazine Acem-Nytt changed to four-color print and made editorial changes, and the magazine published more articles. As of 1997, the number of pages increased from 20 to 28.
A week-long summer retreat was arranged in Korinth at Funen in Denmark.
A beginner’s course was given at Stanford University in California with 11 student participants.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1-2: Føde for tankene—Innspill om vegetarianisme: Livsstil, erkjennelse, moral, helse (Food for thought. Ideas about vegetarianism: Lifestyle, insight, ethics, health)
No. 3: Vestens verdier vakler—den asiatiske utfordring (Western values wavering: The Asian challenge)
No. 4: Hvem eier våre barn? (Who owns our children?)
In February, Torbjørn Hobbel traveled to India along with two instructors and stayed there for six weeks in order to give beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation in New Dehli and surrounding areas. From this point on, Torbjørn Hobbel traveled to India for about eight weeks twice a year every year in order to follow up on Acem activities.
A winter retreat and a week-long retreat in May were held at Skaugumåsen.
The Acem Student Group organized a flea market at the housing collective in Oslo in April.
A communication course was held at Skaugumåsen in April–May.
A short summer retreat was held at the Acem property Hesteløkka on the coast south of Oslo in the beginning of June. From this point on, an extended weekend retreat was held at Hesteløkka in the early summer annually until 2013. Starting some years later, an extended weekend retreat was also held there in the late summer annually until 2013. Due to the simple standard of the venue, it was no longer deemed suitable for weekend retreats after 2013.
A two-week deepening retreat and a youth retreat entitled “Around the soul in eight days” (Sjela rundt på 8 dager) were held at Skaugumåsen in the summer. In addition, there was a summer retreat in Selbu in Trøndelag, Norway, and a four-day retreat at Veidarvon, this time for men only and focusing on the topic meditation and men’s roles. A beginner’s course for women with breast cancer started. The group continued to meet regularly for several years.
On September 13, a morning seminar entitled “Understanding China” (Forstå Kina) was held at the Acem House in Oslo. Talks were given by Harvard professor Michael Puett (Confucianism), UCLA professor Robert Buswell (Zen), Leiden University professor Kristofer Schipper (Taoism), University of Oslo professor Christoph Harbsmeier (Legalism), and Halvor Eifring from Acem (Between order and chaos).
Dyade held a public working seminar entitled “The good life: Without alcohol?” (Det gode liv—uten alkohol?) at the Acem House in Oslo. The seminar formed the basis for Dyade no. 4, 1997.
This fall, the basic training of Acem instructors was extended from two to three semesters. The first fall semester included a preparatory course and the two subsequent semesters made up the main course. Participants were now included in the annual Christmas gatherings after the third semester, not after the first semester, which had been the practice previously.
A communication course over two weekends in the space of two weeks was arranged at Skaugumåsen in October.
In the fall, a 17-day period at Skaugumåsen was dedicated to a meditation retreat where people could come when they wanted and stay for as many days as they wished. This was a precursor of what was later called drop-in retreats, a new concept for Acem at that time. The program was the same every day. On earlier weeklong winter, spring, and fall retreats, it had also been possible to stay the number of days you wished, but normal practice had been that the shorter amount of time you wished to attend, the later you should arrive.
A morning seminar with Are Holen about the midlife crisis was held on November 22 at the Acem House in Oslo.
A beginner’s course was held in London.
A one-week summer retreat was held in De Kroon, Vaassen, in the Netherlands. This time, the working language at the retreat was Dutch.
A beginner’s course was held in New York.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Floskler eller visdom?—Møte med østasiatisk tenkning (Platitudes or wisdom? An encounter with East Asian thought)
No. 2: Mannen Peer Gynt og hans kvinner (The man Peer Gynt and his women)
No. 3: Bortenfor Sofies verden—Om selvforståelse (Beyond Sophie’s world: On self understanding)
No. 4: Det gode liv uten alkohol? (The good life without alcohol?)
Acem acquired the property Lundsholm near Arvika in Värmland, Sweden, in the spring. Its main and several small buildings were situated near a lake in silent and beautiful surroundings. It was used for a one-week deepening retreat in July and a weekend retreat in September.
“The great tour of the East” (Den store Østenreisen) organized by Acem had 45 Scandinavian participants practicing Acem Meditation. After a three-day tour of Taiwan, there was a retreat in “The Home of Love” in Puli in the central part of the island. The retreat was open also for Taiwanese meditators. Seventy-two people participated. This was the first week-long retreat outside Europe. The magazine Better Life Monthly ( Jiangyi zazhi 講義雜誌 ) published an article about Acem. Before the retreat, Are Holen held a lecture and a beginner’s course in Taipei. After the retreat followed a two-week tour of Mainland China.
In February, Skaugumåsen again became a center for the reception of refugees and asylum seekers. They were housed in the additional buildings. At any given time, approximately 50 people stayed at Solstad Mottakssenter, while the rest of Skaugumåsen was reserved for Acem activities. A contract was signed with The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (Utlendingsdirektoratet, UDI) on June 1 for the use of the additional buildings to house 50 asylum seekers for approximately two years. A seventeen-day drop-in winter retreat was held at Skaugumåsen, as well as a one-week spring retreat in April–May.
On March 24, a public meeting with one of the most prominent Chinese prisoners of conscience, Wei Jingsheng, was held in collaboration with Amnesty International at the Acem House in Oslo. Dyade no. 1, 1998 focused on Wei Jingsheng and was published just prior to the meeting.
A communication course was held at Skaugumåsen. For the first time, the course did not include a large group; instead, there was time for more small communication group meetings. This is how the program remained the following years.
A week-long deepening retreat was held at Skaugumåsen. This year, the retreat for young meditators was held in Finse on Hardangervidda in central Southern Norway. Ordinary summer retreats were held at Fana Folkehøyskole outside Bergen and at Skaugumåsen. A summer retreat entitled “Meditation in the kingdom of Peer Gynt” (Meditasjon i Peer Gynts rike) was held at Veidarvon.
A communication course was held over two weekends at Skaugumåsen in October.
A 17-day drop-in retreat was held at Skaugumåsen in November.
Acem acquired a large apartment at Erling Skakkes gate 53B in the Norwegian city of Trondheim. It was dilapidated and in need of total renovation, which was undertaken the next year. At this point, the property was rented out.
Are Holen gave a lecture about the midlife crisis as part of the celebration of Acem Sweden’s 20th anniversary. The venue was Norra Latin in Stockholm. 150 people attended the lecture.
A celebratory summer retreat in connection with Acem Sweden’s 20th anniversary was held at Geijerskolan in Värmland in Sweden.
In September, a beginner’s course in Acem Meditation in English was offered in Marbella in Southern Spain. The seven participants came from various European countries and the US, but not from Spain.
A beginner’s course and follow-up meetings were held in London.
A one-week summer retreat was held in Dutch in the Netherlands.
Acem India was formally founded on March 29th in New Dehli, by Torbjørn Hobbel. An Executive Committee was established with 11 members. Acem received much attention in Indian newspapers.
Acem International Newsletter was re-established; it had not been issued for several years. It was written in English and published news about Acem Meditation and Acem activities intended for interested readers anywhere in the world.
On November 30, the vegetarian cookbook Good green ( Godt grønt ) was launched at the Acem House in Oslo, where one could also taste some of the dishes. The editors were Carl Henrik Grøndahl and the instructors Odd Busmundrud og Marit Heiberg Lund.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Den gylne stemmen—Wei Jingsheng og kampen for menneskerettigheter i Kina (The golden voice: Wei Jingsheng and the struggle for human rights in China)
No. 2: Henrik Ibsen og Brand Gynt—fra sinne til forsoning (Henrik Ibsen and Brand Gynt: From anger to reconciliation)
No. 3: Det har aldri vært lett å være barn (It has never been easy to be a child)
No. 4: Trender—økonomi, politikk, meditasjon, kunst, historie (Trends: Economics, politics, meditation, art, history)
A 17-day drop-in retreat was held at Skaugumåsen in February.
A spring retreat was held in April–May at Skaugumåsen.
For the first time, a two-week communication course was held, from June 26 to July 10, at Skaugumåsen. There were more than one hundred participants.
A week-long deepening retreat was arranged at Lundsholm the week before the communication course, and similar courses were held at Skaugumåsen and Lundsholm immediately following the communication course. Many participants therefore spent three consecutive weeks at courses this summer.
A one-week regular summer retreat was held at Skaugumåsen, and two one-week regular summer retreats were arranged at Lundsholm, in addition to a five-day retreat for young meditators. The retreat “Meditation in Peer Gynt’s kingdom” (Meditasjon i Peer Gynts rike) took place at Veidarvon. The retreats at Veidarvon normally lasted four to five days and were held for some time approximately every other year.
Acem Cultural Forum was arranged Sunday September 26 at the Acem House in Oslo. The topic was “Identity in a borderless world” (Identitet i en grenseløs verden). Talks were given by the authors Claudio Magris from Italy and Simi Bedford from Nigeria. A two-week drop-in retreat was held at Skaugumåsen in the fall.
A week-long “veteran retreat” for those who had participated in at least three week-long deepening retreats was held in November–December at Skaugumåsen. This type of course had longer meditations and a less structured program than regular deepening retreats. For many years, starting this year, the winter deepening retreats combined an ordinary deepening retreat with a veteran deepening retreat.
Acem instructor Margareta Hammarlund was interviewed by the Swedish medical magazine Dagens Medicin, no. 15: “Meditation is important for the new professor at Uppsala.” (Meditationen viktig for Uppsalas nye professor).
The publication of Acem India, later Acem samachar, with news directed at Indian meditators, started this year. Beginner’s courses were given in Varanasi in addition to New Dehli. Five hundred fifty people learned Acem Meditation in India during the period 1997-99.
A beginner’s course was given in Luxembourg with six participants.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Litteratur og meditasjon (Literature and meditation)
No. 2: Er vi barn for lenge? (Are we children too long?)
No. 3: Gud lever—Gud dør (God lives, God dies)
No. 4: Bøker på benken—psykologiske perspektiver på litteratur (Books on the bench: Psychological perspectives on literature)
Torbjørn Hobbel gave a lecture about Acem Meditation to employees at the Indian Parliament in New Delhi. He was still in charge of Acem’s activities in India when Acem celebrated its 50th anniversary.
In October, Acem Travels organized a trip to North India, including a week-long retreat in Rishikesh and a tour of the Himalayas. Close to a hundred people from India, Europe, and Taiwan participated in the tour, and 120 participated in the retreat.
Since then, there have been annual week-long retreats in India, usually held in Rishikesh. These annual retreats are primarily for Indians, although they have included some Norwegian instructors and international participants whenever Acem Travels organized a tour to India. Are Holen has given lectures at many of these retreats.
Acem India began to participate regularly in trade fairs such as “Mystique India,” “Mystic World,” “Life Positive Expo,” and “Delhi Book Fair.”
The October book launch of Inner Strength attracted a large gathering in New Delhi.
The week-long communication course took place as usual in the spring, and an additional communication course over two weekends was arranged at Skaugumåsen in the fall.
Acem Now ( Acem Nå ) was launched in the fall as an email service for announcing events in Acem Oslo as well as other Acem activities. Instructor Magne Bell initiated the service and administrated it until Acem’s 50th anniversary.
A large number of retreats were held this year. In addition to several weekend retreats, there were three four-day retreats at Skaugumåsen, Lundsholm, and Veidarvon in the summer. The following retreats lasted for one week or more:
• Winter retreat in February
• Easter retreat
• Two-week deepening summer retreat
• Deepening summer retreat
• Drop-in summer retreat
• Deepening retreat in December
• Two-week deepening summer retreat
• Summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
In addition, there was a summer retreat for students/ young meditators in Finse in the Norwegian mountains and a summer retreat in Funen, Denmark.
The first weekend retreat in the UK, took place in November outside Oxford, led by Rolf Brandrud. Beginner’s courses were held in Oxford and London.
A week-long retreat for Dutch meditators was held in English at Lundsholm in Sweden.
A person from Gambia learned to meditate at a summer retreat at Skaugumåsen, and on return home prepared the ground for beginner’s courses there. In September, courses in Gambia with the Norwegian instructor Folke Gravklev attracted a great deal of interest and many participants.
A beginner’s course in Acem Meditation was offered in Beijing in the fall and advertised on Acem’s web page. This led to a one-hour long interview in Chinese with professor and instructor Halvor Eifring for a Chinese-language radio station located in the US. Three people learned Acem Meditation. This was after the Chinese government’s crackdown on Falungong, and Chinese citizens were afraid of being associated with anything that might mistakenly be connected to Falungong.
The first book written in English, Inner Strength: The free mental attitude in Acem Meditation by Are Holen, was published this year, as well as a CD with the same title, see above.
Toward the end of the year, The cake book: Egg-free temptations ( Kakeboken, fristelser uten egg ), edited by Sigrun Hobbel, was published in Norwegian in collaboration with the Norwegian Asthma and Allergy Association (Norges Astma- og Allergiforbund).
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Inkvisisjonens psykologi—hvordan vi dømmer og dømmes (The psychology of the inquisition: How we judge and are judged)
No. 2: Livet er en roman—om Milan Kundera (Life is a novel: On Milan Kundera)
No. 3: Forvirrende frihet (Confusing freedom)
No. 4: Arne Garborg—inn i vår tid (Arne Garborg: Into our times)
For the first time, Acem organized a three-week deepening retreat. It took place at Skaugumåsen; the venue was nearly fully booked. It included round-the-clock meditation. To participate in this type of retreat, one must have previously participated in several ordinary one-week retreats. It was held again in 2004, and from 2005 onwards, three-week retreats were held every year. For those interested in going deeper into the meditation process, this has been an important opportunity.
A few courses in Acem Meditation had been offered in Germany in 1976–78, but there was no activity in Germany after that point up until this year. One person in Hamburg attended a course in the spring led by the Norwegian instructor Ole Nygaard. In the fall, three more people in Hamburg learned Acem Meditation. Later, Ole Nygaard formed a collaboration between Acem and the colleges of adult education (Volkshochschulen) in several cities, after which activities rapidly expanded.
In the fall, Norwegian instructor Arne Heimdal led a beginner’s course with 20 participants in Alicante, Spain, marking the start of regular activities in Spain. Arne Heimdal continued to travel frequently to Spain annually, also when Acem reached its 50 years milestone. After the course in Alicante, activities spread to Barcelona in 2003 and Madrid some years later, as well as occasional courses in other cities.
Are Holen gave a lecture on stress management and stress psychiatry and disasters at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Copenhagen, including discussion of meditation as a stress management method. The lecture took place shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center and attracted a large audience. Are Holen later conducted a seminar on stress at Esbjerg-Varde Central Hospital in Denmark, after which beginner’s courses were offered in Esbjerg. Interviews with Are Holen appeared on Danish Broadcasting Corporation television and in several Danish newspapers and magazines.
The first weekend retreat in yoga in Denmark was held at the Acem House in Copenhagen by the Norwegian instructor Anne Thomte, who was also a yoga teacher at the Acem School of Yoga. The following retreats were one week or more:
• Easter retreat
• Three-week deepening summer retreat, see above
• Deepening summer retreat
• Drop-in summer retreat
• Summer retreat
• Summer retreat for young meditators
A communication group was held in the Netherlands, led by Øyvind Ellingsen. It took place over two consecutive weekends at the Acem House in Groningen.
Torbjørn and Sigrun Hobbel lived in New Dehli for a year in 2000–2001, a very active period for Acem India. In March, Sigrun Hobbel received the 2001 Bharat Nirman Award for talent and professional achievement.
Although New Delhi was the center of Acem India, courses were also given in other Indian cities, including courses in Mumbai, such as one at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Anushakti Nagar, where 360 participants learned to meditate in a single course. Preparation of Acem introducers began in India this year. Introducer was a title used for those who were taught to give informative lectures about Acem Meditation, but not to give courses. Introducers were also trained in a few other countries, but the function was not much used, and after some years the practice was abolished.
Acem Taiwan’s newly acquired apartment in Taipei was officially opened in May for use as office space, a venue for courses, and other activities.
A few beginner’s courses were held at Harvard University by Halvor Eifring, who also held a weekend retreat in Massachusetts.
A beginner’s course was held in France.
Two beginner’s courses were held in Sydney, Australia.
A beginner’s course was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
This year, more participants learned Acem Meditation outside of Scandinavia than in the three Scandinavian countries combined. This trend continued for all subsequent years for the rest of Acem’s first 50 years.
A new CD was published with Are Holen speaking about Concentration in meditation ( Konsentrasjon i meditasjonen ), based on a previous audio cassette.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Fortiden i nåtiden (The past in the present)
No. 2: I fornuftens grenseland (In the borderlands of reason)
No. 3: Asiatisk dokumentar (Asian documentary)
No. 4: Historiens psykologi—lineær og syklisk historieforståelse (The psychology of history: Linear and cyclical notions of history)
Eva Skaar was put in charge of Acem’s work in the UK. She spent four weeks in London and Oxford in the fall arranging courses and other Acem activities. Acem began cooperative efforts with the Oxford College of Further Education and Reading College. This proved to be quite a challenge, partly since none of the colleges wanted to arrange courses on weekends. The collaborations were therefore later discontinued (in 2005 and 2003, respectively). During these years, Acem was able to use a venue at Trinity College, Oxford University, thanks to support from a Norwegian student there.
In January, Acem School of Yoga held a yoga course with 24 participants in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic.
Acem-Nytt reduced the number of issues per year from seven to six. Carl Henrik Grøndahl had been the editor since the fall of 2000 and a leading member of the editorial board since the fall of 1995, and was still editor at the end of the period covered by this book. Starting in 2006, Geir Wærnes was editor for some issues every year.
The Finance Sector Union (Finansforbundet) in Trondheim, Norway, decided to offer beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation to its union members and sponsored two thirds of the course fee.
The New Year’s issue of the Danish weekly ladies’ magazine Alt for damerne ran a four-page interview with Are Holen about Acem Meditation and stress management with the title “Are you collecting stress?” (Samler du på stress?). Starting this year, beginner’s courses in Denmark were held on a regular basis in both Copenhagen and Århus. Previously, most beginner’s courses in Denmark had been held in Copenhagen, and only sporadically in other cities.
Acem Denmark produced a comprehensive compendium of articles on meditation practice as course material for beginner’s course participants. Instructor Eva Brandt served as editor.
A communication course over two weekends was held in Copenhagen, led by the Norwegian instructor Eva Skaar.
• Deepening summer retreat
• Two-week deepening summer retreat
• Drop-in summer retreat
• International summer retreat, held in Norwegian with simultaneous translation to non-Scandinavian languages
• Deepening retreat in December
• Summer retreat
• Summer retreat for young meditators
There was also a summer retreat in Funen, Denmark.
Sigrun Hobbel became the initiator in charge of Acem activities in the Netherlands. Since then, most of the weekend retreats, which were normally held twice a year, were led by her together with Dutch instructors.
The BBC World Service radio program “Outlook” opened its coverage of Acem Meditation by stating that “a new Scandinavian style of meditation is taking India by storm.” The program, which was broadcast on May 10, included live interviews with Torbjørn Hobbel from Oslo and Kalpana Jayaraj, Acem India’s General Secretary, from Delhi.
In March–April, Acem Travels hosted a tour of Taiwan and China, including a five-day retreat in Taiwan and two weeks of travel in Mainland China, including Tibetan areas.
Professor of Sports Psychology Alfred Chien, became assistant instructor and was specifically empowered to give group meditation sounds in Taiwan. He had been president of Acem Taiwan since 1986.
In the fall, Eva Skaar spent three weeks in Taiwan to help with activities there.
The cookbook Beneficial vegetarian ( Välgjörande vegetarisk ), written in Swedish and edited by the Swedish instructor Eva Danielsson, was published by Dyade Press.
The CD Relaxation: Body meditation ( Avspenning— kroppsmeditasjon ) with Øyvind Ellingsen was published in Norwegian. A Danish version was published the following year, and a Swedish version followed in 2005.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Leselyst (Love of reading)
No. 2: I kugalskapens tid—et vegetarisk perspektiv (In the time of mad cow disease: A vegetarian perspective)
No. 3: Mannen som var sjalu på Jesus—Henrik Ibsens Keiser og Galileer (The man who was jealous of Jesus: Henrik Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean )
No. 4: Ondskap (Evil)
On July 1, after intense negotiations, Acem signed a contract to buy Halvorsbøle, situated by the lake Randsfjorden, 80 kilometers north of Oslo. It was originally built as a conference center in the 1960s by the Norwegian employers’ organization, and later became a conference hotel. Secret negotiations behind the Oslo accord between Israel and Palestine from 1993 took place there. For several years, including 2003, the Norwegian government used Halvorsbøle for its annual budget planning seminars in February. Later that year, the hotel company declared bankruptcy. At that point, the hotel was initially sold to another buyer, who, it turned out, could not satisfy the terms of the contract.
Halvorsbøle soon became a major retreat center for Acem. Already in July, a deepening retreat originally planned for Skaugumåsen was moved to Halvorsbøle. The official opening took place on a weekend retreat on October 10 –12. After the summer, Skaugumåsen was rented out to an institution for asylum seekers and was therefore no longer used for Acem activities in the period covered by this book.
The first World Retreat of Acem Meditation was held July 12 –20 in Ås. The retreat gathered more than 260 participants from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Taiwan, and 18 from India. A post-retreat tour in Norway was held for participants from abroad. At the outset, the course language was Norwegian with simultaneous translation into non-Scandinavian languages. However, during the course, the language changed to English. This marked the beginning of annual international retreats in English with simultaneous translation to other non-Scandinavian languages.
At Lundsholm, a new building with 19 ensuite rooms, a lecture hall, and two group rooms was finished in the fall. This represented a major expansion of the center’s capacity. Morten Helsing led the construction work. A veteran deepening retreat was held at Lundsholm in December.
Two instructors became initiators: Merete Lund Hetland, Denmark and Eva Skaar, Norway.
In November, the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten printed a two-page feature article on Acem.
A communication course over two weekends was held in Copenhagen, led by Tor Hersoug and Merete Lund Hetland.
The first World Retreat of Acem Meditation was held July 12 –20 at Ås, see above.
• Easter retreat
• Drop-in summer retreat
• Summer retreat
• Deepening summer retreat
• Summer retreat for young meditators. From this year on, a summer retreat for young meditators was held annually at Lundsholm for the rest of the period covered by this book, with Scandinavian as course language but including English-speaking guidance groups and simultaneous translation of evening lectures.
• Deepening retreat in December
• Deepening summer retreat
This year, 150 persons learned Acem Meditation, as compared to 22 the previous year.
Geir Wærnes initiated a co-operation between Acem and Morley College in London, which henceforth offered biannual beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation. In 2003, Acem arranged beginner’s courses in seven cities in the UK; 86 people learned to meditate.
Three new instructors completed their education in the Netherlands.
Acem began a cooperation with Chunghwa Telecom Training Center, with large numbers of people learning Acem Meditation and participating in the follow-up courses M1 and later M2 and weekend retreats. This continued for several years, with courses in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. Acem also began cooperating with the Taipei Teachers’ In-Service Education Center; this also continued for several years.
The first Acem Meditation course in South Africa was held in May. The instructors were Anne Grete Hersoug and Tor Hersoug. Several more beginner’s courses, mostly in the Cape Town area, and two weekend retreats were held during the next three years.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Stillhetens kompass—meditativ etikk (Compass of silence: Meditative ethics)
No. 2: Iran—nestemann ut? Bilder fra et land i forandring (Iran: Next man out? Images of a changing country)
No. 3: Røster om rus (On alcohol and drugs)
No. 4: Fengslende frihet—om moral og moralutvikling (Captivating freedom: On morality and moral development)
Eager to fill Halvorsbøle with Acem activities, Acem arranged the following courses during the spring: in February, a yoga vacation weekend, a beginner’s course in Acem Meditation, a workshop on dreams, two ordinary weekend retreats, a film festival, a mini-retreat, and a four-day drop-in retreat; in May, two deepening weekend retreats from Thursday to Sunday. The annual communication course was held there for the first time in May–June and this continued beyond Acem’s 50th anniversary.
After a beginner’s course for employees at Norway’s largest telecom company Telenor in the fall of 2003, an evaluation report including feedback from participants was completed in the spring of 2004. (An article based on the report was published in the book Fighting Stress in 2008.)
The work on Acem’s IT platform was systematized, and a group of instructors started to meet online every week to maintain and improve the platform. The result was a highly complex system available in various languages for different countries, with integrated registration and payment systems. The group consisted of Håvard Bell, Bjørn Dobbertin, Trygve Fridstrøm, Christopher Grøndahl, Andreas Tryggeset, and Grunde Waag. Their work continued well beyond Acem’s 50th anniversary. Increasing complexity made it necessary to involve the services of a professional company from 2011.
Dyade published an article by Anne Grete Hersoug about the “icing on the cake” generation (Glasurgenerasjonen— selvrettferdig sødme). This article received a great deal of attention on Norwegian radio and in newspapers and magazines, and was used as the subject of an exam question in the national exam for high school graduates.
Are Holen led a course in “Meditative exercises: Breathing and awareness” (Meditative øvelser—pust og oppmerksomhet) at Halvorsbøle in October. The course was held again in October 2005.
A Swedish magazine for meditators, Acem Magazinet, was launched.
Acem Denmark celebrated its 25th anniversary with a series of seminars at the Acem House in Copenhagen. In November, there was a seminar with the Danish author Kirsten Hammann, who in her semi-autobiographical novel Fra smørhullet (From the “butterhole,” a word in Danish that indicates the indentation in a portion of porridge where butter is placed, and is a metaphor for a peaceful or good place to be in life) described experiences with Acem Meditation.
• Deepening retreat in January
• Easter retreat
• Three-week deepening summer retreat; this was the second time a three-week retreat was held
• Deepening summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden. This retreat marked the official opening of the new building.
• International deepening summer retreat with English as course language. From this point onward, the international deepening retreat became an annual event, though it was later held at Halvorsbøle rather than Lundsholm.
An international summer retreat was held at Funen, Denmark.
In addition, there were four-day summer retreats at Halvorsbøle (for young meditators), at Veidarvon, and another one at Halvorsbøle about Nature and Meditation with a drop-in option.
Acem arranged its first week-long summer retreat in Germerode, near Kassel. An annual German summer retreat was arranged in Germerode for several years.
The first weekend retreat was held near Alicante in October, led by Tor Hersoug, who from then on traveled frequently to Spain to give courses and follow up on Acem activities. From this point on, a weekend retreat in the Alicante area was arranged annually.
In the spring, Acem arranged a weekend retreat near Oxford. A weekend retreat was later arranged in the UK every year for the rest of the Acem’s first 50 years, with the exception of 2015.
Acem began using the centrally-located Convey Hall for its London beginner’s courses. This venue was used until 2010, when Acem acquired its own venue for activities in London.
Beginner’s courses were held in South India and other places, led by Torbjørn Hobbel.
In the spring, instructor Thor Udenæs gave a lecture on “Money and meditation” in Taipei. The meeting was organized by National Taiwan Normal University and Acem and attracted an audience of 180.
The Taiwanese Joy Lu completed her training as assistant instructor. Three years later she became the first instructor outside Europe.
In the fall, Halvor Eifring led a beginner’s course with 137 participants in Chunghwa Telecom Training Center.
In the spring, Acem began to explore the property market in the Dominican Republic, in the hope of finding a site on which to build a retreat center for international residence courses. Advantages of this location included a pleasant and stable climate all year round, comparatively low property prices, and relatively easy access, especially from the US. The first plot was purchased this year and smaller plots were added in the next few years. Ole Gjems-Onstad was central in the acquisitions and the legal follow-up work. The main property was situated along the hillside in the northern part of the country, overlooking Puerto Plata. There were no buildings on the property. Later, four apartments were acquired as well as a smaller piece of land connected to the beach. The acquisitions were done with a long-term perspective. As Acem celebrated its first 50 years, no development of the land had yet taken place.
A beginner’s course for employees was held at Beijing Foreign Enterprise Service Group, and another at Nokia in Beijing, China.
Acem published two new CDs in Norwegian: The Free Mental Attitude in Meditation ( Ledighet i meditasjon ) and Awareness and Insight ( Oppmerksomhet og erkjennelse ). Both were revised editions of earlier audio cassettes.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Tanker i en tårevåt tid—Følsomhetens tyranni (Thoughts in tearful times: The tyranny of sensitivity)
No. 2: Tiden venter ikke—eksistensielle refleksjoner om tid (Time waits for no one: Existential reflections on time)
No. 3: Acem-meditasjon og det gode liv (Acem Meditation and the good life)
No. 4: Med såre øyne—bokomtaler (With sore eyes: Book reviews)
The course “Work and Relaxation” (Arbeid og avspenning) was introduced at Halvorsbøle as a collaboration between Acem School of Meditation, the Acem School of Yoga, and Kommunal Kompetanse (a center for education in the public sector, later called Fagakademiet). The Norwegian Medical Association (Den norske legeforening) approved the course as a 10-hour elective course for doctors specializing in workplace medicine and as a 20-hour elective course for doctors specializing in general medicine. The Norwegian Nurses’ Organisation (Norsk Sykepleierforbund) and the Norwegian Physiotherapist Association (Norsk Fysioterapeutforbund) also approved the course as part of specialization within their fields. Instructor Roy Halvorsen was a key person in developing the course.
Following the celebration of Are Holen’s 60th birthday, a public seminar with lectures was held at the Acem House in Oslo on Saturday September 3, with 300 people in the audience. Later in the fall, a special issue of Dyade (no. 2–3, 2005) was published with articles on Acem topics such as Acem’s relation to contemporary cultural currents, the development of Acem’s psychology of meditation, Acem’s emphasis on neutrality, and several articles on meditation research, including the physiological and psychological effects of meditation, stress management, and the influence of meditation on the brain.
Acem-Nytt changed its name to AcemMagasinet as of no. 1, 2005.
Halvorsbøle introduced the notion of a “super weekend”, a weekend with several concurrent courses, retreats, and other activities. In the spring, the first super weekend included a beginner’s course, the first follow-up course (M1), a course exploring self-images, a yoga vacation, a weekend retreat, a mini retreat, and a course for improved communication.
The Acem School of Yoga (Norsk Yoga-skole) held a course at Krækkja on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau in Norway in cooperation with the Norwegian Trekking Association (Den Norske Turistforening, DNT). The course was given good coverage in the Association’s yearbook. Acem Sweden’s stand and lectures at the medical doctors’ annual meeting Läkarstämman in Stockholm drew considerable attention.
Ole Gjems-Onstad led a communication group over two weekends in Stockholm together with the Swedish instructors Monika Wirkkala and Margareta Hammarlund. A similar communication group was held in Stockholm two years later.
A monthly guidance group for experienced meditators was established in Copenhagen, initially led by Merete Lund Hetland. Participants had more than five years’ experience with Acem Meditation or had attended at least one week-long retreat. The group meetings started with three hours of meditation. The group continued its activity beyond Acem’s 50th anniversary.
The Danish magazine for meditators was upgraded to full-color print and renamed Acem Magasinet Danmark.
• Easter retreat
• Two drop-in summer retreats
• Yoga and meditation summer retreat with drop-in option
• International summer retreat
• Two-week deepening summer retreat
• International deepening summer retreat
• Deepening retreat in November–December
• Deepening retreat in March
• Deepening summer retreat
• Summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Summer retreat for young meditators
• Three-week deepening retreat in November–December. This was the first three-week winter retreat. It was led by Ole Gjems-Onstad and became an annual event.
The Norwegian instructors Sarah Danielsson and Christopher Grøndahl lived in Scotland in 2003–2004 and held beginner’s courses in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh in this period. Christopher Grøndahl registered Acem UK as a Scottish Charity in 2005.
A total of 150 people learned Acem Meditation in the UK this year.
In January, Acem Travels arranged a tour of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in South India, including a one-week retreat. Of the 74 participants, 64 came from Scandinavia, three from Taiwan, and seven from India. Rs 100,000 was collected from among the participants for victims of the 2004 tsunami. On January 31, the sum was handed over to Cuddalore NGO OASIS to pay for extra tutoring and school materials for affected students preparing for their final exams.
After several years of training, the Indian Irundayaraj Jayaraj became assistant instructor and was authorized to give full beginner’s courses in Tamil. In the spring, he led a beginner’s course with 48 participants in Southern India. Later he was also authorized to give full beginner’s courses in English in other parts of India. Kalpana Jayaraj was assistant instructor and the activities in Acem India have to a great extent been dependent on their efforts, also beyond Acem’s 50th anniversary.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Kjærlighetssviket—den unge Ibsen (Betrayal of love: The young Ibsen) No. 2-3: Skape gjennom andre—jubileumsskrift til Are Holens 60-årsdag (Creating through others: On the occasion of Are Holen’s 60th birthday)
No. 4: Levende døde—slaveriets psykologi (The living dead: The psychology of slavery)
At the beginning of the year, Acem yoga teacher and meditation instructor Anne Thomte was appointed head of the Acem School of Yoga, a position she still held when Acem celebrated its first 50 years. She replaced yoga teacher and meditation instructor Anne Friis-Baastad, who had led the school diligently for 25 years. Anne Thomte worked full time for Acem School of Yoga for a short period in 2007–2008 and was able in that period to give courses in yoga for employees of various companies. When Acem celebrated its 50th anniversary, she was still head of Acem School of Yoga, and had donated much of her free time in that service. For the first time, Acem Meditation was covered by the German press, with a full-page article entitled “Efficient Stress Killer” (Effektiver Stresskiller) in the newspaper Kölner Stadt Anzeiger in September. Following this media coverage, 110 people registered to learn Acem Meditation in Cologne, but Acem only had capacity for 80. Two instructors gave four beginner’s courses in the space of one weekend.
The first training course for moderators was introduced in Germany. Moderators are volunteers who are authorized to hold and moderate follow-up courses for Acem meditators, and in particular the first follow-up course M1. The moderator training was also set up as a first step for those who would later train to become assistant instructors and then instructors in Acem Meditation. This step-wise training model was generally adopted by Acem International in 2010.
Acem celebrated its 40th anniversary during the fall under the main heading “The creative process and meditation” (Kreativ prosess og meditasjon). An art exhibition took place at the Acem House in Oslo on September 16 –19, with works by the following meditating artists: Guri Ankerdatter, Marianne Bratteli, Gunnar Dietrichson, Dag Hol, Astrid Iverslien, Monique Memy, Liz Rideal, Eva Skaar, and Reidun Tordhol. Some of the artists also gave talks. The exhibition was opened by Kirsti Kolle Grøndahl, former president of the Norwegian Parliament.
A weekend retreat was held at Halvorsbøle on October 27 –29 to celebrate the anniversary. It included a banquet as well as speeches and presentations related to Acem’s history. In September and October, several events took place at the Acem House in Oslo:
• Dag Hol: On presence in art and meditation (Om tilstedeværelse i kunst og meditasjon).
• Ole Gjems-Onstad: Who’s there? Shakespeare: Meditative issues (Who’s there? Shakespeare— meditative momenter).
• Love and meditation: An encounter with the author Rune Belsvik (Kjærleik og meditasjon— møte med forfatteren Rune Belsvik).
• Talks given by authors Bjørn Bottolvs, Henning Bergsvåg, Christopher Grøndahl, Frøydis Kvåle, Eigil Steinsfjord, Åse Helen Tveitane, and Berit Østby, and musician Sverre Torstensen (Kong Sverre).
Several talks and events were held over a week in October at the University of Oslo to mark the anniversary, including the theatrical performance Koshatnik by Christopher Grøndahl at Chateau Neuf.
Several events were held to mark the anniversary in the Norwegian cities Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, and Tromsø.
A double issue of Dyade dedicated to various aspects of Acem and its history was published. The issue had the title “Countercurrent meditation: Acem through four decades” (Meditasjon motstrøms—Acem gjennom fire tiår).
Acem Sweden participated for the first time in the Uppsala Culture Night (Kulturnatten i Uppsala). Several events were held, including a dialogue between Monika Wirkkala and the Swedish novelist Pär Östling, attended by 75 people. All events took place at Acem’s venue in Uppsala and were open to the public. Acem continued to participate in the Uppsala Cultural Night every year, also beyond Acem’s 50th anniversary, with events on yoga, meditation, and scientific findings on meditation, as well as dialogues with well-known invited guests.
• Easter retreat
• Two-week deepening summer retreat
• Summer retreat
• International summer retreat
• International deepening summer retreat
• Drop-in summer retreat
• Deepening retreat November–December
• Deepening retreat in January
• Deepening summer retreat
• Drop-in summer retreat
• Yoga drop-in summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Deepening summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Denmark. From this point on, Acem Denmark continued to use Lundsholm as the venue for their annual summer retreats, which were led by Merete Lund Hetland in collaboration with Danish and Norwegian instructors.
• Summer retreat for young meditators
• Three-week deepening retreat in November–December
The annual weekend retreat in the Alicante area provided the option of starting one to three days earlier.
This spring’s weekend retreat in the UK was held near London, close to the river Thames.
Instructors Henning and Ellen Gravklev lived in Nottingham from 2006 to 2009 and held their first beginner’s course there in November 2006. Later, they established a collaboration with South Nottingham College, and by the end of 2009, 65 people had learned Acem Meditation in Nottingham. Several follow-up courses and group meditations were also held.
Acem Netherlands began to use a larger venue for its biannual weekend retreats. This resulted in an increase in the number of participants, up to 25–30 people each time.
Ole Gjems-Onstad led a communication group over two consecutive weekends in the Netherlands. This was repeated two years later.
In April, Acem Travels hosted a tour of South China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, with 78 Scandinavian and three Taiwanese participants. The tour included a week-long retreat at the southern tip of Taiwan with 27 Taiwanese participants, and a combined celebration of Acem Taiwan’s 20 anniversary and Acem International’s 40 anniversary at National Taiwan University, with almost 200 people in the audience.
In 2006, the magazine Dyade changed its format and adopted a new design. The following issues were published:
No. 1: Maluma og takete—lyd og ulyd i menneskesinnet (Maluma and takete: Sound and noise in the human mind)
No. 2: Alene, men sammen—dybdesyn på gruppepsykologi (Alone, but together: An in-depth view of group psychology) No. 3–4: Meditasjon motstrøms—Acem gjennom fire tiår (Countercurrent meditation: Acem through four decades)
The course “Health and relaxation” (Helse og avspenning) was held at Halvorsbøle in April, open to all and fully booked. The course was held again in September but then only for members of Breast Cancer Association (then Foreningen for brystkreftopererte, now Brystkreftforeningen). The course was led by Inger-Lise Nesvold, oncological physiotherapist and yoga teacher and meditation instructor in Acem.
Acem also held courses in stress management at Halvorsbøle and, in the years up to 2007, at the following companies and institutions in Norway: Shell, Telenor, NHO (The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise), OSL (Oslo Airport), the Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren), Gyldendal Norwegian Publishing, and Total. The Acem School of Yoga held several yoga classes at Ikea and The Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT).
Acem Meditation was referred to 31 times in the 500page report Meditation Practices for Health: State of the Research, prepared by Maria B. Ospina et al. for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The report gave a thorough overview of possible health effects of different types of meditation and was written by medical experts with no connection to any particular meditation organization.
The greater Oslo chapter of the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT) and Acem held a stress management course together in the Norwegian mountains.
To satisfy demand from other countries, English-speaking groups were offered at the annual communication course at Halvorsbøle. This was continued every year from this point on.
Starting in the fall, the fee for beginner’s courses in Norway was reduced from NOK 1700 to NOK 800. The length of the course was also reduced. The intention was to make it more attractive for younger people to take a beginner’s course.
A week-long communication course was held at Halvorsbøle in the fall in addition to the annual communication course held in the spring.
The author Rune Belsvik published a novel, The chest of drawers ( Kommoden ), in which Acem Meditation played a central role.
This year, Acem completed a large construction project of rental apartments in central Oslo, aimed at providing a future basis for Acem’s finances. The construction work involved considerable financial and technical challenges, but the result was very satisfactory. The project was led by Ole Gjems-Onstad together with Morten Helsing and the instructors Petter Halvorsen, Magne Bell, Arve Breen, Morten Juell, and Kjell Jacobsen.
Since its creation, Acem’s organizational principles were based on practice. This made it possible for its structure to evolve as it went from a small student group to a national organization with many activities. With the increasing size of the organization, the need for written and formal rules was greater. This year, the Acem organization in Norway adopted written statutes. Only instructors and initiators living in Norway were members of Acem and had the right to vote in elections for the governing board. These rules were still in place when Acem celebrated its first 50 years. In other countries, the local organizations had different rules according to local norms for associations.
An interview with Monika Wirkkala appeared in the business section of the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, under the title “A lesson on how to clean the mind” (En lection i att rensa huvudet). A beginner’s course was held in a small company in Örebro as a direct consequence.
Acem Uppsala’s main event at the Uppsala Culture Night was a talk by the Swedish psychiatrist Ing-Marie Wieselgren from Saint Luke’s Foundation (S:t Lukasstiftelsen), entitled “How to handle crises” (Att hantera kriser). One hundred people attended.
The study program for the transition from youth to adulthood (overgangsstudiet) had been held in Norway almost every year. This year, four teenagers from Denmark participated in the study program, and their completion was celebrated at the Acem House in Copenhagen in March. In the following years, Acem Norway, Acem Sweden, and Acem Denmark often collaborated to set up such study programs, involving teachers from all three Scandinavian countries. In April, Merete Lund Hetland arranged a seminar entitled “Exploring the brain: Meditation and neuro research” (På oppdagelse i hjernen—Meditation og neuroforskning) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Copenhagen. More than 150 people attended, and an interview with Merete Lund Hetland appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten.
• Easter retreat
• Three-week deepening summer retreat
• Deepening summer retreat
• International summer retreat
• Drop-in summer retreat
• Yoga summer retreat
• Deepening retreat in November–December
• Deepening retreat in January
• Yoga drop-in summer retreat
• Drop-in summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Denmark
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Deepening summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Summer retreat for young meditators
• Three-week deepening retreat in November–December
Acem Travels hosted a tour of the Indian Himalayas September 28 –October 14, including a weeklong retreat in Rishikesh, with 40 participants from Europe as well as one from Taiwan and one from the US.
Seventy policemen from the National Highway Police Bureau learned Acem Meditation.
In France, a beginner’s course was held in Paris in 2007; from 2009, the course was held biannually for a few years. Beginner’s courses were also offered once or twice a year for some years in Mulhouse, Alsace.
In Canada, Tor Hersoug held beginner’s courses in Toronto and Vancouver in October 2007, and biannually the following years. In Vancouver, Acem collaborated with one and later two local school boards. In the fall of 2009, a weekend retreat was held outside Vancouver. By the end of 2009, 114 people had learned Acem Meditation in Vancouver and Toronto. In Vancouver, a collaboration with one of the local school boards continued until 2013, with other Norwegian instructors coming to hold the courses.
The Acem Student Group in Oslo organized a trip to Toscana, Italy, with a retreat followed by sightseeing. The group stayed in a privately-owned home. A similar event was repeated the following year.
In addition to the Scandinavian countries, beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation were offered in the following countries this year: Germany, Spain, the UK, The Netherlands, Switzerland, France, India, Taiwan, the US, and Canada.
Acem published its second book in English: Acem Meditation: An Introductory Companion, by Are Holen and Halvor Eifring. The book was primarily intended for use at the beginner’s course but also proved to be of interest to people who had already learned to meditate.
Acem published its first book in German: Acem Meditation: Relaxation, Silence, Inner Strength ( Acem Meditation — Entspannung, Stille, Innere Kraft ), edited by Ole Nygaard in cooperation with Are Holen. It contained articles translated from English and Norwegian as well as some new material written in German.
Acem also published a new edition of the English book Inner Strength: The Free Mental Attitude in Acem Meditation by Are Holen.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Who’s there. Shakespeare—meditative temaer (Who’s there. Shakespeare: Meditative issues)
No. 2: Hvor ble det av det ubevisste? (Where did the unconscious go?)
No. 3: De der ute—fakta og forestillinger om liv i universet (Out there: Facts and fantasies about life in the universe)
No. 4: Utsikt til innsiden—12 kunstnere og Acem-meditasjon (An inside view: Twelve artists and Acem Meditation)
Acem published a new book in English: Fighting Stress: Reviews of Meditation Research, edited by Svend Davanger, Halvor Eifring, and Anne Grete Hersoug.
A long-weekend communication course was held at the Acem Student House in Oslo; this was repeated the following year.
As of this year, the biannual Acem International Newsletter was no longer published in paper format. It was replaced by the web-based Acem eNews, which aimed at five issues a year, edited by Halvor Eifring and Anne Grete Hersoug.
Dyade-bloggen (the Dyade blog) started up in August.
This year, Acem School of Yoga (Norsk Yoga-skole) celebrated its 40th anniversary. Two “Meditation and Yoga” summer retreats were held, with a stronger emphasis on yoga than at the regular meditation retreats. On a Saturday in November, a meeting marking the anniversary took place at the Acem House in Oslo, with yoga and several lectures about yoga, research and health, and other activities.
A weekend retreat of meditation and yoga was held at Halvorsbøle. Starting this year, monthly three-hour yoga and meditation sessions on Saturday mornings were held at the Acem House in Oslo.
Owe Wikström, author and professor of psychology of religion at the University of Uppsala, talked about “Living with the dark and bright sides of life” (Att leva med livets mörka och ljusa sidor) at the Uppsala Cultural Night. The talk was held on the Acem premises; 150 people attended.
Monika Wirkkala was interviewed on Swedish radio about Acem and Acem Meditation on the Finnish-language program Sisu.
An interview with instructor Margareta Hammarlund-Udenæs entitled “A life journey toward inner peace” (En livsresa mot det inre lugnet) had a two-page spread in the health section of the Swedish newspaper Uppsala Nya Tidning.
• Two one-week meditation and yoga summer retreats
• Yoga drop-in summer retreat
• International summer retreat
• International deepening summer retreat
• Two one-week drop-in summer retreats
• Deepening summer retreat
• Deepening retreat in November–December
• Three-week deepening retreat in January, led by Halvor Eifring. This became an annual event, in addition to the annual three-week deepening retreat in November–December.
• Deepening retreat January–February
• Deepening summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Denmark
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Deepening summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Yoga summer retreat
• Summer retreat for young meditators
• Three-week deepening retreat in November–December
• The Easter retreats at Halvorsbøle had always been drop-in. From this year on, it was reduced to five days. They were led by Eva Skaar from their inception in 2000; she continued to do so for the rest of the period covered by this book.
In April, Are Holen officially opened Acem’s new venue in Berlin. An apartment was acquired in Hamburg for use as a venue for local Acem activities.
Roy Halvorsen held a beginner’s course in New York. In the following years, he held courses there several times a year.
An Acem Travels tour of Taiwan and Tibet, planned for the spring of 2009, was canceled when demonstrations in Tibet, followed by a violent crackdown, made it uncertain whether foreign tourists would be allowed in. In addition, the international financial crisis led to dramatic changes in exchange rates, making the tour economically unviable.
For the first time, a beginner’s course was held in the city of Xiamen, China; for a few years, courses were given there regularly. An M1 course and a weekend retreat were arranged the following year.
In addition to the Scandinavian countries, beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation were offered this year in the following countries: Germany, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, India, Taiwan, China, the US, Canada, and South Africa.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: For mange regler—juridiske illusjoner (Too many rules: Legal illusions)
No. 2: Brukerne skaper medierevolusjon—Wikipedia— YouTube—Facebook (Users create a media revolution: Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook)
No. 3: Måltid for en liten klode—om kosthold, klima og krokodiller (Meals for a tiny planet: On diet, climate, and crocodiles)
No. 4: Klager, krav og krenkelser (Complaints, demands, and insults)
A new article on the effects of Acem Meditation was published in the scientific magazine The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, entitled “Increased theta and alpha EEG activity during nondirective meditation.” The term “nondirective” is used to express the concept of a free, mental attitude, which is a central principle in Acem Meditation. The results indicated that there is a significantly deeper relaxation during Acem Meditation than when a person is simply relaxing in a chair.
In June, Ole Nygaard died of a brain tumor at the age of 56. He started the activities in Acem Germany in 2001 and spent an enormous amount of time and effort developing the organization, traveling frequently from Norway to Germany. Turid Berg-Nielsen worked closely with him for several years, and now took over as leader of Acem’s activities in Germany.
Fighting Stress: A Review of Meditation Research received favorable reviews in Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association ( Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening ), Journal of the Norwegian Psychological Association ( Tidsskrift for Norsk Psykologforening ), and The Norwegian Journal of Physiotherapy ( Fysioterapeuten ). In the summer, Are Holen led a week-long retreat entitled “Meditation and Yoga” at Halvorsbøle. The retreat was fully booked; one participant even had to sleep in his trailer.
A number of Acem videos were published on YouTube, including interviews with Are Holen.
The Swedish instructor Pär Westlund was interviewed by the Swedish public broadcasting radio program “Body and Soul” (Kropp och själ) in connection with the release a year earlier of the book Fighting Stress: Reviews of Meditation Research.
In December, instructors Thor Udenæs (Sweden), Ellen Gravklev (Norway), and Petter Halvorsen (Norway) became initiators.
At the Uppsala Cultural Night, Anna Kåver, author, psychotherapist, and researcher at the University of Uppsala, talked about “Handling the challenges of life” (Att hanskas med utmaningen det är att leva). The talk was given on the Acem premises; 200 people attended.
• Two one-week drop-in summer retreats
• Yoga summer retreat
• Yoga, breath, and meditation summer retreat
• International summer retreat
• International deepening summer retreat
• Deepening retreat in November–December
• Three-week deepening retreat in January
• Deepening retreat in January–February
• Two one-week and one two-week deepening summer retreats
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Denmark
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Deepening summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Summer retreat
• Summer retreat for young meditators
• Three-week deepening retreat in November–December
In April, Are Holen officially opened Acem’s new venue in Hamburg.
By the end of the year, there were 11 active moderators in Germany.
Acem acquired a venue in Alicante to house local Acem activities, and the space was opened at the end of the year after thorough refurbishment.
In September, Are Holen gave a public lecture at the University of Alicante on the scientific evidence of meditation effects. Acem activities in Spain increased considerably during the fall. In total, 120 people learned Acem Meditation in Spain in 2009, a third of whom had found the course online.
Two people completed their training to become assistant instructors.
An international retreat took place around Easter, with participants from Taiwan, Norway, Denmark, the UK, and Spain. Beginner’s courses were given in Hsin-chu.
In addition to the Scandinavian countries, beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation were offered this year in the following countries: Germany, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Hungary, India, Taiwan, China, the US, Canada, and the Dominican Republic.
Yogaboken—Bevegelse og pust, see above.
In October, the third Chinese edition of the book Xiangshou Ningjing 享受寧靜 ( Psychology of Silence; Stillhetens psykologi ) was published by Dyade Press.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Der du aldri har vært—Acem-meditasjon og reflekterende kommunikasjon (Where you’ve never been: Acem Meditation and reflective communication)
No. 2: Den tibetanske tragedie—politikk og mystikk på verdens tak (The Tibetan tragedy: Politics and mysticism on the roof of the world)
No. 3: Frem fra skyggene—opplysningstidens grep om samtiden (Out of the shadows: The Age of Enlightenment and its grip on our times)
No. 4: Sahara—trussel og møteplass (Sahara: Threat and meeting point)
The training program for pedagogical tasks in Acem was changed. A level called moderator was introduced. This level had been part of the training program in Germany since 2006 and now would be used in every country where Acem had activity, in Norway starting from this fall. A moderator was trained to be in charge of follow-up courses such as M1 and to some extent M2. The training program consisted of two weekends and in-between practice in a follow-up course together with a more experienced instructor. Only after having been through this first level could one apply to take part in instructor training. Outside Scandinavia, the second level in this process was called assistant instructor, and the third level was called instructor. The idea behind starting the pedagogical training in Acem at the moderator level was to make it easier for people to contribute to Acem activities, as the instructor training demanded much more time and effort.
In June, the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology published a scientific article entitled “Increased Heart Rate Variability During Nondirective Meditation.” Practitioners of Acem Meditation were tested while resting and while meditating. The study found an increased parasympathetic and reduced sympathetic nerve activity and increased overall heart rate variability while practicing the technique. This result suggested that nondirective meditation by the middle aged may contribute to a reduction of cardiovascular risk. Instructor Anders Nesvold, medical doctor and specialist in cardiology, was central in the research behind this article.
In March, Are Holen gave a lecture at the University of Alicante on the psychology of meditation and brain research. He also gave a seminar for Acem meditators and was present at the formal opening of the Acem center in Alicante.
Are Holen then went to Barcelona, where he held a seminar for meditators and gave a public lecture on scientific research on meditation. He was also interviewed by the newspaper La Vanguardia, the largest newspaper in Catalonia, which also has circulation in the rest of Spain.
The interview appeared on April 8 and covered the entire last page of the newspaper. The interest in Acem Meditation increased throughout Spain, and in Barcelona the increase was enormous. Acem was able to offer ten beginner’s courses in Barcelona during the first 16 days in May, in addition to one course in Madrid and one in Alicante, with instructors from Norway and the help of more experienced Spanish meditators. The number of participants at the courses in Barcelona varied between 24 and 84. During the first six months of this year, more than 600 Spaniards learned Acem Meditation.
Acem Magasinet reduced the number of issues from six to five a year, but the number of pages in each issue increased substantially.
In May, an academic conference on The Cultural History of Meditation, organized by the University of Oslo, took place at Halvorsbøle. Forty academic researchers from four continents gathered for four days. A volume of nearly 1000 pages was prepared prior to the event. In the following years, revised articles appeared in a number of edited volumes on the topic published by recognized academic publishers. Halvor Eifring initiated the project. LA CONTRA
“ La meditación transforma habíamos rechazado y que estaban en el fonel cerebro a largo plazo” ¿La meditación modifica el cerebro a
E Pues lleva treinta años todo no se basa en ninguna fe religiosa ni nización voluntaria sin dad de creatividad se manifieste.
BADALONA NAVES BADALONASUD VENTA-ALQUILER created an enormous interest in the beginner’s courses in Acem 93 415 64 44
During the summer months, a period with little activity, a comprehensive renovation of the Acem House in Oslo started with interior work. Not much had changed since the building was opened for use in 1978, so a renovation was needed. The process continued for several summers to come. An international instructor training program was held in connection with the international deepening retreat at Halvorsbøle during the summer, with participants from Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Taiwan, India, and Norway.
In addition to the usual communication course in the spring, another communication course was arranged at Halvorsbøle in September–October. This was repeated in 2011.
In November, the 15 study program for the transition from youth to adulthood (overgangsstudiet) was completed.
Monika Wirkkala gave advice in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet on “How to take care of your heart during the summer holidays” (Så tar du hand om hjärtat i sommar).
Swedish instructor Gunnar Sundqvist was interviewed about meditation in the journal Svensk Psykiatri ( Swedish psychiatry ), no. 4, 2010.
Maria Gjems-Onstad held a seminar in Stockholm and Uppsala in the fall on mindfulness, meditation, and psychotherapy.
This year, beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation were offered in six Swedish cities: Stockholm, Uppsala, Umeå, Sundsvall, Gothenburg, and Arvika (Lundsholm).
• Deepening retreat in January
• Meditation and yoga summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Denmark
• International summer retreat
• International deepening summer retreat
• Two drop-in summer retreats
• Deepening retreat in November–December
• Drop-in retreat in November–December
• Three-week deepening retreat in January
• Deepening retreat in January–February
• Two one-week and one two-week summer deepening retreats
• Yoga summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Deepening summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Summer retreat for young meditators
• Three-week deepening retreat in November–December
In January, Are Holen gave a lecture at Technische Universität Hamburg–Harburg entitled “Recent research on stress-reduction with relaxation and meditation techniques.”
There was a positive two-page story about Acem Meditation in the German women’s magazine Brigitte.
In the fall, beginner’s courses were given in 13 German cities.
Four new moderators from Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Freiburg started their training in October.
This fall, three Spaniards started the moderator training. Starting in 2010, two weekend retreats were held every year outside Barcelona, and the practice of holding a weekend retreat once a year outside Alicante continued.
As usual, Acem held a weekend retreat in the spring, in Bournemouth. On this occasion, it was announced that Acem UK had its first British assistant instructor.
Acem acquired an apartment to be used as its venue for activities in London. The opening took place in the fall.
Acem UK established its own Facebook page.
Are Holen gave 17 lectures on stress management, personal development, and research on meditation at various universities and educational institutions in India in February, with a total attendance of nearly 1700. This activity opened up for beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation in various institutions in the fall. The number of people who learned Acem Meditation in India increased from 255 in 2009 to 380 in 2010.
A week-long retreat was held in Rishikesh in the fall, as had been done since 2000, and there was regular activity in Delhi, Chennai, Madurai, and Tiruchirappalli. Five meditators in Delhi were trained as assistant instructors.
A week-long retreat was held in Hualien on the East Coast in the fall.
In addition to the Scandinavian countries, beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation were offered this year in Germany, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, France, Taiwan, India, the US, Canada, China, Singapore.
In February, the book Good to know about vegetarian food ( Verdt å vite om vegetarmat ), written in Norwegian by instructor Vibeke Videm, was launched at the Acem House in Oslo for a large audience. The book later received a positive review in sykepleien.no, a website for the organization of Norwegian nurses.
A new blog for Acem in English, themeditationblog.com, was launched in the fall, showcasing relevant news, articles, and interviews.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Vår nye hjerne—om synapser og selvforståelse (Our new brain: On synapses and self understanding)
No. 2: I vanskelig terreng—elleve bøker og ett forfatterskap (In difficult terrain: Eleven books and one author)
No. 3: Å se med bevisstheten—bilder, billedforbud og det billedløse—meditative perspektiver (To see with consciousness. Images, prohibited images, and the imageless: Meditative perspectives)
No. 4: Mindfulness og meditasjon (Mindfulness and meditation)
Acem Taiwan celebrated its 25 anniversary. Are Holen led a weekend retreat in September–October in the mountains outside of Taipei. He was also invited to give lectures about stress reduction from a neuroscientific perspective at several universities and hospitals. Two new assistant instructors and two new moderators completed their training.
The renovation of the Acem House in Oslo continued, and this summer the facade was overhauled. Morten Helsing was responsible for organizing the work.
The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet published negative articles about Acem this summer. The aim appeared to be to create a scandal with claims that, among other things, the leaders were misusing organizational money. Claims of misconduct were unsubstantiated, and the campaign fizzled out.
Acem took part in the Oslo Culture Night (Oslo kulturnatt) this fall with public events. Culture Night is a collaboration between Oslo municipality and public and private institutions, artists, and cultural workers. Acem School of Yoga held an hour of meditative yoga at the Acem House, followed by a lecture about meditation and art by instructor Christopher Grøndahl. In the years that followed, Acem in Oslo continued to take part in the Oslo Culture Night.
At Lundsholm, the oil heater was replaced with a geothermal heat pump in the old main building; the new building from 2003 already had this system. This spring, Atle Wærsted from Copenhagen held an Acem Meditation beginner’s course on the Danish Faroe Islands in the North Sea, with 19 participants. A weekend retreat was offered in the fall; 15 people attended, seven of whom learned to meditate at the retreat.
• Deepening retreat in January
• Two drop-in summer retreats
• Yoga, breath, and meditation summer retreat
• International summer retreat
• International deepening summer retreat
• Summer retreat in German. This was the first time Acem Germany held its annual summer retreat at Halvorsbøle and not in Germany. The purpose was to give Germans who do not speak English fluently an opportunity to experience Acem’s international retreat center Halvorsbøle. The plan was to hold the German summer retreat every other year at Halvorsbøle and in Germany.
• Deepening retreat in November–December
• Three-week deepening retreat in January
• Deepening retreat in January–February
• Two one-week and one two-week deepening summer retreats
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Deepening summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Yoga summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Denmark
• Summer retreat for young meditators
This year, the usual three-week deepening retreat in November–December was moved from Lundsholm to a rented hotel in Cabarete in the Dominican Republic.
Acem Germany got its second assistant instructor.
For the first time, a week-long retreat was held in Spain. It took place in a hotel in Sabadell outside Barcelona in July, and was led by Are Holen. A total of 61 people participated.
In February, Acem Travels held a weeklong retreat in Tamil Nadu in the southern part of India, followed by one week of sightseeing. There were 25 participants, mostly from Europe.
This spring, Are Holen gave several lectures at Indian educational institutions, which were followed by new beginner’s courses in the fall. This year, the number of people who learned Acem Meditation in India increased to nearly 600. One of the beginner’s courses was given by Are Holen in Chennai. It attracted 246 participants.
In addition to the Scandinavian countries, beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation were offered this year in the following countries: Germany, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Taiwan, India, the US, and Canada.
Later this year, the book Meditación Acem—Guía complementaria was published by Dyade Press in Spanish. This was a translation of the English book Acem Meditation: An Introductory Companion, with an additional chapter. From this point on, this book was included as course material for all beginner’s courses in Spain.
Psychology of Silence ( Stillhetens Psykologi ) was issued in a revised Danish edition.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Økokalypse—hva så? (Ecocalypse: So what?)
No. 2: Livshistorier—vi er alle fortellinger (Life stories: We are all stories)
No. 3: Stillhetens bevegelser—om yoga og meditasjon i vår tid (Movements of silence: On yoga and meditation in our times)
No. 4: Krig eller kastrasjon—mannsrollen i forvandling (War or castration: The role of the man in transformation)
Acem International was formally established this year. Members were the preceptors in Norway, who were the most experienced among the initiators, and representatives from Acem Sweden and Denmark. Are Holen was elected as president and Ole Gjems-Onstad as vice president. The responsibilities of Acem International were primarily to publish and approve books and other material on pedagogical topics of Acem Meditation, determine the principles of the teaching, and oversee the training of instructors and initiators.
All the windows of the bedrooms in the main building at Halvorsbøle were replaced in the spring as part of a larger renovation project.
The Acem Student Group (Acem Studentgruppe) in Norway changed its name to Acem Young (Acem Ung) to signify that it was a group for all young practitioners of Acem Meditation between 17 and 35 years of age, whether or not they were students. The name change reflected what had been the group’s composition for some time.
Oslo Culture Night in September was celebrated at the Acem House with a calm night-yoga session and a meeting with three poets.
This year, Acem Radio celebrated its 30th anniversary. Acem Radio in Oslo had been on the air every day throughout this period.
This year, a revised version of the follow-up course M2 in Norwegian was completed. A new album by Bob Dylan, The Tempest, was published. An insert was included in a deluxe limited edition, featuring a picture of the front page of Dyade no. 5, 1979. The issue was entitled Bob Dylan—inn og ut av lykken (Bob Dylan: In and out of happiness). This issue of Dyade sold well in 1979 and had to be reprinted in that period.
At the end of the year, the instructors Christopher Grøndahl and Margareta Hammarlund-Udenaes became initiators.
• Deepening retreat in January
• Two drop-in summer retreats
• Yoga and meditation summer retreat
• International summer retreat
• International deepening summer retreat
• Deepening retreat in November–December
• Three-week deepening retreat in January
• Deepning retreat in February
• Deepening summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Denmark
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Yoga summer retreat
• Deepening summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Summer retreat for young meditators
• Three-week deepening retreat in November–December
A week-long meditation retreat was held in Waldschlösschen in Germany in July, led by Are Holen. Twelve young Acem leaders met at the Acem center in Berlin one weekend in November to discuss Acem-relevant topics and pedagogical themes. They came from Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway.
At the end of December, Acem acquired a venue for activity in Barcelona. The location was very central with good access to public transportation. The venue was dilapidated and in need of complete renovation.
Are Holen gave lectures at several Indian educational institutions in the fall, followed by beginner’s courses later on.
Acem Taiwan’s Facebook page was established.
A weekend retreat was held in the fall outside New York City.
In addition to the Scandinavian countries, beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation were offered this year in the following countries: Germany, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Taiwan, India, the US, Canada, and Singapore.
An Indian edition of Meditative Yoga: Integrating Body, Breath and Mind in black and white was published in October by the well-known Indian publisher Motilal Barnarsidass.
A Chinese translation of the book Acem Meditation: An Introductory Companion ( Jingzuo xinglü 靜坐行旅 ) was published by Shuangyuan wenhua (Dyade Press). This book was from this point on used as course material for the beginner’s courses.
A comic book in Chinese, The Peaceful Pirate on Meditation ( Heping haidao shuo jingzuo 和平海盜說靜坐 ), was published in Taiwan by Shuangyuan wenhua (Dyade Press). The book contained philosophical texts by authors Halvor Eifring and Tsai Chih-chung and was illustrated by Chia-Tzu Huang and Tsai Chih-chung.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Meditative veier—forskjeller og likheter (Meditative paths: Differences and similarities)
No. 2: Med ansikt mot døden (Facing death)
No. 3: Hva skal vi med sex? (What do we need sex for?)
No. 4: Slipp tankene fri—kreativitet og meditasjon (Release your thoughts: Creativity and meditation)
The leadership of Acem Norway changed at the end of the year. Ole Gjems-Onstad had been head of Acem Norway for more than 30 years, and was now replaced by Halvor Eifring, who was accompanied by deputy heads Eva Skaar and Petter Halvorsen in a leadership triumvirate. Ole Gjems-Onstad continued as vice president of Acem International and head of the Economic Committee.
Roy Halvorsen had traveled regularly from Oslo to New York to attempt to establish Acem activity there since 2008. During the first years, the number of participants at courses was small. In 2012, the total number of participants at the beginner’s courses was 13. In the spring of 2013, there were six participants, but in the fall, 44 people signed up for the beginner’s courses in New York. These were distributed among 12 different courses, of which Roy Halvorsen led nine. The other three were led by other Norwegian instructors. Three follow-up courses, M1, were also arranged this year, and New York got its first Acem moderator.
For the first time, the annual communication course at Halvorsbøle offered communication groups in German in addition to English and Scandinavian languages. This continued in the following years.
In order to clarify differences, Øyvind Ellingsen wrote an article about Mindfulness and Acem Meditation (in Norwegian) in Acem Magasinet with the title “Focused or nondirected attention” (Fokusert eller ledig oppmerksomhet). This was later translated into English and Spanish and posted on Acem’s web and Facebook pages. This year, Halvorsbøle had been owned by Acem for ten years and had had 40,000 guest days during this period.
Acem Denmark took part in the culture night in Copenhagen in October for the first time. Merete Lund Hetland lectured on the meditating brain, Eva Brandt on meditation and creativity, Atle Wærsted on guided body meditation, and instructor Elisabeth Heimdal on guided yoga. The event has since been repeated annually with various people guiding body meditation and yoga.
• Deepening retreat in January. The dates were suitable for students, and this became the preferred winter deepening retreat for Acem Young. This retreat also welcomed English-speaking participants and grew into an annual international event.
• Two drop-in summer retreats
• Yoga, breath, and meditation summer retreat
• Two one-week and one two-week international deepening summer retreats
• International summer retreat
• German summer retreat
• Deepening retreat in November–December
• Three-week deepening retreat in January
• Deepening retreat in February
• Three-week deepening retreat in March–April
• Deepening summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Denmark
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Deepening summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Yoga summer retreat
• Summer retreat for young meditators
• Three-week deepening retreat in November–December
A weekend retreat in January near Göttingen drew a total of 72 participants.
In May, Acem Germany established a central committee consisting of the German assistant instructors and the Norwegian leaders most committed to Acem activities in Germany.
In December, Acem Germany held its first national assembly, where the German assistant instructors and moderators were present as well as Norwegian leaders who regularly went to Germany to give courses. Pedagogical and organizational matters were discussed.
The Acem venue in Barcelona underwent a thorough renovation during the winter and spring. It was first used for a long meditation (one and a half hours) in May with 50 participants. From this point on, all courses and meetings in Barcelona were held there.
During the spring, Acem gave beginner’s courses in six different cities.
At the beginning of July, a weeklong meditation retreat was held in Masella in the Pyrenees north of Barcelona in a hotel situated 1600 meters above sea level. In total, 64 people participated.
In August, several large beginner’s courses took place at educational institutions in Tamil Nadu in South India. At Oxford Teacher Training Institute, Tiruchirappalli, the course had 188 participants. Nearly 350 Indians learned Acem Meditation in Tamil Nadu during this month. Earlier,
Are Holen had given lectures on scientific research at these institutions, which is why they had become interested in Acem courses.
Acem Travels held a week-long retreat along the beach in Southern Sri Lanka, followed by a week of sightseeing around the island. This took place in March–April around Easter week. Altogether, 47 people from Europe attended this event. In addition to the Scandinavian countries, beginner’s courses in Acem Meditation were offered this year in the following countries: Germany, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Taiwan, India, the US, Canada, Sri Lanka, and Singapore.
In October, the first book of the project Cultural Histories of Meditation was published by Bloomsbury Academic. The title was Meditation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, edited by Halvor Eifring. One chapter was written by Halvor Eifring, and another by instructor Svend Davanger.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Reisen til verden og deg selv (The voyage to the world and to yourself)
No. 2: Aktualisering i Acem-meditasjon—velsignelse eller forbannelse (Actualization in Acem Meditation: Blessing or curse)
No. 3: Algerie i kryssilden (Algeria in the crossfire)
No. 4: Hvorfor forteller vi? (Why do we tell stories?)
An article on brain research and Acem Meditation entitled “Nondirective Meditation Activates Default Mode Network and Areas Associated with Memory Retrieval and Emotional Processing” was published in the scientific journal Frontiers of Human Neuroscience on February 26. The publication was reported in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten and on the research website forskning.no (forskning means scientific research). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measurements of Acem meditators indicated that a nondirective meditation technique, which permits mind wandering, involves more extensive activation of brain areas associated with episodic memories and emotional processing than does concentrative practice or regular rest. The article was widely quoted on the internet.
His Majesty King Harald V of Norway appointed Acem’s founder Are Holen an Officer of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav for his services to society. This was celebrated with a ceremony on June 10 at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. According to Universitas, the news magazine of Norwegian universities, the background for the appointment was:
• Through his work, Dr. Holen has contributed to the improvement of our understanding of psychological issues and stress management. As a researcher, therapist, and educator he has established follow-up routines and support procedures to reduce the negative after-effects for those who have been through disasters or stressful life events.
• Dr. Holen is a specialist in psychiatry and a professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. He has been a pioneer in experience-based teaching of communication, group dynamics, and cross-disciplinary cooperation in practice, at both a national and international level.
• As a founder of and driving force in Acem, Dr. Holen has established courses in meditation to increase self-understanding and reduce moderate stress ailments. In this context, he has inspired others to donate their time for the public good. In this way, Dr. Holen has contributed to the dissemination of important values such as empathy, insight, commitment, and compassion, both in Norway and abroad.
In the spring, a weekend at Halvorsbøle marked the completed training of six new yoga teachers for the Acem School of Yoga, five from Norway and one from Spain.
During the summer, a comprehensive interior renovation of the Acem House in Oslo was completed, changing the style, colors, and furniture.
For the second time, Acem held a two-week communication course, this time at Halvorsbøle in the latter part of June (the first one took place in 1999). The course was fully booked well in advance, with more than a hundred people attending.
In October, KLP, the largest insurance company in Norway, arranged a full-day seminar about stress management in cooperation with, among others, Acem. Three instructors from Acem gave lectures and instruction at the seminar.
Acem Norway established a new page on Facebook, replacing several local ones.
For the first time, moderators were invited to take part in the annual Christmas gathering for Scandinavian instructors and initiators at Halvorsbøle.
• Deepening retreat in January
• International deepening summer retreat
• Two drop-in summer reteats
• Mindfulness with yoga summer retreat
• International summer retreat
• Deepening retreat in November–December
• Three-week deepening retreat in January
• Deepening retreat in January–February
• Deepening summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Denmark
• Deepening summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Summer retreat for young meditators
• Three-week deepening retreat in November–December
The usual Yoga and Acem Meditation summer retreat was reduced to four days and was arranged at Halvorsbøle in May–June. This was repeated in 2015.
A weekend retreat with 60 participants was held in January–February.
A week-long meditation retreat led by Are Holen was held in July in Bad Meinberg near Bielefeld in Germany.
Acem Spain established a new page on Facebook.
Are Holen led a weekend retreat in March in Veciana outside Barcelona with participants from various places in Spain. A total of 65 people took part in the event.
On March 9 the weekend retreat ended and the official opening of the Acem venue in Barcelona took place, with Are Holen present. More than 90 people attended.
Acem entered into an agreement with a public hospital in San Juan outside Alicante to give extended courses in Acem Meditation at the hospital for employees in the health sector. Each course was to last 20 hours, and the courses would provide points for further education for the participants. The courses became popular, and participant evaluation was very favorable. The upper limit of participants at each course was 30. Three courses were held in the fall. The instructor Jacqueline Robert, medical doctor at the hospital, assistant instructor Margaret Koch, nurse at the hospital, and assistant instructor and social worker Miren Lugarezaresti, all put a great deal of effort into preparing and holding these courses. They were joined by the Norwegian instructor Karen Breen, who had traveled to Spain for many years to hold courses there.
In November, Acem Spain held its first annual national assembly. Those present were the Spanish instructors, assistant instructors, and moderators, together with leaders from Norway who regularly traveled to Spain to hold courses. Organizational and pedagogical topics were discussed. A central committee for Acem Spain was elected.
The President of Acem Taiwan, Alfred Iau-Hoei Chien, university professor of sports, died in May at the age of 76. He was instrumental in establishing Acem Taiwan as an officially recognized association, was president of the organization for nearly 30 years, and was very important in the development of the organization.
A five-day retreat led by Are Holen was held at Huisen Manor with 30 participants from Taiwan.
Two new moderators completed their training.
A beginner’s course was held in Kaohsiung, followed by monthly node meetings (groups of meditators who meet regularly).
Several Norwegian instructors traveled to New York for some days in the course of the year to ensure continued activity with beginner’s courses and follow-up meetings with long meditations and guidance. A total of 64 participants attended a beginner’s course this year. New York now had four moderators. A small weekend retreat in Cabarete in the Dominican Republic intended for meditators from New York was held in October.
For the first time, a beginner’s course was given in Lithuania (in English) by Christopher Grøndahl, with 18 participants. In addition to the Scandinavian countries, beginner’s courses were offered in Germany, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Lithuania, India, Taiwan, and the US.
In January, the second book from the project Cultural Histories of Meditation was published by Hermes Publishing. The title was Hindu, Buddhist and Daoist Meditation—Cultural Histories, edited by Halvor Eifring. One chapter was written by Halvor Eifring and Are Holen.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Flyt og friksjon—meditasjon og skapende prosesser (Flow and friction: Meditation and creative processes)
No. 2: Levende stillhet—styrken i det meditative (Living silence: The strength of meditation)
No. 3: Tankestrømmens tidsalder—sinnets vandring i meditasjon, hjerne og kultur (The age of stream of consciousness: Mind wandering in meditation, the brain, and culture)
No. 4: Enklere, nærmere, dypere—erfaringer med Acem-meditasjon (Easier, closer, deeper: Experiences with Acem Meditation)
Are Holen’s 70th birthday was celebrated with a public seminar at the Acem House in Oslo on September 19, entitled “From crises and catastrophies to mental calmness” (Fra kriser og katastrofer til ro i sinnet). Lectures were given by psychiatrist and assistant professor at the University of Oslo Grete Dyb, psychologist at St. Olav’s hospital in Trondheim Katrine Høyer Holgerson, senior advisor at Red Cross Merete Mihle, and from Acem, Merete Lund Hetland and Øyvind Ellingsen. In the evening, a public reception was held. Dyade no. 2 this year focused on the life history of Are Holen and the various activities and causes to which he had dedicated his life. In the fall, three Acem Forum events were held. The first was at the Acem House in Oslo with Jessica Andrews-Hanna, University of Colorado, USA, one of the world’s foremost experts on the mind’s spontaneous thoughts. The topic was “The stream of thoughts as a resource.” The second event was held at the Acem houses in the Norwegian cities of Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim. The speaker was the award-winning Taiwanese music producer Judy Wu, who spoke about “Sounds of nature, sounds of man.” She was accompanied by the popular Taiwanese singer Hao-en Wu. The topic of the third event was “Generational psychology.” It included the German author Sabine Bode, who has written several books about the German post-war generations, and from Acem, Rolf Brandrud and Turid Berg-Nielsen. This event was held in both Oslo and Trondheim.
A group of instructors and inititators had been working with a new study circle for some time. It was completed at the beginning of the year and was called “The meditation process” (Meditasjonsprosessen).
To mark the completion of the renovation of the Acem House in Oslo, Acem arranged a formal reopening of the building on February 10. The municipal Minister of Health and Social Services Øystein Eriksen Søreide undertook the formal opening on behalf of the Mayor of Oslo Fabian Stang, who had to decline at the last moment due to a surgery. The occasion was celebrated with speeches, music, and snacks.
In March, Acem arranged a Meditative Forum in Oslo, a term not used by Acem since 1975, entitled “How do we meditate, and why?” (Hvordan mediterer vi—og hvorfor?). It was organized in collaboration with the Christian organization Areopagos, an ecumenical organization interested in modern ways of meditating. Introductory speeches were given by psychiatrist Kari Rød, Senior Professor of Theology Notto R. Thelle, Areopagos priest Tore Laugerud, as well as Carl Henrik Grøndahl and instructor Carina Heimdal from Acem.
This spring, Acem also held two Acem Forum events in Oslo, one in February, entitled “Behind the wars in the Middle East” (Bakenfor krigene i Midtøsten), and one in April, entitled “Young identity in transformation: What gives meaning as we approach 2020?” (Ung identitet i brytning—Hva gir mening mot 2020?). At the first event, talks were given by the Vice President of the International PEN-Club author Eugene Schoulgin, the Turkish producer of documentary movies Nefise-Öskal Lorentzen, and her Libian-Syrian-Sudanese colleague Nizam Najjar. At the second event, talks were given by psychologist Per Are Løkke and Christopher Grøndahl from Acem.
Acem had offered stress management courses for companies for many years. The scope of the courses was adapted to the companies’ wishes. Most often, the courses were given at the premises of the company. There were several levels from which to choose. At the first level, the employees attended lectures about stress management and learned some simple stress-reducing exercises, including for example office yoga. At the next level, employees learned Acem Meditation. The companies could also participate in a scientific research program on the effects of Acem Meditation over time with control groups who did not learn the technique. The pilot studies indicated a reduced level of stress for those who practiced the technique compared to colleagues who did not learn to meditate. Yoga classes were also offered to companies. Some of those who participated at the stress management seminars at their company later participated in follow-up activities at Halvorsbøle. Several experienced instructors were involved in the courses for companies. Coordinator was Geir Wærnes, who put a great deal of effort and energy into this project.
At the end of 2015, the Acem School of Yoga had 18 active yoga teachers in Norway, and there were several more who could teach yoga at various occasions when needed. In addition, there were two fully-educated yoga teachers in Sweden, one in Denmark, and one in Spain.
This year, as in 2014, the Christmas gathering for Scandinavian instructors included the moderators.
The newspaper Uppsalatidningen interviewed a group of Acem meditators in Uppsala, Sweden, in February, resulting in an article entitled “They focus on the inner journey” (De fokuserer på den inre resan). 8
• International deepening retreat in January
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Denmark together with Acem Norway
• German summer retreat
• International deepening summer retreat
• International summer retreat
• International deepening summer retreat
• Drop-in summer retreat
• Three-week deepening retreat in January
• Deepening retreat in January–February
• Deepening summer retreat
• Yoga summer retreat
• Summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Deepening summer retreat organized by Acem Sweden
• Yoga and mindfulness summer retreat
• Summer retreat for young meditators
• Sixteen-day advanced deepening retreat in November–December, see the chapter Deepening retreats, p. 273.
A weekend retreat south of Hamburg was held in February, led by Are Holen. Eighty-five participants attended.
This year’s German summer retreat took place at Halvorsbøle in Norway.
At the end of the year, there was one German instructor, three assistant instructors, and 13 moderators.
In the spring, two beginner’s courses were held at the hospital outside Alicante, and in the fall one more was held.
A one-week retreat was held in the Spanish Pyrenees, at a hotel in Boí Taüll Resort situated 1600 meters above sea level in beautiful surroundings. The retreat was led by Are Holen with other leaders from Norway and Spain. The participants were from Spain, and a total of 59 meditators attended. Having the Spanish retreat in Boí Taüll was also a way to get to know the location better, as it had been selected as the venue for the World Retreat scheduled for the summer of 2016, as part of the celebration of Acem’s 50th anniversary. For that event, Acem would rent all six hotels at the resort for practitioners of Acem Meditation from all over the world. In the fall, a beginner’s course was held in a jail for interested inmates. Fifty people participated. Of these, 25 also took part in the follow-up course M1 that was offered in January the following year.
At the end of the year, there were two Spanish instructors, three assistant instructors, nine moderators, and one yoga teacher.
Two moderators completed their training. At the end of the year, there was one English assistant instructor and two moderators.
Are Holen traveled in India and gave lectures about stress management and research in various universities and other educational institutions, including Nehru Memorial College. A substantial report in the newspaper The Hindu appeared afterwards.
A five-year cooperation contract was entered into by Acem India and Centurion University in the state of Odhisa involving teaching meditation to students and staff and doing research on the effects of meditation.
At the end of the year, there were two Indian assistant instructors and one moderator.
A week-long retreat led by Are Holen took place in November. One Taiwanese came to Halvorsbøle and Lundsholm to be trained as a yoga teacher.
At the end of the year, there were two Taiwanese assistant instructors and three moderators. In addition, Taiwanese instructor Joy Lu, who moved to Norway in 2010, continued to travel to Taiwan regularly to give courses in Acem Meditation.
One of the moderators in New York attended the communication course at Halvorsbøle and stayed a week longer in Norway to complete her training as an assistant instructor. In addition, there were three American moderators.
A weekend retreat in Cabarete in the Dominican Republic was held in the fall, intended for meditators from New York.
In Lithuania, the first moderator was trained.
In addition to the Scandinavian countries, beginner’s courses were offered this year in Germany, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Lithuania, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and the US.
The magazine Dyade published the following issues:
No. 1: Ensom eller tosom?—parforholdet som eksistensiell utfordring (Alone or together: The partner relationship as existential challenge)
No. 2: Stillhetens stemme—Are Holen 70 (The voice of silence: On the occasion of Are Holen’s 70th birthday)
No. 3: Flukten fra stillheten—motstand som ressurs i Acem-meditasjon (Escaping silence: Resistance as a resource in Acem Meditation)
No. 4: Jobbe, nave eller gråte?—personlige veivalg i en forvirret tid (Work, depend on social welfare, or cry? Personal choices in a confusing time)
Acem turned 50 on January 27. This was celebrated with an “Acem Meditation Day.” All Acem centers around the world invited meditators to group meditations.
The 50th anniversary was also celebrated with lectures about various aspects of Acem Meditation in a number of Acem centers.
The highlight of the celebration was the World Retreat in July in Boí Taüll in the Spanish Pyrenees. A total of 465 people from all over the world attended. The course language was English with simultaneous translation into German, Spanish, and Chinese, with guidance groups in Scandinavian languages in addition to the languages mentioned above. This one-week retreat included the usual long hours of meditation as well as a varied program with contributions from many countries.
A thoroughly revised version of Stillhetens psykologi, this time in English with the title Psychology of Silence, had been in the works for some time and was published prior to the World Retreat. This was the first English edition of this book.
Dyade no. 4, “Meditasjon for fellesskapet—Acem 50 år” (Meditation for the community: Acem 50 years) focused on many apects of Acem’s activities over the years. The editorial board of Dyade now consisted of the inititators Turid Berg-Nielsen, Rolf Brandrud, Halvor Eifring, and Christopher Grøndahl, and the instructors Svend Davanger, Vilde Drageset Haakensen, Eirik Jensen, and Dag Jenssen. The fourth and final volume in the Cultural Histories of Meditation project was published by University of Hawai’i Press with the title: Asian Traditions of Meditation. It included articles by Are Holen and Halvor Eifring.