Future Tense with Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary and Samer Ghadry

Do you feel unequal to the challenges of the global pandemic, political polarization, war in Europe, and catastrophic climate change? You are not alone. Anxiety is on the rise, and many of us feel overwhelmed by our fears for the future. To cope, we believe we have to attack anxiety like we do any life-threatening disease—prevent it, avoid it, and stamp it out at all costs.

In this two-part session Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary argues for the radical idea that anxiety is not the enemy—it is our ally. In this special program celebrating her forthcoming new book, Future Tense: Why Anxiety Is Good for You, she explains that when we tap into our anxiety instead of attacking it, we realize that human anxiety evolved to not only be protective, but to build our creative capacity to be productive. Anxiety achieves this by making us into time travelers, propelling us into future thinking, where we are smarter, more focused, and more hopeful in the face of challenge.

This forty-minute program is followed by an anxiety-reducing sound bath by musician and sound healing practitioner Samer Ghadry. Both Dr. Dennis-Tiwary and Samer Ghadry were advisors on the Rubin’s Mandala Lab.

Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good for You, available at the Shop for $26.99 / $ 24.29 Members also features Dr. Dennis-Tiwary’s work on the Rubin Museum 2018 installation of A Monument to the Anxious and Hopeful by Candy Chang and James A. Reeves.

About the Speakers

Tracy A. Dennis-Tiwary, PhD, is an emotion scientist, Director of the Emotion Regulation Lab, and professor in the Psychology Department at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Future Tense (published May 3, 2022) is her first book. As Founder and CSO of Wise Therapeutics, she translates neuroscience and cognitive therapy techniques into gamified, clinically validated digital therapeutics for mental health. Her work in mindfulness-based stress reduction in at-risk youth is the topic of the documentary film Changing Minds at Concord High, a film first shown at the Rubin in 2013. Dr. Dennis-Tiwary has appeared on stage at the Rubin for six previous Brainwave sessions: with Congressman Tim Ryan, the astronaut Scott Parazynski, martial artist Shi Yan Ming, mindfulness entrepreneur Rohan Gunatillake, artists Candy Chang and James A. Reeves, and former Texas Senator Wendy Davis. She writes for Psychology Today, and has been featured throughout the media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, ABC, CBS, CNN, NPR, The Today Show, and Bloomberg Television.

Samer Ghadry is a Brooklyn-based musician and sound healing practitioner with over 26 years experience. He combines a multicultural upbringing, more than 20 years of world/improvisational music study and performance, and an array of droning and over-toning instruments to create immersive listening environments. Ghadry was a consultant on the Rubin’s Mandala Lab and is quoted in the New York Times saying, “It holds within it both the wrathful and the peaceful aspects of healing. It is like a sonic manifestation of inner awakening.”

Lead support for the Rubin Museum is provided by The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Bob and Lois Baylis, Barbara Bowman, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, Noah P. Dorsky, Fred Eychaner, Christopher J. Fussner, Agnes Gund, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global, Henry Luce Foundation, The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, The Mellon Foundation, Matt and Ann Nimetz, Rasika and Girish Reddy, Shelley and Donald Rubin, Tiger Baron Foundation, and Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation. Public funds are provided by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

General operating support of the Rubin Museum of Art is provided by John and Daphne Cunningham, Anne E. Delaney, Dalio Philanthropies, the Estate of Lisina M. Hoch, Andres Mata, Dan Gimbel of NEPC, Inc., The Prospect Hill Foundation, Basha Rubin and Scott Grinsell, Linda Schejola, Eileen Caulfield Schwab, Tong-Tong Zhu and Jianing Liu, with generous donations from the Museum’s Board of Trustees, individual donors and members, and corporate and foundation supporters. Public funds are provided by New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.