By using Skillful Means (SM), you are agreeing to be bound by and follow the most recent version of these Terms of Use (the “Terms”).

By using SM, you (the “User”) signify that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, please do not view, access, contribute to, use, or download content from SM. You must be at least 13 years old to use SM. You must be at least 18 years old to be a Contributor (as defined below).

Risk Disclaimer

USE SM AT YOUR OWN RISK

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANY INFORMATION YOU MAY FIND IN SM MAY BE INACCURATE, MISLEADING, DANGEROUS, OR ILLEGAL.

None of the Contributors, administrators, or anyone else connected with SM in any way whatsoever, can be responsible for your use of the information contained in or linked from this Site.

Please take all steps necessary to ascertain that any information you receive from SM is correct and has been verified. Double-check information with independent sources.

Remember that anyone can post information on SM. Contributors may not be qualified to provide you with complete information or to inform you about adequate safety precautions or steps you can take to prevent injury, bodily damage, or other damages to your person, property or reputation. If you need specific advice (for example, medical, legal, risk management) please seek a professional licensed or knowledgeable in that area.

SM is not uniformly peer reviewed; while users may correct errors or remove erroneous suggestions, they have no legal duty to do so, and thus all information read here is without any implied warranty of fitness for any purpose or use whatsoever.

DO NOT RELY UPON ANY INFORMATION FOUND IN SM WITHOUT INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION.

The Information on SM is not Professional Psychological or Medical Advice

SM DOES NOT PROVIDE PSYCHOLOGICAL OR MEDICAL ADVICE. The information on SM, including text, images, video, and graphics (all such information, collectively, the “Content”), does not constitute medical advice of any kind, and is not intended to be, and should not be, used to diagnose or identify treatment for a medical condition. The Content should never be used in place of the advice of licensed professionals, and your use of SM indicates your agreement not to do so. Nothing on SM should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a professional opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of psychological or medical services. Always seek the advice of your licensed psychotherapist or other healthcare providers with any questions you may have regarding a mental or physical health condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on SM.

SM is intended as an educational resource only. There is no assurance that any statement contained or cited in the Content is true, correct, precise, or up-to-date. Even if a statement made about mental health is accurate, it may not apply to you or your symptoms. If you suspect that you are suffering from a psychological or medical condition, see your licensed providers for advice and diagnosis. If you are affected by any potential mental or physical emergency, call your local emergency service immediately.

SM does not recommend or endorse any method, tool, treatment, institution, product, professional, procedure, test, opinion, or other information that may be mentioned on SM. By using SM, you understand and agree that the Content is written and monitored in a collaborative effort by a large community of people that is not controlled by SM, and that the Content is constantly changing. SM does not validate or otherwise endorse the Content, nor can it guarantee the validity of the credentials of the people contributing to SM. The Content and the use of the Content by you DOES NOT create a doctor-patient relationship between you and any of the contributors to SM. For example, any information regarding dietary supplements has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

SM may contain information that is sexually explicit (e.g., methods for marital sexual problems). If you find this information offensive, you may not want to use this Site.

General Disclaimer

SM MAKES NO GUARANTEE OF VALIDITY

SM is an online open-content collaborative project, a voluntary association of individuals working to develop a common resource of human knowledge. The structure of the project allows anyone with an Internet connection to alter its content. Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information.

That is not to say that you will not find valuable and accurate information in SM. However, SM cannot guarantee the validity of the information found here. The content of any given article may recently have been changed, vandalized or altered by someone whose opinion does not correspond with the state of knowledge in the relevant fields.

No Formal Peer Review

SM is not uniformly peer reviewed; thus all information read here is without any implied warranty of fitness for any purpose or use whatsoever. Even pages that have been received informal peer review may later have been edited inappropriately, just before you view them.

None of the contributors, administrators, or anyone else connected with SM in any way whatsoever can be responsible for the appearance of any inaccurate or libelous information or for your use of the information contained in or linked from these web pages.

SM is not responsible should someone change, edit, modify or remove any information that you may post on SM or any of its associated projects.

Trademarks

Any of the trademarks, service marks, collective marks, design rights or similar rights that are mentioned, used or cited in the articles on SM are the property of their respective owners. Their use here does not imply that you may use them for any other purpose other than for the same or a similar informational use as contemplated by the original authors of these SM articles under the GFDL licensing scheme. SM cannot grant any rights to use any otherwise protected materials. Your use of any such or similar incorporeal property is at your own risk.

Personality Rights

SM may contain material which may portray an identifiable person who is alive or deceased recently. The use of images of living or recently deceased individuals is, in some jurisdictions, restricted by laws pertaining to personality rights, independent from their copyright status. Before using these types of content, please ensure that you have the right to use it under the laws which apply in the circumstances of your intended use. You are solely responsible for ensuring that you do not infringe someone else’s personality rights.

Not Professional Advice

If you need specific advice (for example, psychological, medical, legal, financial, or risk management) please seek a professional who is licensed or knowledgeable in that area.

To Contribute to SM, You Need to Be Accepted as a Contributor

In order to contribute to SM, you must send Rick Hanson (drrh@comcast.net) a brief email describing your background relevant to the method you want to add to SM. If you are approved as a Contributor, he will email you back.

All Contributors have access to the pages created by other Contributors and are able to edit them. To be a Contributor you agree to make edits respectfully and with good intentions. All edits are tracked within the Google Pages software, and abusive, irresponsible, incompetent, contentious, or otherwise problematic edits will lead to a revocation of your status as a Contributor.

Content You Contribute

SM reserves the right to remove any of your Content at any time, without notice and for any reason or no reason, and to terminate any pages containing or contributing Prohibited Content (as defined below). You understand and agree that SM is under no obligation to display, reproduce, or distribute the Content that you post.

Submissions to SM

You agree not to impersonate any other person, or to communicate with other Contributors in a manner which may imply that you are anyone other than yourself.

By submitting Content, you agree that it is is non-confidential, that it does not infringe upon or violate any rights of any party, and that it is not used for the primary purpose of promoting your business. Source references are welcome and highly encouraged.

If you submit any Content to SM, you automatically grant – or warrant that the owner of such content or intellectual property has expressly granted – SM a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide nonexclusive license to use, reproduce, create derivative works from, modify, publish, edit, translate, distribute, perform, and display the Content in any media or medium, or any form, format, or forum now known or hereafter developed. If you wish to keep any information, ideas, concepts or inventions private or proprietary, do not submit them to SM.

User Submissions – Image, Video, Audio files

You agree to post media (like photos, videos or audio) that you have taken yourself or that you have the right to post, and that it does not violate trademark, copyright, privacy or any other rights of any other person.

It is prohibited to post media of any kind that contain Content of the type described in Prohibited Content below or any material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under applicable law or regulations or that otherwise may be in conflict with these Terms.

SM reserves the right to remove any media for any reason, at any time, without prior notice, at our sole discretion.

SM Content

The Content, the SM website, any associated software, and all related intellectual property rights are the exclusive property of the Wellspring institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom (“Wellspring”), and its licensors.

SM’s License to You

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, SM grants free access to its Content, which is licensed to you and the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (CC-BY-SA). The Content may be copied, modified and redistributed so long as the new version grants the same freedoms to others.

If you violate any of these Terms, your permission to use the Content automatically terminates and you must immediately destroy any copies you have made of any portion of the Content.

Links to SM Content

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, SM hereby grants you a restricted, non-exclusive, and revocable license to use hyperlinks or otherwise refer to the Content (collectively, a “Link”), provided that (a) Links may not suggest or imply in any way that SM promotes, sanctions or otherwise approves any Web site, organization, individual, product, service or information; (b) you do not misrepresent the SM Service or your relationship with SM. SM reserves the right to require you to remove any Link at any time in SM’s sole discretion.

Material Breach

In consideration of being allowed to use the Site, you agree that the following actions shall constitute a material breach of these Terms:

Using the Site for any purpose in violation of local, state, national, or international laws;

Posting material that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others or on the privacy or publicity rights of others;

Posting material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, slanderous, or hateful as determined by SM in its sole discretion;

Posting advertisements or solicitations of business;

After receiving a warning, continuing to disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, or posting comments that are not related to the topic being discussed (unless it is clear the discussion is free-form);

Posting chain letters or pyramid schemes;

Impersonating another person;

Distributing viruses or other harmful computer code;

Harvesting or otherwise collecting information about others, including email addresses;

Allowing any other person or entity to use your identification for posting or viewing comments;

Engaging in any other conduct that restricts any other person from using or enjoying SM, or which, in the judgment of SM, exposes SM or Wellspring to any liability or detriment of any type.

SM reserves the right (but is not obligated) to remove Content that is abusive, illegal, or disruptive, or that otherwise fails to conform with these Terms. SM has no liability or responsibility to users of SM, or to any other person or entity, for removal or nonremoval of any Content.

Geographic Disclaimer

Publication of information found in SM may be in violation of the laws of the country or jurisdiction from where you are viewing this information.

SM is stored on Google servers, which are maintained in reference to the protections afforded under local and federal law. Laws in your country or jurisdiction may not protect or allow the same kinds of speech or distribution. SM does not encourage the violation of any laws; and cannot be responsible for any violations of such laws, should you link to this domain or use, reproduce, or republish the information contained herein.

Access to SM may not be legal for some persons or in some countries outside the United States. If you access and use SM from outside of the United States, you do so at your own risk and are solely responsible for obeying the applicable laws and regulations in your location.

Third Party Web Sites

SM may contain links or other references to third party Web sites that are not owned or controlled by SM. SM does not endorse any product, service, or treatment mentioned on SM. SM does not recommend and does not endorse the content on any third-party websites. SM assumes no responsibility for the content or privacy policies of any such Web sites and does not make any representations regarding their content or accuracy. Your use of third-party websites is at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such sites. By using SM, you expressly relieve SM from any and all liability arising from your use of any third-party website.

Prohibited Content on SM

Prohibited Content includes content that: (i) is offensive or promotes racism, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual; (ii) bullies, harasses or advocates stalking, bullying, or harassment of another person; (iii) involves the transmission of “junk mail,” “chain letters,” or unsolicited mass mailing, or “spamming,” (iv) is false or misleading or promotes, endorses or furthers illegal activities or conduct that is abusive, threatening, defamatory or libelous; (v) infringes another person’s content without a license to do so, whether or not the intellectual property is registered (or filed for registration) in any country; (vi) promotes, copies, performs or distributes an illegal or unauthorized copy of another person’s work, whether it is protected by copyright or trade secret law, or not, such as, without limitation, presenting the work of a third party as your own (plagiarism), providing stolen or illegally obtained content, providing pirated computer programs or links to them, providing information to circumvent manufacturer-installed copy-protection devices, or providing pirated music, videos, or movies, or links to such pirated music, videos, or movies; (vii) is involved in the exploitation of persons under the age of eighteen (18) in a sexual or violent manner, or solicits personal information from anyone under eighteen (18); (viii) provides instructional information about illegal activities such as, without limitation, making or buying illegal weapons or substances, violating someone’s privacy, or providing or creating computer viruses and other harmful code; (ix) solicits passwords or personally identifying information for commercial or unlawful purposes from Users; (x) involves commercial activities and/or promotions such as contests, sweepstakes, barter, advertising, or pyramid schemes; (xi) contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, corrupted files, or similar software; (xii) constitutes, promotes, or is used primarily for the purpose of dealing in: counterfeit goods, items subject to embargo, illegal drugs and paraphernalia, stolen products and items used for theft, unlicensed trade or dealing in stocks or securities, professional services regulated by state licensing regimes or non-transferable items; or (xiii) engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Site, or which, in the judgment of SM, exposes or may expose SM, any of its licensors, Members or suppliers, or any visitors to the Site to any liability or detriment of any type.

Violations of these Terms

Any use of SM in violation of these Terms may result in, among other things, termination of your rights to use SM. SM will cooperate with court orders for SM information.

SM has the right (but not the obligation) to review any content and delete or change content that violates this Agreement or which is Prohibited Content, or may otherwise violate the rights, harm, or threaten the safety of any other person, or create liability for SM, as determined by SM in its sole discretion. SM reserves the right (but has no obligation) to investigate and take appropriate action if you violate these Terms, including without limitation removing or modifying Content, terminating your account, reporting you to law enforcement authorities or taking legal action against you.

Copyright Violations

SM will respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with the requirements of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If you have evidence, know, or have a good faith belief that your rights or the rights of a third party have been violated by any SM Content and you want SM to remove such Content, you must provide SM with the following information:

A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;

Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works. Please describe the work, and where possible include a copy or the location (e.g., URL) of an authorized version of the work;

Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringed or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled;

Information reasonably sufficient to permit SM to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and if available, an electronic mail address at which you may be contacted;

A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and

A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

For this notification to be effective, you must provide it to SM’s designated agent at:

Skillful Means Copyright, Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom 25 Mitchell Blvd., Suite 3, San Rafael, CA, 94903.

Release; Indemnification; Disclaimer of Warranties; Limitation of Liabilities and Sole Remedy

Release

As a condition of access to SM, you release SM and its Contributors, administrators, and Wellspring from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature (including but not limited to those arising out of bodily injury or death), known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with your use of any Content, including any incorrect, misleading or inaccurate Content.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold SM and its Contributors, administrators, and Wellspring harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of your use of SM, any content you submit or otherwise make available through SM, your use or distribution of any SM Content, or your violation of these Terms or of any rights of a third party.

Disclaimer of Warranties

When using SM, information will be transmitted over a medium that may be beyond the control and jurisdiction of SM and its suppliers. Accordingly, SM assumes no liability for or relating to the delay, failure, interruption, or corruption of any data or other information transmitted in connection with use of SM.

Use of SM is at your discretion and at your own risk. SM Content is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, and without representation or warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory. SM does not warrant that SM will meet your requirements; that the quality of any content will be acceptable; that the results from the use of SM will be accurate or reliable; or that the site will be available on a regular ongoing basis. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so the above exclusions may not apply to you.

SM DOES NOT WARRANT, ENDORSE, GUARANTEE, OR ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY PRODUCT, SERVICE, INFORMATION OR ADVICE RECEIVED THROUGH, OR OFFERED BY ANY PARTY THROUGH, SM OR ANY LINKS INCLUDED IN SM.

SM make no representations or warranties about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, currentness, or timeliness of SM Content.

Limitation of Liability

IN NO EVENT SHALL SM, ITS CONTRIBUTORS, ADMIMISTRATORS, OR WELLSPRING’S DIRECTORS OR EMPLOYEES OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR PERSONAL INJURY, WRONGFUL DEATH, LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, THAT RESULT FROM YOUR USE, MISUSE OR RELIANCE UPON ANY SM CONTENT, OR DAMAGES RELATED TO OTHER SERVICES, GOODS, INFORMATION OR ADVICE RECEIVED THROUGH SM, WHETHER SUCH CLAIM IS BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF SM, ITS AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES OR ITS LICENSORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY AND TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. SOME STATES OR OTHER JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Sole Remedy

IN ANY EVENT, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR ANY LIABILITY RELATING TO OR ARISING OUT OF SM OR THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM IN WHICH ANY LEGAL OR EQUITABLE ACTION MAY BE BROUGHT, SHALL BE FOR YOU TO DISCONTINUE YOUR USE OF SM.

Termination

You acknowledge and agree that SM may, without notice and for any reason, including but not limited to any violation of these Terms, terminate your access to SM.

Miscellaneous Provisions

You agree that:

these Terms and the SM Privacy Policy will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to its conflict of laws provisions;

all matters regarding to your access to and use of SM and these Terms are governed by U.S. federal law and the laws of the State of California;

you expressly agree that exclusive jurisdiction for any dispute with SM, or in any way relating to your use of the SM Service, resides in the courts located within the county of Marin County, California and you further agree and expressly consent to the exercise of personal jurisdiction in the courts located within the county of Marin County, California in connection with any such dispute including any claim involving SM or its affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, contractors, officers, directors, telecommunication providers, and content providers.

these Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and SM with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersede and replace all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding such subject matter;

the Site shall be deemed a passive Web site that is solely based in California, U.S.A. and that your use thereof does not give rise to personal jurisdiction over SM, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than California;

if any provision of these Terms is deemed invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms, which shall remain in full force and effect; and

no waiver of any provision of these Terms shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such provision or any other provision, and SM’s failure to assert any right or provision under these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

Changes to these Terms or the SM Service

SM may modify these Terms at any time and without notice, so please review them periodically so that you are aware of any such modification. Your continued use of the SM Service will mean you accept those changes.

SM reserves the right to modify or terminate SM, or change or remove any Content at any time and for any or no reason, without notice and with no liability to you.

If you have questions regarding these Terms, please contact SM at michelle@rickhanson.net.