Mindful U at Naropa University

New MindfulU Podcast episode: The Journey of a Poet with poet, Naropa Summer Writing Program faculty, and Brown University professor Eleni Sikelianos. In this episode, Eleni shares the unconventional path that led her to a life of poetry—from hitchhiking around the world to synchronistic events that brought her to Naropa for an MFA. She reflects on how her writing has transformed over the years, the beauty and importance of ecopoetics, the practice of deep listening, her thoughts on AI, and the many unexpected places she draws inspiration from. Special Guest: Eleni Sikelianos.

Laird is an alumnx of Naropa’s MFA Creative Writing program, former Naropa core faculty and Summer Writing Program faculty for 15 years, author of 9 novels, and current professor of writing at Brown University. In this episode, he takes us on the journey of finding his writing voice, the experiences that allowed him to become a published author and teacher, and what he believes about what it takes to make it as a writer. Special Guest: Laird Hunt.

A new podcast episode is out: A Look at Career & Life. Curious what Career & Life Services at Naropa has to offer you as a student or alumnx? Jessica DelCastillo, Senior Director of Academic Advising and Career & Life Development, and Danielle Swaser, Associate Director of Career & Life Development, sat down with MindfulU podcast host, David Devine, to share what career & life support looks like and what they offer—from interviewing and negotiations skills to strengths assessments, career workshops, and career change exploration. This episode helps you understand what’s available to you as student, future student, or alumnx looking for support in developing an aligned career. Special Guests: Danielle Swaser and Jessica DelCastillo.

Did you know that translating poetry from one language to another is an art unto itself? In our latest episode of Mindful U podcast author, translator, and veteran, Bill Porter, who goes by the pen name Red Pine, takes us through the process of finding the true heart of poem that’s hidden beneath words. Hear his journey of how he began translating thousand-year old Chinese poetry and Buddhist and Taoist texts, and how that has shone a light on the nature of language itself. As a translator, he sees language as an experience that cannot be replicated and perfectly transformed from one into another, but when we dance with the rhythm that’s behind words themselves, and immerse ourselves in the world view of another we can find the true heart and meaning of an author. Special Guest: Bill Porter.

Mitchie Takeuchi is the writer and producer of the "The Vow From Hiroshima" a film about an atomic bomb survivor in Hiroshima who has dedicated her life to nuclear disarmament and activism. Mitchie is also a descendant of survivors of the atomic bomb and the film follows their friendship and mission to abolish nuclear weapons worldwide. On this episode, Mitchie shares about her life and work, how this film came together, and the impact she hopes it will have on nuclear guardianship and more. “Nuclear weapons and humanity can’t coexist” Special Guest: Mitchie Takeuchi .

Reggie Hubbard is a yogi, political campaigner and activist, speaker, and meditation instructor. On this episode he speaks to working with grief and how to heal, he tells his story of how he aligned his professional and spiritual life into an integrated path of purpose, and he explains why he believes mindfulness is essential to political activism. Special Guest: Reggie Hubbard.

Artist, author, and leadership development trainer, Rosi Greenberg, breaks down the concept of the inner critic and redefines imposter syndrome. Our inner critic isn’t going anywhere, but it can become an ally when we come into relationship with the wisdom that underlies it. She also examines imposter syndrome as something that is often a product of systems of oppression and in recognizing this, how can we look at systems change while also applying compassion to ourselves and our current experience. Special Guest: Rosi Greenberg.

Hear from Harmony Kwiker on the magic that is gestalt therapy. Harmony is a visiting professor of Naropa’s master's program in Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling. She shares about how the gestalt therapy model has helped her bridge her spiritual path with a practical way to help others and provides a framework to treat patients as equals who are empowered in their own healing journey to come into contact with the deepest parts of themselves. Special Guest: Harmony Kwiker.

Our latest podcast with Jen Berlingo, MA, LPC, ATR is out today! Jen is a Naropa Alumnx of the MA Transpersonal Therapy program, a practicing coach, licensed therapist and author of her new book Midlife Emergence: Free Your Inner Fire. In this episode you’ll hear about her Naropa experience and how getting a degree in counseling served her true calling of art, therapy and coaching after leaving the corporate world. She also shares her journey of coming out as queer in midlife and what it looked like to alchemize her midlife transition into a Midlife Emergence of true authentic living. Special Guest: Jen Berlingo .

Ali Smith, Atman Smith, and Andres Gonzalez are inspiring examples of what it looks like to build a successful non-profit that utilizes yoga and mindfulness to empower communities. They are the founders of The Holistic Life Foundation, a Baltimore-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to nurturing the wellness of underserved communities—whether that’s in schools, detention centers, drug treatment centers, mental illness facilities, recreation centers, group homes, colleges, senior centers, and more. HLF is run by BiPOC and demonstrates a deep commitment to learning, community, and stewardship of the environment. In this episode, they talk about the programs they run, the inspiration that fuels them, and their new book, Let Your Light Shine, that goes into their personal practices that led them to this work and inspires their own lives. Check out this episode to get inspired about the possibilities that mindfulness and socially engaged entrepreneurship have in store for our world. Special Guests: Ali Smith, Andres Gonzalez, and Atman Smith.

In this episode we’re diving into the world of creative entrepreneurship with Nova Han. Nova is the Creative Director for Electric Forest Festival, String Cheese Incident, and much much more. She discusses how she got started in the space, what her work looks to today, and how her creative vision keeps evolving. Check out this episode to hear an inspiring conversation of what it looks like to follow your passions and gifts, even as you’re creating it as you go. Special Guest: Nova Han.

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Stephanie Yuhas, the chair of both Eco Psychology MA program and the environmental studies BA program at Naropa University. Dr. Yuhas discusses the topics of climate grief, eco anxiety, and how to mobilize and ease these states into helpful action for our planet. She also talks about the various career paths available to students studying Ecopscyhcology and Environmental Studies and why these are needed in our world going forward. Check out this episode to hear a rich conversation on climate, ecology, and psychology! Special Guest: Stephanie Yuhas.

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Ietef aka “DJ CAVEM”, international eco-hip hop artist, chef, organic gardener, and food justice advocate. DJ CAVEM shares about the important cross pollination of art and sustainability, and how food justice and ecological responsibility translate into equity for all. He also talks about celebrating companies that go green and encouraging brands that listen when they’re called out, energizing our youth to be in contact with plants and soil, and building brave spaces in our communities that address the many inequities of modern society. Check out this episode for an inspiring talk on the impact of art on our relationship to food, climate, justice, and nature! Special Guest: DJ Cavem.

We are happy to have Spring 2023 Lenz Distinguished Lecturer Barbara Bash join us to discuss her creative journey as a calligraphic artist. In this episode, she discusses everything from Western calligraphy's precision to Big Brushstroke calligraphy's spontaneity and what unites them. She also talks about the three primary principles of contemplative art: Heaven, Earth, and Humanity and how these become gateways that attune you into the aliveness of the moment. Check out this episode to hear this rich conversation! Bash's visit to Naropa was sponsored by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism, and organization that promotes the benefits of Zen Buddhism, meditation, yoga, and related Buddhist practices in a manner complementary to modern American society. By developing and strengthening the emerging community of American Buddhist organizations, the Foundation seeks to give birth to an American society that reflects the universal Buddhist values of wisdom, compassion, mindfulness. The annual Lenz Foundation Distinguished Guest Lecturer Program in Buddhist Studies and American Culture and Values promotes diversity of thought and practice at Naropa by inviting distinguished guest lecturers from communities, traditions and scholarship related to Buddhism in America to supplement existing university expertise. Past Lenz Foundation Distinguished Lecturers at Naropa University have included Sharon Salzberg, Meredith Monk, Gary Snyder, and Joanna Macy. Special Guest: Barbara Bash.

Valeria McCarroll, PhD, joins us to discuss Somadelics, Pursuing Life with Psychedelic Support & Intentional Integration in this thought-provoking episode. Also discussed is being in 'right relationship' with the medicine, trauma responses, honoring the medicine's lineage, and transformational justice. After the episode, find more on ValeriaMcCarroll.com and Somadelics.com. "I am deeply curious about, you know, there’s now studies that are emerging, or that have been emerging around using psychedelics to heal racial trauma and using psychedelics to address the impact of injustice in our society. I am particularly curious about because I like taking these frameworks and bringing them inside, what would it be to — to take principles and understandings of restorative justice and — and transformative justice and scaffold bodies of work so that people can do that work internally so that they can transform the parts of themselves that oppress and have been oppressed into right relationships so we can be in right relationship inside ourselves? Because I think that’s really, you know, if we sort of look at all of what’s happening in the world is the play of consciousness coming to know itself, we’re just projecting our own undigested stuff around power out there. And so if we can do that work internally, then maybe we can do that with other people in a good way." - Valeria McCarroll "Somadelics is a contemporary path of spiritual awakening, a weaving that is inspired and informed by the traditions of classical nondual Tantra, modern psychedelic medicine, and somatic psychology. Somadelics synthesizes luminous practices for awakening radiant embodiment." -ValeriaMcCarroll.com Special Guest: Valeria McCarroll.

Dr. Jennifer Bacon is a strong proponent of taking action in activism. That is why she created the course "Sacred Activism" at Naropa - to empower a community to make strides in equality, anti-racism, and social justice. Her children's book, I Am an Antiracist Superhero! will be published by Bala Kids in 2023. Pre-order her book HERE (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/729592/i-am-an-antiracist-superhero-by-jennifer-nicole-bacon-illustrated-by-leticia-moreno/) Special Guest: Dr. Jennifer Bacon.

SHE'S BACK! Ladies, theydies, and gentlemen - tune in for the uplifting magic that is Jaguar Womban! Those who got to witness her on Naropa's campus already know. And those who haven't can feel her healing aura through this episode. Jaguar is a multi-dimensional healing artist, medicine woman, a visionary Mother of the womb nation. She also works with herbs, ancestral channeling, poetry and ceremonial plant medicine. She flew from Oaxaca, Mexico to meet us in Boulder, CO as the Honored Artist in Residence Keynote for our 2022 Naropa Community Practice Day. We welcome her back to her alma mater and also the Mindful U podcast! Her message today "Words Do Not Teach" is a part of her work in the "conjuring the language of the liminal spaces" of energy healing. Tune in to hear more on her journey to the Womb Nation Mother she has become. **Instagram - @jaguarwomban (https://www.instagram.com/jaguarwomban/?hl=en) Jaguar's Linktree (https://linktr.ee/Jaguarwomban) Cover Photo by Daniel N. Johnson Find Daniel's work on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/danieljohnsonis/?hl=en)** Special Guest: Jaguar Womban.

Today, our beloved professor of the Religious Studies Program and the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Andrew Schelling, joins us to discuss language, the page as a performance, and the bravery to pursue writing as a spiritual practice and state of mind. Andrew's work involves around 20 odd books of writings and edits along with being a translator in Sanskrit. He has taught at Naropa for over 30 years. Big Quotes: “Where does breath come from? And then how do you record that on the page? How do you work with line breaks? How do you work with punctuation, stanza breaks, so that you can capture on the page? You know, that’s why I say the page is a performance.” “With a creative art, you can say there’s a goal, which is becoming an accomplished writer, or musician or whatever, or generating great work, but you can’t see it until you’re there. It’s a whole different kind of world.” Tune into this episode to hear this rich discussion on developing writing as a spiritual practice and state of mind. Special Guest: Andrew Schelling.

Netanel Miles-Yepez is a Sufi Pir (Sufi spiritual guide), Doctor of Divinity, and World Wisdom’s Professor at Naropa. He is also an artist, an author, a religious scholar, a spiritual teacher and a Co-Founder of The Heart Fire Festival. His focuses and studies are with Sufiism. In this episode, we hear him speak about Sufiism, developing a deeper understanding of religion, and what connecting to his own religion did to assist his soul path. Special Guest: Netanel Miles-Yepez.

The 14th Dalai Lama's wisdom is largely accessible to the English-speaking world because of today’s honorary guest. In this episode, we hear Thupten Jinpa speak fondly of his monk-hood as a compassionate Tibetan child, the divine alignment that cast him as the principal English translator to the Dalai Lama, and his Holistic appreciation for the contemplative model of education exemplified by schools like Naropa. Please join us as we welcome our inspiring friend into our hearts and minds. Please share this episode with a compassionate friend of yours and subscribe to the Mindful U Podcast for more educational conversations like this. Wisdom & Traditions Department of Naropa University (https://www.naropa.edu/academics/graduate-academics/wisdom-traditions-department/) The Institute of Tibetan Classics - Founded By Thupten Jinpa (https://tibetanclassics.org/) The Frederick Lenz Foundation (https://fredericklenzfoundation.org/) "I understand the word contemplative, as a way of bringing an approach that emphasizes self awareness, paying attention, and also bringing conscious intention into what you do. And tempered with, you know, important fundamental human values that we share. And if we broadly mean this by the word contemplative, then clearly, this is something that needs to be, you know, brought into any education system across the world. Because, even though you may speak different languages, may live in different parts of the world. But when it comes to fundamental human reality, we are all sharing this one small planet, which is now facing existential threat from climate crisis, as well as, you know, the pressures of globalization, putting on all of us to really find a way to live where peaceful coexistence based on mutual respect and understanding becomes an important part of our challenge, important part of the requirement, if we want to save the world, you know. So, in all of these, some element of contemplative education has to be necessary." -Thupten Jinpa Langri, Mindful U Podcast Special Guest: Thupten Jinpa Langri.