Mindful U at Naropa University
Thoughts and Instruction on Mindfulness in Higher Education
About the show
As the birthplace of the mindfulness movement in the United States, Naropa University has a unique perspective when it comes to higher education in the West. Founded in 1974 by renowned Tibetan Buddhist scholar and lineage holder Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Naropa was intended to be a place where students could study Eastern and Western religions, writing, psychology, science, and the arts, while also receiving contemplative and meditation training.
Forty-three years later, Naropa is a leader in ‘contemplative education’, a pedagogical approach that blends rigorous academics, contemplative practice, and experiential learning. Naropa President Chuck Lief explains, “Mindfulness here is not a class. Mindfulness is basically the underpinning of what we do in all of our classes. That said, the flavor or the color of mindfulness from class to class is really completely up to the individual faculty member to work on—on their own. So, what happens in a poetry class is going to look very different from what happens in a research psychology class. But, one way or another the contemplative practices are brought into the mix.”
This podcast is for those with an interest in mindfulness and a curiosity about its place in both higher education and the world at large. Hosted by Naropa alumnus and Multimedia Manager David DeVine, episodes feature Naropa faculty, alumni, and special guests on a wide variety of topics including compassion, permaculture, social justice, herbal healing, and green architecture—to name a few. Listen to explore the transformative possibilities of mindfulness, both in the classroom and beyond!
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Episodes
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10. Jeffery Pethybridge: Writing, Literature, and Contemplative Approach
January 16th, 2018 | 29 mins 52 secs
There's a real diversity of tactics about how to integrate contemplative practices into the study of writing and the study of literature and the creation of those ways of being. This is about what it means to approach writing through a contemplative way. One of the great joys about teaching here at Naropa is the openness of students to experiment. The real readiness at which they're willing to implicate their person and their body and their spirit. That approach to the whole person in the classroom is really such a gift to work with as a - as a teacher and a peer and a colleague and a fellow and a researcher.
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09. Richard Brown: Contemplative Teaching
January 2nd, 2018 | 31 mins 12 secs
compassion, contemplative education, mindful students, mindful teaching, teaching
At Naropa, the notion of contemplative education is one of drawing out the full richness of the student. In this episode of "Mindful U," Professor Richard C. Brown, core faculty in the Contemplative Education grogram, discusses what "contemplative teaching" is, and gives an example of techniques that work well for integrating it into ordinary classroom situations.
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08. Stephen Polk: A City By and For the People
December 19th, 2017 | 25 mins 11 secs
city planning, permaculture, safety net, systems theory
How might the city look differently if you were given more power to shape the contours of the cityscape, or to shape the available institutional fabric? How could our systems be organized differently politically? How could our systems be organized differently economically? What might a different economic system look like? And how could that economic system provide more material security, freedom, and more?
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07. Travis Cox: Sustainability is Ecopsychology is Sustainability
December 5th, 2017 | 28 mins 48 secs
ecopsychology, environmentalism, green living, sustainability
Ecopsychology is a field whose goal is to bridge our cultures' long standing historical gulf between the psychological and the ecological to see the needs of the planet and the person as a continuum. Transpersonal ecopsychology is the evolving exploration expression and embodied practice of the inter-dependence of humans in the more than human world, which tends towards to the health balance and optimal well being of all. A change in our internal landscapes might change our relationships with the land in a way that includes extending social ethics to the land and an examination of our loyalties, affections, and convictions.
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06. Phillip Stanley: The Relationships Between Sense Perceptions, Concepts, and Emotions.
November 21st, 2017 | 29 mins 11 secs
epistemology, experience, perception, philosophy, senses
Dr. Phillip Stanley, PhD, speaks about one of his favorite class topics: the relationship between sense perceptions, concepts and emotions. Such an exploration leads to surprising insights that leave students often dumbfounded. We think we know what sense perceptions are–concepts, and so forth–but if you start looking into it it can be quite surprising.
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05. Brigitte Mars: Herbal Health and Healing
November 7th, 2017 | 27 mins 25 secs
addiction, edible, herbal, herbs, medicinal
Naropa University professor Brigitte Mars leads students and the overall community in understanding the value of herbs and plants to the body, the mind, and more. Today's episode focuses on Brigitte's work with Naropa students.
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04. Scott Rodwin: Green Building 101
October 24th, 2017 | 32 mins 23 secs
environmental science, environmental studies, green architecture, green building, sustainability
Scott Rodwin, Naropa University faculty teaching Building Design in the Environmental Department, will be talking about Green Building 101.
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03. Jeanine Canty: Environmental Justice
October 17th, 2017 | 30 mins 21 secs
colonization, ecopsychology, environment, oppression
‘Oppressions of People and Oppressions of the Earth Go Hand and Hand’. Naropa Professor Jeanine Canty explains the link between social and ecological injustice and how throughout human history, the oppression of people of color has been inseparable from the oppression of the natural world.
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02. Judith Simmer-Brown: The Science and Practice of Compassion
October 11th, 2017 | 25 mins 58 secs
buddhism, compassion, contemplative science, judith simmer-brown
Looking at the ‘new’ science of compassion allows us to focus on what is right about human beings and understand how to cultivate kindness through exercises like compassion training. Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown also gives an example of a compassion training practice and shares a brief history of the mindfulness/compassion movement in the West.
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01. Naropa President Chuck Lief: Welcome & Social Innovation
October 4th, 2017 | 33 mins 6 secs
naropa university, social entrepreneurship, social innovation, social justice
Lief discusses his various roles at Naropa since its founding, and explains what makes Naropa University unique. He then gives an overview of the course he teaches at Naropa as a part of the Peace Studies undergraduate program, Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship.