Mindful U at Naropa University

110. Art Therapy: Healing the Inner Landscape

July 22nd, 2025  |  1 hr 4 mins

art, art therapy, contemplative, contemplative education, healing, naropa, transpersonal, transpersonal art therapy

In this episode, Michael Franklin, PhD—author, professor, and former chair of Naropa University's graduate Transpersonal Art Therapy program—joins us to explore art as a transformative path for healing the soul.

Franklin invites us into the contemplative language of art—through mediums like clay, paint, and film—and how these move us beyond just self-expression and into uncovering deeper layers of ourselves and our potential. Drawing from his journey into transpersonal art therapy, he explains why art may be the most precise language for emotion, and how fluency in creative practice helps us stay present with our own discomfort so we can more compassionately accompany others through theirs in the practice of Art Therapy. 

101. Midlife Emergence: Free Your Inner Fire

November 9th, 2023  |  54 mins 39 secs

art, art therapy, healing, mental health, midlife, midlife crisis, midlife emergence, midlife transition, transpersonal counseling

Naropa Alumnx, Jen Berlingo, MA, LPC, ATR shares about the tipping point in her career from corporate world to a master's in transpersonal counseling and art therapy and how that allowed her real passions to lead her life. She 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—all detailed in her new book Midlife Emergence: Free Your Inner Fire.

97. DJ CAVEM: The Cross-Pollination of Art and Sustainability

May 26th, 2023  |  56 mins 36 secs

art, climate, eco, eco justice, ecology, food justice, hip hop, nature, organic

DJ CAVEM shares about the important cross-pollination of art and sustainability, and how food justice and ecological responsibility translate into equity for all.

96. Barbara Bash: Heaven, Earth and Humanity—What Calligraphy Can Teach Us About Each Moment

May 10th, 2023  |  58 mins 40 secs

art, big brush stroke, buddhist studies, calligraphy, contemplative art, integration, meditation, naropa, naropa university

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 discusses the three primary principles of contemplative art: Heaven, Earth, and Humanity and how these become gateways that attune you to the aliveness of the moment. After the episode, find more on BarbaraBash.com.

65. Sue Wallingford: Healing Generational Wounds Through Art Therapy

March 18th, 2019  |  42 mins 48 secs

art, art therapy, college, education, healing, higher education, khmer rouge, naropa, naropa university, psychology, sue wallingford, therapy, university

"Creativity is inherent in us as human beings. I think that we've, in some ways, lost the connection and the right to have our own creativity and our own artistry. For me, just touching into that in of itself is healing. It also takes you into a different part of your brain. It accesses different parts of your psyche and your spirituality and your soul in a way that maybe verbal therapies don't quite touch. And so, it's a deeper more integrated avenue dealing with you know whatever it is that you're working with."

25. Paul Bassis: The Arise Movement

May 7th, 2018  |  30 mins 36 secs

arise, art, mindful, music festival

"Da Vinci said "...motion is life." What better way to move than to some music cranking and to lift the spirit? There is something coded in our
DNA - something really ancient about our need to be tribal, our need as humans to come together with other humans, and music calls us all. Music is that beat, that rhythm that we feel in our hearts when our hearts are beating together in that same groove. There's something going on there that we all long for. Something that we need that we don't find in many other places in our modern society." - Paul Bassis, Arise Co-Founder Find out more at http://arisefestival.com/.