Mindful U at Naropa University

111. The Power of the Body: A Look at Somatic Counseling and Dance/Movement Therapy

November 20th, 2025  |  48 mins 56 secs

counseling, dance therapy, healing, mental health, movement therapy, naropa, somatic, somatic counseling, somatic therapy, transpersonal

In this episode, Heather Sutton, MA, LPC—somatic counselor, Dance/Movement Therapist, and chair of Naropa’s Somatic Counseling program—joins us to explore the healing intelligence of the body through somatic therapy and dance/movement counseling.

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. 

109. The Journey of a Poet

May 22nd, 2025  |  56 mins 51 secs

ecopoetics, naropa, naropa university, poet, poetry, summer writing program, writing

Born in California on Walt Whitman’s birthday, Eleni Sikelianos is a poet, writer, and "a master of mixing genres." She grew up in earshot of the ocean, in small coastal towns near Santa Barbara, and has since lived in San Francisco, New York, Paris, Athens (Greece), Boulder (Colorado), and Providence. Deeply engaged with ecopoetics, her work takes up urgent concerns of environmental precarity and ancestral lineages.

108. The Path and Craft of Fiction Writing

May 1st, 2025  |  53 mins 2 secs

author, brown university, fiction, naropa, poetry, storytelling, summer writing program

Laird Hunt—author, professor at Brown University, alumnx of Naropa’s MFA Creative Writing program, Naropa Summer Writing Program faculty—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.

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.

95. Valeria McCarroll, PhD: Somadelics, Pursuing Life with Psychedelic Support & Intentional Integration

February 27th, 2023  |  49 mins 5 secs

buddhist studies, integration, meditation, naropa, naropa university, phenomena, psychedelic assisted therapy, psychedelic medicine, psychedelics, somatic psychology, therapy, transpersonal psychology, trauma healing

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.

94. Dr. Jennifer Bacon: Sacred Activism and Educating the Whole Child

February 13th, 2023  |  45 mins 3 secs

activism, anti-racism, equality, mindful, naropa

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.

89. Jordan Quaglia: The Science of Mindfulness Training

August 29th, 2022  |  58 mins 25 secs

cognitive, mind, mindfulness, naropa, psychology

How do you really know if mindfulness is improving your mind? Jordan Quaglia, PhD, Director of Naropa’s Cognitive and Affective Science Lab, answers this and more on the science of the human psyche in this episode.

80. Anne Lamott and Neal Allen: Conversation for Shapes of Truth: Discover God Inside of You

July 29th, 2021  |  57 mins 9 secs

buddhism, buddhism lessons, contemplative, contemplative literature, divine connection, divinity, education, gender, healing journey, higher education, illusion, naropa, naropa university, patriarchy, schoalrs, self-help books, spiritual authors, spiritual literation, understanding truth

In this special evening event, hosted on June 3, 2021, by Naropa Extended Campus, spiritual coach and writer Neal Allen is joined in conversation by his wife, best-selling author Anne Lamott. Allen’s new book, Shapes of Truth: Discover God Inside You, provides a contemplative method for discovering one’s inner nature that is influenced by Eastern traditions, especially Sufism and Buddhism, as well as contemporary psychodynamics. Lamott’s best-selling spirituality books often explore a personal Christianity that is removed from the currently popular doctrinal evangelism. Together they discuss their collaborative writing life, practical approaches to spiritual practice, freedom from suffering, and much more.

79. Anthony Gallucci: Re-establishing Masculinity

February 17th, 2020  |  41 mins 25 secs

cisgender, contemplative, education, gender, higher education, masculine, masculinity, mindfulness, misogynistic, misogyny, naropa, naropa university, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, university

"There's gender identity, which isn't actually a problem. It's when it's forced into a limited paradigm or spectrum it can be an issue or when it's forced into a hierarchy. I see us eventually eliminating the hierarchy within these systems of identity and becoming more for lack of a better term, more merit based in our assessment of people's qualities. The re-establishing masculinity group believes that at Naropa to be foresighted and to support these movements we need to begin to get out of the way sort of speak and actually become allies to the anti-misogynistic movements that are occurring in our world. And to do that we ought to be -- we being people whom identify as masculine ought to be not disempowered to engage in that work. We ought to be empowered in our opinion to engage in that work. And the offering that's available of how masculinity is defined and actualized too often is non virtuous and not empowering."