How can we meet and engage with the pain we see in our own lives, in those around us, and in our world?
What can we do to help?
While these are ongoing, living questions, contemplative traditions offer potent methods for cultivating and extending active compassion. In this experiential workshop, you’ll be introduced to tonglen – “sending and taking” – an ancient compassion practice from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that enables practitioners to turn towards difficulty with awareness and lovingkindness, and offer health, well-being, and abundance wherever it is most needed.
This practice transcends time and space, and invites us to connect deeply with our most personal experiences of challenge as the doorways for genuine connection to others. Grounded in the felt experience of radical interconnectedness, tonglen serves as powerful tool for subtle activism in everyday life.
Standard Pricing: $49
Senior Pricing (after June 7th only): $42
Email extendedcampus@naropa.edu to request a senior discount code
Naropa Community Pricing: $40
Naropa staff, faculty, students, and alumnx: please email extendedcampus@naropa.edu to request a discount code
Carla RM Burns, MDiv, is an Instructor in Naropa’s Core College including BA Contemplative psychology courses, and meditation practicums. She serves as faculty for the MA Contemplative Psychotherapy residential retreat program, and for Naropa’s Compassion Initiative, and is the Program Manager for the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education. Her specialties include the integration of corporeal, elemental and spatial knowledge as a means to bring more dimension into our field of awareness; to cultivate the natural- receptive wisdom energy of the body that is inherently connected, wise, and spacious.
Charlotte Z. Rotterdam is a contemplative educator, Buddhist teacher, and meditation instructor. She is the Director of the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education at Naropa University and an Instructor in Naropa’s Core College, World Wisdom Department, and Graduate School of Psychology. She co-developed and teaches Naropa’s Mindful Compassion Training, a secular program to cultivate compassion in personal, professional and societal contexts. She is the Lead Teacher of the Mother Lineage (Magyu Lopön) at Tara Mandala Retreat Center. Charlotte received a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. The mother of two boys, she has published essays on the intersection of spiritual practice and daily life in Lion’s Roar, Buddhadharma, Mandala and Fearless Nest, an anthology.
Don’t miss our upcoming course, Sacred Activism: Social Justice as Spiritual Practice, which will explore how an action-oriented, spirituality-infused approach to anti-racism can foster compassion, radically transform anger, reduce burnout, and holistically integrate social justice into your work, personal, and spiritual life.
For more information on Extended Campus, please email us at extendedcampus@naropa.edu
Academics
Contemplative education brings together the best of Western scholarship and Eastern world wisdom traditions. Therefore, your pursuit of wisdom at Naropa means learning both about academic subjects and about your own place in the world. This innovative approach places Naropa on the cutting edge of the newest and most effective methods of teaching and learning.
Admissions & Aid
If you’re seeking an education that resonates with both personal fulfillment and global impact, Naropa could be your top choice. At Naropa, you will experience a comprehensive curriculum that integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational approaches. Explore how Naropa can fuel your journey of intellectual and spiritual development.
Life at Naropa
Through its incredibly vibrant and welcoming community, “Naropa offers a home for those who aren’t willing to conform to convention—the mystic, the healer, the prophet, the rebel, the artist, the revolutionary, the oddball—those who are incredible contributors to the evolution of society and of our planet.”—Core Associate Professor Zvi Ish-Shalom
The Naropa Difference
How is Naropa different from other universities? At Naropa, a liberal arts education balances rigorous academics with powerful interpersonal skills and self-awareness to educate the whole person. Naropa’s contemplative approach is inspired by Buddhist philosophy and the conviction that we can build a diverse, contemplative, enlightened society when we have transformed education to affirm the basic goodness of every person.
About Naropa
Located in Boulder, Colorado, Naropa University is a Buddhist-inspired, nonsectarian liberal arts university that is recognized as the birthplace of the mindfulness movement. Naropa offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs that emphasize professional and personal growth, intellectual development, and cultivating compassion.
Due to adverse weather conditions, all Naropa campuses will be closed Friday, March 15, 2024. All classes that require a physical presence on campus will be canceled. All online and low-residency programs are to meet as scheduled.
Based on the current weather forecast, the Healing with the Ancestors Talk & Breeze of Simplicity program scheduled for Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday will be held as planned.
Staff that do not work remotely or are scheduled to work on campus, can work remotely. Staff that routinely work remotely are expected to continue to do so.
As a reminder, notifications will be sent by e-mail and the LiveSafe app.
Regardless of Naropa University’s decision, if you ever believe the weather conditions are unsafe, please contact your supervisor and professors. Naropa University trusts you to make thoughtful and wise decisions based on the conditions and situation in which you find yourself in.
