Naropa University Announces Separation of Center for Psychedelic Studies
Memoru Center for Visionary Healing Arts Will Exist Separately From the School To Expand Services and Broaden Its Mission
BOULDER, COLORADO—December 13, 2024 –Naropa University (Naropa), the birthplace of the modern mindfulness movement and one of the nation’s only higher education institutions grounded in a contemplative teaching approach, today announced the separation and renaming of the Naropa Center for Psychedelic Studies (NCPS) from the university. The newly independent venture, the Memoru Center for Visionary Healing Arts, is a collaboration between the team who founded NCPS and internationally recognized Boulder-based therapists and psychedelic researchers Marcela Ot’alora, Bruce Poulter and Sara Gael Beauregard.
Memoru will feature training and research institutes with plans to open one or more clinics. The word memoru comes from Esperanto, a universal language meant to unite all people. The meaning of memoru is “to remember,” which has important significance for people working with traumatic events. Remembrance and the impact of remembering is greatly affected by the process of healing. The mission of Memoru is to create a world where psychedelic and mental health care support the healing and liberation of past, present and future generations in service of a more compassionate humanity.
With the exception of the Bachelor of Arts Psychedelic Studies Minor—which will remain at Naropa University—all NCPS staff and operations have moved to the new organization. Current trainees in NCPS programs will not be impacted.
Colorado regulations require that facilitators participate in a 40-hour psilocybin practicum that must include hours working in the administration of psilocybin. Psilocybin, while legal at the state level, is a federally regulated substance that is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Until the federal government approves psilocybin, MDMA or any of the other promising medicines for therapeutic use outside FDA approved clinical trials, universities which are bound by many federal regulations cannot operate clinics under the university structure.
“The Memoru Center for Visionary Healing Arts is the logical next step in NCPS’s three-year evolution, adding clinical care and research to our successful training programs,” said Joe Harrison, Director at Memoru.“ This collaboration positions us in such a way to establish a cutting edge clinically focused center in Boulder. The new center will be unique, a benefit to the community, and a place for developing new approaches to mental health care focused on therapeutic efficacy and accessibility.”
In addition to creating the infrastructure for a Boulder clinic, Memoru is looking to share that learning in order to assist others looking to develop clinics, with particular interest in supporting communities underserved by integrated mental health practices.
The new center will focus primarily on three pillars: clinical care, training and research. The clinical care pillar will include integrative medicine, ketamine, and psilocybin-assisted therapies. The Psilocybin Facilitator Training Program and Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies programs launched by NCPS will continue through Memoru beginning in 2025. Future offerings will expand to online training, including an Introduction to Psychedelic Ethics course, launching in early 2025, advanced certifications, and expanded research. Current trainees enrolled in certificate programs will not be impacted by this transition. Memoru has inherited Naropa’s Colorado state certification to offer psilocybin training and transferring the Oregon certification is in process.
“Universities often act as business incubators to bring academic ideas into real world practice,” said Charles G. Lief, President of Naropa University. “The Naropa Center for Psychedelic Studies was incubated within the university, and with its tremendous growth over the last several years, the idea was that the program would evolve to full independence to continue and fulfill its mission outside of Naropa.”
The Memoru Center for Visionary Healing Arts will develop innovative models of care through research, implement those models within a clinical setting, and share our knowledge with others to improve the efficacy and accessibility of these therapies.
About Naropa University
Naropa University, nestled in Boulder, Colorado, was established in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Drawing its name and inspiration from the teachings of the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, this private university stands out distinctly among America’s higher education landscape in its effort to integrate eastern wisdom with traditional western scholarship. Recognized as the pioneering force behind contemplative higher education and the start of the modern mindfulness movement, Naropa University is the sole institution to integrate a university-wide contemplative pedagogical approach. At Naropa, education transcends the ordinary; the institution embraces the entirety of its students—mind, body and spirit—augmenting traditional methodologies with practices like meditation. Since receiving its accreditation in 1986, Naropa University consistently upholds the exacting standards for quality and accountability set by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). Learn more at naropa.edu.
