Anjali Nandi discovered Naropa University while living in India, the original home of Buddhism. Nandi knew she wanted a graduate degree that combined psychology and movement, so she visited the library in New Delhi and poured over lists of American schools and degrees. After sending away for additional information, she knew which school spoke to her.
"I chose Naropa because of the materials they sent, because of the heart and excitement I felt in the materials," she says, "And, honestly, because they seemed the most positive about supporting a foreign student through aid and scholarships. I chose a master’s degree in somatic psychology because of my experience with the wisdom and power of the body and movement. I have experienced the shortcomings of a purely cognitive therapy when it relates to depth transformation. However, I feel that the somatic program is so powerful not only because it is a somatic program but especially because it is embedded in a Naropa way of learning."
Nandi's time at Naropa involved more than adjusting to an academic environment; it involved adapting to a new country and culture. "For me, coming to Naropa was also coming to the US, to Boulder, to opening my eyes, to marriage and a family," she says. "It is hard for me to parse out my experience at Naropa from the rest of my life. I believe that when we try and heal ourselves we help heal the world. This serves me tremendously, not only in my professional work as a bilingual psychotherapist and the program director of a treatment agency, but also as a mother. I consider being a mother the most important and challenging work I am doing, and my Naropa experience is a large part of who I am as a mother."
Currently the program director of the Center for Change, a state-licensed adult out-patient drug and alcohol treatment agency in Colorado, Nandi provides various forms of counseling and has co-authored a book titled Probation and Parole Treatment Planner, published in 2003. For those planning to attend Naropa she says, "Prepare to be challenged on incomprehensible levels, to learn how to be in an authentic relationship with yourself and others, and to cultivate a different world view."
Anjali Nandi