Student Profile

Name: Ben Woodard
Concentration: Health and Healing
Graduating Class: 2008
Hometown: Corrales, New Mexico
I have been here… All four years!

Why did you come to Naropa?

I didn’t want to commit to an education that would compromise my integrity, inquisitiveness, or joy for learning with the status quo.

How did you find out about Naropa?

I had one amazing college counselor. He was committed to helping me find a place that would nourish all of me. When he asked me if I cared about religious preference, I sarcastically replied, "Well…there aren’t any Buddhist schools… .” Then I visited, sat in on Sudarshan Kapur’s class Dr. Martin Luther King and the Search for the Beloved Community and I was convinced.

Plans after graduation:

I started working on my medical prerequisites halfway through my education. After working abroad in naturopathic medicine, I knew I needed to take my contemplative education into the occidental medical world. I am applying to programs to eventually get my Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

The most challenging aspect of Naropa:

One of the most powerful things I honed at Naropa was the ability to be comfortable with uncertainty; to sit in the fire and maintain dignity, enthusiasm, curiosity, and, in my case, a rascally attitude. The work offered at Naropa can open the heart wider than you ever imagined possible, and in our world, it can hurt to be as open and genuine as we are called to be.

What will you miss?

So much! I will miss the emotional intimacy and constant invitation to be all of myself. I will miss a community that not only encourages critical questioning, but routinely invites it. I will miss the green and a curriculum that schedules in stress management (meditation).

Why did you choose the Health and Healing concentration?

It is my deep passion to work with illness and disease. Halfway through Naropa, I spent a summer translating for an orthopedic surgical team and as a clinician in a care facility for Hansen’s Disease (leprosy) in Guayaquil, Ecuador. I came back and began my medical prerequisites immediately. The Health and Healing track reminded me to include my own reflection, wisdom, and personal healing into my path. I know it will help me to endure burnout and cynicism in the years to come.

How has the Naropa Psychology program changed you?

When I first came to Naropa, I was…well…addicted to process. I loved fixing any emotional issue, any strife or confusion. Looking back, my favorite professors have taught me the wisdom of imperfection. ... The brilliance of our own humanity does not need to be fixed or changed. I do things very differently now.

Some words of advice…

Shake it up, and stay silly.