Faculty

Bataan Faigao began studying t'ai-chi ch'uan with Grand Master Cheng Man-ching in 1968 and for the next seven years practiced under his guidance. Bataan has been teaching t'ai-chi ch'uan since 1976. He is a full-time faculty member at Naropa University and chair of the Traditional Eastern Arts Department. He is also director of the Rocky Mountain t'ai-chi ch'uan foundation.

Nataraja Kallio
BA, Religious Studies and Traditional Eastern Arts, Naropa University
MA, Transpersonal Counseling Psychology, Naropa University

Nataraja has been a student of Yoga for the past twenty years, seven of which he spent in India. He has studied extensively in the lineages of Sri Aurobindo, Krishnamacharya (Iyengar, Ashtanga and Viniyoga), Purna Yoga, Swami Sivananda, Swami Satyananda, Swami Gitananda and the Tantric Sri Vidya tradition of South India. Nataraja has been teaching at Naropa since 2000 and designed the Yoga Teacher Training concentration in 2006.

Adjunct Faculty

Jude Blitz, Yondan (fourth degree black belt)
BA, University of Missouri
MA, Antioch University

Jude Blitz has been a student of Hiroshi Ikeda, Shihan and Mitsugi Saotome, Shihan since 1980. She has taught Aikido at Naropa since 1989. She is a psychotherapist in private practice certified in Hakomi therapy, Shadow Work® and 4 Gateways Coaching. Jude leads retreats for women on warriorship and embodiment.

Sreedevi Bringi
M.Sc., M.S., M.A.

Sreedevi brings a brain-mind-consciousness perspective into her spiritual work, integrating her training in the sciences with deep study and practice in the spiritual/religious traditions of India . She received training in hatha yoga, raja yoga, meditation, Sanskrit and spiritual practices from her family elders, and from swamis and yoga teachers at the Bihar School of Yoga and Vivekananda Kendra in Bangalore , India . She has graduate degrees in Chemistry, Atmospheric Sciences and Education. Sreedevi has also served on the science faculty at Colorado State University , Front Range Community College and the Poudre School District in Fort Collins , Colorado .

Hiroshi Ikeda Sensei, Shihan

Hiroshi Ikeda Sensei, Shihan is the founder and chief instructor of Boulder Aikikai, Inc., a non-profit school of aikido in Boulder, Colorado. He currently holds the rank of seventh dan through Mitsugi Saotome Shihan and the Aikido World Federation (Honbu Dojo). Ikeda Sensei lives with his family in Boulder, where he teaches at Boulder Aikikai and manages the operations of Bu Jin Design, his martial arts supply manufacturing and mail order company. He also travels extensively as a guest instructor, conducting aikido seminars at dojos around the country and abroad.

Chaitanya Mahmud Kabir
MA, Ethnomusicology, University of Hawaii

Chaitanya Mahmud Kabir has brought together a powerful synthesis of Indian devotional and raga singing with modern natural music theory. He designed the divine music graduate program of the Hindu University of America and taught several of its courses. He speaks fluent Hindi and Urdu and has translated books of spiritual discourse and poetry. He sings and plays Turkish Sufi Music weekly at Zikr. He is a devotee of mother goddess Saraswati and has taught raga and devotional singing, flutes and Hindi and Urdu in Boulder for many years.

Courses: Indian Devotional and Raga Singing.

Kyoko Kita Sensei

Kyoko Kita Sensei is a Riji (highest level teacher) in the Sogetsu School of Ikebana. She has been teaching ikebana for thirty-two years. Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, she moved to Wheatridge, Colorado in 1975, where she teaches ikebana, tea ceremony and Japanese cooking. Kita Sensei is President of Sogetsu Colorado Branch and has taught Kalapa Ikebana students since 1983.

Linda Morrell
BA, Colorado State University

Linda Morrell has studied yoga for thirteen years. Currently, she studies and team-teaches with Yogiraj Ravi Dykema at his Boulder, Colorado studio.

Mitsugi Saotome Sensei, Shihan
uchi deshi to O'Sensei, aikido's founder

Mitsugi Saotome is the chief instructor of the Aikido Shobukan Dojo in Washington, D.C. and also serves as the supervisory instructor for more than seventy affiliated dojos of the international association, Aikido Schools of Ueshiba. In addition to regularly scheduled seminars both national and international, Master Saotome has given special seminars, including a U.S. Military Special Forces seminar, special training of the U.S. Security Forces in Washington, D.C. and has spoken before the United Nations General Assembly on the role of Aikido in world peace efforts. He is the author of Aikido and the Harmony of Nature and The Principles of Aikido.

Alexandra MacKay Shenpen
BA, Naropa University
MA, Expressive Arts in Psychotherapy, Lesley College
PhD, The Creative Arts, The Union Institute
LPC, REAT

Alexandra MacKay Shenpen has been teaching in various capacities at Naropa since 1986. Some of the areas include the arts, psychology, meditation and Space Awareness or Maitri practice. In addition, she has held several clinical positions in the Boulder area, including an inpatient drug and alcohol treatment unit and Boulder County's inpatient eating disorders program.

Other adjunct faculty include:

Larry Welsh, Lee Worley (core Performing Arts and Contemplative Education), Jim Yensan, Tom Weiser

Academic Advisor:

Joanna Morris

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