Windhorse Awards for Community Service
In the Shambhala tradition, the practice of raising Windhorse opens the heart and refreshes one’s confidence. It is a way to bring about skillful and heartfelt social engagement, enabling the warrior to go forward in the midst of whatever challenges occur. We have chosen the name of the award to recognize honorees commitment to social engagement in our local community. Through this name, we also honor the pioneering vision and powerful impact of Windhorse Community Services who have provided life-changing mental health services in the Boulder community since 1990. This award will be given at The Naropa Event every other year and will recognize social engagement in areas such as health and wellbeing, arts, social justice, sustainability and resilience.
We’ll use the opportunity of The Naropa Event to recognize and celebrate recipients of the Windhorse Award for Community Service. In 2018, we are recognizing six amazing individuals and two community organizations who’ve contributed the health and wellbeing of the Boulder community:
DIANE ISRAEL graduated from Naropa’s MA in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology program in 1991. She is currently a psychotherapist, an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Counseling & Psychology, and she serves on the Board of Trustees. Diane provides mental health services and trains those who will go on to serve even more members of the community.
JOY REDSTONE is an artist, the Director of Naropa Community Counseling, an adjunct faculty member and clinical supervisor in the Naropa in the Graduate School of Counseling & Psychology, and an adjunct at the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work. She served as the Executive Director of Bridge House from 2003-2011 supporting homeless and low-income adults. Joy tends to the heart of our community as a fierce advocate for the vulnerable and as a mentor for future mental health providers.
REGINA SMITH is a poet, activist, the Director of the Office for Inclusive Community and an Adjunct Faculty Member. “With an MFA in Poetry and an MA in Contemplative Psychotherapy, her training allows her to bridge the mechanics of the mind with the intricacy of the heart.” Regina contributes to the wellbeing of the community by bringing awareness, compassion, and honesty to her work as an advocate for a more welcoming and inclusive society.
ROBERT SPELLMAN is the Chair, Visual Arts; Associate Professor, Visual Arts, Performing Arts; and Religious Studies Core Faculty. He is also an artist and co-founder of Mountain Water, an artist’s retreat in the wilds of southern Colorado. Robert supports wellbeing as an artist, meditation instructor, and guide for mindful artists.
KIRSTEN WILSON graduated from Naropa’s MFA in Contemporary Performance program in 2006 and has contributed to the artistic wellbeing of the community ever since as the founder and artistic director of Motus Theater, an organization whose mission is to use original theater to support community conversation on critical issues.
DALE ASRAEL received her MA in Contemplative Ed from Naropa in 2008. She is Core Faculty in a number of Naropa programs. She is also an Acharya and Dean of Meditation Instructors for Shambhala, tending to the spiritual health and wellbeing of our community.
WINDHORSE COMMUNITY SERVICES has been providing mental health services in Boulder since 1990. The Windhorse therapeutic approach was developed in 1981 by Chogyam Trungpa and Dr. Edward Podvoll. It is based on the Buddhist understanding of fundamental sanity and the inseparability of one’s entire life from one’s environment, while integrating applicable Western psychology.
QUEER ASTERISK, founded by Naropa graduates, provides a variety of therapeutic services for LGBTQPIA folx who identify as lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer/questioning, pan, intersex, agender/asexual or non-conforming and their allies. Queer Asterisk also offers diversity and inclusivity trainings for organizations.
