The low-residency Master of Arts in Ecopsychology program is based on the integration of personal and transpersonal growth, contemplative practice, critical intellect, and service. These values are furthered by our emphasis on community, diversity and inclusivity. The Ecopsychology program offers Naropa’s approach to contemplative education and engagement with inner development and the world to a geographically diverse, international population of students. It seeks to expand contemplative education through the online medium.
These core values are the foundation of the program’s goals. Students will:
- demonstrate expertise in the concepts, themes, practices, theory, methods, history, and current issues of transpersonal ecopsychology.
- apply and expand their understanding of transpersonal ecopsychology through service and intellectual contributions.
- demonstrate understanding and respect for service, intellectual rigor, and engaged action as essential in transpersonal ecopsychology.
- demonstrate a personal, ongoing, and deepening relationship with transpersonal and contemplative practices and an integration of these practices in their lives and academic work.
- demonstrate qualities of openness to experience, appreciation for difference and diversity, and compassionate communication with peers and faculty.
- demonstrate maturity and openness in regard to diversity, inclusivity, and pluralism, appreciating and integrating perspectives of difference and unity. This growing maturity and openness is the basis for community and leadership within the program, in service-learning placements and in the world.
Students who come to the MA Ecopsychology program at Naropa feel a strong calling to be part of the ecological revolution now under way. Our students tend to be passionate about environmental issues and the role that consciousness plays in personal and cultural shifts toward sustainability. They also find direct contact with the natural world to be a support for personal healing and profound growth. There are at least three reasons students apply to this program:
- Students have an already-established career, and they use the program for professional growth. The MA Ecopsychology program expands and deepens their work, bringing more integration of the psychological and the ecological. For example, one Ecopsychology graduate from Eugene, Oregon had been a clinical psychologist for more than twenty years. Feeling a bit stifled in her work doing therapy and feeling drawn to ecopsychology, she wanted to bring ecotherapy into her practice. Now that she has graduated, while continuing to maintain her psychotherapy practice, she teaches ecotherapy at a local college and gives talks on the psychological dimensions of climate change. She has also authored two academic books on ecopsychological topics. Ecopsychology’s insights into the health potential of contact with nature is now a central part of this graduate’s work.
- Students who do not have an established career use this degree to move into a career that incorporates and applies ecopsychology. Working closely with an advisor, students tailor the program to support movement into fulfilling and meaningful careers. Some graduates go on to PhD programs at other institutions, while others seek applied work after completing the MA. We continue to be delighted and inspired by the employment opportunities students create. One student from Wales had long had an interest in Buddhism and sustainability but did not know exactly how to combine and express these interests. After completing his MA Ecopsychology degree, he became a leader and trainer in the Transitions Movement that is spreading rapidly across the U.S. and parts of Europe. His approach to this movement embodies one of the core insights of ecopsychology: appeals to positive emotions such as love, joy, and devotion lead to more effective and more sustainable environmental action than appeals to fear, guilt, and sacrifice.
- Students come to this program for personal enrichment and transpersonal growth. They draw upon the opportunities offered by the MA Ecopsychology program as a vehicle for psychospiritual growth and transformation. One graduate who works at a yoga studio now talks to everyone who will listen about the merits and benefits of an ecopsychological lifestyle. The development of community among program students and faculty, the intellectual challenge of the program, and the experiential engagement with contemplative and transpersonal practices were all essential for her.
During the low-residency MA Ecopsychology program, students are required to come to Colorado for:
- A ten-day intensive to kick off the program before the first semester
- Students begin with an orientation on campus and then travel to the Drala Mountain Center, located around two hours north of Boulder
- A two-week summer intensive in the second year of the program
- Students attend a three-day Ecopsychology Training Intensive on campus and then travel into the mountains for a 10-day Psychology of Wilderness Experience.
- Two shorter on-campus intensives each January.
Over 1/3 of the credits of this program are held in person through the Intensive format; the rest of the coursework is completed online. The intensives help create a strong learning community, which continues to deepen through the online classes.
Service learning is a method of teaching whereby students learn and develop through active participation in organized service experiences. These experiences take place in their communities and are integrated into academic curriculum, meet the needs of a community, provide structured time for reflection and help foster civic responsibility.
Service learning in the MA Ecopsychology program at Naropa is called Transpersonal Service Learning and focuses on personal transformation through service, the cultivation of wisdom and compassion, understanding and working with suffering, managing stress and burn-out in care giving, and the transpersonal aspects of human development. We also emphasize the reciprocal nature of learning and encourage our students to approach their service with a “beginner’s mind.”
Over the last year at Naropa University, a definition of service-learning has developed through the collaborative work of many people.
“At Naropa University, service-learning is an intentionally designed course or program that joins wisdom and insight with skillful action by engaging and empowering students, faculty, and community members in compassionate selfless service.”
Examples of Placements
Examples of recently agreed upon placements include the following organizations:
- teaching art and ecopsychology classes at a small college in Wisconsin
- organizing earth institute courses in remote British Columbia, Canada
- facilitating deep ecology workshops in Canada
- assisting in a wilderness rites of passage course for teens
- helping out with relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
- working in the prison system and helping families in Singapore
- coaching young inner city kids in a reading program for underprivileged kids
- working in a hospital for sick children
- developing a web site for soldier wellness of body, mind and spirit
- a nonprofit radio station
- a hospice
- a bereavement center
- a church program that teaches meditation and prayer
- a wilderness guiding/rites of passage program for teens
- a yoga training center
- an adolescent treatment center
- a hospital
As long as the placement is not clinical in nature, the possibilities for service are endless, and we welcome creative proposals in this area.
David Johnson
Coming to Naropa
I graduated with a BSc in computer science in 1986. The years following my graduation were spent traveling interspersed with odd jobs. I had a wish to shake my feathers and do something different for a few years. It was during this period that I developed two interests that have shaped my life until now, and eventually brought me to Naropa University and the MA Transpersonal Psychology: Ecopsychology program. These were an adoption of Tibetan Buddhism as the main focus of my spiritual practice and a love of the outdoors, specifically focused on environmental concerns.
On return from my travels I moved into a Tibetan Buddhist community in South Wales. (I am from the United Kingdom.) This was my home for six years, helping in the day-to-day running of the community and some time spent traveling with my teacher.
Towards the end of my time with the community, I bought a plot of land next door to the retreat center on which there was a wooden house in disrepair. At the same time I had become familiar with a Buddhist architect who specialized in ecological projects while he was working on a conversion project at the center. I approached Andrew with the proposal that we build an ecological house. Two years later I moved into the house, which included wood recycled from the original house.
It has been living in this house and the experience of working closely with the environment to produce electricity, hot water, collecting rain water for domestic use, along with getting to know the land on which it is situated, that developed in me an interest in ecopsychology. Not finding anyone local to discuss some of my thoughts with, I typed them into Google?ecopsychology was a common word that came back.
Studying through Naropa seemed like an ideal way to combine academic study with spiritual exploration.
Time at Naropa
I joined Naropa’s Ecopsychology program in the summer of 2004. We were the first student group for the Ecopsychology MA program and met in Boulder that summer for an intensive. Aside from the learning that took place during intensives, they were real opportunities to strengthen the community bonds that made the online experience so enjoyable. Logging into online classes each day was like meeting up with friends as opposed to anonymous, virtual names. Each January and June I looked forward to the journey to Boulder to meet up with everyone.
Other highlights of the program included:
- the Wilderness experience that we took during the summer of 2005; this had been a contributing factor to why I choose the Naropa program
- the “Waking Up Together” class that we took that summer before going out to the wilderness, exploring the applications of ecopsychology
- “Deep Ecology in Context” that we took in spring of 2005
- the practical exercises that were set for us to do through the classes. Even online the experience wasn’t a passive process of reading and writing. We engaged in ‘Place bonding exercises’ and ‘Medicine Walks.’ Even a spontaneous winter equinox ritual was arranged online
- the “World Wisdom” class that I took as my final elective.
Master’s Paper
My master’s paper was entitled, “The Spiritual Basis of Ecopsychology.” I used the opportunity of having to write a paper to explore the very subject that had brought me to Naropa in the first place. Choosing a subject about which you have a strong interest, makes the writing experience so much more rewarding?and makes it easier when the going gets tough.
Service-Learning Placement
My service-learning placement was made up of three main elements. During my time at Naropa I became very interested in the work of Joanna Macy, and attended a week-long retreat with her in the U.K. in the spring of 2005; this retreat actually became part of an independent study that I set up while at Naropa. Her work informed the underlying basis for my placement. Along with another student in the Ecopsychology program, we ran some workshops in Calgary, culminating in a successful weekend retreat.
In the U.K., I helped set up a website that acts as a resource for work based in Macy’s vision, as well as a local ecopsychology group that meets monthly and which is also informed by Macy’s work.
The Future
I graduated from the MA Transpersonal Psychology: Ecopsychology program in the summer of 2006. In the short term I shall be co-facilitating some more workshops based on Joanna Macy’s work this coming October in Calgary. I have no longer term plans at the moment, though I am considering taking my education further. My time at Naropa has been a rich learning and growing experience, which has and will open new doors for me.
Current MA Ecopsychology students have the following careers: university teaching, psychotherapy, business and management training, higher education administration, secondary education, landscaping, state government, school principal, nursing, business coaching, wilderness guiding and many more. Find specific information about the career paths MA Ecopsychology graduates have taken below.
Our graduates apply the MA in Ecopsychology in a variety of career areas, including environmental education and advocacy, education, group facilitation and training, wilderness guiding, workshop and retreat leadership, social services, health care and healing, organizational development, coaching, and community development. Professionals in clinical and counseling psychology may also use it to expand their understanding and practice of how nature can be a part of the healing process.
The MA in Ecopsychology is a nonclinical degree that does not prepare students in counseling, clinical psychology, or psychotherapy. If you are interested in licensure as a professional counselor, please see the MA Transpersonal Counseling Psychology program.
Here are other examples of what MA Ecopsychology graduates are doing with their degrees.
Developing professional and personal skills and bringing ecopsychological depth to their work.
- Art faculty, University of Wisconsin, Superior, with a highly successful art, ecopsychology, and meditation program.
- Naturopathic doctor, private practice, Canada. After completing his degree at Naropa, he opened a new clinic connected with a local hospice and also offers trainings for the hospice staff where he brings in ecopsychological and transpersonal concepts.
- Owner, graphic designer firm, who has a deep interest in the Transitions Movement.
- Consultant with organizations in Puerto Rico that want to integrate environmental consciousness into their activities.
Students who wanted to use the program to gain more clarity on their professional direction.
- Graphic artist, Salt Lake City, Utah, has owned her own graphic arts business and taught graphic design in a university for many years. She took the program to follow her passions for helping the earth and is now working with a rites of passage organization in Utah run by another Naropa Ecopsychology graduate.
- Owner, green building supply store in Missoula, Montana; community organizer along environmental and personal empowerment themes.
- Teacher, environmental education program in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who offers green programs and nature-based activities in her local school system.
- High school teacher in Tacoma, Washington, who also conducts wilderness rites of passage and ecopsychological programs.
- Owner, tutoring business, Silver Spring, Maryland, with a passionate interest in caving and in the welfare of bats on the Eastern seaboard; Executive Committee member, local caving organization, who works on behalf of bat habitat.
Students who want to use the program for psychospiritual growth and transformation.
- Technical writer in Vancouver, Canada. Feeling the need to learn and grow in a learning community, especially after she bought a remote ranch in western Canada, she combined her work in the Ecopsychology program with other psychospiritual work she does.
- Alumna in Maryland who had been drawn to both Buddhism and ecological work for many years, and took this program to deepen in those areas.
- Alumna in Oregon who discovered a deep passion for helping kids connect with nature. Her master’s paper on children and nature and her service work are extensions of her academic and experiential work in the program.
We also recognize that there are many other reasons that students apply to MA Ecopsychology. We look forward to discussing your reasons with you.
