Overview

The Certificate Program in Embodied Wisdom compares, contrasts, and integrates the timeless embodied transformational psychology of the Tibetan Tantras with current neuropsychology, psychotherapy and psychosocial change work to bring a rigorous, nuanced, and complete approach to healing individual and collective trauma and  fostering personal and communal well-being. The program offers the first rigorous, ongoing dialogue between the most advanced form of Tantra (Skt. Anuttara-Yoga-Tantra)—with its multi-dimensional approach to trauma through embodied mentoring, restructuring perception and transforming the subtle body—and contemporary embodied therapeutic approaches, including intersubjective psychoanalysis, somatic therapies, trauma therapies, therapeutic approaches to racial and gender-based trauma, transformational and psychedelic therapies.

Faculty

You will learn from some of the leading scholars, academics, and practitioners in the field of embodiment. The program is led by Joe Loizzo, MD, PhD, Nalanda Institute’s Founder and Academic Director. Joe is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and Columbia-trained Buddhist scholar with over forty years’ experience studying the beneficial effects of contemplative practices on healing, learning and human development.

The program features live instruction and recorded lectures from world-renowned guest faculty such as Drs. Nida Chenagtsang, Kamilah Majied, Bayo Akomolafe, Janina Fisher, and others.

Curriculum

The Certificate Program in Embodied Wisdom offers a grounding in Tibetan transformational psychology and in-depth training in the practice of artful mentoring, healing visualization, subtle body energy work, and intuitive wisdom including Tantric Sadhana, Nejang, Tsalung , Tummo, and Ati yoga practices. These practices are integrated with contemporary western psychotherapy modalities including self-psychology, depth-psychology, intersubjective-psychoanalysis, sensorimotor psychotherapy, attachment theory and other transformational and trauma therapies.

Areas of study include:

• The historical and theoretical foundations of embodied contemplative psychotherapy
• The sociocultural history of the Buddhist Tantras
• Understanding the neuropsychology and ecopsychology of the subtle body-mind
• Developing the readiness to engage in the unexcelled yoga tantras through cultivating basic self-care, compassion, and radical open-mindedness
• Understanding and practicing the 4 stages of mentor-bonding/guru-archetype yoga
• Engaging in the practice of mentor bonding as a way to undo internalized oppression and heal intergenerational trauma
• Working with imagery, breath-work, posture and transformational flow states to transform traumatic core affects and autonomic energies
• Developing trauma-free lucid intuition, dreamlike prosocial embodiment and a compassionate way of life
• Meditation practicum: instruction with core faculty

Core Faculty

Joe Loizzo, MD, PhD is a Harvard-trained contemplative psychotherapist, Buddhist scholar, and author with over four decades experience integrating Indo-Tibetan mind science and healing arts into modern neuropsychology, psychotherapy, and clinical research. He is founder and academic director of the Nalanda Institute, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, and a clinician in private practice in Manhattan. Joe is the author of numerous scholarly review articles on contemplative neuropsychiatry and psychotherapy. He is the author of the comprehensive textbook, Sustainable Happiness: The Mind Science Of Well-Being, Altruism, and Inspiration. He is executive editor of Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy: Accelerating Healing and Transformation, a groundbreaking collection of essays by pioneers of the fast-emerging and highly promising new field of contemplative psychotherapy.

Pilar Jennings, PhD, is a psychoanalyst focused on the clinical applications of Buddhist meditation who has been working with patients and their families through the Harlem Family Institute since 2004. She was awarded her PhD in Psychiatry and Religion from Union Theological Seminary, a Masters in medical anthropology from Columbia University, and a Bachelors in interdisciplinary writing from Barnard College of Columbia University. Dr. Jennings is the author of Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism and To Heal a Wounded Heart: The Transformative Power of Buddhism and Psychotherapy in Action. Currently, she is a researcher at the Columbia University Center for Study of Science and Religion and Co-chair of the Columbia Faculty Seminar on the Memory and Savery, where she explores the intergenerational transmission of trauma.

Rahshaana Green, MBA, PMP, RYT, is the Director of the Live Learning Contemplative Psychotherapy Program. She is a coach and business consultant with expertise in Business Development, Marketing, and Strategy in Healthcare and Science. She is also a yoga/meditation teacher specialized in working with injured, aging, and perinatal clients. Green received her BA in Biophysical Chemistry from Dartmouth College, her MBA from University of Texas-Austin, and her foundational yoga training with Ana Forrest. She teaches mindfulness and compassion through meditation and yoga to corporate, group, and private clients and is passionate about empowering others to cultivate well-being and resilience.

Chantelle Brown, MSW, LMSW, is a meditation teacher, graduate of Nalanda Institute’s Contemplative Psychotherapy Program, and a clinical social worker at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Chantelle received her MSW from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College and holds a post-graduate certification in Couple and Family Therapy from the Ackerman Institute for the Family. Chantelle is a cultural worker and relational therapist working at the intersection of social justice and clinical practice utilizing contemplative methods for personal and collective transformation. Her work revolves around her commitment to providing culturally attuned, trauma-informed care to patients and families while advocating for health equity within medical systems. Chantelle has a special interest in taking an integrative approach to addressing intergenerational trauma of those who have survived the Middle Passage and beyond. She currently lives in Brooklyn, with her family, where she was born and raised.

James H. Bae, DACM, L.Ac is a doctor of Chinese medicine, author and independent researcher. Dr. Bae’s therapeutic background includes the study of traditional Chinese, Japanese, Ayurvedic and Tibetan medicine. He is authorized to teach Tibetan yoga in various traditional Buddhist lineages. James leads retreats in the U.S and internationally, with a focus on the inner yogas, such as Tummo and Tsalung Trulkhor. He also specializes in the adaptation of these subtle body practices in somatic, movement-based disciplines and Mindbody, trauma-informed therapies.

Michael Perez Sosa, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and contemplative psychotherapist in private practice, a core faculty member of the Nalanda Institute, and a musician. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Counseling and Psychological Services of Columbia Health at Columbia University where he provided psychotherapy, taught CBRT, and was a member of their Trauma Support Team. Prior to joining CPS, he completed his predoctoral internship at NYC Health + Hospitals | North Central Bronx. He received his doctorate from the City College at the City University of New York (CUNY). His dissertation investigated Compassion-Based Resilience Training (CBRT) as an intervention for front-line healthcare workers in contact with COVID-19 patients. He received his bachelor’s in psychology and religion focusing on Indo-Tibetan Buddhism from Columbia University where he graduated summa cum laude and phi beta kappa. Michael is also a graduate of Nalanda Institute’s Four-Year Program in Sustainable Happiness and is a Certified Teacher of CBRT. Before transitioning to a career in mental health, he attended Berklee College of Music and subsequently composed, recorded, produced, and performed music
for guitar and voice.