Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science
Contemplative Psychotherapy Program New York City:
The Mindfulness Year Begins Fall 2021
Nalanda Institute’s two-year Contemplative Psychotherapy Program integrates mindfulness and compassion-based meditation practices, Buddhist psychology and ethics, with contemporary psychotherapy, neuropsychology and the practice of promoting equity. The program spans 2 years — one devoted to Compassion and the other to Mindfulness. Students may start in either year. This fall marks the beginning of the Mindfulness Year in New York City.
Our faculty is comprised of leading Buddhist scholars, practitioners, world-class meditation teachers, pioneering mindfulness and compassion researchers, renowned clinicians, thought leaders. The program is led by Drs. Joe Loizzo and Pilar Jennings. Our meditation expert this year is Sharon Salzberg. Our past visiting faculty have included Lama Rod Owens, Rick Hanson, Jasmine Syedullah, Christopher Germer, Paul Fulton, Ethan Nichtern and others.
Join us starting September 10th!
Who is This Training For?
Social workers, mental health counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, physicians, yoga therapists, creative arts therapists, educators, coaches, consultants and others in the helping professions are encouraged to apply.
The Program
The curriculum is taught over two years. One year is dedicated to Mindfulness-based Psychotherapy and the other to Compassion-based Psychotherapy. Participants may enter the program in either year. This fall marks the start of the Mindfulness Year in New York City.
This year provides a comprehensive foundation for integrating Buddhist psychology, mindfulness meditation and socially engaged ethics into contemporary psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, object relational, interpersonal, mindfulness-based and somatic therapies and related caregiving fields.
About
Areas of study include:
- foundations of Buddhist psychology and ethics
- fourfold mindfulness, loving kindness, and self-compassion practices
- traditional and contemporary models of stress and trauma
- the neuroscience of meditation, plasticity and memory reconsolidation
- clinical applications of mindfulness, loving kindness, and self-compassion
- unlearning implicit bias, developing radical acceptance and prosocial engagement
- contemplative psychotherapy: mindfulness-based methods and integrative nuances
- meditation practicum: instruction with Sharon Salzberg and supervision from core faculty.
Schedule
Due to COVID-19, the year will begin with an online retreat with Joe Loizzo and Pilar Jennings.
For each of the 30 weeks throughout the year, students gather on Thursdays from 6:00–8:30 pm ET) for a live online video conference that includes meditation, whole group discussion, meditation teach-backs and small group breakouts, followed by a lecture-discussion led by our core or visiting faculty. These conferences are facilitated by Joe Loizzo, Co-Directors Ann Campbell and Rahshaana Green.
Outside of class, students are expected to maintain a daily meditation practice based on the Mindfulness-year curriculum, and read required texts.
There is also an intersession retreat led by Sharon Salzberg, January 7–9, 2022 held live online.
Students work on a capstone project throughout the year.
FAQ
Read the Frequently Asked Questions about the Mindfulness Year, 2021–2022, in New York City.
Details
Tuition is $4,000 per year and includes retreats and materials. Tuition does not include accommodations for the retreats. The deadline for application is August 15, 2021.
Additional Information
View our website for general information about the program. Or contact New York CPP Co-Directors, Ann Campbell and Rahshaana Green.
What People are Saying
Attending the Nalanda Institute’s Contemplative Psychotherapy Program has been a rich and rewarding experience. Not only did I deepen and concretize my understanding of Buddhist thought as it applies to clinical work, but I also made lasting friendships with other like-minded clinicians. The sense of community they provide feels like a warm embrace.
—Debra Rosenzweig, PhD, Clinical Psychologist
And from one of our distance learning students:
I can’t find words to explain how important this journey has been for me. My spiritual and professional growth has been like a flower growing slowly and steadfastly toward the sun. My experience with the people I work with has completely changed. Now I’m able to receive their struggles like a gift and together we can embark on our specific and enthusiastic path toward the awareness of interdependence.
—Giulia Mellacca, Psychologist
Meet Our Core Faculty
Ann Harper Campbell, MSN, MPH, NP, CYT, is a Nurse Practitioner in occupational health at The Rockefeller University, where she specializes in mindfulness-based approaches to wellness. Ann has been involved in contemplative practice for over 20 years, including as a Certified Yoga Teacher and a graduate of the Nalanda Institute Contemplative Psychotherapy Program. In addition to her clinical practice at Rockefeller integrating mindfulness as a fundamental pillar of wellness, she explores research areas including stress, mindfulness and gene expression within the Pathways to Awareness research group she founded with the late Bruce McEwan. A 2019–2020 Nalanda Institute Fellow in contemplative science research, Ann has a particular interest in the stress effects of racism and how we can counter racism as a public health challenge that impacts us all.
Rahshaana Green, MBA, PMP, RYT, is a 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 is a certified Nalanda Institute Compassion-Based Resilience Teacher Trainor and is the Co-Director the Contemplative Psychotherapy Program and Director of Equity and Strategic Partnerships at Nalanda institute. She has taught mindfulness meditation and yoga in corporate, group, and private settings and is passionate about empowering others to cultivate well-being and resilience.
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 Slavery, where she explores the intergenerational transmission of trauma.
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 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.
Sharon Salzberg is a meditation teacher, author, and a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. She is one of the most prominent Buddhist meditation teachers in the West and has been teaching and leading meditation retreats around the world for over three decades. Her writings have appeared in numerous publications, including Time, Yoga Journal, Tricycle, Buddhadharma, Lion’s Roar, and numerous anthologies. She is the author of ten books, including Love Your Enemies: How to Break the Anger Habit & Be a Whole Lot Happier (co-authored with Robert Thurman), and Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection.
