I've been practicing meditation and Buddhism for a number of years, and part of my practice has included periods for intensive meditation called "retreat." So a few years ago I was alone in a cabin in the woods doing retreat for a week, and at some point I was trying to light the wood stove. I grew up around wood stoves, so I'm comfortable with them. But on this morning, the stove just wouldn't light. After about 40 minutes I gave up and started reading a dharma book (dharma in this case means, "the teachings of the Buddha"). So I was reading, and I read a line that had to do with basically the Tibetan equivalent of a Master of Divinity degree program. In that moment, a gust of wind came out of nowhere, the sun came out, and the wood in the stove suddenly caught fire. I was flooded with a sense of peace. Somehow, I knew without a doubt that I needed to get a Master of Divinity degree (MDiv.) in Buddhism. A year later I'd started the MDiv. degree program at Naropa University. I learned so much in the process of earning this degree--about Buddhism, about myself, and about helping people. I learned a lot about how to practice and teach meditation, and worked in a hospital setting as a spiritual care provider. After graduating with my Master of Divinity degree in 2019, I started my own private practice where I work with clients via Zoom and on the phone.
Do I teach Buddhism to my spiritual care clients?
My own spiritual views and practices are never the focus of my work with clients. The point of my time with clients is for them to explore theirviews, beliefs, and practices, and for them to receive support their spiritual and/or emotional wellbeing. Some of my clients are interested in learning mindfulness meditation, and I'm always happy to incorporate that practice into our sessions. Some of my clients are also interested in talking about Buddhism, and of course I'm happy to do that as well. But I never push the Buddhist teachings or practices on anybody. I always follow the interest and directive of my clients.
What are my qualifications as a meditation guide?
One of my biggest qualifications is that I've kept up a daily practice of meditation for a long time. Sure, I've missed days here and there. But overall, I've had a consistent practice for over a decade. This means I know a lot about the overall flow of practice. I've seen a lot of ups and downs, and I'm still at it. I have a lived experience of the deep benefits of this practice.
I've also done a lot of meditation retreats, sometimes for a weekend, sometimes for a week, sometimes for a month at a time. I have experience in "everyday" practice as well as more "intense" practice.
And finally, I completed a year-long mindfulness meditation instructor training through Naropa University where I learned how to teach this practice to others. This included a lot of peer feedback as well as training from experienced meditation teachers. Since receiving this training, I've taught a lot of people how to meditate.
What are my qualifications as a spiritual care provider?
In the world of professional spiritual care, there are various levels of certification and qualification, as well as different certifying organizations. It's all kind of complicated, and maybe a bit boring for the casual reader. But for those interested, let me try to break it all down and show you how I fit into the overall picture.
One of the major spiritual care organizations in the U.S. is the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE). They train professionals in the art of providing spiritual care to individuals of any faith background or no faith background, and they also certify highly trained spiritual care providers. They view the development of a spiritual care provider as a process, and break it down into "units" of learning. These units they call "Clinical Pastoral Education" (CPE), and each unit entails 400 hours of supervised education and contact hours with clients/patients in the field. Once a person has completed 4 units of CPE, they may be qualified to apply for board certification by the ACPE. A board-certified spiritual care provider can make more money, and they're generally considered better candidates for longterm paying jobs in hospitals and other settings.
But that's just one piece of the professional spiritual care puzzle. The other pieces are academic and religious. According to the ACPE, to be a full-blown spiritual care professional, a person needs to be deeply connected to a spiritual or religious tradition and they also need to have sufficient theological training in that tradition. For example, a Buddhist who wants to be an ACPE board certified spiritual care provider would need to show a deep connection to their particular Buddhist lineage (ideally through either becoming ordained as a priest or minister, or at least by being officially "endorsed" by that lineage), and they'd also need to complete a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhism. Once those qualifications are met, and that person has also completed 4 units of CPE, then they can apply to become board-certified by the ACPE.
As you can see, there's a whole lot to it. The way things are set up currently, you can't just waltz into the field of spiritual care. It's actually more rigorous than becoming a licensed therapist, because in addition to the academic and clinical training, there's also the religious or spiritual training requirement, which might easily take a decade or more to accomplish.
To give you an idea of where I fit into this overall picture: I have full theological/academic training through my Master of Divinity degree in Buddhism at Naropa University. As for the clinical training, I completed 1 unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at a hospital in Colorado in 2018, where I met with a large number of hospital patients from a variety of religious and spiritual backgrounds. In terms of my formal spiritual training, I'm a Buddhist of over 10 years and I'm in good standing with the lineages I practice in. I've completed many meditation intensives, and have lived for years on end at Buddhist meditation centers in North America. I'm certified to teach mindfulness meditation through Naropa University. I'm not ordained as a priest, monk, or minister, and I'm also not officially "endorsed" by any Buddhist lineage.
As you can see from this, I have in-depth academic, clinical, and spiritual training which prepares me to offer spiritual care at a high level in my private practice. At the same time, I'm not board-certified by the ACPE or any other certifying organization. I have the credentials to call myself a spiritual care professional, but I don't want to mislead anybody: I'm not a board-certified, and that means that all you have is your own discretion when it comes to assessing my ability to offer quality care.
What kind of Buddhism do I practice?
I've trained in many schools of Buddhism, ranging from Theravada to Soto Zen to Tibetan Vajrayana schools. I've done a lot of practice in the Shambhala lineage. I'm currently practicing mainly in the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and my main practice is Ngondro. I consider myself a non-sectarian Buddhist with a strong connection to the Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
Credentials
•MA in Ceramics and Buddhist Studies from Marlboro College (2014) •Master of Divinity Degree (Indo-Tibetan focus) from Naropa University (2019) •Certified Mindfulness Meditation Instructor through Naropa University (2019) •Graduate of Mukpo Institute, a 3-month Buddhist Practice Intensive (2014) •1 unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) in a hospital setting (2018)