“The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy”
–bell hooks
Larisa Castillo teaches classes that focus on wellbeing and resilience. Her “Cultivating Wellbeing” seminar teaches students the philosophy and science of certain wellbeing approaches, such as mindfulness and positive psychology, while also applying these approaches in the classroom setting. Castillo also teaches the “UC Climate Resilience Course,” a UC-wide pilot project led by Elissa Epel (UCSF) and Jyoti Mishra (UCSD), that teaches students resilience skills in coping with climate change and the attendant polycrisis.
Because classes that directly address wellbeing are sparse, Castillo encourages the incorporation of wellbeing practices in all classes, as a grassroots effort to shift our cultural awareness and encourage human flourishing. As a part of this project, she has developed a wellbeing curriculum (see the Mindfulness & Wellbeing page) that she incorporates into all of her classes. This curriculum encourages students to engage with various wellbeing practices outside of class throughout the term. Students keep a log of their practices and experiences and, at term’s end, write a reflection about the value of these practices, how their views and experiences of wellbeing have changed, and how they hope to cultivate wellbeing personally and collectively. For teachers interested in adapting this curriculum, Castillo has also developed a Teacher’s Toolkit to help support wellbeing practices within the classroom.
A large part of Castillo’s emergent, holistic approach to cultivating student wellbeing involves supporting teachers’ wellbeing. With Kris Peterson (UCI Anthropology), she has founded Balance and Insight, which facilitates mindfulness and wellbeing workshops for people working in higher education. The workshops and retreats integrate participants’ intellectual, emotional, embodied, and spiritual lives through practices such as meditation, yoga, and embodied rest and reflection.
Works Cited
Busiek, Julia. “Got Climate Anxiety? This UC Course Can Help.” University of California, March 19, 2024. https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/got-climate-anxiety-uc-course-can-help.
Burns, Carla, and Rotterdam, Charlotte. Naropa’s Contemplative Traditions. CACE Website. Naropa University, Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education, 2021. https://youtu.be/Em5_AcG8ZPs.
Epel, Elissa, and Jyoti Mishra. “Climate Resilience.” Climate Resilience: Transforming Climate Distress to Action, 2024. https://www.climateresilience.online.
hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge, 1994.