Bio

Director of Programs

Patty Nagle, director of programs, collaborates with Aaron Stern to guide the design, facilitation, and operation of Academy programs to ensure their alignment with the organization’s mission and pedagogy. Patty completed two Leading by Being trainings, and now oversees the Academy’s leadership initiatives and the many community programs offered as a part of the core curriculum. These include Evenings of Exploration and intensive workshops such as the Holotropic Breathwork Retreat.

Patty holds a BS in exercise physiology from Penn State, and is a licensed massage therapist and certified wilderness first responder. Her life work has been dedicated to moving people out of their comfort zones, stepping into the unknown, discovering something new, and accomplishing something they didn’t think was possible.

She completed an 8-month outdoor leadership training in Colorado before moving to Santa Fe. In addition to building outdoor skills such as rafting, rock climbing and backcountry skiing, she developed her capacity for facilitating group dynamics and transformation. She is the former director of the Upaya Zen Center where she helped inaugurate the residency program and received training in guiding people in transformative wilderness experiences. For eight years, she served as operations manager at Bioneers, an innovative, educational nonprofit that highlights breakthrough solutions for restoring people and planet. In her early adulthood, she was an accomplished triathlete, completing 6 endurance triathlons—including 2 IRONMAN races—and 8 marathons. She also designed and led triathlon workshops and women’s retreats on Cape Cod, MA.

Patty is a member of a Jungian study group exploring Jung’s concept of individuation (or wholeness), which she finds similar to the Academy’s focus on developing one’s unique voice, and is working towards her Holotropic Breathwork certification.