Research Interests

• Ethnic identity development 
• Acculturative stress 
• Intersectional identities 
• The cultural unconscious 
• Critical spiritual pedagogy 
• Culturally Centered Music and Imagery and Guided Imagery and Music 

Biography

Sangeeta Swamy, Ph.D., LCMHC, MT-BC is Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Integral Counseling Program at CIIS. As a queer, Indian American educator, Dr. Swamy specializes in culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy, scholarship, and supervision and has taught undergraduates and graduate counseling, music, and expressive arts therapy students for 15 years. As a therapist, Dr. Swamy has worked with children, adolescents, and adults in group homes, outpatient settings, and is currently in private practice (visit her website to learn more). Through her research with Indian adults, she developed Culturally Centered Music and Imagery (CCMI), the first music therapy framework of its kind for minoritized clients to access the wisdom and power of the cultural unconscious for support, awareness, and insight. She is currently a Level III advanced trainee in Guided Imagery and Music, a method developed by Helen Bonny, one of the first therapists in the 1970s to research the use of music in psychedelic-assisted therapies. Dr. Swamy has also studied shamanism with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and the Power Path, is an experienced meditator and maintains a daily two-hour Vipassana practice in the tradition of Goenka, which she began in 1999. She also practices astanga yoga and has studied with Richard Freeman and K. Pattabhi Jois.

Education

B.M. in violin performance, Oberlin College 

M.M. in violin performance, the Cleveland Institute of Music 

M.A. in Transpersonal Psychology with a concentration in Music Therapy, Naropa University

Ph.D. in Expressive Arts Therapies, Lesley University 

Awards & Distinctions

• Cultural Arts Grant, Valparaiso University and City of Valparaiso 
• Co-keynote Speaker. "The power of lived experience in music therapy research, practice, and scholarship." Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Music Therapy Association.
• Keynote Speaker. "Cultivating Mind, Body and Spirit: Six Qualities of the Culturally Responsive Healer." Integrative Therapeutic Arts Conference.
• Keynote Speaker. "Music Therapy in the Global Age: Three Keys to Successful Culturally Centered Music Therapy and Related Disciplines." Keynote Lecture. New Zealand Music Therapy Conference. Victoria University. 
• Research Fellowship, Lesley University 
• Chamber Music America Rural Residency Grant 
• Arts Corps Grant, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts 
• Tanglewood Music Center Fellowship 
• Louis and Annette Kaufman Award for Chamber Music, Oberlin College 
• Coleman National Chamber Music Competition, 1st prize 
• Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, 3rd prize

Courses

Multicultural Counseling and the Family

Music and Consciousness 

Clinical Practice Lab 

Transpersonal Psychotherapy 

Child Therapy

Publications

Swamy, S. (2021). Queering Karma and Cosmos: My Journey as an Indian American Music Therapist in the United States. In S. Hadley’s (Ed.) Sociocultural Identities of Music Therapists. Dallas, TX: Barcelona Publishers.

Webb, A. & Swamy, S. (2020). Introduction to the Social Justice Focus. Music Therapy Perspectives, 38(2), 100-101.

Swamy, S. & Kim, S. (2019). Culturally Responsive Academic Supervision in Music Therapy. In M. Forinash (Ed.) Music Therapy Supervision. Dallas, TX: Barcelona Publishers.

Swamy, S. (2018). Music, Myth and Motherland: Culturally Centered Music & Imagery. Qualitative Inquiries in Music Therapy: A Monograph Series, 13.

Swamy, S. (2018). May I Walk in Beauty: Reflections on the Indigenous Writings of Carolyn Kenny. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 18(3).

Swamy, S. (2017). Music Therapy in the South Asian American Diaspora. In (Eds.) X. Tan & A. Whitehead-Pleaux. Cultural Intersections in Music Therapy: Music, Health, and the Person. Gilsum, NH: Barcelona Publishers.

Swamy, S. (2014). Music Therapy in the Global Age: Three Keys to Successful Culturally Centered Practice. The New Zealand Journal of Music Therapy (12), 34-57.

Swamy, S. (2011). “No, she doesn’t know anything about cultural differences!”: Culturally Centered Music Therapy Supervision. Music Therapy Perspectives. 29(2), 133-137.

Swamy, S. (August, 2011). Temple of Ancient Knowing: Music Therapy Portraits of Globalized Indian Identity. (Doctoral Dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3561400).