Check out the article by clicking the Wired link below!

 
At NHI’s San Francisco Campus, all of the Staff and Faculty post their responses to the question on a bulletin board for everyone to see and to remind everyone to keep the question in the back of their minds.  Throughout all of our campuses, the question is used to build emotional intelligence and is an amazing way to learn about ourselves and our peers.  You can check out a video of why some of our students chose massage therapy on our website.  Here are just a few responses from NHI Staff and Graduates when we asked, Why Do You Do What You Do?

Emily Devenny (SF Student Life and Career Coordinator): I get to be inspired every day by students and grads who are following their passion and help them create their own paths towards work they love.

Kamaljit Bains (NHI Graduate): Creating space for more happiness, freedom and love… and Helping people let go of past time energy so that they can be fully present.

Lisa Mendiola-Flores (Emeryville Faculty): For the simple rush of smiling from the inside out.

Since Tony Deifell originated this question at Burning Man in 2004, it has spread across the internet and people not only love to answer the question themselves, but to share the joy of hearing the responses of people they care about.  This Thanksgiving, instead of the age-old “What are you thankful for?” why not ask everyone at the table, “WDYDWYD?”

Jason Daniels & Marla Aird of Financial Planning, Marz Jaffe of Placement, and Doonam LeSon of the Business Office greet visitors to the new campus at 59th & Doyle.

The National Holistic Institute campus in Emeryville has a new home.  After 23 years in its former location, NHI Emeryville is now located in its very own building just one block east.

The morning of April 23 saw the final classes at the old campus with the afternoon classes inaugurating the freshly appointed new classrooms across the street just 30 minutes later.  Students, staff, and clinic clients have expressed rave reviews!

With the new Emeryville campus and the launch of NHI’s 400-hour Advanced Neuromuscular Massage Therapist program (read article), we’ve completed two of our three 2010 resolutions (read article) in less than 4 months.  Stay tuned for progress on our third, but certainly not final, goal this year.  Until then, enjoy these pictures of the new campus.

Admissions Supervisor Raquel Rodriguez welcomes visitors at the reception desk.

Dean of Students Ron Peat tries to figure out where to put the last few remaining boxes.

Teachers India Harville & Lisa Mendiola-Flores settle into the new Teachers' Office.

For the holidays this year, the National Holistic Institute Emeryville Campus again invited seniors from the Emeryville Senior Center to come and enjoy a free massage from our students during our Holiday Senior Center Day.  Group 16 students provided relaxing and therapeutic Swedish massages to 30 senior attendees!  Lisa Mendiola-Flores supervised clinic again this year, and she made everything go wonderfully smoothly.

Student Life & Career Coordinator Aviana Lynn heard from many seniors that the students did an excellent job, and all clients seemed relaxed and happy after their massages.  A couple of them even went so far as to write a thank you note on the dry-erase board in the Student Resource Center.

NHI provided holiday eggnog, cider, and cookies, which many of the seniors enjoyed while chatting with each other after their massages.  The morning was a great success!

We look forward to keeping this NHI holiday tradition going in years to come!

Last Thursday, National Holistic Institute enjoyed educating 50 exceptional high school students from all over the nation about the benefits of massage therapy.  These students came to us as part of the National Youth Leadership Forum (NYLF).

As a group, they unite annually to hear from inspirational speakers, listen to lectures from college professors, and take tours of prestigious colleges.  We’re honored that these 50 health-care minded students elected to visit NHI as one of their top choices over the many other Bay Area schools.

John Caguin led the day with a presentation about what NHI teaches.  Lisa Mendiola-Flores followed with a lesson in shiatsu.  “It’s a great sight to see 26 shiatsu mats lined up and occupied by youth leaders from all across the country,” Caguin witnessed.   

This was day 5 of 10 for NYLF visitations to colleges all over the Bay Area.  One student summed up the experience by declaring, “This is the best place we’ve been so far!”  Let’s hope we hold that position!

Last week marked the beginning of a six-week, 15-hour Intro to Massage series with Lisa Mendiola-Flores for a select group of Emeryville High School Seniors.  Five students of the Target Success Academy (an Emeryville after-school enrichment program) and their chaperone, Ms. Moore, boarded the Emery-Go-Round after school which dropped them right at our doorstep. Lisa only thought she was excited; she says she’s never seen or felt such excitement from a new group of students!  

This 1^st class was a great success.  By the end of the 2.5 hrs, they performed both a chair massage sequence and tai chi!!  They were all very excited to go home and share what they had learned with friends and family. 

Over their 15 hours here at NHI they will have dabbled in some chair massage, Shiatsu, Potent Points, and hand and foot massage.  Additionally they will be introduced to the basics including body mechanics and bodywork standards.