At NHI, we try, whenever possible, to practice what we preach and live lives with awareness around activities that promote a healthy lifestyle and overall well-being.  With the speed of the lives many of us lead these days, the opportunities to really slow down to “smell the roses” and take notice of “one’s self” seem to be fewer and fewer.

This past summer, the Students and Staff at the NHI SF Campus were encouraged to make time to do this through participating in some fun organized activities on and off campus as part of the NHI Summer of Wellness.  It was a great success and was brought to a close with a 5-mile hike, yoga and meditation in Muir Woods.

Here’s a glimpse into the experiences of those who participated:

Izabela:  ”As a child I always loved the great outdoors! Poland is a country of unusual natural beauty. It has majestic mountains, fantastic sea coast, and countless hidden lakes not to mention Bialowieza Forest- the largest remaining part of the immense primeval forest that once covered the European Plain.  There is a connection between Bialowieza and Muir Woods.

Even though those forests look different they bring up similar feelings of peace and awe. Awe of something so beautiful and ancient that once was abundant and then was almost lost. When you are there, you forget about your daily life, you reconnect with your roots and become transformed. It was a true pleasure to share this experience with my NHI community. Thank you to all who came and made it a day to remember forever!”

Kamaljit: “A 7 mile hike through the lovely redwoods, yoga at the half way mark, meditating in a clearing with the sun warming us, feeling blissfully tired at the end and knowing I’d sleep great that night – my idea of heaven. That was the hike through Muir woods, with the good company and the near perfect weather, I couldn’t have hoped for a nicer way to spend my Saturday morning.”

Joan: “We were very lucky because at the start of the day everything was fogged in, but as we ascended into the trees and up the mountain the sky cleared and blue appeared. We enjoyed sharing stories along the way and after the first third of the hike Izabela, the instructor who organized the event, lead us in some group meditation and stretches among the trees. Before we starting our decent back down to the park entrance everyone stopped and pulled out food to satisfy our hungry appetites.

NHI has a great community spirit and organizes wonderful events for the students to participate in outside of the classroom. This was an amazing day and a wonderful experience to meet and talk to fellow students.”

Laura: “The Muir Woods hike was so much fun! It was beautiful and peaceful and it made my body feel great! Thank you for being such a great leader, Izabela! I am so very local, and yet I don’t usually get to do hikes like that; 4 hours and all those stairs. Thanks for all the motivation and inspiration!”

Haven’t you heard??  Wellness is in!!!  You read about it, see it practiced by others, talk about it, and you may even dream about it (“Someday I’ll….”). So, how does one get past the “I’m-too-busy” or “I-don’t-have-time” syndrome and actually put “wellness” into action?                                                                                               

At the National Holistic Institute SF Campus, this past summer was designated “The Summer of Wellness,” a fun, interactive campus experience designed to bring about greater personal awareness and ownership of realistic, healthier habits. 

Everyday at NHI, some level of inspiration is brewing, simply through the daily exchanges of a typical day on campus.  Izabela Rapacz (NHI teacher/mentor) has been known to have inspired more than a few at NHI with her passion for making physical activity enjoyable and attainable, so her idea to integrate one thing that we feel we all do so naturally, “inspiring others,” with some healthy fun couldn’t have been more openly received.

July’s focus was Physical Fitness, August’s-Nutrition, and September’s will be Mindfulness.  With three weekly announced “tips of the week” and one specific exercise/physical movement encouraged be performed at the drop of a weekly “code word” (frog, circles, etc.) it’s safe to say that there’s been greater awareness around this topic.  The inspiration kicked in as students were asked to share their personal new practices at the end of the month.

National Holistic Institute Students in SF have shared the following:

• “I carry around a bag of nutritious snacks prepared for easy snacking (sugar snap peas, carrots, nuts, seaweed, trail mix, etc).  The ‘crunch’ is so gratifying!”
• “I go to bed 30 minutes to one hour earlier.  Since I’ve been doing this, I feel more deeply rested and can focus better.”
• “I contract abdominals while in traffic, sitting at a desk, or while waiting in line.  It’s amazing how my body feels stronger when I engage my core.”
• “When I crave a soda, I just read the Nutrition Facts on the side panel; I quickly choose an alternate.  Easy.
• “I dance, and dance and dance— especially when no one’s looking!”

The buzz of wellness is certainly alive at the NHI San Francisco Campus.  While simply talking about wellness is “cake” (and we do like cake), using a fun, simple, gradual approach to practicing wellness has proven to be as “easy as pie!”  (Pie is good)!

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Desiree Pooley and Laura Trumble from the National Holistic Institute of Petaluma recently devoted their massage therapy skillset to provide complimentary chair massage at the Redwood Empire School Insurance Group in Windsor, CA.   Despite some unexpected twists, the experience was beneficial for all parties involved.  Desiree provides a summary of the event:

On site massage was awesome!  Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely some challenges but they made it all the more rewarding.  The adventure began with some confusing directions… actually they were so simple, we were the ones to complicate them Once we arrived, we unloaded the car and made sure we were presentable; NHI shirts tucked in, name tags on, no lunch stuck in our teeth, you know… the basics.  We were all prepared to give our introductions but didn’t have a chance.  As soon as we walked in the door we were greeted with big smiles and sighs of “Oh thank goodness you’re here!”  We set up our chairs, which was a challenge all on its own, set up the table area with all the NHI goodies, tried to play our lovely cd on a broken cd player which we fixed and checked the time to find out all 4 clocks in the room were waaaaayyyy wrong!  Now some may think this is a bad start, but it was great!  Maybe we’re just crazy but either way it gave us some real life experience on all the things to be prepared for and taught us how to adapt in any situation.  Bottom line - we were there, our clients were there, and that’s all we needed to provide some relaxing chair massage :) Each client was so excited to see us and bummed to get out of that chair!  So many thank you’s and smiles, meeting many different people and hearing their stories about their health, job and life in general… it was so amazing to be a part of the on site massage team that day.  I am very excited to do as much on site massage as possible and learn from every site, every client, every time.

The group was so pleased with the work that our two wonderful therapists did that they asked us back on contract for regular visits as part of their Wellness Program!

Desiree Pooley is a student at NHI Petaluma and is a therapist at Tranquility Massage and Wellness.

I am always pleased to see the reaction on people’s faces when you offer them FREE massage. There tends to be a moment of disbelief followed by complete gratitude. It is amazing how 15 minutes of compassionate skilled touch can completely change a person’s outlook for the day. It is a privilege to be a part of that.

The new Whole Foods in Santa Rosa has been designed to support public awareness and health education. The experience of offering massage there has been phenomenal on so many different levels. One of the most exciting aspects for all involved has been the opportunity to connect with a lovely community of individuals, be it the customers or Whole Foods staff. As a massage therapist it has been wonderful to make connections with individuals that are interested in health and well being from a holistic perspective, including nutrition, supplementation, energy healing, massage, stress management, etc..

As an instructor it is so fulfilling to see the students and graduates of NHI at work. While we are there we get to talk to people about massage and share our passion for therapeutic touch. One student stated as she arrived for the day that she was very nervous about talking to people and “marketing” herself. By the end of the day she had networked with several customers and even booked a massage for her private practice!

Next we will be offering a workshop at Whole Foods on the value of infant massage. Imagine what this world would be like if we all started off getting massage on a regular basis! I wonder if we could change the world one massage at a time…

~ Breanna G.
Mentor, NHI Petaluma

As the debate surrounding health insurance reform in this country moves back and forth between Congress, the White House and the courts, one thing is clear: the future of access to health care is uncertain.  In this uneasy atmosphere we need not wait helplessly on the sidelines.  It is becoming increasingly clear that each of us needs to take responsibility for our own health — we cannot be sure that medical help will be available to us when we most need it.  We can take manageable, affordable steps to improve our overall wellness and reduce the possibility of expensive, invasive, and extreme procedures or drugs.

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