Tier 1 Scenario 1: The Hospital

An increasing number of hospitals are integrating Complementary Health Care Modalities into their patient services - driven by competition, rising costs, consumer demand, and research. While working on your nursing degree you decided to also complete the THM Program. After finding a placement in a local branch of ABC Regional Hospitals you learn that your employer is planning on incorporating a Wellness component as part of an expansion of Recovery and Physical Therapy services. The emphasis of the Wellness component of the new comprehensive recovery program will be to reduce patient pain medication, enhance patient stress management skills, and hopefully shorten patient recovery times. You announce to your employer your additional certification as a certified Stress Management Consultant and apply to be a member of the new initiative.

Tier 1 Scenario 2: The Doctor’s Office

In recent years Dr. D and her medical colleagues have been serving an increasing number of Baby-boomers in their practice. The practitioners of BB&C Medical Offices have learned that Baby-boomers want more medical information, are more insistent on being active participants in their health care, and are more inclined to be seeking wellness lifestyle advice. While working on your BS Degree in Physical Therapy you also completed the THM Program. You are now working for BB&C Medical Offices and completing your Masters Degree program. You have personally experienced the benefits of the techniques learned in the THM Program and know that they will benefit many of your patients. You proposed to your employer that your THM training be integrated into the Physical Therapy department to provide a wider range of information, therapeutic exercises, and self-help techniques.

Tier 1 Scenario 3: The Psychiatrist

In recent years Dr. P has come to have concerns about the possible over use of pharmaceuticals in his practice. Dr. P knows a great deal about the physical and psychological effects of stress, the chemical changes it produces in the body, and the potentially devastating consequences should the stress become chronic.  But in all of his years of training what Dr. P did not learn was a comprehensive system of techniques that his patients can use to spontaneously activate their body’s own coping and healing functions without the use of drugs. He reads an article about the Paradise Valley Community College Teaching Healing Meditation & Stress Management Program and decides to visit the college web site, search for the program, and get more information. Even before completing the THM Program Dr. P can already see his patients benefiting from the breathing, body movement, and meditation techniques that he has prescribed for them. Dr. P also decided to hire a graduate of the Program to work in his office.

Tier 1 Scenario 4: The Retirement Community

You have your Masters Degree in Recreation Management and work with a large retirement community. Your success in your career has a lot to do with the fact that you completed the THM Program while finishing up your Masters Degree. Once you settled into your job you realized you were in a position to do something really different for the community residence. In addition to the usual card, board, and table games you would create a comprehensive program of integrated activities including some from the Eastern traditions like tai chi, qigong, and various meditation techniques for stress management. It wasn’t long before residents began raving about how good they were feeling, how much better they were sleeping, and how much calmer they have felt since joining your new programs.

Tier 2 Scenario 1: The Yoga Instructor

O is a Certified Yoga Instructor who gets to teach part-time. She would love to quit her regular 9-5 job and go full-time with her own home-based business. But there are yoga classes all over the place and what O has been looking for is a niche, something that will set her business apart. A friend tells her about the PVC THM Program and she decides to check it out. O decides, ‘OK! Two more years to complete all the renovations on the house, begin networking some potential clients, complete the THM Program in two years or less, and I’ll be ready to go for it!’

Tier 2 Scenario 2: The Massage Therapist

J and K are married and working on their Massage Therapist certifications. They have a dream plan of starting their own business tailored to serving the needs of  ‘upper middle and upper class’ clients. They know that they will have to offer something more than a great massage to be successful. They wonder what that ‘something more’ could be. J reads an article referencing research that indicates that there has been a consistent increase in the number of upper level managers and executives seeking medical attention for stress related illnesses. K happened across brochure about the PVC THM Program. They agree that for them the THM Certification Program represents that ‘something more’ and they see a clearer path to accomplishing their dream plan.

Tier 2 Scenario 3: A Second Career

W took a few college classes on social work years ago but ended up spending the past 24 years working for one major corporation or another, three to be exact. She has raised a family, ended a marriage, and grown tired of the constant tension, negativity, and competition of her gainful but unfulfilling career. First thing in the morning and last thing at night she can hear the chorus in her head, ‘It is time for a change!’ Of course, then comes the question, ‘What?’ One of the things that has made W successful is her ability to work well with people. She has always had the ability to bring calm and clarity to a situation. She relates that gift to her early interest in social work and realizes she would be good at whatever she does that utilizes that talent. The son of a friend is enrolled in the THM Program and the friend happens to mention it to W. A few weeks later, W has a two-year plan for a second career. She is going to tighten her network of professional contacts, compile an archive of the things she has learned about sources of executive stress and the consequences and cost of poor coping skills, and after graduation she will start her own business as a Professional Executive Stress Management Consultant. 

Tier 2 Scenario 4: Who Would Have Thought?

Anyone who knew him could tell you that H didn’t have a clue what he wanted to do with his life. So far, what he had done had amounted to very little good or of lasting consequence and quite a bit of bad that had lingering effects. For H getting an education was not just about getting a good job. It was mostly about finding himself. H loved to workout and spent much of his time at a local community college fitness center. He would watch students in their martial arts and other Eastern-based exercise programs and decided to take a Qigong class. He was hooked immediately and a semester later learned about the Teaching Healing Meditation and Stress Management Certification Program while taking a tai-chi class. Two summers later H spent two glorious weeks in China exploring opportunities to study and train. Two years later, H completed his THM Certification and was on his way back to China to study Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Who would have thought?

Tier 3 Scenario 1: It Suddenly Went Pop!

One of our special interest students was about 3-4 weeks into a Qigong class learning an exercise called Twisting. The student has been suffering from back pain for several years and had tried several options for relief including Chiropractics. While performing the Qigong exercise called Twisting on this particular evening he heard and felt a sudden and gentle ‘pop!’ in his back. The next class he shared with the instructor that after that class his back pain was gone and had not returned. It was the most relief he had experienced in years. The student became a dedicate Qigong practitioner.

Tier 3 Scenario 2: The Challenge

It was a Shaolin Kung Fu class that first made him take on the challenge of controlling his body. He was good at a lot of things but BODY-mind coordination was not one of them. Improvement in each new technique earned him acknowledgment of his achievements and his confidence began to grow. One day the class was practicing rolling and he executed the technique so well that the entire class broke out in applauses. He was on his way to facing and winning the challenge. But actually, it was the Qigong classes that made the difference. It is a comprehensive system of moving meditation that provided a clear method for him to practice integration of body-mind-spirit and improve his kung fu at the same time. He went on to earn his first sash marking his personal victory. Felt good!

Tier 3 Scenario 3: Kinetic, Auditory, and Visual Meditation

She had practiced her own personal system of meditation for years but this sounded really interesting. The catalogue said that there were three different types or doorways into meditation – and they were being taught at the local community college. How could she pass it up? After completing the three meditation classes and a few other special interest activity and wellness classes she realized that she had already completed most of the requirements for the THM Program and decided she might as well go all the way.

Tier 3 Scenario 4: Finding Something You Can Stick With

It is funny how things happen! He had a little martial arts training, a need for a little more guidance and direction in his life, and something else that was and is hard to label. By chance he found it at his local community college a few miles from his home. There was something about those Eastern traditions like Kung Fu, Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong, meditation and all that ‘exotic stuff’ that ‘spoke to him’. Semester after semester he enrolled and repeated the classes. And he took every class that his primary instructor would teach. Years went by and then a decade, and in what seemed like a flash he was teaching some of those very classes as an adjunct faculty at that same community college.