This is an article I wrote for the Westlake Picayune, a subsidiary of the Austin-American Statesman, while I was the Marketing & Communications Intern at Wild Basin Creative Research Center through St. Edward’s University during the summer of 2013.
Holistic Health Explored in Upcoming Wild Basin Summer Course
Friday, July 5th, 2013
Anna Hall, Westlake Picayune Contributing Writer
The Master’s in Counseling program at St. Edward’s University is hosting a class this summer at the Wild Basin Creative Research Center. The course meets once a week and explores holistic practices in mental health. Vagdevi V. Meunier, an associate professor of counseling and a licensed clinical psychologist, is teaching this class as an advanced elective in the counseling program. A native of India, Meunier has been a psychotherapist for 30 years, a psychologist for 15 years and has been a student of yoga, Ayurveda and mindfulness in her personal and professional life.
Managing chronic stress is an issue she has seen in the mental health field with the best results yielding towards holistic practices.
“Counseling professionals are beginning to integrate holistic treatments such as meditation, yoga, acupuncture, qi gong, and other complimentary and alternative medical approaches in an effort to help clients achieve wellness and health without having to reply on prescription medications,” Vagdevi states in her class syllabus.
The class has guest speakers for the first half of the semester who specialize in a variety of holistic healing modalities from Ayurveda, Yoga, Qi Gong, Homeopathy and herbal medicine, and body centered psychotherapies.
Eileen Priya, a licensed homeopath, gave an informative talk on various homeopathic remedies and how they work to relieve physical ailments from simple conditions such as stomach pain or fever to more complex issues like thyroid or intestinal problems.
Kay Hutchinson, certified clinical qi gong practitioner and acupressurist, led the class in several qi gong exercises. Kay has more than 20 years experience as an educator, more than 10 years as a master qi gong practitioner. Qi gong is an ancient Chinese healing art that is more than 4,000 years old. Hutchinson describes qi gong as the practice of working with, or training, the energy of the body. Qi gong is comprised of a series of breathing exercises and poses that help cultivate energy (qi) to better manage stress and emotions.
What Vagdevi enjoys most about teaching this class is the natural setting at Wild Basin. It seems to have a calming and inspirational effect on her students.
“It feels effortless,” she explained, “I don’t have to tell them [the students] what to read.”
Her students are inspired to explore on their own. They are not just learning but are practicing what they are going to be teaching – they can encourage others because they already have experienced the benefits of holistic techniques that work.
{Original posting for reference}
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