Lisy Holloway

Applied Healing Arts
January 2006

"About four years ago, my husband and I volunteered in an AIDS hospice program in Puerto Rico. We loved the people and the country and the opportunity to serve. It was an amazing experience. So after we returned to the States and it was time for me to decide what I would do in life, I knew that I wanted to serve people and the community. But how? I also wanted to include my other passions in a career - art and working with children.

"I discussed possibilities for the future with a friend who's a student at Tai Sophia. 'How can I bring together the things I love and want to do?' I wondered. Then my friend said the magic words: 'Why don't you try a master's program at the Institute?' When I looked at the Applied Healing Arts program, I felt that here was the environment that would help me bring together the things I love in a fruitful way.

"I've developed a vision of a preschool or daycare center that embodies what I'm learning, and that brings it to children and their parents and the wider community. The whole process in the AHA program is helping me make my grand vision concrete, to "chunk it down" into pieces and make it doable. My ultimate dream is to establish this cutting-edge daycare center here at Tai Sophia.

 "Now I'm six months into the program, and I've found that it's not only serving my original goal, it's serving me in even broader ways. I'm applying what I learn to all aspects of life. It's helping me to 'think large,' and to shift the way I language what I experience and the actions I choose. When I'm struggling to shift my way of thinking and my language, I'll hear a student who's three years into the program say something really beautiful, and I'll think, 'That person started where I am.'"

Ivor Edmonds

Applied Healing Arts
January ‘07

My name is Ivor Edmonds. My spiritual family knows me as Ibsahu Ma’akmaha. I am a Reiki Master, a Qi Gong Master, and an Initiate of the Dogon Priesthood. The photo above is a picture of my wife and me on our wedding day.

Two Master Healers that I studied with for years told me that they were hindered by not having a graduate degree and met resistance in their endeavors. Their financial realities were also imbalanced because of lack of education. This led me to an MBA program that turned out to be disharmonious with my personality and destiny. So I left that program early and continued to search for a graduate education that would enhance me spiritually and professionally. My search was over when I found Tai Sophia.

Being a student is enjoyable. The environment is welcoming, and I am challenged constantly. Some of the greatest things I’ve learned have been through the experiences of my classmates. The New Science, New Thinking course spoke to me because it constantly questioned my assumptions. We were also exposed to new technologies and principles that are truly extraordinary and applicable to my life. Wisdom is the main course of study in the Applied Healing Arts program. Also you will be enhanced financially as well as spiritually if that’s what you seek.

My experience as a student extends primarily to my wife. Balancing and enhancing our relationship has been a major benefit. These teachings also extend to my professional endeavors in Massachusetts and to my activities with the Dogon Priesthood, helping to live more wisely and improve my decision making. The format of the Applied Healing Arts program has been perfect to fit into my family, social, professional, and spiritual life. There is enough stimulus to foster my growth, but not so much that I become overwhelmed or overworked.

I care for the people at Tai Sophia, I find the energy irresistible, and I adore the campus.

Eric Sommerville

Applied Healing Arts
January 2005

"What's changed?" Eric Somerville answers that question with a radiant grin. "Everything. And it's been only a few weeks!" (He began the Applied Healing Arts program in January 2005.) "Even the process of writing a paper has changed. For the first time I've really enjoyed it - I used to procrastinate and worry when I had a writing assignment. This time, I applied AHA ideas as I wrote the paper. I designed the framework and then let it flow. When I began to be negative about what I'd done, I walked away for a while and regained my perspective."

Some of the biggest changes are showing up in Eric's work at the Mandarin Oriental Spa in Washington, D.C., where he is spa supervisor. He reports a significant shift in his relationships with clients and coworkers. On his first day back at work after the opening week of the AHA program, a colleague commented that he looked different, seemed "more relaxed, calm, peaceful." He agrees that he did indeed feel that way. "Now I'm more centered and more present - present in each moment. And that means I can give clients the service they require."

Eric tells about a shift in his relationship with a coworker whom, he says, "I sometimes called 'difficult.'" Now he is able to see and appreciate her for the unique person that she is. "Judging her by her words, I had limited her. Once I saw her anew and more fully, our working relationship began to grow - and so has the quality of our work. From AHA I'm more compassionate and aware of the needs of others," he says. "At first, the practice of pointing to another person and saying 'I'm pointing to myself' didn't make sense to me. Now I understand that to cherish another person is really to cherish myself, and that to do good things for others is to do good for me.

"One of the amazing things that's come out of the program is the effect I can have on others by just practicing what I'm learning and by talking about my own experiences - I'm teaching others without teaching. For instance, there's David, probably in his forties, who's in an exercise class I lead in Bethesda. The other day he said to me, 'I'm practicing being more aware of myself, and I realize I've created "stories" about situations and people that aren't based on fact.' David had heard me talk about recognizing my stories and then applied it to his own life.

"It's my intention to decrease suffering and bring more joy into the world," Eric says. "This program is helping me do it."

Bessie Tillar

Applied Healing Arts
January 2005

About a year ago, Bessie Tillar found herself at a

crossroads. She realized that although business was her specialty, she felt a call to be of greater assistance to people in their personal lives. “The question was how,” she says. “What could I do to help alleviate suffering in the world?” Out of these queries came a series of discovery and self-exploration programs, through which she aimed to “get in touch” with herself so as to assist others.

“My beloved friend Larry called me one day to say that I should check out Tai Sophia,” Bessie says. “He knew I was entertaining the idea of graduate school, either for healing or filmmaking. I read about Tai Sophia and the applied healing arts program online, and I was impressed. And when I saw that a new class was starting that Sunday, I was inspired: I typed my admissions letter on the spot, hand delivered it, and had an interview.

“Before I came to Tai Sophia, I never thought you could merge science and poetry — that happens here. This program is cutting-edge, and it’s right for me. I didn’t want simply to read books and do reports; I wanted to explore myself and become a healing presence. Here, I’ve learned practices that have helped me do just that, practices such as becoming an observer. Now, when I begin to lose my capacity to observe, I can take ‘effective action’: I can take the conversation out of my head and ask, ‘What is really going on here?’

“I’ve also come to appreciate the power of language, which has important implications for me as well as everyone around me. I’m learning to really be with people, to listen to them, and allow them to be who they are without judging.

“I’m grateful for my experience here, and I will always be in the ‘tribe’ — the community at Tai Sophia.”