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Celebrate Milestones Together
Deverick: What got you into the business of offering holistic health training? Tom: I was the urban planner for the Pike Place Market and Support Programs Director for King County’s Office of Agriculture. Those jobs were mentally stimulating, but also mentally exhausting. I felt out of balance. In 1975, I decided to study Shiatsu bodywork as a way to bring my life more into balance. In 1976, I had the vision of a school that combined natural, hands-on body therapies with natural, hands-on mind therapies. This school would certify BodyMind Holistic Health Practitioners who were trained to utilize both physical/emotional and mental/spiritual healing modalities. Since then, I have devoted my life to achieving this vision. We started our first classes in 1980. Deverick: Why do you think it’s so important to combine body and mind therapies? Tom: Because BodyMind Therapy can bring about healing that isn’t available any other way. Western medical practice separates mental health from physical health. Each realm has different training and follows different rules. Psychiatrists, for example, don’t treat physical ailments. Medical doctors don’t address mental or emotional issues, but they will prescribe Prozac for depression even though they haven’t been trained in diagnosing it. Separating mental and physical therapies is breaking down because it doesn’t work too well. Particularly with problems related to overstress, a holistic approach integrating mental and physical modalities works better than the drug focus of Western medicine. If you have chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia, for example, combining natural healing modalities such as touch, relaxation, fitness and nutrition, trance, and breathwork under the guidance of a holistic practitioner trained in all these modalities can make a big difference in your search for health. Integrating physical/emotional and mental/spiritual healing modalities makes healing more available, more absorbable, and more user-friendly. Deverick: Have you noticed greater acceptance of your work since 1985? Tom: There is much more mainstream recognition and utilization of massage, Shiatsu, breathwork, hypnotherapy, counseling, and fitness and nutrition consulting, because more people have tried them and experienced their effectiveness. Massage therapists, for example, are recognized as healthcare providers by insurance companies, and more and more medical doctors are hiring them and referring their patients to them. Deverick: What advice would you have for someone who wants to move from a mainstream career into a career in holistic health care? Tom: The opportunities are huge. I think that it’s important to sense a calling to this work. Once you sense the calling, I think that the most important thing is to begin. The need for sensitive, integrative natural healthcare practitioners keeps getting greater. I have been surprised that, in spite of greater recognition of the necessity for taking individual responsibility for creating healthy lifestyles, people need more help than ever to actually do it. Most of us are simply unable to fend off the addictive nature of unhealthy habits spawned by the high-pressure culture we’ve created. We all need support from someone who is trained to identify the directions we need to move in and help us take the tiny, doable steps we can take to move in those directions. I’ve been learning about healing since 1975, and I keep learning more every day. That’s why I love going to work. The healing process — what actually heals — is endlessly fascinating to me. I believe that learning about healing is important for everyone. The calling you may sense inside you is the call to learn how healing happens. The way you put what you learn into practice is up to you. We need healing sensitive people in all occupations. The trainings at the Academy are arranged so that you begin to practice what you are learning very quickly. Through the case study programs that are a part of each training, you practice while you are still in school. Upon certification in each modality, you go into professional practice in that modality. Then you come back to get certified in the next modality you are drawn to while you are practicing the modality you are already certified in. You continue learning as you continue practicing on the "front lines of healing" where the motivation and inspiration levels are very high. Deverick: What lies ahead for your work? Tom: The Academy continues to grow and reach out to those who are called to integrative, holistic healthcare careers. People are becoming more and more aware of what "holistic" really means. You can’t do just one modality and call it holistic. For true effectiveness, mental/spiritual modalities must be integrated with physical/emotional modalities. The Academy is nationally unique in doing just that. We are now developing a national presence so that those who are called to do this integrative work will be able to find us. Within the next year, we will offer learning programs on the Internet, and we will publish some of our training modules in book, audio, and video formats. Deverick: What important issues face us now? Tom: We are facing a crisis in healthcare that is not being addressed by government or the medical establishment. Our healthcare system is one of the least effective and most costly in the industrialized world. Individually and nationally, healthcare is not now the priority it needs to become. The "alternative" healthcare community needs to grow and take more responsibility. The New Times’ community has a greater awareness of these issues than other groups. In a way, each person reading this article has great potential influence because of his or her level of awareness of health issues. Our air could be cleaner. Our food could be more nutritious. Our entertainment could be less violent. Our public schools could do a better job of teaching health fundamentals. Everyone in this country could easily have health insurance. We can make that happen. We can get the tools to safeguard our own health. We can strengthen our connections to each other. September 11 made the importance of these connections crystal clear. The New Times and its community of readers has a powerful role to play in the future health of this nation. |
During
the past 16 years (200 months, but who’s counting?), The
New Times has built a community of readers through its focus
on healing and spirituality. Many in this community have made
these focus areas their life’s work. For this anniversary
issue, I spoke with Tom Johnston, M.Ed., L.M.P., founder and
director of the