Practicum Students Conduct Over 100 Wellness Consultations
Campus residents are now a bit healthier thanks to the health consultations offered by students in the undergraduate major in physiology and health.
Dr. Liis Mattik, teacher
As part of a new practicum course, the students have conducted over 100 consultations since last September. The students offer the consultations at the Integrative Wellness Center in the Women’s Peace Palace under the supervision of Jim Davis, DO, and Maharishi AyurVeda® physician (vaidya) Dinesh Gyawali.
The students have learned the art of the Maharishi Self-Pulse program, in which the wellness consultant detects imbalances in the physiology and gets a sense for the person’s unique constitution by feeling his or her pulse.
Dr. Davis, who oversees the appointment, Vaidya Gyawali, and the student work as a team to prescribe changes in diet and daily routine, as well as herbs, aroma therapy, or whatever is required to address the imbalances and foster health. Appointments usually take 45 minutes to an hour.
“This is a major accomplishment to be able to provide students this level of practice,” said Liis Mattik, PhD, director of the major in health and physiology and teacher of the pulse diagnosis courses. “I am very happy with the students’ proficiency with pulse diagnosis.”
Students can take up to four months of practicum. Each month they also write up case studies about different conditions and how they can be treated.
The wellness center provides the students with a foundation so they can open their own practices as Maharishi AyurVeda health consultants after they graduate, or they can continue their health education by attending medical, naturopathic, or chiropractic school, as well as a range of other opportunities.
“Practicum has been the most rewarding part of my physiology and health degree,” said Abigail Neal, who has enrolled in the practicum course for three straight months. “I’ve gained confidence, practical experience, and a deep lasting integration of the science of Maharishi AyurVeda. The confidence gained is in areas of communication, pulse, and the ability to apply the knowledge with precision for each unique constitution.”
Student Peter Chojnowski is one of the students who has benefited from having a consultation. He said he didn’t have any particular health problem but was eager to receive recommendations that would help restore balance, since that’s the key to good health.
“I got some useful suggestions,” he said. “They recommended herbs and spices that I can put on my food.”
“The student interns are very knowledgeable,” said Dr. Davis, who has been incorporating Maharishi AyurVeda into his practice for 25 years. “I’ve been very impressed with their ability to engage the patients and make meaningful contributions to their health and wellness.”
Jim Karpen is a writer by trade, with a special focus on technology. He has a Ph.D. in English and studied the impact of the computerization of language. In addition to writing for iPhone Life magazine, he has also been writing a column about the Internet for the Iowa Source since 1994. He also edits and publishes the MUM Review.