Health & Wellness

Marine Corps veteran Bre Butler discovered a path to healing and transformation through CIIS' Integrative Health Studies program after five years of active duty service.

NOTE: This episode features guided participatory rest practices that include moments of silence at the beginning and end of the conversation.

Restoring your body, mind, and spirit amid change is an act of courage, empowerment, and hope. Drawing wisdom from yoga philosophy and her many years of teaching experience, yoga teacher and activist Octavia Raheem offers motivation and guidance to restore ourselves through various forms of change in our lives. Her practice comes to life in her latest book, Pause, Rest, Be, where she provides simple restorative yoga poses and offers short teachings and reflections to see us through times of ending and beginning as well as liminal or transitional space.

In this episode, somatic and transpersonal psychotherapist Deanna Jimenez joins Octavia for a conversation on how slowing down, stillness, and deeper connection to our own transitions empowers us to move through personal and collective shifts with more grace as well as what it means to navigate change with presence and courage.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on April 13th, 2022. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

An interview with Drama Therapy alumna Grace Walcott about her documentary, “River of Life LGBTQ+”

CIIS Professor Jason Butler discusses his new book on the potential, pitfalls, and guidelines for psychedelic medicine and care in treating mental illness.

Alumna Kevonya Elzia tells CIIS about her journey from the Integrative Health Studies and Transformative Leadership programs to being a community health nurse and health, equity and justice facilitator.

Fariha Róisín is a multidisciplinary artist and author who was born in Ontario, Canada and raised in Sydney, Australia. She is now based in Los Angeles, CA. As a Muslim queer Bangladeshi, she is interested in the margins, liminality, otherness, and the mercurial nature of being. Fariha’s latest book Who Is Wellness For? explores the ways in which the progressive health industry has appropriated and commodified global healing traditions. She reveals how wellness culture has become a luxury good built on the wisdom of Black, brown, and Indigenous people while both ignoring and excluding them.

In this episode, Fariha is joined by CIIS Associate Professor of Anthropology and Social Change Targol Mesbah in an engaging conversation that explores the commodification and appropriation of wellness through the lens of social justice and provides resources to help anyone participate in self-care regardless of race, identity, socioeconomic status, or able-bodiedness.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on July 13th, 2022. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

We all experience anxiety. Regardless of how bad it can feel, anxiety is part of what makes us human and may not necessarily be a bad thing. According to psychologist, author, and anxiety researcher Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, that uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty can be productive.

In Dr. Dennis-Tiwary's work and writing she addresses both generalized anxiety—which we all face—and anxiety disorders, when our anxious reactions and feelings prevent us from functioning effectively. In this episode, somatic and transpersonal psychotherapist Deanna Jimenez talks with Dr. Dennis-Tiwary about her latest book, Future Tense. They explore looking at anxiety in a new way to offer hope to those suffering from it along with a way forward to better managing anxiety to spark creativity and joy for a more productive life.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on June 2nd, 2022. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Facilitator and transformational coach Judy Wilkins-Smith believes the key to transformation lies in decoding the patterns embedded in your life—unconscious patterns that you inherited from your family system. In her latest book, Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint, Judy shares a variety of strategies and practices to help people detect hidden and multigenerational patterns, recognize their purpose, and then break the cycles, supporting their ability to create an extraordinary life.

In this episode, licensed psychologist and CIIS professor of Community Mental Health Elizabeth Markle joins Judy in a conversation on learning how to break free from the patterns that hold us back.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on June 15th, 2022. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Do you fear that growing old means being trapped in a body filled with aches, pains, and losses? Many of us do—especially women. Though our youth-obsessed society is partly to blame, psychologist Susan Sands explains there is a deeper and unrecognized factor—we have never really gotten to know our bodies, to sense and feel our bodies from the inside out.

In her latest book, The Inside Story, she offers a much-needed guide for helping us understand, befriend, and support our bodies as we grow older. In this episode, Dr. Sands is joined by Integrative Health Studies Professor Meg Jordan for a conversation exploring how the powerful tools of embodiment can help you experience aging as a vital, optimistic, and transformative journey.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on April 27th, 2022. Access the transcript below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Spiritual teacher and international bestselling author Deepak Chopra believes there is an inner path to prosperity and wealth that—once charted and explored—offers access to the great riches of the universe and life’s unbounded possibilities. In his latest book Abundance: The Inner Path to Wealth, Deepak illuminates this road to success and wholeness, sharing a guide to a life of true power, prosperity, and plenty.

In this episode, Integrative Health Studies Professor Meg Jordan joins Deepak for a conversation exploring how to tap into a deeper sense of awareness to become an agent of change in your own life.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on March 17th, 2022. Access the transcript below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Finding your center when the going gets rough

Dr. Meg Jordan's new book arrives with a next-generational roadmap for addressing diversity equity, and inclusivity

Chair of the Integrative Health Program, Meg Jordan, describes her experience as an early COVID-19 testing clinician and vaccine administrator

 Consider Play, Improvisation, or Learning Something Entirely New

The CIIS Alumni Office hosted two events focused on the difficult subject of death—and how facing death can enrich your life.

A beloved counseling center on Church Street gets an important upgrade.

Created by Integrative Health Studies program faculty and staff, the guide helps patients and health coaches understand the complex world of alternative medicine.

Transformative Leadership alumna Shannon C. McQuaide designed an original yoga program for firefighters 

The National Wellness Institute recognized Dr. Jordan's contributions to the field of wellness 

CIIS Presents a Reverse Hackathon

Integrative Health Studies alum Laura Matteliano is having an impact on the world by using her skills to help others

A CIIS Integrative Health Studies M.A. grad explains how to nourish your microbiome with gut-friendly, plant-based foods.

Collaborative CIIS Research Project Helps Local Seniors

Focusing on the Breath

Dr. Elizabeth Markle's Nonprofit Addresses Need for New Support Systems in Healthcare

Doing for Others

Integrative health is an individualized model of promoting wellness that uses evidence-based strategies to reduce disease risk by adjusting lifestyle behaviors.

A study reveals the benefit of mindfulness to reduce the stress of dieters

In the Bay Area, our need for increased and better quality mental health services is urgent