Course Descriptions
Our current schedule is available here.
Searching “HHHA” in the subject column will the most up-to-date information about instructors, modalities, and times.
Contact HHHA Coordinator Amber Burke, amberburke@unm.edu, for more information about HHHA Certificate and the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training.
NUTRITION FOR HEALTH
NUTR 1110 (3 credits)
This course fosters an understanding of food as medicine and provides an overview of general concepts of nutrition, which can be applied to food choices that support a healthy lifestyle. The cultural, psychological, physiological and economic implications of food choices are explored. Often offered spring semester.
This course is required for the HHHA Certificate.
INTRODUCTION TO HEALING ARTS
HHHA 101 (3 credits)
This entirely-online class grounds students in the foundation of Holistic Health and Healing Arts, introducing a wide range of healing modalities so that students can discover what works best for them. Often offered in Fall semester and asynchronously online.
This course is required for the HHHA Certificate.
MEDITATION, CONSCIOUSNESS, and SELF-HEALING
HHHA 102 (3 credits)
This course offers introduction to meditation and related practices such as mindfulness and moving contemplative forms such as yoga and chi gong, and the relationship of these processes to healing. Each class will include experiential exercises designed to illustrate stress reduction, meditation and awareness-building tools. Home practice will also be a featured component of this class. Students will track their process through the keeping of a weekly journal and will present a final project or paper as a summary of their learning throughout the semester. This class is a requirement for the HHHA Certificate.
This course is required for the HHHA Certificate.
HATHA YOGA
HHHA 104 (3 credits)
This course, a fusion of discussions and physical yoga practices, is required for UNM Taos’s 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training, though it is also open to students who are interested in deepening their own practices and not necessarily interested in teaching. The discussions, which are supported by readings of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga, illuminate the historical and philosophical traditions underpinning modern yoga. The yoga practices are meant to increase strength and flexibility while also invoking a sense of calm vitality, and students are always encouraged to work at the intensity that serves them, and to skip or modify poses as needed. Students are expected to contribute to discussions in class and on-line, teach poses to the group, take quizzes, and complete other assignments.
This course is required for the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Diploma.
TAI-JI/QIGONG
HHHA 105 (3 credits)
This course will provide a foundation for developing a personal daily practice of meditative movement. Students will learn to cultivate traditional Taoist virtues such as acceptance, patience, and simplicity and explore how these concepts may be applied for the benefit of society. Students will practice the basics of posture, breath, stance, and movement as they pertain to a meditative martial arts practice, in the process, gaining improved balance, strength and flexibility. They will also learn self-massage and breathing techniques for the purpose of improved health and emotional well-being. Students will be expected to perform a Qigong orientated self-care sequence and perform the Taiji form “One Patch of Moonlight,” as well as to demonstrate their understanding of how Taoist principles may be useful tools in dealing with stress and conflict in real life situations.
INTRODUCTION TO MASSAGE
HHHA 106 (3 credits)
This course aims to develop the healing art of touch by teaching basic/Swedish massage, acupressure, and reflexology. Students will learn foundational anatomy and how it applies to massage sequencing, study the pathologies contraindicate massage, and develop body-reading skills. They will practice draping procedures that keep their clients comfortable throughout a massage. They will learn to embody effective body mechanics so they are relaxed as they offer massages. Students will demonstrate their knowledge through in-class exercises, presentations, and other assignments; their techniques will be evaluated by the instructor. This course applies to the HHHA Certificate as well as to Massage. Students must be 18 years old or have a GED to participate.
YOGA FOR WELLNESS
HHHA 110 (1-3 Credits)
This beginner-friendly movement class will focus on stress reduction, flexibility, and general wellbeing. Offered varying semesters, usually face-to-face.
INTRODUCTION TO ORIENTAL MEDICINE
HHHA 116 (3 credits)
This course introduces students to the history, theory, and practice of Chinese Medicine. It offers an overview of the major philosophies, both ancient and modern, underpinning this approach, while encouraging students to connect these concepts to nature and to their own experiences. Students will also explore the relationship between ancient Chinese Medicine and Modern Medicine, comparing approaches to diagnosis and treatment. Through in-class participation, reflective papers, case studies, and other assignments, students will show their understanding of the paradigms of Chinese Medicine.
DREAMS, VISIONS, AND ARTMAKING
HHHA 117 (3 credits)
Students are led on a journey of self-discovery through guided visualizations. The images and intuition students tap into serve as fodder for their own creative work. Often offered in Fall semester, face-to-face.
AYURVEDA
HHHA 118 (3 credits)
This class introduces the ancient Indian healing modality called "The Science of Life" and guides students to an awareness of their constitutions (doshas). Students learn the nutritional and lifestyle approaches that can help create greater energetic balance. Often offered in Fall semester.
YOGA STYLES AND SAFETY
HHHA 120 (3 credits)
This class explores the different styles of yoga as well as ways of sequencing and cuing poses. Students show their understanding of class concepts through practice teaching. Often offered in Fall semester.
This course is required for the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Diploma.
YOGA FOR COMMON CONDITIONS
HHHA 121
(3 credits)
The class will prepare future yoga teachers and/or interested yoga students to design classes for themselves and others that safely accommodate many underlying injuries and conditions, observing, in the process, that a class that accommodates students with underlying conditions is a class for everyone. Often offered in Fall semester.
This course is required for the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Diploma.
REIKI HEALING I
HHHA 146 (3 credits)
This introduction to energy work helps students to develop their energetic sensitivity and spiritual awareness while learning hands-on and intention-based techniques that encourage bodies to heal themselves. Often offered in Fall semester, face-to-face.
REIKI HEALING II
HHHA 147 (3 credits)
This class builds on the principles introduced in Reiki Healing I. Often offered in Fall semester, face-to-face.
INTRODUCTION TO HOMEOPATHY
HHHA 148 (3 credits)
Students learn the philosophical underpinnings and practical applications of homeopathy, a complete therapeutic system of medicine that aims to promote general health and reinforce the body’s own natural healing capacity. Often offered in Spring semester and asynchronously online.
INTRODUCTION TO HERBOLOGY
HHHA 149 (3 credits)
This class unveils the life-enhancing potential of herbs. Students will learn to identify herbs and to understand their properties and uses. They will also practice wildcrafting and making healing tinctures. Often offered in Spring semester and always face-to-face.
Integrated Mental Health
HHHA 153
The comprehensive course Integrated Mental Health takes a whole-body approach to mental wellbeing, introducing and integrating approaches from traditional medicine, psychotherapy, nutritional sciences, and a range of evidence-based CAM (complementary and alternative) therapies. The course covers the biology of the brain in relation to mental health, the gut/brain connection, and the complex causes of mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and ADHD. The holistic concepts and skills students learn will ultimately help with them with emotional management and maintaining mental clarity. Students will show their understanding of the different veins in integrated mental health through a final research paper.
INTEGRATED HEALTH COACHING
HHHA 155 (3 credits)
This class elucidates the basic principles that will help students or wellness professionals to guide others toward wellbeing. Often offered in Spring semester and entirely online.
MEDITATION AND CREATIVE ARTS
HHHA 202 (3 credits)
This course explores the ways in which contemplative forms can stimulate the creative process and open the mind to new possibilities. This class will alternate meditation, mindfulness, and sensory awareness practices with creative exercises including writing practice, drawing, and photography. It is open to everyone from beginners to experienced artists and writers, or anyone who simply wants to explore their own relationship to creativity and the creative process. Students will be expected to participate in-class meditation and art practices, as well as home experiential exercises, readings, discussions, and individual practice outside of class. They will present a final project summarizing their work over the course duration at the end of the semester.
YOGA AND ANATOMY TRAINS
HHHA 262 (3 credits)
Students learn a fascia-first approach to yoga anatomy in this class, which includes both discussion and practice. The text is Thomas Myers' groundbreaking Anatomy Trains. Often offered in Spring semester.
This course is required for the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Diploma.
YOGA AND PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CHAKRAS
HHHA 263 (3 credits)
Guided by Anodea Judith's seminal Eastern Body, Western Mind, students explore the energetics as well as the biomechanics and alignment of the body chakra by chakra. Students will show their mastery of the concepts covered through practice teaching and reflective written assignments. May be offered spring or fall.
This course is required for the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Diploma.
TOPICS COURSES
HHHA 293
Any class listed as a “293” is an experimental course. These classes expose students to fresh approaches to various healing arts modalities and support the creativity of instructors, enabling them to design new courses based on their areas of expertise. Offered varying semesters.
Contact Amber Burke for more information about HHHA classes and the 200-hour yoga teacher training.
