Tiny Buddha: Wisdom Quotes, Letting Go, Letting Happiness In

by Michelle Pfennighaus

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~Lao Tzu

It took me three years from the time I decided to leave my career in advertising to actually make the move. I remember the first day I considered a career change. I was in my office with the door closed, searching the Internet for nutrition schools.

I had started college as a physical therapy major and got straight A’s. I changed majors to graphic design because I didn’t like the idea of working in a conventional hospital or outpatient setting. But now here I was deciding that the health field was maybe a better fit after all.

My mom suggested I take a look at a holistic nutrition program she’d heard about: The Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN).

“Mom,” I said, “That doesn’t look like a real school. I need a degree to be taken seriously. I want to do this right.”

Trouble was I had a degree in art. And to apply to any masters programs in nutrition, I needed to have taken a bunch of science courses. Plus, these masters programs were highly expensive and required full-time attendance.

Hmmmm. I looked into the jobs I’d get as a Registered Dietitian and saw that at least in the Boston area everything was a job in a hospital. This was not for me.

I shook off the idea of nutrition and carried on, working in advertising, changing companies and then freelancing. I was looking for something but I really wasn’t finding it. And of course, it’s scary to change careers. It’s easier to keep your eyes down and get through the day. And the next day. And the next.

During my yoga teacher training I got to know people who made their living in non-mainstream ways. There were massage therapists and reiki practitioners, acupuncture students and of course, yoga teachers. I guess it got me thinking. These were successful people doing what they loved. So I took another look at IIN.

Now the time was right. I read all about the program online and signed up the very next day. I didn’t need any pre-requisites and I didn’t need to rearrange my life. I simply had to decide that I could travel to New York about once a month for weekend classes. Totally doable! People travel from all over the world to attend IIN. All I had to do was take the bus down from Boston. And, the tuition was affordable. I paid in full.

Fast forward to last January, when I started school. There were tons of people – about 1500 of us in that room! That was the first time I heard the founder, Joshua, speak.  I never had a teacher who could talk about death and sex and emotion and food in such a smart, calm way.

We had lots of other great speakers: Sally Fallon, Paul Pitchford, David Wolfe, Marion Nestle, Howard Lyman, Barry Sears and Deepak Chopra to name a handful. This is world class stuff, people. This is cutting edge information that goes way beyond the political and nonsensical USDA food pyramid.

Every weekend, that crowd of 1500 people had more and more familiar faces. We had lunch together in Central Park, and dinners together at restaurants around the city.

We learned a whole lot about nutrition and even more about working with people. I learned how to go about counseling others and how to start and market my private practice.

Throughout our months together, students did amazing things. Heck, I did amazing things! We watched one woman heal herself from chronic migraines and countless others experiment with diet and lifestyle to achieve better health. An anti-GMO group formed, people started making raw chocolate bars to sell and the GLBT family got together to create Out For Wellness. Everyone started working and making money sharing their love and support with clients.

And seven months later…we graduated! Many of us will continue on in the Immersion Program – a free 2nd year where we’ll have conference weekends and provide support to the incoming class. In addition to my certification as a health counselor, I’m also certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. Sweet!

I’m really glad I got to experience IIN. It was worth the many bus rides to NYC. I made so many wonderful friends and found strength in doing something like this for myself.