Canadian health professionals Sarah and Steven Michaluk have been enrolled in MUM’s online MS in Maharishi AyurVeda^SM and Integrative Medicine program since August, 2018. Within a semester, they have transformed their diet and begun using the principles of Ayurveda in their practice.

Switching from a standard North American diet, they became vegetarian, gave up coffee, and eliminated a few other items from the family menu. Steven shed 40 pounds along with some long-standing health issues. The new lifestyle also brought positive changes to their two teenagers’ mood and energy levels.

“I started looking at my clients with a totally different perspective over the past few months and began recommending small interventions that I learned in the master’s program,” said Steven, who is a dentist. He is relieved to be learning a systemic health care program that can treat the whole person, not just the symptoms manifested in oral health.

Steven and Sarah are from Winnipeg, Canada, and for the past five years they have lived on Vancouver Island. They have both looked for complementary modalities for their practices to apply a holistic approach to their patients’ wellness. Steven began studying Traditional Chinese Medicine and they, along with their two teenagers, learned the Transcendental Meditation^® technique. Soon after, they discovered MUM’s online master’s program and both decided to apply right away.

“The way the program is delivered is very intuitive for a medical professional,” said Sarah, who is a wound care nurse clinician. “It’s very easy to learn those principles and apply them right away.”

“It’s also very scientific,” says Steven. “I feel we are on the leading edge of a wave, bringing this information to our own lives and to the public.” The couple’s enthusiasm has not only inspired their children, who now evaluate the ayurvedic properties of vegetables in the supermarket, but they find that friends and patients are equally interested in the ways they can improve their own health.