Tai Sophia Institute - Master of Arts in Applied Healing Arts Program

Tai Sophia Institute is a graduate school for the healing arts offering three on-campus master's degree programs in Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine and Applied Healing Arts. These programs are designed to meet the demands of people like you, healthcare professionals, lawyers, business leaders, and teachers who are interested in earning an advanced degree and bringing relationship-centered change to their particular field.

For more than a quarter century, the Institute has been recognized as the anchoring academic institute for the nation's emerging wellness system. With a team of highly trained professionals, world renowned faculty and a rigorous curriculum, Tai Sophia continues to create programs that set the standard in this field of study.

Program Overview

Tai Sophia Institute's Master of Arts in Applied Healing Arts is a transformative degree program designed for both established and developing leaders seeking to enhance their skills, discover their passion and create constructive change personally, in the workplace and in the larger community in service of our fellow humans and of all life.

This three-year program is offered in an executive weekend format to accommodate the working professional. On-campus classes are held approximately every 6-8 weeks over a two year period. Individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds--including business, education, social justice, healthcare and consulting--find this program life-changing and empowering.

Program Goals

• Find a new passion or reignite one in your professional and personal life.
• Recognize areas of possibility for personal growth
• Effectively challenge institutional and cultural assumptions (held by self and others) and create and sustain partnerships that support efforts to manifest change
• Engage in daily transformative practices that foster mindful action and reflective awareness
• Ground a wider worldview and daily practices in timeless wisdom traditions of East and West
• Dwell in greater harmony with nature, its cycles and transformations so that all thoughts and actions stem from a paradigm of interconnection
• Take new ideas and visions into work, home, and the community to effect positive change

Core Faculty

Tom Balles, M.Ac., Interim Program Director
David Beares, M.Ac.
Dianne M. Connelly, Ph.D., M.Ac. (UK)
Robert M. Duggan, M.A., M.Ac. (UK)
Susan Duggan, M.Ac.
Gail Geller, Sc.D., M.H.S.
Anne Huyler Baker, M.A.
Allyson Jones, M.Ac., M.S.W.
Helen Buss Mitchell, Ph.D.
Tina Lightner-Morris, M.S., RH (AHG), LCPC
John G. Sullivan, JCD, Ph.D.

Transformative Practices

A hallmark of this program is its transformative nature. Every student learner participates in a small Transformative Practice Group (TPG) facilitated by two faculty members. Students share examples of interactions at home, work and in the community that demonstrate an increased ability to serve life by embodying the intended outcomes of the program. Students are given specific practices during their coursework to carry out on a daily basis that serve as the foundation for these conversations.

Examples of daily practices, which in part support the final independent studies and Project of Excellence, include:

• Being an observer: Looking at situations from a completely neutral view. From this place, the learner can choose to respond in ways that will be of service to further the situations in a positive way.
• Deep listening: Listening to other individuals without judgment and without distraction.
• Partnership: Engaging others from a place of partnership rather than opposition. This includes the ability to view any given situation or interaction from a larger world view.
• Upset is optional: Letting go of upset (e.g., anger, frustration, fear) in situations or interactions in order to regain the learner's "observer" and move forward in a positive way.
• Acknowledgment: Acknowledging others for their words and actions.
• Beginner's mind: Allowing the learner to be "a beginner" in situations that may be new or challenging. From this place, the learner can move forward with more ease and freedom rather than dwelling in self-criticism.
• Shifting from crisis to opportunity: Practicing shifting views of a given situation from one of crisis or problem to one of opportunity. Ancient traditions view crisis and opportunity as two sides of the same coin.
• Being present to life as it is: Practicing the art of "presence". Only from this place-in essence letting go of opposition to life and accepting it exactly as it is in the moment-can the learner move forward to effectively create change.

Independent Studies and Project of Excellence

In the third year of the program each student develops four self-designed Independent Studies that ultimately lead towards and support a Project of Excellence.

The Project of Excellence demonstrates the integration of a student's learning and is a positive contribution for development or change in a particular arena of life where the student has committed to making a difference. The project may take a wide variety of forms (e.g., a workshop, a community program, an artistic, literary, or scholarly work, a workshop curriculum, a television show, etc.). The primary requirement is that it be in a tangible form for archiving and that evidence of its effect or potential effect is explicitly addressed. The Project of Excellence is presented to faculty as the final step in completion of the program.

Requirements for the Master of Arts in Applied Healing Arts

The admissions requirements are detailed in our catalog and on-line and include completion of a bachelor's degree. You are encouraged to meet with a member of the Office of Graduate Admissions, visit campus, participate in an Open House, and observe a class. Additionally, it is strongly recommended that you participate in a Redefining Health weekend workshop.

Resources and Programs

Redefining Health Weekend Workshop

This two-day program is the perfect introduction to the philosophical foundation of Tai Sophia Institute and is facilitated by Institute founders, Chancellor Dr. Dianne Connelly and President Robert Duggan. It is recommended that all prospective students participate. Your family and friends are welcomed as well as the general public.

Community Programs

Tai Sophia offers innovative non-degree training programs and workshops for members of the community eager to learn about the healing arts. We offer a wide variety of dynamic programs that have been designed to enhance wellness in body, mind and spirit.

Clinical Services

On-campus in Laurel as well as at two other locations within the Greater Baltimore/Washington area, the Institute operates a treatment center staffed by faculty practitioners and students under supervision. We provide clients with compassionate, relationship-centered care.

Tai Sophia Promise

We look after the welfare of every person and of the group as a whole. Our promise is that you will learn that service to life is the central reason for practicing a healing art and that exercising community responsibility serves you and serves all of life.

Click here to correspond with one of our admissions counselors and to learn more about our graduate degree programs as well as community workshops and events.

If you are interested in any of our programs and would like to find out more, please Request Information.