Wellness Life Coaching
PTS is pleased to make Wellness Life Coaching available and affordable on campus for students and spouses this year as an alternative or a complement to traditional counseling and/or spiritual direction. Wellness coaching provides guidance and support for individuals who want to make lifestyle changes important to their well-being such as eating in a healthier way, sticking to an exercise schedule, managing time effectively, or dealing with chronic health challenges. Referrals are through the Office of Student Counseling. Student accounts will be charged $10 if the student or spouse is in the SBHP and $15 if they are not, for up to 12 sessions, usually twice per month.
Self-Care and Wellness Assessment
The Office of Student Counseling would like to invite you to fill out an 80-question Self-Care and Wellness Assessment and Goal-Setting Tool. Both resources are intended to help you assess your
strengths in four overlapping areas of wellness. A printed copy of the assessment is available in the lobby of Scheide Hall. More information and a downloadable PDF can be viewed here.
Fitness Classes at PTS
Each year trained fitness instructors from within the Seminary community step forward to offer a handful of different classes to get your heart pumping and help relieve stress. You can pick up a registration form from any of the instructors or download here. You can also stop by the Office of Student Life (210 Templeton) to pick one up. A $25 fee each year will allow you to take as many classes as you like. Classes are open to all students and seminary employees, as well as all spouses and dependents 16 or older. If you have any questions, please contact Catherine Ahmad in the Office of Student Life (210 Templeton; 609-497-7880; catherine.ahmad@ptsem.edu).
The Office of Student Life is pleased to be able to offer the following fitness classes throughout the summer months:
• Jiu Jitsu with James Kim; Wednesdays 3 to 5 p.m. in the Red Room of Whiteley Gym
• Cardio Boot Camp with Steve Belo; Wednesdays 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Red Room of Whiteley Gym
• Yoga with Ryan Irmer; Saturdays 10 to 11 a.m. in CRW 201 Kids Lounge
Summer classes begin immediately and run through August 31. You can join in at any time! If you registered for 2012/13 classes, there is no additional fee. If you are new to our fitness program, please complete the registration form along with your preferred form of payment.
Fitness Recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services
To reap the health rewards of exercise, you have to push yourself to get your heart rate into its ideal training zone, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. Your maximum heart rate (MHR) is roughly 220 minus your age. Your training zone or targe rate is 50% to 70% of that. To his that rate you need to get at least a moderate level of exercise. The Department of Health and Human Services reommends that you get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity, such as brisk walking, swimming, or mowing the lawn, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity, such as running or dancing. The department also recommends doing some type of strength training at least twice a week. For more on physical activity guidelines visit www.cdc.gov.
Wholistic Health Initiative
Overview
The Wholistic Health Initiative involves doing our part in ministry to make God’s gift of “abundant life” real in the various overlapping dimensions of our lives: physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental. The Wholistic Health Initiative (purposefully spelled with a W to emphasize the “whole” person) is an outgrowth of the Festival for Fitness week begun in 1998. Rather than focusing on a single week of events highlighting health, the intention of the initiative is to sponsor and support events centering on wholeness throughout the year.
The Mission
1. Facilitate the awareness of wholistic health as an integrated and interdependent balance of physical, psychological, relational, and spiritual well being;
2. Encourage and empower students, faculty and staff to develop values, habits, and a lifestyle which support health in all its dimensions;
3. Provide educational resources and experiential opportunities to advance wholistic health and balance as a lifelong orientation involving self-awareness, responsibility, educated choice, and proactive behavior.
The Rationale
Ministers of the gospel are often agents in promoting the health and well being of others, but are not always appropriately attentive to their own wholistic needs. God’s interest for us is that we have a life that “abounds” (II Corinthians 9:8; John 10:10). In ministry, as in parenting, we teach by example; we can facilitate the wholeness of others most effectively when we take responsibility for the various dimensions of what health and abundant life mean for us personally.
The Wholistic Health Fair
To support the goals of the Wholistic Health Initiative, the PTS community welcomes representatives of various wholistic health practices from New Jersey and Pennsylvania to participate in the Wholistic Health Fair. The fair provides PTS community members with an opportunity to learn about and sample local services and resources. Past fairs have included free massages, chiropractic consultations, various health screenings, reiki, chi gong and acupuncture demonstrations, free “mocktails”, the labyrinth prayer walk, and information about counseling opportunities, eye health, fitness and yoga centers, nutrition, alcohol, and much more. Members of the campus community are encouraged to get involved with the fair by volunteering to help at the fair and by attending the fair.
Get Involved
The WHI is run by students and overseen by Nancy Schongalla-Bowman. Events are run when students take initiative to make them happen. If interested in leading a WHI event for the 2012-1013 contact Nancy. You can also get involved with the WHI at PTS by helping with Student Health 101, a monthly health and wellness e-magazine produced by PTS in conjunction with other schools nationwide.