Jasmine Patel Embraces Campus Life

Jasmine Patel, a second-year acupuncture and Oriental medicine student, can either be found walking around the university talking to groups of people, posting up signs, hovering over the university fax machine or walking briskly down the hallways. A living testament to the abundance of activities available at Bastyr, she appears constantly active. Somehow, she also finds time to learn meridians and points and organic chemistry.

Jasmine leads a student group to study acupuncture and Oriental medicine at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Shagua Hospital of TCM in China. Read her travel diary.

"It does get crazy," she admits. "There have been weeks I worked 40 hours on student council projects in addition to my studies. I just have to manage my time really well. I walk around with a calendar and have one on my computer too. I also try to live in the moment, really focus on what I'm doing and not let my mind wander. That's one of the ways I'm able to do so much"

Her abundant energy is not, she concedes, the result of drinking power smoothies or taking lots of herbs and vitamins. "I love what I'm studying," she explains, "and the school setting in itself adds to wellness and holistic health. Being in the middle of a state park is so incredible."

It also just happens she enjoys getting involved in a little bit of everything. As Student Council's Team Leader for programs and activities, she enjoys having contact with almost every club on campus.

In addition to organizing the Tibetan Buddhist monks' visit to campus each year, she organizes the Easter egg hunt held in the park as well as Haunted Trails, student council's Halloween event that brings over a thousand community members to campus.

While she feels lucky to be in an environment where she can advocate for the voice of students and see changes, she also feels lucky have found a great academic program at Bastyr in acupuncture and Oriental medicine.

She says she chose Bastyr because she wanted to focus, yet be exposed to diversity. "I wanted to master one system of medicine, to be really strong in one discipline. Yet I wanted to come to a university and not just be exposed to acupuncture. I think it adds more credibility to your practice when you've also taken classes such as massage, homeopathy or nutrition."

"I also chose acupuncture because the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and general medical establishment is now recognizing acupuncture as legitimate. I'd also heard so many stories about how well it's worked for people."

Her choice has paid off. She finds the faculty to be exceptional. "The faculty are absolutely incredible. They know their information so well and they have incredible resumes. Some of them went to Shanghai University, which is the Harvard of China. And they are so willing to share their information, to teach us so well, and they are also so humble and wonderful. I feel really lucky."

Before immersing herself in life at Bastyr, she obtained an undergraduate degree in biology at the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, Maryland and then attended graduate school part time at John Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. She worked toward her M.P.H. degree part time while working full time at the school as a project coordinator. She left before finishing because she sought a more natural and holistic way of treating patients.

"I like public health because it is community-based. I do plan to incorporate acupuncture and Oriental medicine into public health settings because I feel the two are very compatible and can create a synergistic model of care. I didn't completely agree with the allopathic remedies we often used as part of our interventions. Side effects of the medications often weren't addressed. So I researched Bastyr and decided that an acupuncture and Oriental medicine master's degree suited me best."

Jasmine also enjoys hiking and appreciates the outdoors opportunities on and around campus. She practices Tai Chi outside and takes walks down to Lake Washington in her spare time. She lives in the dorms, which she loves. "I'm an R.A. this year and I really enjoy it. It's a nice sense of community. We do a lot of group things. We are planning an upcoming trip to a spa."

She plans to continue being involved during her next one and a half years here and continue with beloved projects such as the monks' visit, which she considers important. She feels passionate about exposing students to the monks' healing and peaceful influence and important messages about Tibetan Buddhism and general health and healing.

"They have this wonderful lightness of spirit about them," she says. "And they are a good example. They live in the moment every day to optimize their health."

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