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THIS ISSUE:
90th
Anniversary
Swedish Institute on-line newsletter for our students, faculty and community.
Hari Jot Singh, P.T., N.D., NCCAOM
(Dipl. Ac.)
Class of 1954
It would seem unlikely that a Jewish boy born in the 1930's, living in New Jersey with a stay-at-home
mom and a dad with a hardware store, would grow up to be an acupuncturist. Mainstream America wouldn't
even begin to contemplate the energetics of the human body until the 1970's. But Sidney Zerinsky
(he became Hari Jot Singh when he entered the Sikh tradition in the 1980's) had an atypical outlook
right from the start. Where did it come from?
"Our family physician was a homeopath, so I was brought up with the idea that you have to recognize
life's vital forces," Dr. Singh recalled. He currently practices as an acupuncturist in Santa Fe, NM,
where he shares an office with his wife, Seva, a midwife. "In high school I helped coach the basketball
team, and watched when injured players went to the osteopath for treatment. He always impressed me. I
think that's why I decided to study chiropractics right after high school."
However, it wasn't easy back in the early 1950's to make a living as a chiropractor, since it was not
yet a licensed practice. So Dr. Singh enrolled at the Swedish Institute. His class was the last one to
graduate with a diploma in physiotherapy. After 1954, the discipline was divided into two distinct
courses of study; physical therapy — which was transferred to a hospital setting and later to a
college degree — and massage therapy. The Swedish Institute chose to keep its focus on the practice of
massage.
Venturing Into New Terrain
Shortly after graduation, Dr. Singh received a draft notice summoning him to the Army. He promptly joined
the Air Force instead. His studies in chiropractic and physiotherapy landed him an assignment in the
medical corps in Belleville, IL. It just so happened that Western University of California had a branch
of its naturopathy school there, so Dr. Singh enrolled and completed that program in 1957.
When he returned to the East Coast he was armed with diplomas. He set up a practice in New Jersey, near
his father's hardware store. Most of his clients sought help for injury related problems, which became the
focus of Dr. Singh's practice. He was successful, yet still felt a need to learn more.
He began journeying to New York City's Chinatown to study acupuncture. There was no school at that time,
only opportunities to apprentice, which he did. He became one of the first Westerners in the U.S. to
learn acupuncture, picking up the ability to speak Cantonese along the way.
One day in the early 1960's he picked up a New York City newspaper and saw a help wanted ad for teachers
at the Swedish Institute. He applied and was soon teaching anatomy and physiology at his alma mater. It
wasn't long, however, before his characteristic drive to challenge the status quo surfaced.
"Ms. Phillips, the director at the time, called me in one day to chastise me," Dr. Singh recalled with
amusement. "Apparently some of the students had complained to her, because I started to describe massage
as a form of energy work. They said they didn't want to know about energy, they just wanted to learn
'massage.'"
He shook his head knowingly. "They just weren't ready."
At that time, the school was across from the old Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue and 50th Street.
"When Ms. Eckardt took over as president of the school in 1968," Dr. Singh said, "we moved to West 71st
Street and Broadway." Dr. Singh became director of the school, a position he held until 1984.
Changing Laws and Licenses
Until 1967, the practice of massage in New York City required a city license. "It was an excellent license,
backed by very strong enforcement," Dr. Singh explained. "A practitioner had to pass an exam and get a
health certificate. Once you had a license, your place of practice would be inspected by the Fire
Department and Health Department on a regular basis.
"When the licensing was transferred to the state level, the original law was written to allow some massage
to be practiced by non-professionals. That's when the massage parlor business opened up in the city. There
were no 'massage parlors' in New York City before that." Although a revision of the law in 1975 restricts
the practice of massage only to those with licenses, the loss of local enforcement means unlicensed
practice of massage, a felony, usually goes unpunished.
While New York State further strengthened the profession in 1989 by officially recognizing the title of
"licensed massage therapist" and the use of "L.M.T." after a licensee's name as part of the professional
title, Dr. Singh was once again ahead of the times.
"When I was director, we used to have the word 'masseur' or 'masseuse' on the diplomas. We didn't use the
word 'patient' or 'client' back then, we said 'patrons'. But I thought it was important to change that
mindset, to liberate us from the idea of being patronized. So, I first changed the term we used to 'massage
practitioner.' Then I changed it to 'massage therapist.' The state was upset by that at first. But
eventually the term prevailed."
During his tenure as director, Dr. Singh hired some of the faculty still working here:
Lucy
Liben, now
Dean of the Massage Therapy Program, Jill
Thompson, Director of Academic Support Services for the Massage
Therapy Program, and Bob
Altheim, an instructor in both the Massage Therapy Program and Acupuncture Program.
Dr. Singh feels that although massage and acupuncture are ancient forms of therapy, the practitioners of
today keep them fresh. "There may be lots of 'new' courses or dogmatic curriculums, but that's not what's
important," he ventured. "What I emphasized when I taught was self-realization, compassion and love.
Work on yourself. This will be an important part of your success."
Photos
Top: Hari Jot Singh’s early acupuncture diploma hangs in his Santa Fe office.
Center: Dr. Singh at his office in Santa Fe in 2006.
Bottom: Dr. Singh (known then as Sidney Zerinksy) at the Swedish Institute
in 1980.
All photos in the newsletter not otherwise specified are by Barbara Goldschmidt and are the
property of the Swedish Institute ©2006.