Dr. Stan Dawson is the backbone and Executive Director of ASHA School of Massage. He co-owns ASHA School of Massage with his wife Mary, who heads up ASHA’s student services department.

Dr. Dawson has been a pioneer in the Integrative Health and Wellness field for over 30 years. He has been a Chiropractor, a graduate from Palmer College of Chiropractic, since 1975. He is also a Neuromuscular Therapist, Body-Centered Psychotherapist, Polarity Therapist and is trained in Ayurvedic Medicine.

His quest for knowledge began at age 22, after he graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in business. He began working for a corporation and it soon became evident to him that he must continue his studies. The main questions of life like, who am I?, why am I here?, what is the nature of God?, what is the nature of man?, what is the nature of the relationship between man and God?,  what is the nature of reality?, gripped him and would not be swept aside.

Dr. Stan began years of self-study, reading everything he could get his hands on related to Philosophy, Metaphysics and Religion from both the Western and Eastern perspective. An emerging theme running through all the material became obvious to him, that it was possible to develop an awareness and deeper one’s connection with all of life through meditation.

Thus began his meditation practice. Through it, he started to experience the “spirit/mind/body connection” and that “health is structured in consciousness” of which he had been reading about. A career change became obvious to him, and he went back to school to become a chiropractor at age 24.

Although Chiropractic College was a good start in Dr. Stan’s new education, it was clear to him that it only addressed one aspect of the healing continuum related to the body’s structure and was limited in its scope and science. The broad, holistic nature of his spirit and need for scientific backing of his mind, kept moving him to study a broad scope of healing modalities, these included both Western and Eastern approaches, such as mind/body Psychotherapy, Neuromuscular Therapy, Ayurvedic Medicine and Polarity Therapy, which is based in Ayurvedic Philosophy.

Through Dr. Stan’s study, a vision of a new Holistic Model of health opened up to him. It included both Western and Eastern approaches. It combined the structure and chemical components. It integrated the mental and emotional aspects. It brought understanding on how stress and tension affect an individual’s ability to adapt and experience health.  It unified all the elements of health he had been studying and became the basis of his life’s work.

Dr. Stan then began to develop Holistic Health Centers, based on this unifying model of health, in which he brought together a broad range of healthcare practitioners.  In 1978, Dr. Dawson opened the FIRST Holistic Health Center in the entire Southeast. He brought together 30 teachers, including practitioners in polarity therapy, psychotherapy, massage therapy and chiropractic, as well as traditional medical doctors, offering a variety of educational and therapeutic programs. This paved a new way to help people heal on a physical, emotional and spiritual level.

Dr. Stan and his wife, Mary, purchased ASHA School of Massage in 2003 and immediately implemented the Holistic Health Model as an integral part of the curriculum, expanded the modalities and increased the course hours. ASHA School of Massage is in the process of becoming ASHA College of Integrative Medicine with new programs being offered in Oriental Bodywork and Acupuncture.

Together, with the outstanding faculty at ASHA, all of whom are pioneers in the healing arts field in their own rights, Dr. Dawson developed ASHA Wellness Center. ASHA Wellness Center is a healing arts clinic within ASHA School of Massage that offers Chiropractic Care, Naturopathic Care, Acupuncture, Neuromuscular Therapy, Craniosacral Therapy, Polarity Therapy, Sports Massage Therapy, Integrative Massage Therapy, Reiki and Thai Massage Therapy.

Dr. Dawson has given guest lectures on the relationship between mind and body as well as the role of Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) in western healthcare paradigms at Morehouse School of Medicine, Emory University Department of Physical Therapy and the former nurse training program at Piedmont Hospital.