DATE: Wednesday, October 15, 1997           TAG: 9710150447

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   92 lines

PORTSMOUTH CENTER TAKES A HOLOSTIC APPROACH

The first floor of the restored Catholic Club on Court Street was vacant for about 10 years until one day recently a sign went up marking it as ``The Renaissance Center.''

People who pass the corner began asking:

An art center?

Another church?

A restoration contractor?

``They stop by here all the time and ask,'' center owner Ross Anderson says.

The Renaissance Center is none of the above. But there is no easy answer to what Anderson has created.

``You could call it life coaching,'' he said. ``Or access for people to express their lives fully.''

The ultimate vision is ``renaissance of the human spirit,'' he said.

Anderson, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a retired Navy commander with 24 years of service, has been conducting seminars for business and government groups on dealing with change and getting the most out of life.

He has a bachelor's degree in engineering from the Naval Academy and a master's degree from the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, Calif. He has taken courses in communications, business and hypnosis since he left the Navy in 1994 and has been certified by the American Board of Hypnotherapy.

``We want to take the lid off people's lives and let them jump out of their limitations,'' Anderson said.

He likened humans to fleas in a jar. ``You put a bunch of them in a jar and you put the lid on and, after a while, even when you take the lid off, they won't jump out,'' he said. ``They've grown so accustomed to being in that space that they don't try to leave it.''

But, he added, ``we're not about fixing people's lives.''

Instead, he said, the center helps people explore themselves, to see themselves and their potential.

One course is a six-week workshop called ``Matters Most.''

``I'd been doing this for about 15 months to corporate groups, and the energy it generated caused me to look for a place to open this center,'' he said. ``It lights fires in people.''

Although he journeyed to 28 countries while in the Navy, Anderson, 46, has been in Hampton Roads off and on since 1980. He lives on his boat at Tidewater Yacht Marina on Crawford Parkway.

``Having come to Portsmouth, I wouldn't trade it for any place now,'' he said. ``I looked in Virginia Beach, and I looked in Norfolk for this place. There was just no other place to have it but here.''

For starters, he said, Portsmouth is in a renaissance; furthermore, ``it's very accessible to all of the area.''

His associate, Dorothy Waggener of Norfolk, added, ``You can feel the rebirth energy here. It's a renaissance community.''

Anderson said he came from his engineering background to the creative, thoughtful life because of his own experiences.

``I was in a relationship with a woman that began to crumble as I was about to retire,'' he said. ``Everything in my life was shifting, and I sought help. I started to go to all kinds of workshops and seminars, but none of them really helped.''

The next step was hypnosis.

``I was locked up and floundering, and it (hypnosis) helped me shift and move forward,'' Anderson said. As a result, he went to school and became a certified hypnotist.

``Over the past 15 months, I worked with about 12,000 clients,'' he said.

But while Anderson and another associate, Mary Curro of Portsmouth, both offer hypnotism, that is not the center's main thrust.

``We are not real rigid here,'' Anderson said. ``We can help people with pain management and stress management. But whether one's interest is in healing, creativity, innovation or fun is up to them. What's important is their experience of fulfillment, vitality, happiness and peace.''

But, he added, ``This is not a wishy-washy place where people come in and talk big talk. It's really very concrete, and it is not a feel-good place.''

``Vision'' and ``light'' are two words that pop up often in the conversation at the center, and ``energy'' is an oft-used word.

``Life is not about what you're doing, but who you're being,'' Anderson said. ``You could say the renaissance group is a network of explorers. No one has the answers; rather, we're simply asking questions and discovering.''

The center has 10 programs, forums and special events scheduled for this month and November. Some are weekly sessions, and others are one-time gatherings on subjects such as holiday stress and self-hypnosis.

Fees range from a $5 donation for a one-time discussion to $165 for ``Matters Most.''

``But this is not about money,'' Anderson said. ``My journey of the past several years tells me my real fun is in helping others understand. I get juice from creating change in people.''

The center is at 450 Court St., next to the Portsmouth Art Center's 1846 Courthouse galleries. It is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and closed on Sunday. Classes are scheduled during the day and at night.

For more information, call 399-7811. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Mark Mitchell/The Virginian-Pilot

Ross Anderson chose to locate his "life coaching''...

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