SWIHA Blog

The gift of Toe Reading is helping a soul see that it is always whole and always honored. The body, in the wonder of its creation, holds our stories and ‘our issues in its tissues’. Toe Reading is for everyone, even when the physical toes are absent- from birth, illness, or injury. There are times we all feel like we are limited physically, mentally, or emotionally- and Toe Reading, through its language and energy of LOVE, reminds us that we are always whole. A Toe Reader helps the soul- stories be expressed, and they hold space as any changes are acknowledged and embraced. Through their caring observance and questions, the reader helps shift the perception of limitations into the awareness that YOU are UNLIMITED!

A soul capsule can be created to honor the essence, wholeness, and dreams of a person. As I reflected on how to best describe a soul capsule, the image and metaphor of a cocoon came to mind. Consider the life of a caterpillar. It goes along inch by inch and day by day living what it considers a fairly normal life. Some days are easier than others, but there seem to be enough leaves to eat and twigs to climb. Occasionally life feels like its all uphill, but the caterpillar inches along. One day the winds of change blow in and life no longer feels the same. Whether it arrives slowly or comes in an instant, change enters the caterpillar’s life. The caterpillar wraps itself in a cocoon and begins the inward journey. Surrounded by darkness, confusion, and uncertainty, the caterpillar barely recognizes itself.

Within the cocoon is the caterpillar in all of its wholeness—who it was, who it is, and the seed of light for who it will become. The quest is for the caterpillar to see and understand that it is always whole, even in the midst of change. It must find the will to emerge, changed, yet returning to fullness…whole.

Sometimes the nudge to emerge is helped by an outside source, but wiggling and stretching and opening must come from inside. With every move forward, light appears. The more the caterpillar opens and tries, the more light appears. Then in perfect time, when the changes are embraced and transformed, a butterfly emerges. As it basks in the light that is ever-present and in the light of its being, the butterfly’s wings dry. The caterpillar is free to be who it was always born to be; a butterfly! The caterpillar can fly!!!

Soul capsules can be created from Toe Reading or Life Coaching sessions. They would help in honoring change and transformation personally, as well as honoring lost loved ones, or lost dreams that can be hard to let go of. It is a way of saying this mattered, this person or situation is SEEN and honored or blessed before moving forward in a new way.

Similar to a time capsule, an actual box or container can be decorated and personalized. Others may prefer to write a story about their life’s journey or record an audio or video. A beautiful way to honor a soul’s journey would be to create and hold a ceremony for the soul and their capsule. The soul capsule can include favorite photos of special times and activities or those that capture the feeling of being at one’s best and the most themselves. Handwritten stories, notes, or poems can be placed into the capsule. Memorabilia or keepsakes could be included. It is really up to the creativity of the coach and the client. It can also include expressions of the hard emotions, such as anger, grief, sadness, regret, vulnerability, feeling ‘less than’, and change. This is simply the journey of a soul, even during times of change. Be sure to add the new dreams and the unlimited life goals as they grow, stretch, and return to fullness with wings to fly…Soar!!! Shine!

Several years ago, I first discovered toe reading at a Celebrate Your Life conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.  I had flown to Arizona a day early to take an all-day workshop from James Van Praagh, a clairvoyant, spiritual medium, and New York Times bestselling author of Talking to Heaven.

While autographing my book, he told me that I should get a toe reading and that I should do it that day while the lines weren’t very long because tomorrow the lines would probably be a three hour wait!  To be honest, I silently rolled my eyes and thought, “Good lord.  Toe Reading?  What will they think of next?”  Little did I know that one little decision would affect my whole life!

I got my first toe reading and was blown away.  In 10 minutes, the Toe Reader revealed to me more about myself than my family would have been able to!  Being a natural skeptic, I thought that maybe she was just psychic, or a good guesser.  So I went to a Celebrate Your Life in Chicago and received another toe reading.  With the same result, I was beginning to think that it would be difficult to have two good guessers in a row.  Not to be deterred, since I still was not convinced, I went to yet another Celebrate Your Life conference, and this time my reader was Barney Cannon.  He was so accurate that I decided right there I had to find out more about this.  So I rearranged my conference schedule so that I could attend the short workshop from KC Miller, the author of Toe Reading: Are You Walking Your Destined Path.

The position and shape of the toes say a lot about their owner. By observing someone’s toes you will know a great deal about their past and the experiences they have lived through.  Toes reveal how a person copes with their feelings, as well as their thoughts.

Toe Reading is a metaphysical art based on the belief that your body holographically records the story of your life in your feet. An experienced Toe Reader knows toes tell the truth, even when the person themselves may not even be aware of how deeply their life experience has effected them. An over-simplification of this technology would be to say that well-balanced people have beautiful, evenly shaped and spaced toes. The toes of people who have had more challenging lives will appear ‘toe-tied’, depicting the lumps and bumps of the personal and emotional lives they have lived up to this point in time. 

Critics of Toe Reading are of the opinion that bruised and battered toes are simply caused by wearing the wrong shoes, injuries, or disease.  They scoff at the thought that a person’s inner life could create such patterns in toes. There is a very close connection between character, behavior, and attitudes in life, and have you ever considered the personalities and thought processes of the person who chooses and buys certain footware and the effect they can have on the feet?

"How may I best serve? Make me an instrument of Spirit!" was my prayer and my plea!  And all the sudden toes started showing up everywhere!

I began to notice all kinds of people wearing sandals or flip flops -- and for some reason I would find myself just staring at their toes.  People around me were stubbing their toes and asking me what I thought it meant. At the time, I had a very active massage practice, and the clients coming to me wanted reflexology above anything else I offered. The moment I touched their feet, it was as if I could see dimensionally -- like some special power or ability had come over me, and I could see beyond the physical foot  into the metaphysical.

After about the tenth session of having god-bumps appear while I was working on someone's feet, I sat back remembering my question:  "How may I best serve?"  On one level, I began to feel that this toe thing was somehow the answer to the prayer I had uttered with deep sincerity.  With this realization, there was just a little bit of momentary disappointment too, with me thinking, "Are you kidding me? The most you’re going to trust me with are toes?" 

In 2015, Gena Hailey and her family were going to the doctor a lot for colds, to the point where they were spending a lot of money on co-pays and prescription drugs. Most of the time, the treatments didn’t even work. She had been doing internet searches on home remedies, and now and then, she would accidentally come across articles that mentioned holistic healing. She admitted that at the time, she wasn’t even sure what holistic meant. She ended up seeing an ad for the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). “I was like (imagine a soft, high-pitched voice), ‘What is this magic they speak of?’ Ha! Within that next week I had researched the school, the programs they offered, and spoke to an Admissions Coach - and I was absolutely ecstatic to enroll in the Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner program with a focus on Urban Farming & Conscious Living, and begin the journey that would eventually teach me that ‘magic’ and end up a #GreatGraduate.”

Toe Reading is a unique and captivating healing art, which uses active listening, powerful, soul-searching questions, and deeply skilled insight to help people create change in their lives. It is the art of sitting before someone and witnessing their very being, their life story. Toe Reading is based on the theory that each individual records a holograph of the story of their life and stores it within the body. The position and shape of the toes contain this story, which can be read by a skilled practitioner.

After moving to Phoenix as a Supervisor/Analyst in the Federal Government, Tammy Coin received a massage from a graduate of the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, who told her about the school. Soon after, Tammy decided to enroll and subsequently graduated from the Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner  program. During this time, she learned how to finally integrate all the pieces of herself, unearthing her identity and the WHAT to go with her WHY. “I have known my WHY for being on this earth for a very long time. I just didn't know the WHAT that was going to bring it together. I entered the program with a Masters in Human Relations Counseling. The Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner program helped me pull the rest of my pieces together.” The tools she has learned on this journey have been the gift that helped her to finally connect the teachings of her life.  This gift, ultimately led her to start her own business. 

The Doors of Wellness, LLC is Tammy's business. She is using the experience, expertise and education of her life to help other people find their own door of wellness. “I believe that stuck emotions are at the root cause of physical illness, mental illness, addictions, weight issues, relationship challenges, loss of sense of self-worth and spiritual disconnect.  I'm truly passionate about the Mind-Body Connection.” She describes herself as a Life Strategist, Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner & Trauma and/or Abuse Recovery Coach focusing on the unhealed emotions at the root of her clients obstacles. She offers many tools and modalities to her clients.  

A desire to learn healing arts, to refine the skills she already had, and to give her some new ones is exactly what brought Connie Gensamer to Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). Truly, she has always been on the path to healing work, however in early in 2014, she was introduced to a modality called The Reconnection by Eric Pearl. “I read his books and then had the process done. My feet were reconnected to the earth and my crown chakra reconnected to the cosmos as a way of reclaiming who I was and my life purpose. After the process, I really didn’t know if things had shifted, yet three months later, I was looking for a school to teach me how to help people heal, and I found SWIHA.”

Glenda Bokamper, just like many before her, was divinely led to Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). Glenda had an idea about what she wanted to do and had embarked on a more traditional path towards her dreams. After she hit some bumps in the road, SWIHA made an appearance in her life and that has made a huge difference. “In nail school I became allergic to the fake nail products, leaving the spas in Scottsdale as my only option for employment. At the first spa that I worked, I was told to fake a Reflexology treatment with my pedicures. Instead of faking it, I found SWIHA and took an introductory class. That was 15 years ago. I fell in love during that one class with feet and the mysteries that they hold. I have been loving feet from that day forward.”

As fairytail-ish as it sounds, Diana Atenco knew one of her life’s callings was tobecome a Toe Reader. She just loved the opportunity to sit with people, listen to the stories of their lives, often pray with them, and always have the opportunity to help them make new choices about how they would step forward powerfully into the world.

Diana completed a series of classes at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) starting in 2007 and became a Registered Toe Reader. From the very first class she realized she had a gift; without ever fully understanding how she knew even more than what the toe tissue revealed, she was aware that Spirit was using her as a messenger to people of all ages. Before long she knew she needed to deepen the way she was serving her clients, so she returned to SWIHA to take the Hypnotherapy and Life Coaching programs.

Around the time Diana began her journey at SWIHA, her then teenage grandson horribly injured himself in a motocross accident. He became seriously dependent on prescription pain mediation, which developed into an addiction to heroin. For years Diana suffered as she watched her beloved grandson slowly fade into the dark depths of drug addiction.