SWIHA Blog

According to Life Coach and Clinical Hypnotherapist Stacia Aashna, one of the best ways to start the New Year is with a detox of body and mind. In fact, she is offering a perfect prescription for wellness in 2018 with Hypnosis, Meditation, Booch at The Kombucha Room in Chicago in mid-January.

For those who don’t know, “booch” is the term for a fermented tea beverage that detoxifies the body and builds the immune system. It is an ideal companion for those brave souls who are ready to detox their mind of old “personal lies”– that inner dialogue of unconscious, reinforcing statements that keeps you from evolving into your best, most confident, happiest self.

Yet, drinking tea is not the only way to “clear” yourself internally in preparation for what 2018 will bring! This graduate from SWIHA’s Life Coaching and Clinical Hypnotherapy program firmly believes that hypnotherapy is one of the oldest proven detox tools available today and an incredible asset for life coaches to use with their clients.

“You go girl,” was the shout out given to SWIHA’s Life Coaching graduate Katee Van Horn when we heard the news that she was named one of the Most Influential Women in Arizona in the July 2017 issue of AZ Business! One of the accomplishments listed to her credit was the work she has been doing as a coach with the Global Technology Center at GoDaddy, the world's largest web hosting organization located in Tempe, Arizona. Katee has served as the executive coach behind the scenes at this thriving business, leading a series of initiatives that have redefined GoDaddy’s culture to one of inclusivity, especially in celebrating and empowering women.

As a speaker, coach, and HR consultant, Katee takes a holistic approach to supporting people in living their best lives. Her no-nonsense style leads to action. When asked what she did to help a mega-organization like GoDaddy achieve a culture transformation, she modestly shared, “It was about aligning their external message with their internal culture. My job was to help team members to be their authentic selves and feel valued.”

When we think about why people seek out life coaching, it might be easy to assume that they do so because they are looking to become successful. Perhaps they want to switch careers, make more money, or gain more recognition. Yet, author, life coach, and Zen Cowboy™ Alaric Hutchinson goes a step beyond that approach to coaching with one simple question: “What comes after success?”

Realizing just how few people are genuinely happy in their lives—no matter how much they have achieved professionally—was a huge breakthrough for Alaric in terms of understanding the individuals who seek out his services. “Money and success (once achieved) do not actually bring about lasting happiness or a sense of peace,” says Alaric. “Many of my clients are high performers and earners trying to figure out why they are still not satisfied in their life. The niche of people I work with all desire inner peace.”

Life coach, Hypnotherapist, and YouTuber Dulce Zambrano would like you to know that you don’t have to give up your sense of self and personal preferences to find success!

As a coach who often finds herself working with clients who are already on the path to achievement—particularly female entrepreneurs and leaders who want more mindfulness and balance in their lives—Dulce has noticed that this is a common fear. “What these successful people are often most afraid of is losing the little personality quirks that make them individuals; they’re afraid they have to become Tibetan monks to find balance, which simply isn’t true,” Dulce says. “You can be successful and still be you! It’s a matter of recognizing that everywhere is a safe space. Just show up and do your thang, boo!”

In 2005, Brian Zahn was feeling lost and like he had hit rock bottom, especially after an ugly divorce had left him struggling with a negative outlook on life. Internally, he knew that the problems he was experiencing were temporary and that deeper connections with people and the world awaited him, yet it wasn’t until he accepted his calling with a career in Life Coaching that he found a way to break through to a brighter perspective.

It was in his first life coaching course that Brian was blessed with one of those beautiful SWIHA “ah-ha” moments that turned his life around and began his transformation: “I realized that we are all truly ONE, wanting to be heard, acknowledged, known for something positive, to live our truth, and most importantly to be unconditionally loved.” Brian had discovered that it is possible to break through the prisons we shape for ourselves—prisons with bars made of limiting beliefs, false perceptions, and negative self-talk—and to emerge into our truest and best selves.

As a self-described spirit-guided healer, Becca Briley is a woman led by her intuition. From the very beginning, Becca knew that her life’s purpose—her soul’s purpose—is to honor the sacred in others through selfless service to them. “I’m always naturally guided to that soulful place,” Becca shares. “Really supporting someone’s highest self, allowing them to show up in the most vulnerable and authentic way… To me, that’s just communicating soul to soul.” In fact, as a little girl, Becca would resolutely tell those around her, “I’m not here for me,” a both poignant and profound observation from a child so young.

Now as a graduate of SWIHA’s 100-hour Certificate of Excellence in Life Coaching, Becca is able to “be here” for others through her life coaching practice, appropriately called the “Spirit Guided Healer.” She has grown into this practice with the conviction that “by supporting others’ evolution, I am supporting my own for the highest and greatest good.” She finds that the questions her clients most frequently bring to her are ultimately ones of evolution: How do I control my thoughts? How do I stay positive? How do I get out of my bad habits? How do I look on the bright side? When working with people who are striving to make these improvements, she is sure to encourage them to see it as a process. “It’s a mindful practice,” Becca says. “It’s not a switch that you turn on and it stays on. Living in that higher space is a matter of repetition.”

Reine Matthews is a SWIHA graduate both doing great things and writing great things! Her first book, Thriving After Diagnosis: Instead of Merely Surviving, was just published… and she is already working on a second! Hailing from Northern Idaho, Reine received an AOS Degree in Mind Body Transformational Psychology from SWIHA, with concentrations in Holistic Nutrition and Wellness, Life Coaching, and Urban Farming and Conscious Living.

Reine chose to get into the field of holistic wellness because of her personal journey of being diagnosed with (and thriving beyond!) Lyme Disease. According to the CDC, Lyme disease is the fastest growing vector-borne, infectious disease in the United States, with 25,000 new cases being reported every month for an estimated 300,000 new people being affected per year (25% of which are children). This illness is typically transmitted through a bite from an infected deer tick and has been reported in all 50 states and on every continent, excluding Antarctica.

Our hearts are extremely heavy as we read the news about the massage industry and those who have experienced misconduct and sexual assaults by Licensed Massage Therapists (LMTs). As a nationally accredited college with a 25-year history of providing massage therapy education, we believe it is our responsibility to take a clear stand on sexual harassment, violations of personal boundaries, and the kinds of unconscious behaviors that are how coming to light in the massage community.

Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) is resolved to be on the forefront of reminding, retraining, and encouraging all massage therapists to honor and recommit to the ethical oaths they took when they became an LMT.  We seek to remind them that at each step of their journey toward becoming an LMT – from their first class, through graduation and licensure, and investing in massage liability insurance – they made and affirmed their commitment to ethical practice.

The holidays are a time when we want to look and feel are best so that we can truly enjoy the company of our loved ones and the spirit of the season. Yet, it’s so easy to overindulge when faced with the wide array of traditional treats popularly consumed at the time. Sugar cookies, pies, alcohol-laden drinks, and other sweets can weigh us down and leave us feeling slower, sleepier, and less energized than usual. Meals that contain dairy can have a particularly negative effect on our health and well-being. In fact, excessive consumption of dairy products has been shown to cause skin troubles, increased mucus production in the respiratory system, slowed digestion, and the sudden onset of bloating, cramping, gassiness, and general tummy troubles.

If you’ve watched television in the last 30 years, you’ve likely seen a popular commercial for Calgon bath products in which a woman’s chaotic home life proves to be more than she can handle. In the ad, the woman lunges to answer her ringing phone; meanwhile, her young daughter screams her lungs out as she cuts a frenzied path through the kitchen, the pet dog barks relentlessly, a tipped over houseplant sends soil scattering across the counter, and dinner starts to boil over on the stove.

Exhausted, the woman covers her ears, looks up to the heavens, and pleads, “Calgon, take me away!” The next scene reveals her relaxing in a hot bath, where she melts into a state of deep meditative bliss and leaves behind the domestic woes which had afflicted her mere seconds before. Brilliant marketing aside, the question remains: can a hot bath really soak away your stress and take you to an almost fantasy-like state of being?