SWIHA Blog

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?

Since its humble beginnings on a mountaintop in Japan, Reiki has been adapted into varying cultural traditions across the world. In fact, it is estimated that there are over a hundred versions or expressions of Reiki. So, why are there so many forms of Reiki?

Well, that’s a little like asking, “Why are there so many forms of art?” Art has been defined as a vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions, ideas, and individual passions. You could use the exact same definition for Reiki.  Reiki is a vehicle for the expression of one’s own personal healing style and passion! Reiki is art!

Both Reiki and art are abilities that come naturally to some… and many practitioners of both Reiki and art find training is necessary to help them refine their endeavors and learn specialized skills that makes them more effective, productive, and even more passionate about their work.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and we all know what that means…

Many of us will spend the final hours leading up to the big day frantically racing through the aisles of our local grocery store, on the hunt for the essentials and that one critical ingredient we almost left off the list. Turkey? Check. Ten pounds of potatoes? Check. Ground nutmeg for the pumpkin pie? Oops…

It goes without saying that the last thing we need in the midst of the mania is MORE stress. An easy solution to this dilemma is to introduce raw cuisine to your table this Thanksgiving. Live foods need to be on your plate all year round, and holidays are no exception.

Jewel Blackfeather always knew she was intuitive, although she didn’t fully acknowledge it until she became a Life Coach. In fact, during the first 20-hour weekend of her Life Coaching program at SWIHA, Jewel felt intuitively called to volunteer as the demo client for a fear-related exercise being led by master instructor Richard Seaman in front of a room of nearly fifty people. While there was a part of her that didn’t want to be put in spotlight, there was also a part of her that knew she was being compelled to step up and face her fears!

A Lion Among Wolves

And face her fears she did! During the demonstration, Richard asked her a series of potent, probing questions–which is one of the most powerful skills a Life Coach learns–that caused her to stop and look at what was stopping her. Once she shared a bit of her story, Richard used yet another incredible coaching tool–Transformational Listening–to weave a metaphoric visualization based on what she had shared:

If you, or someone you know, is a caregiver, it goes without saying that you could probably use more sleep. You are not alone! The statistics are staggering: there are approximately 43.5 million people in the United States who identify as caregivers!  

Approximately 8.5 million of these primary caregivers are single mothers and 2.5 million are single fathers. These numbers don’t include the 1.7 million veterans who have returned home in the last ten years and who are now suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or some form of depression—individuals who also need a great deal of support and care.

LaRie Hope has toured with bands, worked in freak shows and haunted houses, and been a body piercer and hairstylist… yet her biggest and boldest career move is happening right now, as she sets up shop in Arizona to offer her services as a Licensed Massage Therapist, energy worker, and self-described “Life Doula.”

While a doula is traditionally a person who is trained to assist a woman during childbirth and to provide support to the family after the baby is born, LaRie has given the profession her own personal twist by providing much needed help to families with or without children. She assists families plan and prepare healthy meals, provides childcare to individuals who need to work or be in class, and offers general emotional and mental encouragement by holding space for her clients. “If you need it, most likely I can help you with it,” LaRie says. “My nickname since high school has always been ‘mom,’ which is accurate because I have always been a mom to everyone when they need support.”