SWIHA Blog

Healing Addiction: Heather Vanek’s Journey to Health & Happiness

Posted by Heather Vanek on 1/4/23 8:00 AM

Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in certain behaviors, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use often alters brain functions in ways that perpetuate cravings and weakens self-control. According to hhs.gov, in 2017, the US department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency calling it the US opioid Epidemic. As American Addiction Center states “according to the national survey on drug use and health (NSDUH), 19.7 million American adults (12 and older) battle a substance use disorder in 2017.” Addiction touches so many lives directly, or indirectly through loved ones. My hope is to share my strength and the tools I have found to combat addiction.

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Topics: Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, Life Coaching, SWIHA, Hypnotherapy, Arizona, Recovery, Tempe, Addiction, Inspiration, National Be on Purpose Month 2023

Candice Lee’s Free Spirit Creates Sacred, Transformational Space for Others

Posted by Jade Marvin on 7/29/21 4:00 PM

We all have secrets we keep locked away from the rest of the world. Friendships we pretend. Relationships we hide. Worst of all is the love we never let show; the most dangerous secret a person can bury are those we keep from ourselves.” - Kevin McCarty

Candice Lee, a graduate from the Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner program, at the age of 25, finally began to listen to the parts of herself she could no longer ignore. The parts of herself she had kept locked away, she finally dealt with. Her journey at SWIHA gave her the keys so that she could unlock those doors and finally make a change in her own life and the lives of others.

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Topics: Life Coaching, Reiki master, holistic entrepreneur, SWIHA, entrepreneur, Intuition, Reiki, Hypnotherapy, Guide, intuitve guide, integrative healing arts practitioner, intuitive guidance, Transformational Reiki, Addiction, Transpersonal Psychology, IHAP, Holistic Education, Self-Healing, continuing education

Lourdes Menendez’s Dream to Provide Holistic Healing through Hypnosis & Coaching

Posted by Jade Marvin on 6/17/21 4:00 PM

Trust the wait. Embrace the uncertainty. Enjoy the beauty of becoming. When nothing is certain, anything is possible”. - Mandy Hale

Timing is everything. For our great graduate Lourdes Menendez, in April of 2019, had a spiritual enlightenment that eventually led her on the path to SWIHA. “On that day, a master spirit connected with me while I was working my shift as Medicaid Advocate for a local hospital. I heard a man's voice whispering "Hypnosis Class" she tells us, “I knew I was on the right path when I received the Brochures and Pamphlets from SWIHA. By touching the paper I felt positive energy. I recalled telling my husband: ‘How sad I feel for not finding this school ten years ago’ and my husband said ‘Ten years ago was not the time; the time is now’.”

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Topics: Life Coaching, Hypnotherapist, SWIHA, healing, life coach, Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy, Holistic health, Guide, integrative healing arts practitioner, Addiction, Spiritual Awakening, Online student, Transformational Coaching, Holistic Education, Setting Goals

A Love Affair for the Ages: Jennifer Sanders on Discovering the Power of Polarity

Posted by Christine Iring on 2/23/18 11:24 AM

As a child, Jennifer Sanders was endlessly seeking a place where she belonged in this world. She grew up witnessing the difficult paths of her parents, who were both addicted to drugs and looking for answers of their own, leaving Jennifer to navigate this process of self-discovery by herself. Jennifer reflects on this sometimes painful process, stating, “I often struggled with my own self worth, identity, value, and, later in life, drug addiction. I always knew deep down inside that I had something significant to offer the world and a purpose greater than anyone thought I was capable of. I would find myself with the outcasts of society, ministering the truth of God and the infinite universe. Yet, still I was incomplete, and the wounds of my childhood were still raw 30 years later.”

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Topics: Sound Healing, Life Coaching, Polarity, cranial unwinding, Polarity Therapy, Addiction

Sue Shapiro: Coaching Creatively and Thinking Out of the Box

Posted by Fox Emm on 1/24/18 8:00 AM

Sue Shapiro of Spirit Knows Life Coaching doesn’t have a “one size fits all” client, so it stands to reason that she would not have one tool for every coaching circumstance. Her client base is varied and includes individuals who have left abusive environments, who have gone through near-death experiences, or who are seeking spiritual deepening. 

Like many coaches, Sue was led to pursue coaching in these three niches because of related events in her own life. Sue left an abusive environment many years ago, which created a unique set of challenges. "Over time, your capacity to hold onto some semblance of self-love and self-compassion erodes and you feel very broken," she explains. "The right life coaching tools have the ability to allow someone to see the opportunity to re-gift themselves with that love and compassion while accepting that they were always whole and complete instead of broken. It's like a re-birth of sorts." 

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Topics: self love, Life Coaching, near death experience, Addiction, Trauma Recovery, Spiritual Awakening

Lifestyle Goddess Ann Marie Rubertone On “Seeing” Energetically

Posted by Daniel Borgertpoepping on 1/23/18 8:00 AM

We pass hundreds—even thousands—of people on the street every day, usually without a second look. Yet, that’s not quite the case for Ann Marie Rubertone, who possesses the gift of “seeing” energy. "I can see and feel the frequences that others radiate, so I understand 'energetically' what they are thinking," she explains. 

This powerful form of seeing and empathizing perhaps evolved from Ann Marie's difficult and diverse background, which includes overcoming domestic violence, abuse, infertility, multiple sclerosis, and drug addiction. Although Ann Marie once felt that she was never good enough and that she would never fit in, her journey of recovery has been inspiring.

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Topics: Life Coaching, energy healing, Reiki, Recovery, clinical hypnotherapy, Addiction, Fertility, Sobriety, Tapping, NLP

The Road to Recovery: Bridgett Zehnder Talks Empathy & Overcoming Trauma

Posted by Daniel Borgertpoepping on 1/13/18 8:00 AM

For Bridgett Zehnder, finding her niche as a life coach came as an extension of the challenges she faced and overcame in her own life. “Like most of us that work in the Healing Arts field, we have developed our message from our mess,” she confides. Bridgett’s “mess” wound up looking like co-dependency, alcoholism, dysfunctional relationships, divorce, and loss— roadblocks which stemmed from childhood trauma and which were keeping her from leading a healthy life.

“Because of the strain this put on me emotionally, I developed debilitating pain through fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue,” she explains. “I did not find any relief from the traditional medical field, yet I fought hard to find a path of healing.” After joining a 12-step program, implementing significant dietary changes, picking up a meditation practice, and engaging with other holistic therapies, like hypnotherapy, Bridgett finally found her hope returning. It was ultimately these triumphs over suffering that would shape her as a life coach and offer a blueprint for her clients facing obstacles in their own careers and lives.

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Topics: Life Coaching, Hypnotherapy, Recovery, divorce, Addiction, Co-Dependency, Chronic Pain

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