SWIHA Blog

The Importance of Supporting Local Farms

Posted by Alexa Young on 2/7/23 4:00 PM

Farmers' Markets, Community Supported Agriculture, and purchasing from local farms have become an upward trend in the last few years, and rightfully so. As a Holistic Nutritionist and Wellness Coach, if I could recommend ONE diet change before anything else, it would be to eat locally. Not only is it better for your health to eat local, organic, and pesticide-free foods, it is also better for the environment. You have a larger variety of seasonal foods to choose from, it aids your local economy and puts money back into small businesses and farms, it strengthens community connections, and of course, the food is just fresher and tastes better!

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Topics: Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, Holistic Nutrition, holistic entrepreneur, Great Graduate, SWIHA, Urban Farming, Farmers Market, Arizona, Tempe, Wellness Coach, Holistic Healh and Wellness Coach, Microbiome, Support Local, Eat Locally

3 Ways to Step Out into the World as Your Authentic Self with SWIHA Graduate Natali Siliezar

Posted by Natali Siliezar on 2/2/23 4:00 PM

Are you speaking your truth, listening to your gut, and TRUSTING YOUR INTUITION?

We all know this is all very important while on your journey to self-worth.

Do you ever stop sharing a piece of your life because you feel it has no value? Yet, you have no idea who it might inspire?

I get random people telling me how much I inspire them and how much my words or videos made them feel. Not listening to my intuition has happened to me countless times. Yet, I remember when I stopped myself from sharing because I thought it would be too cringy.

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Topics: Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, holistic entrepreneur, Great Graduate, SWIHA, Intuition, Arizona, coaching, Tempe, inner knowing, Grounding, SWIHA Graduate, Holistic Health and Wellness Coach, authentic self, Trust your gut, Answering the Call

Before vs. After: Marlena Gordon’s Life of Living with Intention

Posted by Marlena Gordon on 1/30/23 8:00 AM

Marlena Gordon is a certified Reiki Master and Intuitive Guide, set on the mission of helping others through life’s most difficult transitions. Although these certifications and schooling she has behind her are great, Marlena’s most qualifying credential is her own life experiences. By going through what she has gone through, Marlena now lives a life full of living with intention, seeking answers within, and wanting to share her gifts with the world. Today, Marlena Gordon shares her story of how living with intention set her on a different life course.

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Topics: Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, holistic entrepreneur, SWIHA, Mindfulness, Reiki, energy work, Holistic wellness, Arizona, Tempe, Intuitive Guide, Intention, National Be on Purpose Month 2023, Entrepreneurial Business

How Cheyenne Marshall Found Her Power & Purpose in Holding Space for Her Clients

Posted by Cheyenne Marshall on 1/27/23 8:00 AM

What SWIHA program(s) did you graduate from?:

I chose the Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner program with a focus in Hypnotherapy. I chose hypnotherapy as my specialty because it felt safe and more accepted than what I initially wanted to study. After starting school, I began my Holistic Wellness Coach courses and quickly found I was not being true to myself, or authentic in how I wanted to show up as a Practitioner. I changed my specialties from hypnotherapy which did not resonate for me, to Traditional Reiki, Polarity Practitioner Program, and Holy Reiki.

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Topics: Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, Polarity, holistic entrepreneur, Great Graduate, SWIHA, Arizona, Polarity Practitioner, Tempe, Ordained Minister, National Be on Purpose Month 2023, Reiki Master Teacher, End of Life Doula

April Avalos Honors Her Purpose in Helping Others through the Power of Hypnotherapy

Posted by April Avalos on 1/25/23 8:00 AM

Advanced Professional Hypnotherapy Graduate April Avalos shares her story of loss, and how living with intention and purpose brings happiness to her life day by day.

What was your life like before SWIHA? What led you to SWIHA and to your particular program of study? Why are you passionate about this modality?:

Before SWIHA my life was on autopilot I was literally living each day just to survive the struggles I was having at the time and not enjoying the moments of calmness because I didn’t even recognize them at the time. I started seeing my daughter's hypnotherapist to help me with my stress and anxiety and when I saw the results which brought sanity back into my life, I was amazed and wanted to learn everything I could about hypnotherapy so that I can use this holistic approach to continue to help myself and at the same time help those in my inner circle. Now my heart, my desire, especially after my daughter died, is to help others.

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Topics: Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, Great Graduate, SWIHA, Hypnotherapy, Arizona, Tempe, guided imagery, transpersonal Hypnotherapy, National Be on Purpose Month 2023

How Living Big & On Purpose Transformed SWIHA Graduate Amanda Dodd’s Life

Posted by Amanda Dodd on 1/23/23 8:00 AM

Amanda Dodd, a SWIHA graduate and “lifer”, is well-versed in the programs that are offered here. Amanda is a proud graduate of the Mind Body Wellness Practitioner diploma with a focus in Spiritual Studies, a graduate of the Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner Diploma with a focus in Advanced Hypnotherapy, and lastly a graduate of the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program. Along with this education, Amanda Dodd is a dedicated Holistic Practitioner to her clients and has a passion and life purpose for helping others live with their heart, and not play small in this life. Today, Amanda Dodd shares her impactful ways of how she lives with purpose, and what can happen if you don’t.

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Topics: Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, Great Graduate, SWIHA, entrepreneur, Past Life Regressions, Yoga Teacher Training, Arizona, Tempe, mind body wellness pracitioner, IHAP, Intuitive Healing Arts Practitioner, Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapy, National Be on Purpose Month 2023, NATH

How Lourdes Menendez Accomplished Her Goals and Beyond with the Power of Intention

Posted by Jade Marvin on 1/20/23 8:00 AM

In honor of National Be On-Purpose Month, this January 2023, SWIHA Great Graduate and Healing Arts Practitioner Lourdes Menendez shares how intention and mindfulness show up in her life. Lourdes asserts, “Before SWIHA I had goals and purposes, however, I was not focused on how to continue living on purpose to achieve those goals. Then, the universe led me to SWIHA. I was randomly looking for a school to learn Hypnotherapy and an internal voice said ‘that one right there’ exactly when I was reading SWIHA's mission statement! I am passionate about Hypnotherapy because the benefits are limitless. Our subconscious is deep and has a limitless capacity and all the answers are inside us.”

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Topics: Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, Great Graduate, SWIHA, Mindfulness, Hypnotherapy, Arizona, Tempe, integrative healing arts practitioner, Goal-Setting, IHAP, Intention, National Be on Purpose Month 2023

How Living with Intention Saved Robyn Flynn-Kosar Through Her Journey with Cancer

Posted by Jade Marvin on 1/18/23 8:00 AM

Life Coaching and Holistic Nutrition graduate Robyn Flynn-Kosar took a life event that could have taken her life, and turned it around with the power of Nutrition & Intention. All Robyn’s life, she has put intention behind everything she does. Even when she makes mistakes, because she lives with intention, it allows her to be able to learn and be aware of the choices she has made. After being diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, Robyn made the intentional decision to heal herself with the power of Nutrition!

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Topics: Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, Holistic Nutrition, SWIHA, life coach, Nutrition, Arizona, Tempe, Intention, Holistic Health and Wellness Coach, National Be on Purpose Month 2023

Anna Palechek’s Journey from ‘Just Existing’ to ‘Living Purposefully”

Posted by Anna Palechek on 1/11/23 8:00 AM

I was overweight, mentally drained and an emotional eater (and drinker). My own traumas and dramas became my triggers. After five years of struggling through starvation and rationalizing my circumstances—I realized it was all due to my own insecurities and bad decisions. Choices that I made while my self-worth was lacking, oh who am I kidding, it was non-existent. I was not living purposefully; I was just existing. At the time I had no idea there was a place called Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA).

All my life, I had compared myself to others. I compared my life to how others were living, and I believed that I was not living life as I should have been. I felt as though I was not giving my children the life that so many others were giving theirs, therefore I was a bad parent.

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Topics: Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, western herbalism, SWIHA, Urban Farming, Arizona, Tempe, mind body wellness pracitioner, integrative healing arts practitioner, Herbalist, National Be on Purpose Month 2023, Self-worth

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

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