SWIHA Blog

For recent Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner (IHAP) graduate Courtney Easterling, the path to SWIHA was guided by a lifelong love of natural living, holistic wellness, and earth-based practices. What began as a desire to learn more about the healing arts ultimately became a deeply personal journey of growth, grounding, and purpose.

“I came to SWIHA because I was interested in the healing arts,” Courtney shares. “I’ve always loved natural practices and agriculture. I love holistic nutrition, chakras, and yoga.” Drawn to these interconnected modalities, she found SWIHA to be the place where her values and passions could come together in a meaningful, professional way.

Life has a way of guiding us exactly where we need to be—sometimes through gentle nudges, and other times through moments that make us pause entirely. For Maggie Coe, her journey into the Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner (IHAP) program at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) was a combination of both.

Before enrolling at SWIHA, Maggie’s life revolved around her family, her pottery business, and deepening her relationship with her partner. In 2024, a significant accident forced her to slow down, listen to her body, and reflect on what truly mattered. “I became more intentional with my life, listening to what I was being called to do,” Maggie shares. That reflection led her to SWIHA, and she immediately felt that this was the path she was meant to follow. “This is how I could show up for others and also for myself,” she explains.

Sometimes the most transformative journeys begin not with certainty, instead emerging from a quiet sense that something more is waiting. For Seyoni Smith, that inner knowing surfaced during a season of transition—one that ultimately led her to Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) and the completion of the Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner Program.

Before SWIHA, Seyoni was working a traditional 9–5 job after taking a gap year from college—one she never returned from because full-time work became a necessity. During that period, she found herself navigating her own spiritual awakening alongside mental health challenges. While she was doing what was expected, fulfillment remained out of reach. She recalls knowing, deep down, that “there was something more waiting for me, both spiritually and physically.”

For Bella Alaniz Badillo, the path to healing work began early—with curiosity, intuition, and a deep calling toward the integrative arts. What started as a gap year after high school soon became a life-defining journey into self-discovery, resilience, and professional purpose through Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA).

Bella enrolled in SWIHA’s Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner program with a specialty in Advanced Hypnotherapy, beginning her studies in February 2024. As she completes her final classes and steps into graduation, she reflects on a journey that has transformed every aspect of her life.

“I always wanted to be a therapist, and as I read SWIHA’s Integrative Arts program, I knew it was the perfect place for me.”

For many healers, the path to purpose isn’t linear—it’s forged through deep self-inquiry, courage, and a willingness to honor authenticity above all else. For Valarie Hopkins, a graduate of SWIHA’s Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner program with a focus in Hypnotherapy, that journey has been nothing short of transformational.

“I have always loved the various Healing Arts,” Valarie shares. From early on, she felt a calling to support others in moving through internal blocks and reclaiming their joy. “My main goal is to assist others in moving past obstacles that are in the way of following their bliss, and Hypnotherapy is a great resource for that.”

I created my business, The Adora Method, to guide women of color in healing the subconscious roots of fear, shame, and self-sabotage so they can end painful repeating cycles and create success and relationships that truly last. It is my honor to walk beside them on their path of healing and spiritual awakening.

Every healing journey has a beginning—and for Linda Abramov, that journey truly came into focus at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. As she completes the final class of the Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner (IHAP) program, Linda reflects on a path shaped by resilience, intuition, entrepreneurship, and a deep desire to help others heal from the inside out.

When life asks you to rebuild, it also gives you the chance to rediscover who you truly are. For Sarah Hanlon, a recent graduate of the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner (IHAP) program, her journey has been one of courage, renewal, and transformation.

Before enrolling at SWIHA, Sarah was a dedicated massage therapist and mother living in Massachusetts. She was also in the process of healing from a painful chapter in her life — a toxic relationship she had left behind. “I wanted to help others in ways that I wanted to be helped as I was getting out of a toxic relationship,” she shares. “I wanted to be that hand that helps guide people through the tunnel to the other side of the hurt that allows them to build their lives for themselves.”

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." — J. Krishnamurti

What does it mean to be the light? “You light up my life!” “Let your light shine!” “You are the light and the salt.” The light illuminates the way and divides the day from the night. It allows us to find our way out of darkness.

So how does one continue to push on and be the light when the world around you gets dark? How do you harness that light and keep showing up when it can be so turbulent to be seen?

I used to think spiritual awakening meant everything was perfectly aligned—like life suddenly made sense. You were happy. At peace. Trouble-free.

I imagined it as this peaceful, blissed-out lifestyle—quiet, centered, maybe even easy. It felt far away, like something meant for people who had it all figured out. The deeply devoted. The naturally calm. The ones who seemed to belong in sacred spaces.

I didn’t think that could be me, yet I craved it. I wanted that kind of peace. I just didn’t know how to get there—or if I even belonged on that path.