SWIHA Blog

For over 20 years Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) has been offering a 200-hour yoga alliance approved yoga teacher training under the banner of “Unity Yoga”. Students are encouraged to find their own authentic expression of yoga, with an emphasis on cueing safe, anatomically correct asana-based studio classes. We’ve successfully graduated hundreds of students over the years that have found their own voices and adapted what they’ve learned into compelling and creative studio classes that they offer all across the country.

As we have sought to enrich our Advanced Yoga Teacher offerings we have begun to focus on the deeper aspects of yoga including meditation in the form of Yoga Nidra —a guided yogic sleep system refined by Kamini Desai, PhD.

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"How may I best serve? Make me an instrument of Spirit!" was my prayer and my plea!  And all the sudden toes started showing up everywhere!

I began to notice all kinds of people wearing sandals or flip flops -- and for some reason I would find myself just staring at their toes.  People around me were stubbing their toes and asking me what I thought it meant. At the time, I had a very active massage practice, and the clients coming to me wanted reflexology above anything else I offered. The moment I touched their feet, it was as if I could see dimensionally -- like some special power or ability had come over me, and I could see beyond the physical foot  into the metaphysical.

After about the tenth session of having god-bumps appear while I was working on someone's feet, I sat back remembering my question:  "How may I best serve?"  On one level, I began to feel that this toe thing was somehow the answer to the prayer I had uttered with deep sincerity.  With this realization, there was just a little bit of momentary disappointment too, with me thinking, "Are you kidding me? The most you’re going to trust me with are toes?" 

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‘This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home’ is a rhyme we hear as children, playfully explaining the significance of each toe. While the elementary explanation may be a little nebulous, the concept that each toe represents something is true from the point of view of reflexology.

Reflexology is a natural healing art based on the principle that there are reflex points in the feet, hands, and ears which directly correspond to every part and organ of the body. Through application of pressure on these reflex points by a skilled practitioner’s hands, along with the use of tools, lotions and aromatherapy, tension and dis-ease can be relieved or eliminated.

Practices resembling reflexology can be traced as far back as 2450 BC to ancient petroglyphs on the walls of an Egyptian tomb. In fact, Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, wrote about the curative effects of this modality.

In more recent times, Dr. William H. Fitzgerald, an ear, nose, and throat doctor, introduced this concept of ‘zone therapy’ in 1915. With ‘zone therapy’ the body is divided by vertical lines into five zones on the left side and five zones on the right side of the body. These zones relate to all parts of the body within each zone. The fingers and toes affect corresponding parts of the body and are the primary areas of treatment.

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By KC Miller

Monday has a little bit of a bad rap! Often you will hear someone say: T.G.I.F (Thank Goodness It’s Friday); rarely, however, do you hear, “T.G.I.M! I’m over-the-moon-excited it’s Monday!”

Let’s face it – If you are going to begrudge Mondays you have a lot of complaining ahead of you because, hopefully, you have a lot of Mondays in front of you.

So, what’s the answer? F.I.T.Y.M.I – which means ‘Fake It ‘Til You Make It’ – is one possible solution.

While being fake isn’t’ really the message, the use of acronyms or mnemonicscan be a powerful way to remember to adjust your attitude as you face the week.

The word ‘mnemonic’ comes from Greek mythology; there was goddess names Mnemosyne, dubbed ‘the Goddess of Memory’ whose claim to fame was sleeping with the Greek god Zeus and conceiving nine children. The children, all daughters, were known as the muses, or creative nymphs, personifying the arts, especially literature, healing, dance and music. A mnemonic for muse could be:

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Do you believe that everything happens for a purpose?

My name is Dajon and I’m a new member of the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) community, serving as the Chief Communications Specialist and Community Liaison. When I say new, I mean that I literally hopped on a plane from Minnesota and joined the family this last week. This amazing opportunity didn’t come without many, many signs: Let me share my journey with you.For the past 12 years, I’ve served in the military. In February of this year, I decided leave military service and pursue a different path of service where I could help empower others. I had become accustomed to having everything chosen for me, from where to be, what uniform to wear, to how my career path was laid out. I enjoyed my military experience, however, I had lost my passion and felt my soul was searching for a new experience. Looking for where I fit in, I started working multiple part-time jobs; this just created more noise in my life and left me feeling even more confused. What I realize now is that I was looking for a sign.

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