SWIHA Blog

How can your mind, body, and spirit transformation increase your happiness?

So what is a transformation and how do you obtain it? In this busy world, many people go through a series of misfortunes like family dysfunctions, broken relationships, failed marriages, trauma, unfair treatment in the workplace, guilt of past mistakes and the list goes on and on. When people experience these challenges it can be difficult to find peace and direction in your life, nevertheless, there is hope. One way people can obtain transformation for their lives is to recognize that change is needed in order to bring about a sense of peace, joy, and happiness and grow into a healthy balanced life.

“You are stronger than your challenges. And your challenges are making you stronger. Deep within is a hidden reserve of inner power. Breathe. Get quiet. You will access it. You’re far stronger than you realize - with a capacity to stretch and grow in exciting ways.” - Karen Salmansohn

Before Eve Garifo-Morelli started her healing journey at SWIHA, she was a full-time caregiver for her father. Her entire life, 24/7 was surrounding her father who had suffered from a stroke and lost his speech, the use of his right arm, and now walked with a cane and brace on his right leg. For Eve, this became a high-stress situation having to be a full-time caregiver for her father. On one side, she loved him and fervently stood up to the job of taking care of her father. On the other hand, there were days that Eve found herself not leaving her house, showering, or taking care of herself. There needed to be a change.

What do we do after experiencing a tragedy? How do we come back from a major setback? Is there hope after living a life of self-destruction and despair? Is it possible to heal and move forward in a positive direction after our deepest hurts? By taking the initiative to make positive changes, to let go, and to say ‘yes’ to transformation and growth, we can connect with our truest self, and spare ourselves even more suffering.

If you’ve ever been to our yoga studio and training facility, Spirit of Yoga, you’ve surely noticed our shelled friends sunbathing in the pond. Due to their wide-eyed, slow-and-steady nature, many consider turtles to be the wisest souls in the animal kingdom. When Katie Hembraugh first saw them, she took it as a sign to “come out of her shell” and pursue Yoga Teacher Training!

“I had developed a habit of not showing up and letting opportunities go by while hiding behind being not ready...[so] I landed at SWIHA because of the turtles!” laughs Katie, “Synchronicities are one way I see my life guided by my Great Attractor. I met Laura Mckinzie and saw the overflow of turtles living in the pond at Spirit of Yoga and the decision was made.”

Those who know me know that my journey into yoga started very late in life. While I had always had an interest in yoga, I usually ended up feeling disheartened whenever I’d venture to an actual class. Time after time, I’d find myself in the same chaotic environment: a room full of sweaty people jumping through the poses at lightning speed while an instructor stood at the front of the room, barking out the moves like a drill sergeant! Leaving the studio after these experiences, I’d wind up feeling uneasy with the same thought plaguing me the whole journey home: “Well, that was not what I expected...”

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.”

Mathina Ross has always been a healer and philanthropist at heart. Though her background is not necessarily one you would expect from someone who now has a bustling career offering signature massage experiences, throughout her life she has mastered the art of caring for others. In fact, before attending SWIHA and completing our 1000-hour Massage Therapy Program, Mathina cultivated a profoundly rewarding career in cosmetology, in which she chose to specialize working with children who experienced spectrum disorders toward the end. She shares that the work was fulfilling to her soul, yet left her feeling drained. “I loved the work, [however, I] got ‘burned out.’  Given my specialized status, when I chose to move on, my options were very limited.  Prior to specializing, I had worked in hair, skin and nail care, and had been massaging much of the body, so the transition to massage seemed an appropriate one.”

A desire to learn healing arts, to refine the skills she already had, and to give her some new ones is exactly what brought Connie Gensamer to Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). Truly, she has always been on the path to healing work, however in early in 2014, she was introduced to a modality called The Reconnection by Eric Pearl. “I read his books and then had the process done. My feet were reconnected to the earth and my crown chakra reconnected to the cosmos as a way of reclaiming who I was and my life purpose. After the process, I really didn’t know if things had shifted, yet three months later, I was looking for a school to teach me how to help people heal, and I found SWIHA.”

When Alaric Kyle Hutchinson was nineteen and attending Scottsdale Community College, a friend of his, who knew him from high school, mentioned she was attending Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). Based on what she already knew of her friend, she suggested he check out their Life Coaching program.  Curious, Alaric toured SWIHA and eventually signed up only a few months later. “I was greatly fascinated by the combination of spirituality and psychology and that is what ultimately drew me in.” Alaric went on to graduate with a Mind-Body Transformational Psychology Associates Degree with certifications in Life Coaching, Reiki, and Spiritual Studies (ordained by KC Miller).

Ever since he was a child, this great graduate had visions of what he was born, in this life, to accomplish. Before SWIHA, he had never met any like-minded individuals, nor did he have an avenue in which he could explore the incredible mind, body, spirit connection- especially in such a clinic field like psychology. “SWIHA set me on the path to gain confidence and priceless hands-on experience that I would have never learned from a traditional college. My favorite part of attending all the classes was how we jumped into the work with real life experiences rather than focusing only on the academics side. In my eyes, it was a perfect balance and was key to my growth and learning.”

“An emotion does not cause pain. Resistance or suppression of emotion causes pain.”

- Frederick Dodson, Parallel Universe of Self

What would you do, become, or find answers to, if you knew you held a key that unlocks it all?

I am here today to give you a glimpse to the key that is unlocking the unstoppable power within humans. It is a key that has been around for thousands of years. More than ever before, it is entering the mainstream health care system and taking people by storm. The key is hypnotherapy. Now more than ever, doctors, scientists, and researchers are fascinated with the results from this psychotherapy, as it is a way to constructively communicate with your subconscious mind while having your conscious mind take a step back.