SWIHA Blog

The word "sucks" isn't exactly eloquent; however, it does describe my message perfectly, so please excuse the uncouth nature of the word!

The real reason I'm using the word at all comes from an experience my brother had a couple of years ago when he was diagnosed with Beckett cancer, a rare form of carcinoma. On a cold snowy day at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Minneapolis, he sat with an oncologist to receive the news of exactly how rare his type of cancer was and its aggressive nature. My brother reflected on this information--sitting for a few moments upon hearing the shocking news, closing his eyes, taking a really, really deep breath, and then simply saying, "Well that sucks! What's the plan?"

The words of the teacher who led the morning yoga practice at the Wanderlust Mindfulness Marathon in Denver, Colorado still ring in my awareness:“What do you need to put down that was not yours to pick up in the first place?

Chelsey Korus is quickly becoming one of yoga's foremost teachers and philosophers. She's been featured in PopSugar, Prevention Magazine, Yoga Journal, Women's Fitness, Mantra Magazine, Fitness Magazine, Shape, and is one of the top teachers on Yogaglo, an online venue for the top yoga teachers in the world to offer video-based asana and philosophy classes.

It’s no surprise that the California-based yoga teacher has been traveling the country as part of the Wanderlust staff. She's been teaching yoga since the age of 15 and has been a lifelong student of various yoga practices, including Anusara, Power Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Acro, as well as martial arts, free form dance, and ballet. The surprise was the way she cued and invited deep inquiry in the middle of the mile-high park setting.

After twenty-five years of helping people to discover their gifts through life coaching and other holistic practices, I’ve heard an awful lot of stories about how some friends and families of our graduates weren’t exactly thrilled hearing them announce they were becoming a Healing Arts Practitioner of any kind. And yet, most who have made the “leap of faith” say they wouldn’t go back for anything!

As my husband and I journeyed to Breckenridge, Colorado, for an early birthday getaway, the annual upcoming in-service training that I am scheduled to give for the Licensed Massage Therapists (LMTs) that work in the SWIHA Healing Arts Clinic was very much on my mind. In fact, so much so, little nagging  ‘yeah but’ thoughts were floating around in my mind...thoughts like: “Do I really have anything to offer our LMTs after all these years,” “Am I getting too old to teach our amazing practicing therapists anything new,” and “Who do I think I am to be the one serving as the presenter?”

Do you know your neighbors or those you work with very well? Do you know what their big dreams are (or were) and the things that prevent them from achieving them?

If you can say "yes" to truly knowing your neighbors or workmates, you are among the minority. According to a General Social Survey, more than a third of the population in the US says they don't know their neighbors at all, and over half admit that they rarely or never interact with their neighbors.

Sadly, I was part of that statistic. I've lived across the street for over 15 years from a woman I have barely spoken to or interacted with, other than an occasional wave as I was driving away to work or coming back home at the end of the day. No big deal, right? Wrong!

As we return from the Fourth of July holiday, words like “freedom” and “independence” clearly ring true as privileges we enjoy as Americans. However, these two words also have greater significance— they describe what it is to be an independent entrepreneur.

The brave souls who create businesses are called entrepreneurs, and according to Entrepreneur Magazine, they have the "capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture, along with its risks, in order to make a profit".  In my opinion, there are four important words that need to be added to the definition, and they are, “who are brave enough.”

As a longtime entrepreneur and life coaching expert, I choose to define entrepreneurs as  “passionate people who are brave enough to trust themselves to develop, organize and manage a business venture in order to make a profit by serving others as a part of their life purpose!”  

Did you know that July is National Watermelon Month? According to Mary Ritter, SWIHA’s Chief Executive Director, this is perfect timing because watermelon picking is at its absolute peak the week of July 4^th!! Watermelon has long been a favorite treat for Americans looking to consume something light and refreshing during the sweltering summer months. Interesting enough, over 300 watermelon varieties are grown in the US and Mexico.

When building a sustainable business as a holistic practitioner--be it through life coaching, massage therapy, or any other modality--what others think of us IS our business, especially when what they say is ABOUT our business. Word of mouth, or viva voce, can make or break a business or a practitioner’s private practice. Viva voce is a Latin phrase that means “the living voice.” With today’s digital media platforms—such as Yelp, Facebook, and Google+—there is sudden room for the world to publish exactly what they think about your business… quickly and often without recourse! Once a “bad” review is registered, it is nearly impossible to reverse the rating that shows up on your business' page.

Naturally, we want to do all we can to create positive word-of-mouth to help grow our private practices and holistic businesses. For guidance on this matter, we can turn to the wisdom in Don Miguel Ruiz’s most famous book, The Four Agreements, which has sold around 5.2 million copies in the U.S and has been translated into 38 languages.

Hannah Roen was in need of significant healing. Over the course of 9 years, she was suffering from two brain tumors, a liver tumor, severe acid reflux, pancreatitis, ovarian and breast cysts, pleurisy, and some other emotional conditions as well.

At the time, Hannah was living in Puerto Rico and suffering with serious health conditions when she met a holistic healer who taught at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Arizona. He spoke to her of the self-healing power of Ancient Chinese Medicine and a specific technique called Tui Na. The term Tui Na (pronounced "twee naw”)—which literally means "pinch and pull”—refers to a wide range of Ancient Chinese Five Element Medicine, therapeutic massage, and body work. Tui Na is not generally used for pleasure and relaxation; rather, it serves as a treatment to address specific patterns of disharmony in the body.

PTSD paralyzes, terrifies, saddens, and dulls the senses. We have long known that our mind and body record everything that happens to us. These highs and lows create Richter-scale size memories in our minds, with our emotional “seismograph” documenting the most crystallizing and paralyzing events of our life. If we were to take a metaphorical scan of the mind, we would clearly see PTSD appearing on the “map” as a series of dark, sharp peaks — indicators of turmoil from which it is very difficult to escape. Those dealing with PTSD get mired in those dark spots.

Grieving through the “Dark Spots”

Recently, after over twenty years of distinguished service to his country and three years of trying to reconcile the battles in his mind through intermittent psychiatric hospital stays, my stepson Todd made the permanent decision to end his life.