SWIHA Blog

When asked what led Caroline Zeller to SWIHA’s Life Coaching program, she responded, “I started at SWIHA wth Reiki to help myself recover from a stroke.  As attended, I heard about life coaching.  I knew I was meant to be there.   I always wanted to professionally help others, but didn't subscribe to the mainstream counselling model.  The rest was history.  Now, after coaching for a year, it has inspired me to obtain my Wellness Practitioner diploma, then my AOS in Transformational Psychology.”

Every coach has a favorite tool, and like many others she mentioned the Wheel of Balance. She feels that it gives her a clear and concise map into where her client is and where they want/need to go. However, she also loves the practice of “story busting”, which she learned from the “genius”Richard Seaman: “While all clients don't live in their stories, many do tend to get caught up in the past and carry it with them.  This tool is beautiful when it pulls the client out of the middle of their situation, allowing them to look at it in a different, unemotional way.” She has found that she often works with clients suffering from PTSD, ADHD, divorce, and grief recovery, stress management, and those trying to move past a trauma.

Krystel Renee began coaching people as a fifteen year old teen, before she  even knew what life coaching was. “As a young teen my dad made me enter beauty pageants, and I despised him for it,” recalled Krystel. She wanted to do martial arts, but her father wanted her to participate in more feminine activities. “So to 'stick it to the man' - my father - I would coach my competition and help them build confidence with their talents, all while doing their hair and makeup. My goal was to help these girls win, so he would quit making me compete.” It wasn't until her divorce occurred in 2013 that she discovered the life coaching program at SWIHA, and realized “I could get paid for this natural gift that I have and actually help more people!”

Krystel’s niche clientele are those that are struggling with PTSD and depression, or “those who have just lost the joy or sense of purpose in their life.” She also coaches a lot of military personnel and their families, as well as women in their 30's -50's. Krystel’s favorite life coaching tool is the Wheel of Balance. She shared how she enjoys “helping people gauge where they are at in all areas of their life and to help them finely focus on areas they want to be better.” In addition to coaching, she utilizes chakra balancing, neuro-kinesis, and laughter techniques to help her clients restore joy in their lives.

In 2013, Faith Yanez made a life changing decision to completely resign from the corporate world. Her four children were out of the house and on their own, and she felt that this was her time to follow her dreams and deepest desires. “I've always done what I needed to do in my life,” shared Faith, “but now it was time to do what I wanted to do!” A friend of hers suggested that she check out SWIHA and like the thousands before her, ended up in the Life Coaching program.

Cherise Williams feels like her whole life was leading her to the point of enrolling in the Life Coaching program at SWIHA. She says she went through a lot of hard times in life, experiencing sexual abuse, emotionally and physically abusive relationships, drug and alcohol abuse, and self-loathing. However, she always felt she had a purpose, that she was supposed to do something life changing and helpful to other people. Like many other life coaches experience, Cherise feels like she’s been a coach all her life! She says this about SWIHA:  “I've been officially coaching now for about six months and I'm loving every single moment! The program at SWIHA gave me the confidence and tools needed to not only continue to help myself but to be able to serve others in a professional and profound way.”

Cherie Lee believes she was receiving divine messages about attending SWIHA. One day she was researching online when she noticed an ad for SWIHA flashing across each page she landed on. Later, when watching television, she saw another ad; she decided to take it as a sign and called admissions.

When she got to the school, she and her admissions coach went over different programs, and she was immediately drawn to the Life Coaching class, so she signed. “I was so happy to be in this class, as it helped me so much. I loved it, and I became ‘addicted’ to the school. I completed the entire course, and I graduated as a Master Life Coach in October 2015. I have been life coaching, friends, family members, students and the public for a little over one year now.”

Durga believes that she was a born healer and has been helping people since childhood, yet she wanted the training and proper tools, so she enrolled in the Life Coaching program at SWIHA. One of the most valuable things she learned during her program was to accept herself as she was. Perhaps the better relationship she formed with herself is why she attracts clients who are working on the present relationships in their lives such as parents, siblings, spouses, and the self.

To other potential students or ones in the program already, she urges you to “listen to your heart and believe in yourself. Everyone is unique with your own style, and there are people out there waiting for you and your style of coaching.” What keeps Durga passionate about coaching is the need for more life coaches. “There is nothing like seeing a smile of relief on your client’s face because they have let go of something that they have been bound to for so long.”

It was “complete serendipity,” says Alexis Holland, that led her into the Life Coaching program at SWIHA. She feels that she is just beginning to kick off her coaching career through her business called Harmonious Holistics. She has been working with a small amount of clients for the past year and a half.

She loves asking her clients ‘high mileage’ questions, or deep questions that get them to find the answers they had no idea they were searching for. “It’s all about the questions you ask… and in order to ask the right question, you must listen to your client first.”

Alexis shared with me that her niche market are women in corporate America who are just beginning to seek a more fulfilling way of living. For example, they don’t quite understand the difference between organic and GMO; they don’t really know how to cook, but they want to learn. They eat out most of the time because they are so busy. Most of them are sick of the party lifestyle that lacks depth and meaningful connection, and they most importantly want to prevent the health problems they witnessed their parents go through or other loved ones in their families. Many are ready to embrace a healthier lifestyle and are excited to lose some weight and engage in a better way of living surrounded by good people. “I have found that the more you define who “he or she” is, the larger your audience becomes.”

Bella Neumann showed up at SWIHA because that was just part of her life journey. From being a big sister/mom to her younger sister at such a young age, all the way to being the person who helped her father into his next plane of consciousness (eternal rest), the techniques she’s learned through SWIHA’s program have assisted her through it all.

She is now 52 years old, and she has grown and developed every age of her life. This is a profound insight she has had, looking back on it all: “I am a daughter, a big sister, a mother, and grandmother (they call me Yaya) and am a friend and confidant to many. I only point that out, because I feel if we do not find ourselves on each side of a situation, there is no room for growth.” She says she has been on all sides of any given situation, and even though she may have found herself completely stuck in one point of view when first approached, through growth and opening her heart to how others may handle the same situation, she has found herself able to not only understand, but welcome, her own change of mind, heart, and soul.

Like so many other students that end up at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, Steven Jaggers also found his way here through a need to find a holistic solution to an afflictive situation. Although he was originally born in Orange County, California, he spent the majority of his childhood in Arizona with parents who struggled with heavy drug addiction. After graduating high school, he entered corporate America, joining a microchip company. “I knew then that I wanted to help people because for me, it was more fulfilling than just turning a profit.” Almost like a consequence, he got laid off and his mother desperately needed help, so he moved in to take care of her. She was having difficulty with prescription drug abuse, and he knew there had to be another option to help treat her: “We needed a different way to deal with her underlying illness, rather than the ‘Western medicine approach’, which is to just mask symptoms. I began to search for holistic ways to treat her and the pills’ side effects which created even more problems. I knew there had to be another path. I really felt like we had been tormented by Western medicine." However, Steven had his own difficulties when he was diagnosed with scoliosis, and at one point, his doctor told him that we was going to need spinal surgery. He felt strong resistance to this treatment, as he did not feel surgery was the best option for him. Well, he was right. Today, his spine is healthy, and with the treatment of massage and soft tissue manipulation, most of which he experienced through his program at SWIHA, he was able to get out of pain and avoid surgery.

Alexis Holland grew up in sunny, humid Florida and has spent years bouncing around the country with her husky, Kiya, gaining integral life experience and wisdom. Sometimes she barters musical entertainment for a place to sleep, like the time she stayed in a Vedic Temple in Sedona, AZ in exchange for playing Kirtan (a Sanskrit word for a musical form a narration). They love  to set up camp, especially in the mountains, with as little as a tapestry, her blanket, food, and instruments. In the midst of her nomadic lifestyle, her love of music from various cultures began to grow, as well. She found herself attending lots of drum and music festivals, from a Sufi ceremony called a Zikr (sacred ceremony of divine rememberance), to Rainbow Gatherings, a drum and dance festival called Paralounge (northern FL), and a handpan retreat called Hangout USA (Asheville, NC). Along the way she learned to play an array of instruments, trombone being the first in grade school. Since then her collection has grown; she plays the handpan, crystal singing bowls, tuning forks, guitar, cajon, drums, and digeridoo. She reflected, “Music was all around me, in many different forms… wherever I went, there it was…and there I was, fully immersed.”