SWIHA Blog

Rocio Castellanos spent twelve years working in the medical field, and loved that she was able to merge her passion for helping others in to her career. However, after a decade of that work, she began to feel as though there was something more she should be doing.

“I just didn’t know what it was,” Rocio explains, “I now realize this is when my spiritual awakening began taking place..., I followed my heart and intuition, and then came across an ad for SWIHA on one of my social media accounts. I looked into it, I ordered a class catalog and before I knew it I had an interview with one of the advisors!

Stefanie has always been drawn down paths that lead to helping others. She considered many counselling and psychology programs, but none of them seemed to fully resonate with her vision of service. Then, in 2016, a thought popped in to Stefanie’s head: “What if I’m meant to be a Life Coach?”

“Like most ideas that just ‘show up’, I ignored it,” she admits, “Call it destiny or the internet tracking bots: SWIHA started showing up in my [social media] feed. So, I surrendered, made the appointment and went in for a tour. I was all in, hook, line, and sinker!“

Reane Russell was searching for a purpose. All she knew at that time was that she wanted to help people, give back to the community, master her own healing, and make money doing it. She began researching career paths, programs and schools that matched her heart song, but began to get discouraged when none of them fully resonated.

“I was almost ready to give up. I simply could not find a program that felt right,” she tells us, “Until one morning at about 2AM, I discovered SWIHA. Within a few moments of exploring the website, my heart was on fire. For the first time in my life, I was looking at college program that filled me with passion, joy, and had a profitable outlook! I called admissions the next day and enrolled immediately!”

Four years ago, Maribel Hernandez was quickly climbing the corporate ladder at a large company and making great money. She knows that, for some, that is the ultimate goal. She explains to us, though: “I was miserable. My body was giving me signs that it was under too much stress. I was on edge. I wasn’t eating or sleeping well. I had been through a massive life-changing experience and had embarked on a ‘dark night of the soul’.”

During her search for health and happiness, Maribel was invited to a restorative yoga class and immediately fell in love with the practice. She began taking workshops and one-on-one yoga coaching to expand her knowledge and dedication to yoga.

Erin Murray believes that her life’s purpose is to serve the greater good, and she’s devoted the last fifteen years of her life to an education in many realms of holistic healing including Metaphysical Science, Reiki, and Intuitive Guidance. Erin knew she wanted to add Life Coaching to her repertoire, so she began to research programs that aligned with her mission, and found Southwest Institute of Healing Arts!

“It was the BEST decision that I made,” she tells us, “and the online course was exactly what I had been looking for.”

In 2010, Jennifer Emperador quit her job of ten years after realizing it didn’t fulfill her, and it was that brave plunge into the unknown that became the catalyst for some major positive change!

“The idea of going back to the corporate world was unfathomable,” discloses Jennifer, “During my soul-searching journey, I was invited to SWIHA’s Gifts & Graces and as soon as I walked through the doors, I knew I was home.”

Jennifer is a self-proclaimed “SWIHA Lifer” and has taken many programs, including Life Coaching, Hypnotherapy and Yoga Teacher Training. She’s also a member of our Admissions team, lending her first-hand experience to future practitioners. The pursuit closest to her heart, however, is her coaching business Sol Discovery.

Once upon a time, Michele Root worked as an employee for a large company that supported veterans. While attending a leadership program where each participant was assigned a coach, Michele was introduced to the concept of Life Coaching. 

“I found myself coaching my coach!” she tells us, “I immediately knew I needed to learn more."

As Michele thought more about it, she felt called to help military men and women transition back to civilian life and needed to find a program to help her attain that.

Rima Desai is respected in the field of Psychology, holding a Master’s degree from her home country of India and fully dedicating her career to helping others. When she moved her family to the United States in 2011, however, her education was not able to be used in her new home and she couldn’t do the work she loved as a counselor.

“My life and my daughter’s life were endangered in massive mob riots in Africa. We had burnt up all our savings just to migrate to the USA. We were looking for a secure place to live,” Rima tells us, “I faced a lot of depression from culture shock. Being a person who is very passionate about psychology and my work, it was a huge blow to my well-being.

Kim O has always possessed a drive to help others.

When she enrolled in college, she pursued Psychology with the hope of becoming a counselor and affecting major positive changes in the lives of others. However, Kim found herself sidetracked by her own low self-esteem and put off finishing her degree hoping that her marriage would bring her fulfillment.

Though that ultimately wasn’t the case, something else amazing happened!

Kim tell us: “I made really poor decisions for a long time, until the message about loving yourself resounded from everywhere.  I had been living life as a victim, and then I learned that victimhood was a choice. I was powerful!”

Roann Monson re-defines 80!

After 30 years of working in the ASU library, Roann retired on a Friday evening and came to work in the SWIHA Bookstore the following Monday morning. She then enrolled in Western Herbalism, a two-year program that is one of the most comprehensive and rigorous herbalism programs in the country.

“People travel here from out of state to study herbalism here at SWIHA. I learned so much from the herbalism program. In fact, I drink rosemary tea every morning for memory,” reports Roann with great pride.

Also a graduate of SWIHA’s Spiritual Studies certificate, Roann is proud to say, “I was ordained as a minister in the very first class of students that KC Miller, the school founder, was able to ordain as ministers.”