SWIHA Blog

When the student is ready… a book may just jump off the shelf and change her view on the world! 

That’s exactly what happened for Saori Mayumi— one of the most successful Toe Readers and Toe Reading Teachers in Japan. Toe Reading wasn’t something Saori was looking for at all; in fact, as is often the case when the Universe has unexpected plans for you, Toe Reading seemed to find her!

Saori was at a bookstore when she just happened to see a copy of KC Miller’s Toe Reading – Are You Walking Your Destined Path? that had been translated in to Japanese. Remembering the moment when she first picked up the book, Saori says, “I didn’t mean to read it, yet it was there, right in front of my eyes! There was also a leaflet announcing that KC was going to have a special seminar in Japan. I read the book and went to see her at the seminar. There was no doubt in my mind that Toe Reading would be a big part of my destiny!”

When Gabriela Milan was 16, she was ready to end it all. Struggling with eating disorders, health problems, and depression, she had just about hit rock bottom. At that point in time, she felt like there would be no end to her misery unless she put a stop to it herself. In that dark hour of desperation, someone noticed her and took the time to really talk to her. Those 10 minutes of conversation saved her life. While Gabriela doesn’t even remember what it was that he said to her in those moments that helped her to find herself, she does remember how it made her feel: “It gave me the hope I needed. It shook me. It woke me up. It reminded me that I was special. I promised myself that I had to do that for someone else someday.”

If you’re a mother, a woman going through a divorce, or struggling with relationship problems, Life Coach Rima Desai wants you to realize that you are not alone. Growing up in India, Rima felt deprived of love and burdened with responsibility from a young age. She has experienced first-hand what it’s like to feel constantly overwhelmed, underappreciated, hopeless, depressed, and abandoned, and she knows the impact of negative self-judgement and what it can do to a person. Yet instead of letting these experiences weigh her down, Rima has instead chosen to bravely dedicate herself to giving women what she always longed for herself: a sense of being supported. “I love supporting women,” Rima shares. “Women have been historically the most ignored population of all. Our needs as women have been suppressed culturally, as well by ourselves, and we have so much judgement towards ourselves…it is unbelievable!”

Dana Marie Greenwood has officially gone full circle: from her roots as a middle school and high school teacher to her exploration as a student at SWIHA, she is now returning once more to the world of education as a Life Coach!

With 13 years of classroom experience backing her up, Dana intuitively knew that a relaxed state was necessary for her students to effectively absorb new knowledge. Yet, it wasn’t until she trained in a diverse spectrum of specialties at SWIHA—including massage therapy, yoga, aromatherapy, life coaching, mindfulness, guided imagery, and hypnotherapy—that Dana found an appropriate name for the phenomenon she was encountering. “I became consciously aware of the importance of returning to the parasympathetic—or “rest and digest”—state as often as possible,” she reflects. “So many of the body, mind, and spirit’s important functions take place in that state!”

When we think about why people seek out life coaching, it might be easy to assume that they do so because they are looking to become successful. Perhaps they want to switch careers, make more money, or gain more recognition. Yet, author, life coach, and Zen Cowboy™ Alaric Hutchinson goes a step beyond that approach to coaching with one simple question: “What comes after success?”

Realizing just how few people are genuinely happy in their lives—no matter how much they have achieved professionally—was a huge breakthrough for Alaric in terms of understanding the individuals who seek out his services. “Money and success (once achieved) do not actually bring about lasting happiness or a sense of peace,” says Alaric. “Many of my clients are high performers and earners trying to figure out why they are still not satisfied in their life. The niche of people I work with all desire inner peace.”

Life coach, Hypnotherapist, and YouTuber Dulce Zambrano would like you to know that you don’t have to give up your sense of self and personal preferences to find success!

As a coach who often finds herself working with clients who are already on the path to achievement—particularly female entrepreneurs and leaders who want more mindfulness and balance in their lives—Dulce has noticed that this is a common fear. “What these successful people are often most afraid of is losing the little personality quirks that make them individuals; they’re afraid they have to become Tibetan monks to find balance, which simply isn’t true,” Dulce says. “You can be successful and still be you! It’s a matter of recognizing that everywhere is a safe space. Just show up and do your thang, boo!”

In 2005, Brian Zahn was feeling lost and like he had hit rock bottom, especially after an ugly divorce had left him struggling with a negative outlook on life. Internally, he knew that the problems he was experiencing were temporary and that deeper connections with people and the world awaited him, yet it wasn’t until he accepted his calling with a career in Life Coaching that he found a way to break through to a brighter perspective.

It was in his first life coaching course that Brian was blessed with one of those beautiful SWIHA “ah-ha” moments that turned his life around and began his transformation: “I realized that we are all truly ONE, wanting to be heard, acknowledged, known for something positive, to live our truth, and most importantly to be unconditionally loved.” Brian had discovered that it is possible to break through the prisons we shape for ourselves—prisons with bars made of limiting beliefs, false perceptions, and negative self-talk—and to emerge into our truest and best selves.

Reine Matthews is a SWIHA graduate both doing great things and writing great things! Her first book, Thriving After Diagnosis: Instead of Merely Surviving, was just published… and she is already working on a second! Hailing from Northern Idaho, Reine received an AOS Degree in Mind Body Transformational Psychology from SWIHA, with concentrations in Holistic Nutrition and Wellness, Life Coaching, and Urban Farming and Conscious Living.

Reine chose to get into the field of holistic wellness because of her personal journey of being diagnosed with (and thriving beyond!) Lyme Disease. According to the CDC, Lyme disease is the fastest growing vector-borne, infectious disease in the United States, with 25,000 new cases being reported every month for an estimated 300,000 new people being affected per year (25% of which are children). This illness is typically transmitted through a bite from an infected deer tick and has been reported in all 50 states and on every continent, excluding Antarctica.

Jewel Blackfeather always knew she was intuitive, although she didn’t fully acknowledge it until she became a Life Coach. In fact, during the first 20-hour weekend of her Life Coaching program at SWIHA, Jewel felt intuitively called to volunteer as the demo client for a fear-related exercise being led by master instructor Richard Seaman in front of a room of nearly fifty people. While there was a part of her that didn’t want to be put in spotlight, there was also a part of her that knew she was being compelled to step up and face her fears!

A Lion Among Wolves

And face her fears she did! During the demonstration, Richard asked her a series of potent, probing questions–which is one of the most powerful skills a Life Coach learns–that caused her to stop and look at what was stopping her. Once she shared a bit of her story, Richard used yet another incredible coaching tool–Transformational Listening–to weave a metaphoric visualization based on what she had shared:

LaRie Hope has toured with bands, worked in freak shows and haunted houses, and been a body piercer and hairstylist… yet her biggest and boldest career move is happening right now, as she sets up shop in Arizona to offer her services as a Licensed Massage Therapist, energy worker, and self-described “Life Doula.”

While a doula is traditionally a person who is trained to assist a woman during childbirth and to provide support to the family after the baby is born, LaRie has given the profession her own personal twist by providing much needed help to families with or without children. She assists families plan and prepare healthy meals, provides childcare to individuals who need to work or be in class, and offers general emotional and mental encouragement by holding space for her clients. “If you need it, most likely I can help you with it,” LaRie says. “My nickname since high school has always been ‘mom,’ which is accurate because I have always been a mom to everyone when they need support.”