Holistic Living Brings Me Closer to Spirit

In 2015, Gena Hailey and her family were going to the doctor a lot for colds, to the point where they were spending a lot of money on co-pays and prescription drugs. Most of the time, the treatments didn’t even work. She had been doing internet searches on home remedies, and now and then, she would accidentally come across articles that mentioned holistic healing. She admitted that at the time, she wasn’t even sure what holistic meant. She ended up seeing an ad for the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). “I was like (imagine a soft, high-pitched voice), ‘What is this magic they speak of?’ Ha! Within that next week I had researched the school, the programs they offered, and spoke to an Admissions Coach - and I was absolutely ecstatic to enroll in the Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner program with a focus on Urban Farming & Conscious Living, and begin the journey that would eventually teach me that ‘magic’ and end up a #GreatGraduate.”

When asked what the most valuable thing she learned while at SWIHA, Gena replied, “Wow, I seriously couldn’t narrow it to a handful of things – there’s just so much. For the purpose of this interview I will say that all the things I learned led to spirituality for me. That’s the most valuable aspect of it all – and what made it such an enlightening experience is that ‘religion’ wasn’t promoted – it was more like opening me up to my own awareness, to lead me to my own personal experiences with Spirit. I was so surprised how out of touch I was with Spirit, even though God was inside of me. It’s just so amazing to have these experiences now, things I can’t explain – I tell others, ‘You just have to experience them for yourself to truly understand…’”

When Gena began learning about holistic nutrition, she was absolutely amazed at the vast amount of information she was receiving from her courses. She was also horrified that all of this knowledge was cleverly hidden from the public eye. Even though a lot of it was common sense to understand, it wasn’t easily accessible. With every incredible piece of knowledge she learned, she found herself excitingly sharing it with everyone. When many people didn’t believe her, she began showing them research and studies – factual information. Some refused to believe it—she thinks simply because they weren’t ready for change. “My family began believing what I was saying, trying new things with me, and we slowly began making changes in our own lives. Now my kids (youngest 12 years old) can tell people things like, ‘why they need Vitamin C; why meditation is important; and the benefits of praying. I am very passionate about holistic wellness because it heals; it manifests amazing things; and it teaches us every moment – if we just take time to listen, it always brings us closer to the loving Spirit.”

Since graduating, Gena has successfully launched her business, Positiv-E-Motion. She admits it’s still a work in progress. It’s a website that promotes all things holistic. “I’ll be creating the primary content of how to heal yourself holistically. There will be articles, how-tos, DIY recipes for organic products – also, I will be promoting other holistic healers and websites. I don’t consider myself in competition with anyone because anyone that promotes holistic wellness is promoting love.” The website will include basic information about the sites and healers. However, she will also give individuals and businesses an opportunity to customize their ad, make it larger, and even be featured in weekly articles at an affordable rate. She plans on offering nutritional assessments and coaching sessions, Transformational Life Coaching, Toe Reading, Auriculo-Aromatherapy, and classes to make flower essences. Her primary objective is to build the site as a go-to for holistic wellness, promote others businesses, and be a sort of online directory that’s continuously updated. Later down the line she will offer a book that has the complete Holistic Wellness Directory and she will print an update every year. While she lives in Meade, Kansas her business will primarily be online. When it comes to talking about the hardest part of starting her business, Gena admits that even now she needs to remember to listen to her intuition and trust where Spirit leads her. The easy part comes when she lets it all flow as it should be.

Initially Gena just wanted to learn about Urban Farming and Holistic Nutrition, “My first class was Life Coaching…by the end of that course I wanted to be a Transformational Life Coach. Then I took more courses and….

I wanted to be a Transformational Coach AND a Nutrition Coach AND a Toe Reader (LOVE that class!) – AND the list went on and on - I changed what I wanted to do with every course! Ha!”

In the midst of all her business classes, one of her assignments was to do a meditation led by KC Miller to open herself to the infinite possibilities. “She said in the meditation that we limit ourselves when we try to stick to our specific plans. So, I did the meditation. I felt something in me ‘shift’ yet couldn’t put my finger on it. So I just tried to remember to keep my mind ‘open’ from then onward.” In the assignments following the next couple of months, she was supposed to find a domain. She searched about 15 different ones and they were all taken. She wanted to stay with a name that promotes positivity – she wanted to help people that were stuck in a negative way of thinking. She finally ended up with www.positiv-e-motion.org.

“I found this ironic, as the ‘e’ separated the two words, yet also brought them in as one. I also felt to change your perspective when having a negative experience, you needed to be thinking how to change it, your intentions in ‘motion’ – it was too complicated for me to explain to anyone, yet easy for me to see this was the name. Later, this feeling led me to turn the website into a healing instrument, a place where people could search numerous things about holistic healing that’s almost impossible to find on the internet – and hopefully it will lead them to my site.”

Gena offers the following services:

Nutritional Assessments and Nutritional Coaching
Transformational Coaching
Auriculo-Aromatherapy
Toe Reading
Flower Essence Classes
Advertising for other holistic healers

Gena’s message to other new SWIHA grads who hope to follow in her footsteps:

“Don’t limit yourself – listen to your intuition, ask God for guidance and take time to listen: the smallest messages can have the biggest meaning. Let it all flow together like the masterpiece it was meant to be.”

Gena feels that she has always been very aware of her spirituality. Since she was a little girl she was raised in a very spiritual environment. “That’s not to say that wasn’t laced with lots of negativity as well – I found that with spirituality comes another side that repeatedly tests your patience – for me maybe it was to call on Spirit for help – I didn’t know how to do that or to trust. As I got older it became harder to feel in touch with Spirit, and the rest of my world didn’t seem very spiritual, if that makes sense. I love how SWIHA gave me the opportunity to experience spirituality on a different level. It opens up this amazing world on an entirely different plane – that was actually there the entire time. The infinite possibilities that KC speaks of, learning to apply to every aspect of life – it’s not just an idea in general – it affects my entire life, my spirit, and my relationship with God.”

A favorite quotes surrounding Gena’s education at SWIHA is, “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.” - 1 John 4:12