SWIHA Blog

“Life Coaching is uncovering client's raw talents, passions, and deepest desires and using motivation and other tools to make all their dreams come true, while tapping into that pure potential we all have inside of us!” says Autumn Blackwood, founder of The Untamed Priestess.

Autumn was a grocery store cashier when she began to seek out an education in the Wellness industry. She discovered SWIHA after much research, and ultimately graduated from the Holistic Wellness Practitioner program. Through The Untamed Priestess, Autumn now offers Reiki, spiritual coaching and tarot reading, as well as facilitates women’s circles.

“Life coaching is the art of creating a space where people can clearly define where they currently are in life, where they want to go, and the steps it will take to get there,” John Eli, Virtual Mindset Coach, tells us.

John works in higher education and made the decision to pursue SWIHA’s Life Coaching program when he discovered his desire to meet and network with like-minded individuals. His education ultimately became a business that also fulfills this need for him!

Carolann Soltz, a Spiritual Life Coach, has spent the last fifteen years fundraising, consulting and supporting non-profit organizations. She tells us: “While this is great work and has provided well for me financially, it never felt like soul-filling work; the work that I am called to do.“

In August 2018, Carol took steps towards her yoga certification and, in January 2019, enrolled in the Life Coaching program at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. While she didn't necessarily know what she wanted to do with all of this new training, she did know she wanted to take steps in the direction of her soul's longing.

“Life Coaching is empowering people to find and live their dreams,” says Jeannie Epstein, a Life Coach and Hypnotherapist, “It is helping people to find their truth and taking that truth and creating a plan so that they can fully embrace all that they are capable of being.”

She chose Southwest Institute of Healing Arts for her education on a recommendation from a friend who had previously graduated from the Life Coaching program: “After doing research of Life Coaching programs online, I found SWIHA to be what I wanted,” she tells us, “I was so impressed with the programs and the instructors.

At Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, we actively encourage our students to work through their fears and hesitations around entrepreneurship. Harsha Bipin, a Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner graduate, is a brilliant example of what can happen when you take a leap of faith in yourself!

“My previous life was of a software engineer,” Harsha explains, “it had a lot to do with me and the needs of my immediate family.”

“I joined SWIHA while I was on a maternity break, hoping to just do the Holistic Nutrition program to learn more about eating right. I had faced a huge positive shift in my life by changing my eating habits, and I knew there was more to learn.”

As Juan Te Dailey was working as a staff coordinator, she became introduced to the concept of Life Coaching: “I saw it on a show several years ago and it stayed on my mental ‘shelf’ waiting to be birthed,” she explains.

Once she became immersed in her education during the Life Coaching program at SWIHA, her vision of service became clear: “Most people are like me: they take jobs for security and spend years doing something they hate because it isn’t what they are born to do. Seeing the lightbulb go on is priceless!”

“Life Coaching isn’t therapy or counseling; there isn’t any diagnosis or judgment,” explains Victor Yarter of Victory Coaching, “Coaching can be on personal subjects, or professional. It’s a way of helping you to develop plans, ideas, and concepts that help you to create forward action in your life.”

Before becoming a Life Coach, Victor worked as a Behavioral Health Technician, an Arizona Ranger and owned his own business. After receiving numerous recommendations from friends, he researched the curriculum of the Life Coaching program at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.

“Life coaching is for anyone who wants to improve an area of their life that is important to them,” explains Virenda Swarup, a SWIHA Life Coaching graduate, “It could be to do with their relationships, job, disturbing/troubling stressful thoughts, self-confidence, lifestyle, sudden transition or anything that is important to the individual in living a more satisfying and creative life.”

“I love being a Life Coach because I found how to be of service to others in a way that overflows my cup,” says Andrea Pohl, SWIHA graduate and founder of Owl Wisdom Holistic Coaching. She has always been drawn to serving others, and spent a decade in various positions of the restaurant and hospitality industries, an industry she was introduced to while studying Psychology in college.

“I would define Life Coaching as seeing an individual with unique qualities and abilities, assisting the human in seeing themselves in the same way,” says Hali Benson, SWIHA graduate and founder of Blossom Services, “This then allows them to live according to their highest Self and find the truth they need to be freed to live authentically. As a life coach, I give them tools and accountability to speak and do as they would like to speak and do.”