SWIHA Blog

How can your mind, body, and spirit transformation increase your happiness?

So what is a transformation and how do you obtain it? In this busy world, many people go through a series of misfortunes like family dysfunctions, broken relationships, failed marriages, trauma, unfair treatment in the workplace, guilt of past mistakes and the list goes on and on. When people experience these challenges it can be difficult to find peace and direction in your life, nevertheless, there is hope. One way people can obtain transformation for their lives is to recognize that change is needed in order to bring about a sense of peace, joy, and happiness and grow into a healthy balanced life.

Holistic health is truly about caring for the "whole you" this means not just caring for your physical health through diet, exercise, and interventions if necessary, it also means caring for your mental, emotional, and spiritual health. For every individual these are going to vary in importance as well as vary in what works or does not work to help support them along their path to overall health and well-being. This is often described as "treating" the patient, client, or person as a whole- as opposed to treating them as their symptom. In terms of symptoms people often forget they spread far beyond physical ones such as experiencing a runny nose, headache, or cough. Other symptoms include those often associated with one's mental health like generalized feelings of sadness, loneliness, anxiety, etc. These can also be tied to spiritual and emotional health as well. This is why it’s so important to treat the WHOLE individual, as opposed to the symptom, because if you treat the symptom you won’t get to the root cause of the issue, you just cover it up further.

I know what you’re thinking—and the answer is: No! This pudding does not taste of avocados, though it does use their thick, creamy consistency to create a decadent base. Perfect for a late-night sweet tooth, a crowd-pleasing potluck dish, or even for sneaking more variety in to a picky-eater’s diet – all you need are a few staple ingredients and a food processer or blender. Thanks to raw food chef and SWIHA Holistic Nutrition instructor, Janet Lee, for demonstrating this recipe on Wellness Wednesday (watch the video below!).

“I'm almost 65 years old and I feel more at peace with my life than ever,” says Terri Martin, a graduate of the Wesern Herbalism program at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.

Many years ago, Terri attended an Aromatherapy class on campus and later reconnected with SWIHA via social media. She tells us, “I attended an open house for the herbalism class and was instantly struck by how perfect it was. I signed up and have never regretted it!”

Superfoods are low-calorie, nutrient-dense and full of fiber foods which are high in antioxidants and help fight free radicals in your system. Many even contain essential fatty acids, like omega-3, -6, -9, and hard-to-find omega-7. While the idea of a ‘superfood’ is a modern concept, they are mostly ancient root vegetables, fruits, and even fungus and algae.

In honor of National Nutrition Month, we will be exploring some of the trending superfoods and how to incorporate them in to your diet. As an exciting bonus: all the foods on this list are vegan and gluten-free!

Avocadoes: you know them, you love them, and you devour them all the time… probably in the form of guacamole! Indeed, avocadoes are all the rage in the United States, an epicurean trend which has led to the American consumption of over 4 billion avocados a year. The vast majority of these come directly from 30,000 avocado orchards covering 275,000 acres in Mexico, which is the top exporter of the fruit to American vendors.

Creamy, sweet, and utterly delicious, avocados offer a distinct flavor of their own while still managing to be mild enough to compliment other food combinations. They’re also one of the best-loved superfoods known to the western world. Packed with vitamin E, vitamin K, vitamin C, potassium, fiber, and healthy fats, they can work wonders for your blood sugar, cholesterol, digestive system, and nutrient absorption. 

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.

SWIHA graduate Shashirekha Banavar, affectionately called “Shashi” by friends and family, is described by those who know and love her as sophisticated, sassy, shy at first, sensitive, and super committed to whole food cuisine. Shashi lives in India, where for the past 30 years she has served as a lawyer and a consumer activist, written a book entitled Shashi’s Recipes – Authentic South Indian Vegetarian Dishes, and received the President’s Guide Award for top performing Girl Guides (similar to the Girl Scouts in the United States) from the President of India. Shashi is a superstar by many standards, although she will blush hearing it said!

As one of the first students to graduate from the online 750-hour Holistic Nutrition Wellness Practitioner diplomas, Shashi actually flew to Tempe, Arizona, to attend the September 2017 Gifts and Graces event, where she was recognized as being a one of SWIHA’s Great Graduates!  She easily gets the award for traveling the furthest to attend graduation on campus!

Energy is everywhere, from the air you breathe to the life force that surrounds your body. Your energy, or lack thereof, affects every dimension of your life, including your mind, body, and spirit. Energy leakage can take shape in many ways: physical or mental tiredness, loss of motivation, frustration, and/or feeling stuck. These symptoms may be confusing for some, especially if you’re self-aware and cautious with your health. However, even if you have positive energy flowing in, that energy will continue to leak if you are not healed.

Of course, in order to heal yourself, you have to know that you are leaking energy in the first place! In my case, I was in Bali and was drawn to seek out some advice from a spiritual healer. Since this wasn’t my first time receiving guidance from a healer, I sort of knew what to expect during our meeting. However, she brought up a topic I wasn’t quite expecting: my energy. She explained that my energy had been leaking due to my inability to let go of a past relationship. This leakage was negatively affecting my energy levels and my current pursuit of love and happiness. This information came as quite a shock, yet made a lot of sense. My energy had been leaking for years, impacting my whole well-being, and I never once made the mind-body connection.

It has been said that, “All that wander are not lost,” and that certainly applies to Alexandria Cordero, a graduate of SWIHA’s 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program.

Alexandria had begun to feel stifled in Chicago and was seeking a fresh start, so she packed up her life and moved to Arizona with the intention of attending veterinarian school. Yet, after arriving and truly thinking over the prospects of paying over $200,000 for that schooling, she decided to take a year off and explore the new state which she had chosen to call home. Thinking of that time, she jokes, “My yoga practice was taking off with all of the free hot yoga on my patio every morning!”

After being encouraged to do so by a friend, Alexandria found herself attending an open house at SWIHA. “I knew that this was where I was supposed to be,” she says. “I decided to start with the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training fast-track to see how I liked teaching yoga... I LOVED IT!” In the program, she went through deep personal transformation and found connections to yoga and the community of SWIHA unlike any she had ever experienced before.