SWIHA Blog

Courtney Long knew three things. First, that she had a big mission in life; second, that she wanted to help; and third, that she simply didn’t know how! As a child, she felt restless in the world, always sensing that her fine-tuned sensitivity, her desire for the solitude of the outdoors, and her “weirdness” made her different from the other kids in Lambertville, Michigan.

For many people, the first day of school can be filled with unexpected surprises. That certainly was the case for Tamara Lucero, who found herself in quite a messy situation when she stopped at her local gas station on the way to campus.

“As the fuel pumped and filled my tank, I began to daydream what my first day of class would be like,” she remembers. “As I stared off into the clouds, I suddenly heard what sounded like water running. I looked down and realized that the gas pump had malfunctioned and soaked me in gasoline—from my shirt to my socks!”

Deena Gregory has always been a “seeker”—a woman with a self-described “natural curiosity about self and spirit” who in quiet moments often found herself gazing upward at the night sky with a deep sense of awe. Yet, after years of looking to institutions—from organized religion to the halls of academia—for the answers that could only be found within, Deena got caught in a spiritual drought, convinced that there was nothing else bigger “out there” than the humdrum of everyday human life.

“With a new reliance on my own thinking came what the Buddha referred to as ‘Dukkha,’ or suffering,” she explains. “I have always been hailed as a ‘critical thinker.’ Now I laugh and say, ‘Yes, as soon as I start thinking, things get critical!’”

Five years ago, Christine Iring’s life was falling apart. She had hit rock bottom and was unsure what was around the corner; she knew only, with the guidance of a therapist, that she had a responsibility to “do her work.”

And do her work she did! Over the course of three years, Christine steadfastly examined herself, even as the world continued to swirl and change around her. This period of transformation culminated in Christine moving to the Phoenix area and enrolling at SWIHA. “As soon as I walked in the building, I knew I found my new home,” she confides. “My first class was Life Coaching Foundations. Between the vibe, the instructors, the people that understood ‘my language,’ and learning the protocol for transforming lives, I knew this was part of my calling. I was on my way to being a life coach.”

If you find yourself on the home page of Life Coach and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist Sandy O’Neal’s website, you’ll notice a single quote printed across a beautiful lavender and pink sky:

“If you want to change your reality, then it’s time for you to change your mind…”

Changing minds and realities is indeed what Sandy is all about as she serves the world through her coaching and hypnotherapy business, appropriately called A Transformed Life. Her objective is to help her clients deepen and expand their lives through her specializations in fertility support, anxiety/stress reduction, weight reduction and movement, fears and phobias treatment, and pain management. She offers private sessions in-person at her Mesa, Arizona, studio and remotely via phone and Skype, as well as weekly and biweekly meetup groups which focus on managing anxiety, stress, and depression, promoting well-being and mindfulness, increasing self-confidence, and practicing healthy habits.

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.”

Breaking points are sometimes seen as negative events that stem from—or even represent—a failure in someone’s life. Yet for SWIHA Life Coaching graduate Laura Richer, hitting a breaking point is a golden opportunity— a valuable tool she attempts to pass on to her clients.

As our understanding of mental health continues to evolve, it’s becoming clearer than ever that postpartum struggles with depression, anxiety, and trauma can have a significant impact on entire families, from the new mothers who are wrangling with the challenges of having a baby to their partners’ aiming to adequately support them. Stepping in to serve in this sector is Jillian Holper, a life coach and hypnotherapist with a passion for providing guidance to women throughout some of the hardest parts of their lives. “I knew from the get-go that supporting moms with postpartum anxiety and depression was something I wanted to do and was passionate about,” Jillian explains.

What Jillian didn’t anticipate was having a secondary specialty show up in her practice. “Smoking and weight management clients just kind of fell into my lap,” she recalls. “It was never part of the plan, yet I realized this is something my clients are seeing significant results from and that feels just as good as the shifts I am facilitating with my mamas!”

For Bridgett Zehnder, finding her niche as a life coach came as an extension of the challenges she faced and overcame in her own life. “Like most of us that work in the Healing Arts field, we have developed our message from our mess,” she confides. Bridgett’s “mess” wound up looking like co-dependency, alcoholism, dysfunctional relationships, divorce, and loss— roadblocks which stemmed from childhood trauma and which were keeping her from leading a healthy life.

“Because of the strain this put on me emotionally, I developed debilitating pain through fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue,” she explains. “I did not find any relief from the traditional medical field, yet I fought hard to find a path of healing.” After joining a 12-step program, implementing significant dietary changes, picking up a meditation practice, and engaging with other holistic therapies, like hypnotherapy, Bridgett finally found her hope returning. It was ultimately these triumphs over suffering that would shape her as a life coach and offer a blueprint for her clients facing obstacles in their own careers and lives.

According to Life Coach and meditation teacher Bill Gisclair-Sullivan, authenticity requires practice: “It is a conscious choice that we must make about how we want to live our lives every day. It is a collection of our choices and decisions, and it requires us to show up, be present in the moment, and to be honest with ourselves.”

The truth is that authenticity usually has to be re-learned because so much of our lives have been spent mastering the many masks we think we must wear to be approved of or to fit into what we imagine is expected of us. A quote from Coach Bill’s website captures his life coaching mission, which emphasizes how we can step into our truest self: "Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we truly are."

Bill is so passionate about this work because it mirrors his own life journey. “It took me many, many years to discover my authenticity,” Bill explains. “I spent most of my adult life working in management in the hospitality field. After making some dramatic mistakes and trying to climb the corporate ladder, I lost some important parts of myself along the way.”