SWIHA Blog

Keta Baker is a true #GreatGraduate and the testimony of her journey is as divinely guided as she is. Keta’s story begins with her questioning the universe, “One Saturday afternoon in 2012, my sister brought me to this Italian restaurant in Phoenix. We pulled up to the restaurant and out of my mouth came the words, ‘This is a nice place to have my life coaching business housed in.’ This was followed by me looking up and saying, ‘What?’ . . . ‘What life coaching business?’” What Keta Baker didn’t fully understand at the time was that she was getting ‘downloads’ from Spirit.

Humbly, Keta explains, “I began to get these downloads of a whole business plan and what I was to do to help others as a Life Coach. I didn’t have anything to write on, so as soon as I got inside of the restaurant, I grabbed several napkins to record what I knew was God’s plan for my life. That evening I Googled what a Life Coach was and began searching for schools where I could learn to become a Life Coach. I prayed for direction for the path the Divine placed me on. A few days went by and after diligently listening and looking, SWIHA, Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, came up.”

Keta quickly called the next day to schedule a tour of the SWIHA campus in Tempe, Arizona.

Prior to registering at SWIHA, Jessica Ireland was, in her own words, “barely existing.”

“I lacked a post-secondary education, and the 15 years I worked in the finance industry meant nothing while I was applying for employment during the recession. I was struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over my head, while spiraling further and further into a state of depression.”

After receiving a steady stream of rejection letters from potential minimum wage employers, Jessica realized that unless she obtained some form of post-secondary education in an area that was growing throughout North America, she would eventually end up homeless and hungry. Enter SWIHA.

“As soon as I discovered SWIHA, I knew that my search for the school and the education I desired was over. I relocated my 3 dogs and myself from Calgary, Alberta Canada to Phoenix, Arizona and haven’t looked back since.” Jessica shared how SWIHA allowed her to shed the weight of her past, while discovering her dreams and tapping into her infinite potential.

Maria Kalamas opens up to how purposeful her path has been and how her attendance at SWIHA was intended all along. “January of 2010, I was working in a doctor’s office employed as an office manager. The doctor was an MD, yet practicing alternative medicine, specializing in bio-identical hormones. He was helping people heal through proper supplementation, healthy nutrition, bio-identical hormone replacement, Chelation - which is a very effective way to treat heavy-metal poisoning - coaching and outsourcing them to various healing arts therapies, from massage to spiritual coaching and other various holistic practices that he had tried and believed were effective. I soaked in all the information he was giving me because I wanted to help heal people physically, mentally and emotionally,” shared Maria.

Cameo Wilson is one incredible individual who has learned to nurture her own self growth and in doing so found her roots and a deep-seated passion for urban farming and sustainability. What brought her to SWIHA was a self-imposed desire for self-growth, followed by the committed decision to take care of herself.

“By taking care of myself physically and emotionally through eating well and observing my own nutritional intake, I found a love for my own well-being and the ability to share my journey of health with others. I decided to further my education in what I love and pursue Nutritional Coaching as an avenue to serve. Food, eating healthy and wellness all resonated with me so I began searching online for schools that offered programs with these options in coaching. SWIHA was the first one to pop up and instantly I felt like that was the option I wanted to explore.”

Cameo states excitedly with smile in her voice, “It just felt right to me to check it out and it felt like home right away. I came to a Gifts and Graces event (which are held the First Friday of every month) where I received a complimentary Life Coaching session around my career goals.” Instantly, her gut feelings were confirmed and it was obvious that she was destined to be a student walking the very halls she was visiting that First Friday.

Like many SWIHA students’ stories before, the school just happened to find Tami Sharp. She had just moved to Arizona from Maui, Hawaii with her baby girl, so that she could be closer to her mom. Tami recalled the synchronicities that led her to joining SWIHA. “I had no intention on starting school but after a series of universal events, I tripped across SWIHA and within one week’s time found myself enrolled full time going for a degree in Mind-Body Transformational Psychology with Certifications in Life Coaching, Clinical Hypnotherapy and Reiki.”

Before moving to AZ, Tami had spent 10 years on Maui doing a wide range of jobs and businesses. As a professionally trained model and actress, she also had the honor of teaching modeling and acting to teenagers and young adults. It was through these teachings that she really found passion in helping others see their inner beauty, to find their own style and confidence, to believe in themselves and reach for their goals. “I was inspired everyday by these youths. I have helped with a lot of workshops, conferences and public speaking events and am passionate about inspiring others to live their most authentic and fulfilling lives.“

Going into SWIHA, Tami was aware of her intuitive abilities, yet SWIHA really helped her to develop and grow them.

Around SWIHA you hear the word synchronicity used a lot. It seems that either right before people start coming here or after they have arrived they notice a coincidental occurrence of events in their life. There are stories of people daydreaming about a new career and then finding a SWIHA flyer in a parking lot. Also, things like hearing the words synchronicity or aura or manifesting and all of a sudden hearing those words all over the place such as emails, social media and books.

Here is another story about synchronicity and SWIHA. Two weeks ago there was a women’s event that involved journaling and sharing. One of the women shared a story about being afraid of the next step in her journey even though she is also excited and knows it is what she wants. Then she said “I am going to do it afraid.” She is not going to wait for those feelings to go away. She knows deep down that she needs to take that step for her mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health. She is going to do it afraid.

Then at the Spirit of Business Conference here at SWIHA, Aandra Bohlen, a SWIHA graduate, was one of the speakers. She talked about doing things in spite of fear and doubt. She urged everyone to do it scared. She suggested using the hashtag #doitscared.

Courtney Long’s journey to SWIHA was, well, long. Her journey began back in 2002, while she was working as a social worker in Michigan. She was helping adults with Alzheimer’s, dementia, serious mental illnesses, developmental disabilities and traumatic injuries. While she loved to help people, the job was mentally and spiritually exhausting, and never quite felt like her true calling. While in Michigan Courtney starting hearing of this new thing called Life Coaching, yet the timing wasn’t ever quite right to do anything about it.

Hypnotherapy, often referred to as guided imagery, is a powerful instrument for healing. It works within the subconscious mind of an individual, helping to resolve issues such as chronic anxiety, weight gain, fear and insomnia. It can also help change negative or addictive behaviors.

Bob Chamberlain, a graduate of the 100 hour Certificate of Excellence in Hypnotherapy at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA), has an undeniable passion for hypnotherapy and guided imagery. Once Bob completed his 100 hours of training at SWIHA, he immediately took his skills and experience to Banner Estrella Medical Center in Phoenix, along with SWIHA’s Hypnotherapy Program Director Linda Bennett.

In January of 2015, Banner Estrella launched a pilot program called the Guided Imagery Project. This is a volunteer based program in which Bob immediately began volunteering, along with a dozen other graduates from SWIHA’s hypnotherapy program.

Most traditional, or allopathic, doctors and medical centers have not previously used holistic or integrative therapies like hypnotherapy with patients. However, recently the use of more holistic therapies such as hypnotherapy, massage therapy and even yoga have proven beneficial for helping patients.

In 2011, Laura Wilkinson had hit her version of rock bottom, and was desperately in need of some kind of life shift. Having looked into the Life Coaching program offered at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) previously, Laura explains, “After the rug was pulled out from under my feet I knew it was time to do something transformational,” she said. “I had a clean slate and I needed to build a solid foundation. Life Coaching was the perfect place for me to rebuild from.”

Laura enrolled in SWIHA’s online Mind-Body Transformational Psychology program, where she not only studied Life Coaching, she also took courses in Hypnotherapy, Holistic Nutrition, Aromatherapy, and business courses including Writing for Publication.

Once she completed her program (with a 4.0 grade point average!), Laura was ready for the next phase in her life. Inspired by her program, and armed with the knowledge that there were many others in the world just like her, who went through experiences similar to hers, she decided to start a business. Laura’s mission was to help healers who were stuck in their minds, holding themselves back from reaching their full potential.

Laura launched The Wilkinson Effect, an integrative practice that applies Life Coaching, Transformational Hypnotherapy and Holistic Nutrition into customized client sessions.

By Guest Blogger Laura Barnes

Life Coaching is a dynamic process of purposeful empowerment that sparks transformational change.

Life Coaching develops trust through the journey inward.

A masterful Life Coach helps you to listen and receive information from deep within and to trust and then act on that information.

Life Coaching requires a journey inward. This encourages a sense of rigorously honest confidence and authenticity that is rooted in trusting and believing in you.

For this journey inward, a masterful Life Coach will use a portfolio of artful coaching tools and techniques such as meditation, visualization, mantras, affirmations, the development of mindfulness, music, sounds and frequencies, colors, prayer, breathing techniques, empathy development, storytelling, signs and symbols, body awareness, dreams, archetypes, developing creativity and much more to awaken the mind.

These tools and techniques essentially help to de-clutter, calm and quiet the mind so that you can tune out all the distracting noise and nonsense and tune into your own essential truth that is available and accessible in each and every moment. This inner truth offers the humbling opportunity to guide your life in more purposeful, meaningful and joyous directions.