SWIHA Blog

Celebrate Life Coaching Month!

Since 2002, SWIHA has trained thousands of students in Life Coaching. We continue to joyfully bear witness to the incredible transformations they experience helping others find clarity of purpose and bold new ways of expressing themselves in the world.

People seek support from Life Coaches to help with relationships, careers, business goals, communication, motivation, health and even spiritual grounding. Research clearly shows that feeling understood, supported and directed improves and stabilizes our sense of personal and social well-being.

Janelle Timmons has held many positions her life: a successful massage therapist for fifteen years, a counselor and case-manager working with drug addicts and severely mentally ill persons, and healing bodies as a massage therapist.

“I had a lot of knowledge, yet it wasn't being integrated in the correct way,” she says, “I was missing some valuable tools that I wasn't aware that I was missing. One of the things I know, from working in the personal growth and mental health field, is that it is so important to acknowledge that there are always things that we do not know.”

“I now know my worth and my life's purpose,” declares Marquita Almodova-Keeme, a Massage Therapy and Life Coaching graduate.

Marquita was seeking a new career in a peaceful environment and, to her, massage seemed like the most logical choice. She was being called to serve others, and her first day of Cranial Unwinding with Lisa Kearn was a defining moment on her journey: “That’s when I started to embrace the spiritual teachings of SWIHA,” she tells us.

“Five years ago I was standing in my gym in California talking to a friend about how I had kept getting this feeling that there was something more I was suppose to be doing with my life,” Kari Whipkey tells us, “I could feel that I was not supposed to be a personal trainer for much longer. As I was talking I got a vision of me talking on stage with a microphone in front of thousands of people. I was telling my story. That scared me so much! I hadn't told more than my family and best friend that I had struggled with eating disorders and I had never done public speaking. All of that was so out of my element but I couldn't deny that it was my future. A couple months later I moved to Arizona, told my story, got so much loving response to my vulnerability and realized I was on the right path and that I would eventually manifest that vision.”

Pamela Borowoski once had a long struggle with both her self-worth and spirituality. She tells us: “In my younger days when I followed a different religious path, I attended Bible College and went on to become a local and overseas missionary and I thought that, since I was no longer in that faith, that I'd never find a spiritual calling like I had before.“

As she began the slow process of healing from her traumas and heartaches, she focused her energy on her family. Yet, she still found herself barely getting by.

“I was disabled,” Pamela shares, “I was so anxious and depressed I could not drive. I barely left the house. I was in pain physically, emotionally and spiritually.”

At Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, we see the power and potential in every soul, and Jessica Bardzinski is a shining example of pure determination!

“Before SWIHA, I was a stay at home mom. I had two children in two years,” Jessica shares, “I felt like I was lost in the trenches of life. I felt there was something more but didn't know where to turn.”

Jessica initially came to SWIHA to study nutrition, after her daughter had health problems that  doctors couldn’t seem to explain. “I had been reading everything I could get my hands on about the American food supply and SAD (Standard American Diet),” she says, “I wanted to learn more and get a degree to share with other mamas all this valuable information I had been learning.”

Jonathan Sorrell found himself meandering through mundane days in the traditional job force after his time serving our country in the military. Until one day, when he looked around and realized that he was not touching or affecting lives to his full capacity.

“I went online looking for programs,” he tells us, “I had heard about SWIHA and decided to check it out.”

The decision was an easy one for him to make. Jonathan says: “When I touched the handle and walked through the main door, a feeling of calmness came over me, and said ’you’re home!’”

“My life truly is my very own happy place,” Janell Erickson tells us, “I have found healing and health through holistic and inspirational living.”

Janell is a transformational coach, using an array of modalities to facilitate major shifts in the lives of her clients. Her path to SWIHA, however, was full of twists and turns!

“I had a totally different lifestyle,” Janell explains, “I was married, raised two step-sons, lived by the Colorado River, worked as a human resource manager, as well as owned a thriving ice cream truck business and eventually a steakhouse. And then the low tide of life swept in and set me up for the next part of my journey.  I survived an alcoholic husband, bankruptcy and finally divorce.

Victor Terrazas has been a Licensed Massage Therapist for twenty years, and spent much of that career as a program director for a Massage Therapy school. While he enjoyed facilitating the health and healing of others, a few years ago he was called toward change.

“I started noticing that I was feeling extremely stressed,” Victor tells us, “I had very low energy and motivation. I was also feeling extremely irritated most of the time and walking the line between negativity and anger. I started becoming more and more aware of this, and I started thinking that I needed to make a change from my day job as a massage school director. I didn't know what or how to do it. Although I had my clinic operating with a team of therapists, I had many attachments to the ‘director’ title.”

“How blessed am I?!” exclaims Amanda Martin, “I'm excited to wake up every day knowing that I get to assist clients with their personal journeys of discovery.”

Amanda recently graduated from the 100-Hour Life Coaching program at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts and is currently working on completing her Reiki certificate. She says that since stepping in to her power as a Wellness Coach, she has found her life’s true passion: being an active partner for those on their journey to uncovering their best selves.