SWIHA Blog

“Before SWIHA I had the privilege and blessing of being a full-time wife and mom of four amazing children. We owned a mortgage company that my husband ran. My husband of 15 years passed away unexpectedly after a 25+ year struggle with chronic pain which led to opioid addiction. This rocked our world and my children and I lost everything. The depths and darkness of addiction ran deep and his passing uncovered a painful spiral of a brilliant man.” said Renae Valdes-Seago. She continues, “I found myself lost, undereducated, underemployed and urgently needing to figure out how to provide for my family. I didn’t find SWIHA, my angel grandmother led me to this institution for my own healing and to rediscover the gifts I was born with. I felt guided to choose medical massage because of the world I existed in loving a man who hurt constantly and searched tirelessly for respite from pain.”

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Alaska native Sabrina Hargrave had been working in finance for most of her life. She has spent fifteen years climbing corporate ladders, moving from position to position, increasing her salary… yet not her happiness. Stressful jobs had left her feeling disconnected from herself, and although she had meaningful bonds with other people, she didn’t feel like she was following her purpose. She was living a life created by belief systems that had been embedded in her since a very young age. Talking about that corporate grind, Sabrina shares, “We’re taught that these are the types of jobs that you can do that you will be successful and make money at, yet often our hearts are over there with these more passionate, creative jobs. I was a very creative person when I was younger, and I shut it all down to follow the route of ‘this is where you’ll be happy because you will make the most money.’ I pushed really hard and was good at it, yet felt like something was missing.”

Often, the only way Sabrina could find some respite from the stress of her job was by receiving a massage. However, after being injured during a deep tissue massage, Sabrina found herself afraid to get another massage and risk being injured again. “I was so upset because previously, massage had been the only thing that could really get me to relax and calm down. Then a friend suggested cranial unwinding, and I never looked back. It worked perfectly for me,” she says.

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