SWIHA Blog

“My life before SWIHA was very chaotic; I didn't have a lot of direction after leaving a high-demand religion. I struggled with mental health issues and found no sustainable solutions until I started to change my relationship with food, my body, spirituality, and myself. I started making some lifestyle changes on my own yet was hungry for more information on how to take care of myself, my mind, body, and spirit. When I found SWIHA, I felt really drawn to the holistic approach and how the balance of nutrition and mindfulness has a powerful effect on all three. I am passionate about holistic healing through food because the mind, body, and spirit are so interconnected and this is a great way to start discovering yourself and taking good, loving care of yourself.”

I enrolled in the Southwest Institute of Natural Aesthetics, desiring to learn more about natural skincare and the actual industry. I chose this path to fulfill the dream of opening a spa with my sister. After providing services in the healthcare industry for thirty-seven years as a nurse and in various healthcare management roles, the time had come for a career change. I reached a point in my life where I needed to shift focus to preventive care and health maintenance rather than sickness, disease, and death.

“Holistic living means that your spiritual, relational, emotional, intellectual, physical, and financial lives are working together.”   - Tsh Oxenreider

Kryss Huang was not a stranger to living a holistic lifestyle when she came to SWIHA. This community was a home away from home, for Kryss. She explains, “I love SWIHA, SOY, and SWINA. I feel at home each time I go to any of these beautiful places.” Kryss had been living a holistic lifestyle for the majority of her life. It felt like a natural choice to pursue studies at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. About 10 years ago, Kryss actually attended the Western Herbalism and Nutrition programs and felt incredibly comfortable at SWIHA. Her life path eventually led her back to SWIHA to enroll in the Hypnotherapy program.

‘Grafting’ is a word used to describe the process of taking a branch from one tree and connecting it with another tree to duplicate its future growth.  What a perfect metaphor of our intention as we move from the campus SWIHA has enjoyed for almost 15 years to a new location in Tempe, Arizona.  We want to take the ‘positive light’ from the halls of the campus and the hearts of all the staff, instructors and students to our new location just a few miles away. We’ve decided to coin the term ‘spiritual grafting’ to affirm our intention to take what SWIHA has been and done over the last 26 years —transferring and re-growing our ‘Light’!

You may have learned to lift weights, run sprints, and do lunges under the guidance of a personal trainer at your local gym… yet where do you go if it is your mind that needs to get in shape? Perhaps to SWIHA Life Coaching Graduate James Patrick, who is serving as a Lifestyle Trainer with a focus on what he calls “personal training—both inside and out.”

Noushin Mazlaghani admits that it was life’s challenges that brought her to study at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). “More than 8 years ago, when I had my first massage, I was at the lowest point in my life.” She was divorcing after 27 years, grieving for her dad's death, recovering from two major surgeries, and dealing with an empty nest. “I experienced total relaxation and freedom from all my anxieties during my massage, and I had complete peace. This experience totally shifted my life, and I committed myself to bring this peace to others.”

This transformational experience led Noushin to go on and graduate from both the Massage Therapy Professional Massage Practitioner 750-hour program and the Polarity Associate Polarity Practitioner 200-hour program. “After graduating in 2010, as a licensed Cranial Massage Therapist and Polarity Practitioner, I opened my own center to be at service to others.” This center is called the De Language Healing Arts and it is located in Scottsdale, AZ. It is here that she serves her clients with the unique combination of the modalities of Cranial Therapy and Polarity. There are no other Polarity clinics around other than the one on the SWIHA campus. The mission of her center is for clients to experience serenity. “My practice is all about YOU experiencing total health and freedom in your own body. We look at your body in a deeper context as just a structure, we explore the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical aspect of your being together, for a tranquility and vibrant experience of yourSELF in all areas of your life that are most important to YOU.”

Many experts talk about the mind-body-spirit connection, yet what a lot of them don’t understand is how to actually connect them. That’s where the breath comes in. The body is connected to the mind and spirit through breath by mindfully concentrating on the breath. In a study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, researchers claim to have found the measurement of mindfulness through breath counting. However, the lead researcher said, “Counting isn't the main focus; it's the experiential awareness of breath.” In other words, the breath has the ability to take us to a special place, a place deep within the mind and body to reach that spiritual connection. Spirit is within the breath, not without the breath.  

Everyone and everything is made of energy, just vibrating at different frequencies. That energy may be moved and shifted with the breath to clear blockages, remove stagnant air, and open one up to new life. The practice of mindful breathing keeps the energy flowing and moving within the body, mind, and spirit. The more we practice connecting with the breath, the stronger the connection becomes between the mind, body, and spirit. This pathway through mindful breathing allows us to connect to our inner knowing for positive transformation and healing.

Bill Gisclair- Sullivan was searching for a program that matched the journey he found himself on. He really wanted to discover one that offered a holistic approach to health and wellness. “After reviewing what Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) had to offer and speaking with a few people, I felt it was the perfect match.” Bill enrolled and went on to graduate with an Associates Degree in Mind-Body Transformational Psychology.

During his time at SWIHA, Bill found so many classes that he loved. “The one I liked the most was HY 401 Hypnotherapy Advanced Techniques. It really brought everything together! It was challenging and a great way to finish the hypnotherapy program. I especially liked the final project. It was tough, but well worth it.”  He has used his final project presentation in his business, and it has been very well received.

Linda Bennett, SWIHA’s Hypnotherapy program director, had a profound effect on Bill. She instructed seven of the courses he took, so there was a long progression of working with her. “The feedback she gave me and every other student, was very engaging. I enjoyed listening to her constructive criticism and support and, what I felt, was genuine excitement for what she read each week.”  Bill said it was apparent that her whole heart was in this work and her passion is what made the learning so enjoyable.

A sobering thought -- what if, at this very moment, I am living up to my full potential? 

Some of the most pressing matters of the human experience revolve around happiness, achievement, and growth. We are always striving for something, whether it is financial freedom, physical fitness, education, a happier marriage, or overcoming personal struggles. As human beings, we have an incredible resource in living a full, harmonious life: the ability to reflect, reason, and re-learn. Our consciousness aims to teach us to re-evaluate ourselves so we can maximize our potential, be the person we are meant to be, and live passionately in confidence and self-love that is given to our family and friends as a result. But what happens when, throughout the muddle of financial and personal crisis, we become shrouded with guilt, fear, confusion, and inaction? More importantly, how can we rise again after we fall into moments of despair, of unknowing, and indecisiveness so that we can live a truly incredible life?

In 2010, Gisele Marasca-Vargas had to close her graphic design and publishing company and file for bankruptcy (mostly due to the 2008 economic crisis). She lost her home in the process and had to practically start from scratch. She got a temporary job at the U.S. Census Bureau and went through a phase when she was feeling lost and confused about her next steps. At a certain point, she realized that she needed to reinvent herself.

During her years as a graphic designer and publisher, she had worked on the side as an “energy healer”. She felt that the challenges she had gone through were a sign from the Universe that it was time to change the course of her life -- to find her true path. Gisele decided that her “on the side” work was going to become her main career and life path.

“That’s when I started researching schools from all over the country for a degree in energy healing and other holistic practices. I was attracted by the AOS degree in Holistic Health Care (Concentration in Mind-Body Transformational Psychology) that Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) offered. I was also very intrigued by the fact that it’s very rich curriculum included Hypnotherapy and Life Coaching. The facts that SWIHA offers online programs and is nationally accredited by ACCET and is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education sealed the deal,” shared Gisele.