SWIHA Blog

When I was a little girl, my parents got divorced. I was 6, my brother 9, my little sister just 5. We went to stay with my dad’s parents so he could continue on his job on the railroad. My grandfather was retired and had been in the navy. My grandmother was a rough and tough sort of woman that had been married five times, rodeo trick rider, sharecropper, all-around tough cookie. I share this with you because I had no pause, my family had no pause. The next steps my family took could have been changed or at the least given a pause, we as a family could see the purpose in our actions. When I was 9, I ran away from home. They called my mom (which I had been told was dead) and she flew to see me face to face to tell me, her daughter, she could not take me back to live with her. She got on a plane the next morning.

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Topics: self love, Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, spirituality, SWIHA, Mindfulness, Self-care, Guided meditation, Essential Oils, Meditation, Mind, yoga, Breath, Spiritual, mind-body wellness practitioner, Boundaries, Sacred Space, Holistic Education, Mindful Practices, Calmness, Pause, meditate, breathing

“I have always had a passion for mind-body health,” McCall Brown tells us, “I found myself studying and talking about it to friends and family all of the time, so I thought: ‘why don't I become a coach and help others find greater health and happiness?’”

McCall brings that level of self-actualization and merges it with her knowledge of Guided Imagery, Holistic Nutrition and spiritual psychology to help clients step in to their best self through her business, Beautifully Balanced by McCall! She has fully embraced the title of Intuitive Mind Body Wellness and Emotion Code Practitioner.

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Topics: Life Coaching, Great Graduate, Mindfulness, holistic business, mind-body wellness practitioner

Sometimes, the journey leads us to a destination we never could have expected. For Nickole Swensen, it was that unanticipated curve in the path that led her to her true purpose: a life of healing, though certainly not as she had planned it...

“I originally went to SWIHA to study holistic nutrition,” Nickole confides. “I was fascinated with the way food impacts our bodies and wanted to share my love of food with future clients. I was really interested in learning more about ways to heal and help others that would use all the elements—mind, body, and spirit.”

Yet, it was in the midst of her nutritional studies in SWIHA’s Mind-Body Wellness program that Nickole learned about auriculotherapy for the first time. Immediately, she was hooked. “I found it amazingly powerful, so I started using it on myself and my family,” she says. “The energy and knowledge that instructor Cheryl Speen brought to my auriculotherapy class was unbelievable. I actually loved her class so much that I took it twice—just for fun!”

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Topics: Holistic Nutrition, Holistic Healing, cancer, mind-body wellness practitioner, Auriculotherapy, Acupuncture

For Tory Dube, life before SWIHA was a matter of constant performance. As a struggling professional dancer, actor, and comedian, Tory found herself trapped in the cutthroat entertainment industry, constantly facing the judgment of strangers. “I was an anxiety-ridden people pleaser who was hiding a nasty eating disorder,” she recalls. “My self-worth was defined by the people who decided whether or not I booked a job.”

Desperate for a change, Tory booked a space on a yoga retreat in the Bahamas, where she was introduced to meditation. While she found the demand of being totally present painful, it was exactly the spark she needed to start pursuing a new way of life. It was time to conquer her anxiety and food obsession once and for all.

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Topics: Holistic Nutrition, Mind Body Wellness, Meditation, Acupressure, anxiety, Mind Body Transformational Psychology, mind-body wellness practitioner, Eating Disorder, Transformational Pychology, Body Shame

Ester Mina Silinsky believes that G-d has granted her 120 years to complete her life’s work. At 61 years old, she is happily married, has raised nine children, and intends to use the rest of her remaining years to help others manage their own health using holistic methods and ancient wisdom obtained through SWIHA Holistic Wellness Practitioner program— now known as the Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner program. Since only two of her children still live at home, Ester is at a stage of her life where she can focus on enjoying her family and on her career as the owner of Holyland Holistics.

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Topics: Life Coaching, Holisitc Nutrition, Intuitive Guide, Holistic Healer, mind-body wellness practitioner, guided imagery