SWIHA Blog

Anthony Oliver has always loved science, nature, psychology and helping others, though he wasn’t always sure how to merge all of those things into a profitable future.

“The thing that led me to SWIHA was my mother, Veronica Oliver, because she had completed the Mind Body Wellness Practitioner program and is now a certified Clinical Hypnotherapist,” he tells us, “She told me that I should consider taking nutrition classes through SWIHA, and intuitively it felt right to me.”

Anthony recently graduated from the Holistic Nutrition Wellness Practitioner program and is awaiting examinations for his Behavior Modification Specialist and Fitness Nutrition Specialist certifications. He says that SWIHA significantly changed his life in a multitude of ways: “I value myself much more than I did before because I know I have credentials now that make me marketable and I am more knowledgeable about holistic methods of healing.”

Christine Iring, SWIHA graduate and founder of The Wounded Healer, believes wholeheartedly that anything is possible with the right mindset, people and surroundings.

She tells us: “Five years ago, I believe I hit my rock bottom due to divorce, selling my home short sale, and relocating for a job…yeah, many major life changes. That in itself took major adjustment, reflection, and ‘doing the work’,” Christine continues, “SWIHA took a better version of me and provided the tools I needed to create a business with awesome modalities, but more importantly discovering even more of myself, my purpose and enjoying the journey along the way!”

Nicholas Stanley believes he was guided to SWIHA by his “Angels, Ascended Masters, and loved ones”. In 2015, Nicholas was involved in a serious car accident in Long Island where he passed over into the light and came back into his body with a new awareness, mission and purpose.

“When I woke back up from not being responsive, I didn’t know who I was, where I was, or what I had been doing for the past few years. I felt a sudden switch in my mind, body and soul,” he explains.

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.

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.”

Reine Matthews is a SWIHA graduate both doing great things and writing great things! Her first book, Thriving After Diagnosis: Instead of Merely Surviving, was just published… and she is already working on a second! Hailing from Northern Idaho, Reine received an AOS Degree in Mind Body Transformational Psychology from SWIHA, with concentrations in Holistic Nutrition and Wellness, Life Coaching, and Urban Farming and Conscious Living.

Reine chose to get into the field of holistic wellness because of her personal journey of being diagnosed with (and thriving beyond!) Lyme Disease. According to the CDC, Lyme disease is the fastest growing vector-borne, infectious disease in the United States, with 25,000 new cases being reported every month for an estimated 300,000 new people being affected per year (25% of which are children). This illness is typically transmitted through a bite from an infected deer tick and has been reported in all 50 states and on every continent, excluding Antarctica.

Way up in Anchorage, Alaska, SWIHA Graduate Kris Hwang comes from a family of entrepreneurs whose business has been running strong for 40 years. Growing up with that background had fostered a strong entrepreneurial spirit in her, as well as a desire to be her own boss and do what she loves on her own terms.

Kris’ work as a bartender had left her feeling emotionally and spiritually drained. As an empath and highly sensitive person working in the service industry, it can be easy to give too much of yourself and take on the energetic and emotional baggage of your customers. Kris found herself seeking balance and looking to grow, and so she began practicing meditation exercises and nurturing a personal yoga practice— her first steps towards beginning a new chapter of her life.

Kaye Bahr spent 15 years teaching in the Arizona public school system. As an elementary school teacher teaching third to sixth grade, Kaye loved the daily interaction with her students and watching them grow and change throughout the school year. However, like most teachers, Kaye found that there was very little time left for her family or for herself. After experiencing some changes in her career, she began to develop depression and digestive disorders.

When she reached the point that she could no longer stand the situation and her suffering health, she went in search of a counselor. In that search, she found a Mind Body Wellness Practitioner. When she made the call to set up an appointment, Kaye heard the words that she so needed to hear that day: “You will feel so much better when you leave my office.” After her first session, she did feel so much better; the fog began to clear and her physical and emotional self found relief. “When I left her office that day, the experience changed my life,” says Kaye. “It took another few years for me to leave teaching, yet I knew in my soul that I had found my life’s work. I wanted to provide that same healing experience for others.” With this in mind, Kaye sought out SWIHA, enrolling in the Mind Body Wellness Practitioner Diploma program with an emphasis in Clinical Hypnotherapy and Life Coaching. She graduated in November 2016— the start of a whole new life on a path that she felt she was destined to take.

Maureen Ihle has always been dedicated to helping people, and yet it wasn’t until she enrolled at SWIHA that she realized that doing so was her life’s purpose (INSERT: www.blog.swiha.edu/life-coaching-corner-are-you-brave-enough-to-be-an-entrepreneur). Maureen shared that before she firmly found her path at SWIHA, she was struggling both personally and professionally. It took clearing away some of those personal cobwebs to ultimately see where her path was leading her.

“I was working at a job that was very unsatisfying. I had gained 30 pounds the year before I enrolled and was at my highest weight ever. I didn’t know where I was going in my life, and I certainly had no idea of how I was going to get there. I knew I needed to do something different with my life, and I knew I wanted to help people, so I started looking at psychology programs. I looked at a lot of programs at other schools, and nothing seemed to quite fit until I found the program at SWIHA. As soon as I saw the program, I knew that this is what I needed to be doing with my life. I am so passionate about life coaching and helping other people find their purpose.”

High in the mountains of Northern Arizona, in a little town called Pinedale (population: 588), you’ll find SWIHA graduate Lisa Kaiser carving out her dream of a self-sustaining community.

In 2015, Lisa graduated from Southwest Institute of Healing Arts with a degree in Mind-Body Transformational Psychology and a diploma in the Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner program. The focus on body energy work, Ayurveda, aromatherapy, urban farming, raw food preparation—as well as the tools and support she got from entrepreneurial classes—provided the foundation of success that led to the beginning of Lisa building her dream.