According to Life Coach and meditation teacher Bill Gisclair-Sullivan, authenticity requires practice: “It is a conscious choice that we must make about how we want to live our lives every day. It is a collection of our choices and decisions, and it requires us to show up, be present in the moment, and to be honest with ourselves.”

The truth is that authenticity usually has to be re-learned because so much of our lives have been spent mastering the many masks we think we must wear to be approved of or to fit into what we imagine is expected of us. A quote from Coach Bill’s website captures his life coaching mission, which emphasizes how we can step into our truest self: "Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we truly are."

Bill is so passionate about this work because it mirrors his own life journey. “It took me many, many years to discover my authenticity,” Bill explains. “I spent most of my adult life working in management in the hospitality field. After making some dramatic mistakes and trying to climb the corporate ladder, I lost some important parts of myself along the way.”

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.

Inga Tara once felt that she had it all—a beautiful family, financial security, the freedom to spend her time traveling abroad. And yet there was still something undeniably missing. “I was feeling dissatisfaction in my career, disconnect inside me, and a lack of inner peace,” she remembers. After participating in a full-body detox program in 2009, Inga finally found something that resonated powerfully with her: a love of nutrition. This shift is what Inga considers a major point of self-mastery and a significant first step in the journey to her divine purpose.

Years later in 2014, with an empty nest and a husband at work, Inga knew it was the perfect time to pursue her interests more actively. “I felt that that was a good time to go back to spiritual practices that I used to do for years (and made me feel happy and complete) and work on my creativity, self-actualization, and giving back to people.” Still, reconnecting to self through spiritual practice was not filling the void that Inga felt within her. She yearned to formalize her knowledge of holistic healing to bring happiness and well-being to others. She began to seek out schools and programs and decided to enroll at SWIHA soon after discovering it on an online search.

The story behind Tammy Coin getting to the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) is a long one. When she enrolled at SWIHA, she wasn't really sure of her direction. She arrived with a Masters in Human Relations Counseling and since her own life journey was connected to holistic practices, she opted to enroll in the Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner diploma program, rather than a degree program.  At the time of my enrollment in September 2014, she had several life issues taking place, and she was about to leave town for the birth of her first grandchild. Since she did not have a specific direction in mind, she opted for the Holistic Nutrition program and the Polarity program.  A few months in, she went through her required 20-hour Life Coaching weekend.  ”I KNEW it was for me, yet I wasn't sure how I was going to work in Life Coaching because my schedule was already full.  Shortly after that, I completed my required 20 hours in Hypnotherapy.  As much as I was enjoying Polarity, I KNEW that Life Coaching & Hypnotherapy complimented my Masters degree and was absolutely the right choice for me.” By this time, she had completed Polarity 1, Polarity Reflexology, & Cranial Unwinding.  She is so grateful for that knowledge, yet she knew where she was being led.  By the time she graduated, she had completed 120 hours of Life Coaching, Hypnotherapy 101 (on-campus) and Hypnotherapy 201 and Hypnotherapy 301 online. “ I guess in the technical sense, I have been coaching for about one year.  In the literal sense, I have been coaching my entire life. ”  

In 2014, Michele Root was first introduced to life coaching during a Self- Expression & Leadership Program at Landmark (a personal and professional growth, training, and development company) “I knew I found my calling. My life prior to that was not fulfilling, and I dreaded getting out of bed.” That October, she attended a Gifts and Graces at SWIHA and was instantly hooked. “I knew I wanted to take life coaching classes and found myself signed up for the AOS program with nutrition, hypnotherapy, & aromatherapy as an unexpected bonus." She had hopes that the coaching classes would ease her military transition back into civilian life, and then her passion for nutritional wellness took over. “My tip for future life coaches is simple - remain open to the unexpected!”

Guest Blogger:
Melanie Albert, SWIHA Holistic Nutrition Teacher

“As a kid I always had a carrot in my little white gloves. Years later, while studying in college, my go-to snacks were basic sliced orange and carrot sticks. Today, decades later, I am even more excited about carrots and other root vegetables because I’ve learned that they can be unexpectedly delicious with a few simple culinary techniques.” --Melanie Albert

Roasted roots are beautiful, flavorful, and sweet, as well as a rich, colorful complement to any meal. The roasting culinary technique is a dry-heat cooking method that intensifies and concentrates the flavor of vegetables. When roasted properly, the natural sugars in the vegetables brown or caramelize to create a deep, rich flavor. When visiting your farmers’ market, buy a few roots even if you don’t recognize them, and roast them with this simple, quick recipe! Enjoy roasted roots as a side dish, to create soup, with hummus, or in a raw, kale salad or veggie wrap.

Bradley Goss first enrolled at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, in the Associates degree program for Western Herbalism and Holistic Nutrition. He was already a Physical Trainer at a gym and a Detoxification Specialist, but he knew he wanted to continue his education. Before finding SWIHA, he was taking classes at Phoenix College where, to his dismay, he found he did not resonate with what the nutritionist teachers were teaching. “They would tell us that having a couple of cokes a day isn’t bad; there is no good fat; white bread is the same as whole wheat bread; and eating sugar won't make you fat. I didn’t want to be at a school, filling my brain full of things that I knew weren’t correct, just to have to relearn them later.”  So Bradley started looking for another school. New York Integrative and SWIHA were his top two. He wanted a campus school with online options, but he really liked that one of his favorite teachers/authors, Dee McCaffrey (The Science of Skinny) worked here. Since he was already in AZ and NY would require a move, he chose to stay local, as he connected with our mission and philosophy. He reflected on his first few months at SWIHA: “I arrived, ‘not SWIHA material’. I believed in the goodness of foods, but not like I do now. I’d hear teachers say, ‘Be aware’ and ‘this food helps with consciousness’.  I was like, ‘What am I missing? I’m not drunk, what is she talking about??’ I wasn’t aware, even though I thought I was.”  The nutrition and herbalism fit together perfectly, as he still believes that diet and herbs is the curative solution to all dis-ease, however, the education took a lot effort. His feedback to new students or those in the herbalism program was, “Stick with it and don’t get discouraged, especially with the herbal medicine. The payoff is so worth it!”

When we talk about gratitude, we are talking about the act of truly being thankful. Thankful for the blessings we have in life -- the simple pleasures, the gifts of nature, health, happiness, family, friends, etc.

Gratitude shifts our focus from what we want to what we have.

It allows us to look at the ready abundance of all that is great in our lives. When we are truly grateful there is a profound change in our attitude towards life. Truly giving thanks makes us happier, healthier, and more resilient. It makes our relationships stronger and improves our overall health by reducing stress in our lives.

We all sometimes take for granted, the little things in our lives. The things someone else would and have given their lives for: freedom, food, a place to live, an education, a bed to sleep in, clothes on our backs, etc. What about simple things others don't have like sight, touch, smell, and hearing? I know most of us just take those things for granted. Just for a second, imagine your life without them. Think how your life would change and then you will truly be thankful.

Mark Flory thought he had it all -- family, job, house, and lots of friends. Then at age 44, things started to change. “I guess you can say I had a mid-life crisis of identity. At the time of my decision to go to Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA), I had just sold a business that I thought was going to be my retirement plan.” Mark was feeling like a failure and that he let his family down.

To top it off, Mark applied and interviewed with a company for a position that seemed like it was written specifically for him. After several interviews and feeling really good about getting the new job, he met with the owner and president. Remembering the shock and disbelief, Mark shared that he bombed the interview and didn’t get the job.

Mark now realizes that he was having a spiritual awakening. “My intuitive abilities had been activated and I was starting to awaken to the possibilities of helping people with these new found gifts. During this process, however, many things came up for me that challenged everything that I was. It is never easy to one day say to your friends, ‘Oh by the way, I see dead people and can read your energy.’ Most of them thought I was crazy and really didn’t want to associate with me anymore. Because of this, I isolated myself and I started to question who I was and what I was really put on this earth to do. There is nothing like being 44 years old and not knowing who you are anymore.”

It took Lindsey Gemme a few years of mulling over what she wanted to do with her life before officially starting in the Holistic Nutrition Specialist program at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). She discovered SWIHA while on her original search for a school to study herbalism. Once she explored all of the degrees and certificate offered at the college she was in love. “SWIHA had programs for all of the healing disciplines I was interested in: Herbalism, Yoga, Reiki, and even Nutrition.” After choosing to specialize in nutrition, she chose to take the Transformational Life Coach program as well, realizing how hand-in-hand coaching and holistic nutrition go.