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.

Reiki is a Japanese therapeutic technique where the practitioner is believed to channel Universal energy in order to activate the natural healing process and restore well-being. It’s often used in conjunction with traditional treatments or additional healing modalities, such as massage therapy.

Mikao Usui, the originator of Reiki, considers the core principles the "secret of inviting happiness."  Each principle begins with the words “Just for today…” as a reminder to focus only on what we are capable of changing (our present thoughts and actions) and to release the past or future.

Keeping afloat in this fast-paced world means that each day we face challenges—whether it’s finances, family, career, or relationships—and it can be easy to go, go, go! until suddenly we’re running on empty, our self-esteem is plummeting and we feel disconnected or numb.

Consider that when you’re feeling exhausted, uninspired or just plain ‘off’, it may be your mind, body and spirit sending signals  to ‘check in’ with them!

Meditation is the practice of diving deep within yourself to access the wisdom we inherently possess. With guided meditation, you’re effortlessly directed to your subconscious mind to harvest the raw, ingenious ideas that are calling out to be manifested!

With incredible tenacity, Nyla Jones, a graduate of Southwest Institute of Healing Arts’ Yoga & Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner programs, states: “In my mother’s death, she gave me life.”

At the tender age of twenty-four, Nyla stepped in to the role of family matriarch. Cancer had claimed her mother, placing Nyla as caretaker to her youngest siblings—her two-year-old brother and her three-year-old sister who was born with Down syndrome.

Instead of allowing herself to be consumed by anger and self-pity, Nyla felt that her mission was to become a vessel of compassion and help her family thrive—not despite the hardships—rather, inspired by them.

For Sharon Rose, 2017 was the year of identity crisis. She had finished school and launched her business, yet was still suffering from a sense of disconnection. Nothing was resonating. After so after working up the courage to leave a truly toxic relationship, to deconstruct her old life coaching website, and to overhaul her personal image, she was out on her own again... and suddenly faced with the opportunity to become her most authentic self. 

I went from a focus on 'becoming the goddess' to 'I AM the goddess,'" Sharon explains, "and it all started unfolding out of awareness. 

Sue Shapiro of Spirit Knows Life Coaching doesn’t have a “one size fits all” client, so it stands to reason that she would not have one tool for every coaching circumstance. Her client base is varied and includes individuals who have left abusive environments, who have gone through near-death experiences, or who are seeking spiritual deepening. 

Like many coaches, Sue was led to pursue coaching in these three niches because of related events in her own life. Sue left an abusive environment many years ago, which created a unique set of challenges. "Over time, your capacity to hold onto some semblance of self-love and self-compassion erodes and you feel very broken," she explains. "The right life coaching tools have the ability to allow someone to see the opportunity to re-gift themselves with that love and compassion while accepting that they were always whole and complete instead of broken. It's like a re-birth of sorts." 

When Gabriela Milan was 16, she was ready to end it all. Struggling with eating disorders, health problems, and depression, she had just about hit rock bottom. At that point in time, she felt like there would be no end to her misery unless she put a stop to it herself. In that dark hour of desperation, someone noticed her and took the time to really talk to her. Those 10 minutes of conversation saved her life. While Gabriela doesn’t even remember what it was that he said to her in those moments that helped her to find herself, she does remember how it made her feel: “It gave me the hope I needed. It shook me. It woke me up. It reminded me that I was special. I promised myself that I had to do that for someone else someday.”

Sarah Whiton has been writing in a journal since she was about eight years old. As a child, she remembers having diaries with a lock and key, thick volumes in which she hid away her secrets, her heartbreaks, and all her big dreams. Sarah kept a journal through the rough times in her life, the transitions, and the big changes; she wrote through her fears and recorded the achievements of countless goals. Before she had a life coach—or ever became a life coach—a journal played a powerful and important role in her life. It gave her the ability to look within, to be honest with herself, and to fully understand one of the primary principles of life coaching:  we already have the answers within.

Sarah is now a Life Coach and a certified personal trainer who is passionate about inspiring and encouraging others to cultivate self-acceptance, awareness, personal peace, and happiness in the pages of their journal. In her very straightforward way, Sarah shares, “While it’s great to work directly with a Life Coach, your journal is the next best thing! I consider journaling self-coaching!”

By definition, a dream is described as:

a series of thoughts, visions, or feelings that happen during sleep an idea or vision that is created in your imagination and that is not real something that you have wanted very much to do, be, or have for a long time

Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary

More often than not, each new day in our modern lives comes with an overwhelming number of responsibilities and duties that have to get done: work, school assignments, childcare, cooking, cleaning, doctor appointments... the list goes on and on!

Unfortunately, our contemporary fixation on being busy leaves very little room for dreaming. Whether we aspire to find a better job, meet the love of our life, be the first in our family to pursue a post-secondary education, or even to open our own business as a holistic entrepreneur, the reasons we all desire success are as numerous as the stars in the sky. 

Many times, however, the stark reality of our current lives keeps us fixated on our fears, causing us to avoid our futures and to stop dreaming. Dreaming requires the intentional devotation of time to a vision of a better life and self; it is, in itself, part of the process of change. 

Our brains have a way of creating daily habits and sticking to them whether or not they are helpful to us. Most of us already have a morning routine even if we are unaware that it exists. This may include having a non-negotiable cup of coffee, brushing our teeth without exception and searching for our car keys even after we swore we would not misplace them again. All too often it seems that we are wired to repeat ourselves with little awareness that we are doing it.

Without realizing, many of us choose to start our days the same way only to find later its outcome was not what we desired. By understanding this, we can quickly transform bad habits into a routine that gives us a greater sense of control throughout the day, prepares us for its inevitable surprises, and boosts us into the satisfaction stratosphere by adding a turbo shot of confidence.