30 years ago this year, with a prayer and a small loan from my husband, Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, came into existence. Starting with two classrooms and 6 students, the college has grown to 16 classrooms, in three buildings, serving nearly 600 on-campus students, and nearly as many online students across the country.
As a longtime student of A Course In Miracles, one day long ago I prayed in earnest what is known as the ‘miracle prayer’: “What would you have me do? Where would you have me go? What would you have me say, and to whom?” From that prayer came the vision of creating a place where individuals could come to discover their gifts, where education would not be a “cookie cutter” experience and where individual expression and diversity was encouraged and honored. Starting as a massage college, SWIHA is striving 30 years later by offering 16 Certificates of Excellences, 10 different diplomas, Associates in Healing Arts, and over 300 individual continuing education classes.
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Topics:
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts,
SWIHA,
KC Miller,
Massage School,
Southwest Institute of Natural Aesthetics,
Arizona,
spirit of yoga,
Tempe,
Yoga studio,
Holistic Education,
Arizona Yoga Studio,
Arizona Massage School,
Thirty Years,
ACCET,
Massage Clinic,
Thirty Year Anniversary,
Thirty and Thriving
What was your life like before SWIHA? What led you to SWIHA and to your particular program of study? Why are you passionate about this modality?
Before SWIHA, I was a Chef who worked long hours at a fine dining farm-to-table restaurant & was a hairstylist on the side. I love to cook and especially loved embracing the sustainability aspect of sourcing our ingredients and how everything connected full circle. Although I loved cooking, as many people know kitchens can be quite a challenging and sometimes toxic environment to be submerged in. At that point in my life, I was deeply depressed and longed to do something that felt more fulfilling to my soul. For me, this "cycle of depression" triggered an awakening of sorts. I began venturing my journey of "internal" personal development (outside my physical fitness) and sought out schools that spoke to my soul path. After studying myself and creating a boatload of interests, everything on my list pointed to holistic health and wellness. I discovered SWIHA at the beginning of my journey and finally answered the call to enroll 10 years later!
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Topics:
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts,
Holistic Nutrition,
holistic entrepreneur,
SWIHA,
Mindfulness,
Intuition,
Spirit,
Holistic wellness,
Arizona,
Tempe,
community,
Holistic Education,
conscious community,
GRIT,
Divine Timing,
Holistic Health and Wellness Coaching,
Holistic Health and Wellness Coach,
Spiritual Wellbeing,
Microbiome
I have been on the journey of entrepreneurship for almost 5 years before beginning my path at SWIHA as an Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner student. After bringing my daughter into this world, Ella Rae, my mother, and I started a skin, soul, self-care business: Dragonfly co., and our mission has been to create “products you can feel good about.” Through the years, I felt the call in my heart to expand this mission. I knew that feeling good was about more than just looking good. It prompted me to create and coin the term: ‘feel-good living” ((soon to be trademarked!)) While moving through my own life experiences of separation, loss, and transition — I became wholeheartedly committed to setting out on the journey of discovering what ‘feel-good living’ actually is. My partner, daughter, and I moved out to Arizona, on a whim or what I feel was a divine call, in January of 2022. Shortly after, I discovered SWIHA, randomly and unintentionally. Through this journey of defining ‘feel-good living,’ SWIHA is providing a safe container for me to fully embody and explore every layer of this lifestyle.
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Topics:
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts,
holistic entrepreneur,
SWIHA,
Spiritual Coaching,
spiritual studies,
Arizona,
Tempe,
intuitve guide,
integrative healing arts practitioner,
IHAP,
SWIHA Students,
Spiritual Coach and Celebrant,
The Feel-Good Sisterhood,
Trauma-informed
It is easy to feel self-doubt when you are an aspiring entrepreneur. Imposter syndrome starts to creep into your mind and you begin to feel like you aren’t up to the challenge that a once “eager you” was so excited about. You may even feel the need to protect yourself, stay where you are comfortable, and not really put yourself or your business out there. When this happens, you start holding yourself back from your most true and highest potential. What can you do now? There are many ways to push yourself forward even when it feels uncomfortable! Learn how to ditch your self-doubts with the power of mantras.
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Topics:
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts,
holistic entrepreneur,
SWIHA,
Meditation,
Arizona,
mantra,
Tempe,
Om,
mantras,
Holistic Education,
Perspective,
mantra meditation,
Leap of Faith
“Before SWIHA I had the privilege and blessing of being a full-time wife and mom of four amazing children. We owned a mortgage company that my husband ran. My husband of 15 years passed away unexpectedly after a 25+ year struggle with chronic pain which led to opioid addiction. This rocked our world and my children and I lost everything. The depths and darkness of addiction ran deep and his passing uncovered a painful spiral of a brilliant man.” said Renae Valdes-Seago. She continues, “I found myself lost, undereducated, underemployed and urgently needing to figure out how to provide for my family. I didn’t find SWIHA, my angel grandmother led me to this institution for my own healing and to rediscover the gifts I was born with. I felt guided to choose medical massage because of the world I existed in loving a man who hurt constantly and searched tirelessly for respite from pain.”
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Topics:
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts,
spirituality,
Massage Therapy,
SWIHA,
entrepreneur,
Holistic Healing,
Holistic wellness,
Arizona,
Tempe,
Licensed Massage Therapist,
medical massage,
Shamanic Reiki,
Arizona Massage School
The corporate 9 to 5 job is not for everyone. It certainly wasn’t for SWIHA Great Graduate Nikki Cordell. Nikki recalls her life before SWIHA by using words such as “busy” and “hectic” as well as recalling the feeling of constantly longing for something else. Nikki Cordell wanted a way out of her corporate job…and she found one. Nikki was introduced to Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, and the rest was history! “I wanted to follow a dream, doing something that I love. A dream I always had was to own a yoga studio. Yoga has been a hobby of mine for many years, that one place I would allow space to take time for myself” asserts Nikki. She found that even though her days were still long and full, as she went to the evening program right after work, she came home feeling different. Nikki came home feeling refreshed, and always enjoyed her time in class, constantly looking forward to her next class, which was quite the opposite feeling of dreading her next day at her corporate job.
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Topics:
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts,
Great Graduate,
SWIHA,
Meditation,
Yoga Teacher Training,
yoga nidra,
Chair Yoga,
yoga,
Arizona,
spirit of yoga,
Tempe,
yoga teacher,
Yoga Retreat
We often hear the phrase ‘you have to pay your dues’ in situations where someone starts out in a new career field. This phrase translates to the understanding that you have to first experience difficulties before reaching success. This does not have to be a reality for everyone. Leah Morris, Life Coaching and Hypnotherapy Graduate from SWIHA states, “The greatest lesson I learned at SWIHA was that with the right intention and a massive amount of integrity, your efforts can take you anywhere.” Basically, if you are willing to work hard and put forth effort into what you want out of life, you can achieve anything!
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Topics:
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts,
Life Coaching,
holistic entrepreneur,
Great Graduate,
SWIHA,
entrepreneur,
Holistic Healing,
life coach,
Hypnotherapy,
Arizona,
Holistic Living,
Tempe,
Relationship Coaching,
Podcast,
small business owner,
relationship transitions
“I cannot do all the good that the world needs. However, the world needs all the good that I can do.” - Jana Stanfield
Lourdes Silva, Southwest Institute of Healing Arts Great Graduate, realized that her life’s purpose was to serve others with her gifts and graces. To spread the healing arts of Reiki, Sound Healing, Yoga, and more to those who speak Spanish and use Sign Language. Lourdes states, “I realized that the purpose of my life is to give love and be in service reaching all that community that needed the most because I truly believe yoga is for everyone regardless of age, weight, beliefs, or race! We are Onésimo.” One day, during a Polarity class that Lourdes was taking, she had the realization that each experience that she had in her life leading up to that moment was preparing her for her soul purpose. Her soul purpose is to “become a healer, to be on the yoga path, share my acknowledgment, and with empathy - be an instrument of service!”
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Topics:
Sound Healing,
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts,
Life Coaching,
Toe Reading,
Great Graduate,
SWIHA,
Advanced Yoga Training,
Reiki,
Yoga Teacher Training,
yoga nidra,
Arizona,
Tempe,
Holistic Healer,
Sign Language,
Spanish Speaking,
Service
The Call to Switch Directions
Urban Farming brings consciousness to the health of our bodies and the health of the planet through the practice of local farming and environmental education. With the increasing number of pesticides in our food and water each year, Americans have begun to experience a decline in their overall health. According to The World Health Organization, excessive consumption of pesticides can contribute to adverse health effects including cancer, and immune system dysfunction. The pollution of the planet has begun to reflect the effects of mass production and unconscious farming practices. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, commercial farming contributes to 21 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions; this number does not include other related greenhouse gas emissions such as shipping produce or driving to the store.
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Topics:
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts,
SWIHA,
Urban Farming,
Arizona,
Tempe,
Planet Protection,
Action for Change
What is Toe Reading
Toe Reading is the metaphysical understanding that the angle and contour of the toes are the physical manifestations of the path a person’s life has taken. The toes act as one of our bodies’ depositories for stories and emotions. A Toe Reader is someone who honors the stories coded in the toes and is spiritually and emotionally available to unlock the storyline stored in the cells of the body, specifically stored in the hologram of the toes.
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Topics:
Southwest Institute of Healing Arts,
Toe Reading,
SWIHA,
Reflexology,
Spiritual Coaching,
chakra,
coaching,
Wellness Coaching,
Elemental System,
Toe Telling
