SWIHA Blog

A Story from our Great Graduate Deborah South-McEvoy

Deborah South-McEvoy happily admits that something bigger than herself brought her to Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). She had heard of the school and was intrigued by it, and she even said that she fought the urgings to enroll. After three years of thinking about it, she finally enrolled in the Yoga Teacher Training 200-hour program along with Yoga Nidra and Yoga Gong.

Yoga was not new to Deborah. She had been taking yoga classes off and on for the six years prior to starting her teaching training. During those six years, this Leo-Lioness started to yearn for more knowledge. “I was on fire with passion and know I needed to pass the information on to others through teaching.”

Since completing her training, Deborah has gone on to create Dare to Soar Yoga, LLC . She is passionate about bringing affordable yoga to the people of Casa Grande, as well as building a yoga community in the town she has resided since 1980. She now teaches beginner and intermediate yoga classes at Central Arizona College. She also facilitates a chair yoga class and a yoga nidra and gong class at the local Cancer Support Center in Casa Grande, AZ. It is the lack of yoga studios in Casa Grande that fueled her passion to go into business for herself. She rented a space at first and is now thrilled to be offering yoga at these two facilities. She still rents a space when she has opportunities to work with private clients. Her services include Beginner, Advanced, and Chair Yoga along with Gong Meditation and Yoga Nidra. Her teaching has a strong emphasis in alignment; breathing and meditation; and also integrating the physical, mental, energetic, and spiritual teachings of the tradition. Deborah believes that yoga enhances the balance between body, mind, and spirit, bringing health to the body and soul through movement, meditation, and the use of breath work as a way of relaxation and gazing inward.

Tiffany DeLancy does not quite remember how she originally heard of Southwest Institute of Arts (SWIHA), yet she does know that it was her interest in becoming a yoga instructor that was the original reason for attending the school. She went on to enroll in and graduate from the Yoga Teacher Training 600-hour program with Aromatherapy and Hypnotherapy as her electives.

Most students who have signed up for Transformational Yoga Coaching (YO-506), show up Friday night at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts thinking, “I’m not sure what this is all about, however, we get to go hiking and do ceremony with the owner, KC Miller!” While this is a fair statement, what makes this work so powerful is the fascinating correlation between the body’s physical messages (ie, pain, tension, or disease) and the ancient metaphors within the asanas, or yoga poses. Coaches learn to master the Inquiry, or facilitated dialog, which brings awareness, release, and healing to their clients.  In TYC we call the coach the “Guide” and the client the “Seeker”.

My personal process with this type of coaching has been very cyclic. First, I was in the seat of the student, then the seat of the teacher, and then back to the student and back to the teacher, and well… you see the pattern. What I have learned is that the student is the teacher and the teacher is the student.  There is always something to learn and the beauty in my opportunity to teach these classes, which happen twice a year, is to be a witness of the cosmic union between students. They arrive together, learn this work by coaching each other, and then they leave, newly transformed, lighter Beings. There is always an energy between the classmates that is unique and special to their own experience and it is so rewarding to be part of it.  To watch a person’s eyes literally lighten and spark with new exuberance, after just a few sessions, speaks to the importance and effectiveness that transformational yoga coaching offers.

The monthly event, Gifts and Graces, is initially what brought Tara Walker-Munroe to Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). That evening led her to enroll in the 800-hour Yoga Teacher Training program at Spirit of Yoga (SOY), SWIHA’s extended yoga school and studio. Now that she has graduated, Tara reflected that the first 200 hours of her Yoga Teacher Training were actually her favorite part of the entire program.

“There is such a sense of community that is built. So much love and compassion shared all while learning how to help others find themselves, find stillness, and cultivate peace. It's a beautiful experience. Even if someone is not interested in teaching, the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program is great for self discovery, self growth, self knowledge.”

During her yoga training, Tara found that her favorite teachers were Laura McKinzie, Duane Armitage, Aradhana Kaur, and India Bee. She shared that they all taught with compassion and grace. During her training, she learned the tools needed to succeed and were instilled with the confidence needed to face self-doubt. “I also have to say my fellow classmates inspired me. When you embark on such a journey, the opportunity for learning is all around you.” Tara wanted to add that she also loved her Polarity teachers- Gilad, Tracy, and Dina. In all honesty, she knows there are people she is leaving out so she shared that it's safe to say that she loved all her teachers at SWIHA/SOY.    

Prior to attending the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA), Trinity Songha was a certified 200 hour yoga teacher from Seattle, WA.  When she moved to Arizona in August of 2011, she decided that she would further her training in yoga teaching by enrolling in the 800 hour yoga program at SWIHA and she is very grateful that she did.

Trinity went on to graduate from 2 major programs at SWIHA. She completed the Yoga 800 hour program in May of 2012, and several months after graduating, she re-enrolled in the 1000 hour master massage program and completed it in April of 2013.

During her time at SWIHA, Trinity felt that she had many favorite classes. Few of which were Myotherapy, Aromatherapy - 5 Element Acupressure for Emotional Healing and Transformational Life Coaching. She liked Myotherapy because it was one of her favorite modalities to give and receive, and she liked the other two because they were transformative – both personally and professionally. One of her most favorite teachers was Pam. She had her for Anatomy and she made the class both fun and educational. 

India Lee Benedetto, also known as India Bee, made her way to Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) at the perfect time in her life. She officially began her studies at SWIHA in the Yoga Therapy program in 2011 after she had connected deeply to yoga eleven years prior, just as she was graduating from Arizona State University and was preparing to live abroad for the first time to work as a Peace Corps volunteer in the countryside of Bolivia. Shortly after her arrival, a fellow volunteer went missing and was never found. Less than nine later, 9/11 shook the world, and everything changed. “Through all of this transition and unrest in the world, yoga is where I found myself again and again.” 

India knew she wanted to do something in the field of yoga which allowed her to share her passion with others, yet she just didn’t know how to make that happen. So she began building a career in corporate America where she worked to diversify law school classes and law firms and empower women, globally. After traveling on business to Washington D.C. and then to Peru, she returned home after three weeks to an unsettling feeling. She decided the life she had created was not in alignment with her values, and it was not sustainable for her. Just one year later, she found the courage to make the decision to embrace and walk her destined path. 

Becci Rusinko was searching for a flexible Yoga Teacher Training program that she could do in the evenings and found the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts’ (SWIHA) YTT program.

She initially graduated in April of 2011 with her 200 hour YTT certificate. Then she came back in October of 2011 and completed her 800 hour yoga therapist program, which included holistic nutrition certificate.

Throughout the program at SWIHA, Becci felt that almost every class was her favorite and filled with so much valuable information. “I learned so much that I use daily in all of my classes.”

She felt that she had such fantastic teachers that taught her so much. “My most memorable teachers would be Dr. Henele and Dr. Mahdi and Chef Rachel from the nutrition program and Mary Bruce from the yoga program.”

The knowledge that Becci felt to be the most valuable was to be authentic to her true self and not to try and be someone who she isn't. Becci said, “I hold that so close to my heart every day.”

There was a part of Becci’s life when she was in search of the right thing and she re-found yoga.  “Not only did yoga help cure my physically, it also improved my mentality and made me a different/better person.” After a few years of practice, she looked back at her old self and saw how incredibly different she was. “I decided I needed to share with others what had changed me into such an amazingly different person.” Her passion for sharing yoga comes from having total faith and love for the whole practice. She loves knowing how yoga can help anyone who is open to allow it to transform their life.

Orlando Green was employed as a Student Advisor at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) when he completed his Yoga Teacher Training (200-hour level) and Life Coaching Program. He considers himself a continuing student having also completed the Hatha Gong program with Duane Armitage. His move to Puerto Rico has put his work towards becoming a  Yoga Therapist on hold.  However, his life has not been on hold, for even a minute, since arriving on the tropic paradise!

When asked about his favorite class while studying at SWIHA, Orlando shared that his favorite class was not actually in his Yoga Teacher Training program, rather in SWIHA’s Spirit of Yoga (SOY) studio: “My first step into SOY was on a Saturday Intro to Yoga class taught by Aradhana Armitage. I had been very reluctant to do yoga due to my back injury – yet after some urging from several colleagues at SWIHA that included a ‘double dare ya’ – I attended Aradhana’s class. She was very aware of my limitations and made me feel welcome in spite of what I perceived as limitations. After the first four weeks of yoga, I returned for an additional four weeks—and then I was hooked.   I began my Yoga Teacher Training shortly thereafter.”

Aricha Pluid became aware of Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) when she was still living in Oregon, her home state, while searching for advanced training opportunities online. “I moved to Arizona with my husband in search of a new and different experience, but nearly half of my decision to sell just about everything and move to the desert was fueled by the promise of SWIHA, an oasis.“

Prior to SWIHA, Jessica Wilton worked a full-time job in the environmental planning and permitting industry. She was a consultant and frequently worked outside of business hours to meet deadlines and provide the necessary support to obtain federal, state, and local permits for energy generation and transmission projects. She met a lot of great people and was pleased to have helped obtain these permits for a variety of solar and wind generation projects. However, she felt like something was missing. She was good at her job, yet wasn't passionate about it and felt like she should be doing something different. She also wanted to spend more time with her family and raising her two children. About three years ago, her husband took a job that required him to be gone for more than half of each month. A year later, she was overwhelmed with two young children, a traveling husband, and a demanding full-time job. “I came to the realization that it was time for me to make a change. Both my husband and I wanted one of us to be more present in our kids’ daily lives, and it was my turn.”