Great Graduates from SWIHA, SWINA & SOY

Courtney Long’s journey to SWIHA was, well, long. Her journey began back in 2002, while she was working as a social worker in Michigan. She was helping adults with Alzheimer’s, dementia, serious mental illnesses, developmental disabilities and traumatic injuries. While she loved to help people, the job was mentally and spiritually exhausting, and never quite felt like her true calling. While in Michigan Courtney starting hearing of this new thing called Life Coaching, yet the timing wasn’t ever quite right to do anything about it.

Learning the importance of listening to our guts or inner knowing, not just with our minds, was a crucial lesson for me.”
~ Courtney Long

As a fashion design graduate and stay-at-home mom of two boys, Nickole Swensen thought feeling lackluster and exhausted was normal. She realized she had taken advantage of her health and let herself go for too long. With my poor self-care and health habits she started to not fit into her clothes, she had issues with swelling in her body, was constantly tired and was unable to get help from my family physician. Once he decided to make her health a priority she found her energy again, felt rejuvenated, and became a happier woman and mom. Nickole became hooked on this new healthier, happier lifestyle and decided to pursue a career in wellness.

In her journey to heal herself, she found her true passion and purpose was in helping others heal themselves heal from the inside out, just the way her healed herself. Once Nickole discovered her gifts and knew she wanted to learn more about supporting others in living a more healthy and happy life and do it in a loving and profitable way. That's when she sought training at SWIHA – Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.

"My passion for health developed when I started to change my own health habits. From the moment I consciously began making new choices, I realized how happy I felt. I soon invited my family to join me in feeling happier and healthier. As I changed my diet, my family's diet changed as well, shifting into a healthy vegan/vegetarian way of eating. It has been an amazing transformation to be health-minded. I love being able to share the powerful information I have embodied with my clients so they are able to transform their lives, as well as the lives of their kids and families.”

SWIHA is excited to announce the arrival of Shelley Tom as our Dean of Students, on-campus. In this newly created role, Shelley will be hold the mantle of responsibility as the Student Advocate & Success Coach, charged with ‘holding space’ for student’s academic, spiritual and personal growth, building a strong on-campus community, and leading our wonderful Student Services team.

Many of you may be familiar with the Hero’s Journey, as it is included in much of the curricula at SWIHA. A large part of Shelley’s personal Hero’s Journey started many years ago, at SWIM, Southwest Institute of Myotherapy, the name of the school as it was founded 23 years ago. In fact, Shelley was in the very first massage class the college offered. At the time, 200 hours was all that was required to be licensed as a massage therapist in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her life was forever influenced, as she learned how to open her mind and think differently about her values, her body and most importantly, about Spirit. Shelley’s training changed the way she looked at the world and how she understood the ‘mind-body-spirit’ connection. In our interview, she recalls her journey back to SWIHA, how her life changed after her initial program at SWIM, her personal and professional healing work experiences, and what she’s looking forward to helping to expand here at SWIHA!

The moment you step foot inside Sugar Sugar salon in Scottsdale, AZ, you are in for a sweet treat. One can expect to be greeted by a jovial and genuine staff member – oftentimes the owner herself, Aimee, or one of two graduates from the Southwest Institute of Natural Aesthetics (SWINA), Tarah Hunter or Lacey Storm. Lacey and Tarah find themselves happily employed as licensed aestheticians for a growing franchise due to their enrollment at SWINA.

Lacey recalls her initial decision to attend the award-winning college, stating “I’ve always had a deep desire to help other people – even stemming as far back as when my sister struggled with skin concerns and the bullying that came with it. Nurturing her and others has always made me feel purposeful. I placed quite a bit of pressure on myself to find my ideal path and when a close friend highly recommended becoming an aesthetician at SWINA, it instantly seemed like a fit. The moment I walked into SWINA’s doors, I knew my purpose was there and to this present day I am so proud of myself because I found my true purpose and life path.”

Alexis Holland (who also goes by her soul name Wayah) is a soul that’s wise beyond her years. As a graduate from SWIHA’s 800 hour Yoga Teacher Training, Life Coaching and Polarity programs, she recently launched herself (and her amazingly adorable coyote/husky pup Kiya!) on an adventerous sound–healing tour, bouncing around to various yoga studios throughout the Southwest, camping out wherever there were tall trees and a patch of Mama Earth to hold them both. In our interview, Alexis shared her journey pre- and- post SWIHA, what inspires her, and how she moved through things like fear, doubt and resistance while following her dreams.

Laura Moore, owner of LaTouch Wellness

, is a highly-seasoned and equally high-spirited practitioner who began her massage therapist practice in Michigan over 15 years ago, where she worked in spa settings and the local YMCA. One of her most memorable experiences was working at Ora Oxygen Spa, located inside the Detroit Metropolitan International Airport, was where she offered massage therapy, manicure and pedicure services to travelers. Laura expresses her gratitude for this specific experience, as she really enjoyed meeting people from all around the world, and having the opportunity to witness the similarities in all of us. Honored to have her as one of SWIHA’s #GreatGraduates, Laura shares that her continued education with SWIHA has “offered a different approach to my healing practice”.

Upon relocating to Arizona, she discovered SWIHA and occasionally attended the monthly “Gifts & Graces” event, where SWIHA opens their doors to the public and features guest speakers with powerful messages, in addition to complimentary sessions to those attending, including Toe Reading, Life Coaching, Energywork and more. Laura always appreciated the motivational aspect of the first Friday night events, however, she didn’t quite anticipate becoming a student. Laura shares:

Jill Roig, founder of Southwest Life Coaching, displays an ideal balance between corporate knowledge and spiritual wisdom as a coach. She combines her skills from each respective experience to better serve her clients that are interested in aligning their professional goals with their spiritual intentions.

Jill deeply believes in the power of human potential and the expression of our core selves. Her professional skills play a vital role in supporting her client’s goals and dreams. She connects with this message and offers it as the foundation of her sessions:

As a businesswoman who has always taken an intuitive and active approach to her own personal development, Jill attended Spirit of Yoga (a sister school of SWIHA) beginning in 2008.

As she implemented yoga philosophy into her everyday life, Jill became aware of her natural gifts and graces – listening to others and empowering them to share their truth.

Jill then enrolled in the 100-hour Life Coaching program at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.

Aandra Bohlen is a tough, yet tender, six-figure entrepreneur, business consultant and certified empowerment coach whose straightforward approach to personal and professional growth has launched her into her passion and purpose.  Dedicated to helping business owners cultivate grit, clarify their ideas and bust limiting beliefs, Aandra is now serving hundreds of entrepreneurs in a loving and profitable way, while acknowledging SWIHA as one of the many experiences that helped her get where she is today.

Always having had a no-nonsense approach to her own endeavors, Aandra found herself easily coaching others through questions they had about their paths – be it personal or professional.  Knowing that this was her calling, Aandra launched her coaching business in June 2008.  She found herself effortlessly researching and sharing relevant and timeless strategies with others to help them grow their own businesses. Aandra’s coaching business encompasses marketing, self-promotion, creative selling and strategic positioning – whatever she feels is most beneficial to helping the entrepreneurs she was working with take their businesses to a new level.

Laurel Hernandez definitely had a heroic journey in terms of her path to the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA). In 2005, she spent six months on pain meds and in a back brace after a quad accident. What she didn’t realize is that her life was about to take a 180 degree turn. Laurel recalled how her incredible and arduous path all began: “I had back surgery for a fracture that didn't heal, got a divorce after 25 years, left a great job of 19 years, moved to a new state leaving family and friends behind, went back to school for a career that didn't suite me, became a caregiver for my parents before they both passed, and I had lived in a ten mile radius of where I was born for the past 50 years!” All of this left her feeling lost and hopeless. Yet deep down, she knew that healing from within was what was really needed.

They say that Spirit works in mysterious ways, and it wasn’t until Laurel had a channeled session from a friend that her journey to Spirit, and to SWIHA, truly began. The week after her mother transitioned, her mother’s spirit came through to her in a channeled session, guiding Laurel to forgive herself, and let go of her past so as to be healed. More specifically, her mother urged her to look into Life Coaching -- something Laurel had never considered before.

Recalling this profound moment, Laurel said, “My mom is the only one that could have possibly conveyed to me that I could forgive myself and let go of the past… I had no idea what Life Coaching was, how much I was going to need it for myself or what my gifts were.”

Written by StevieAnne Petitt

In 2012, Christa Rimmer was desperately searching for something, but she couldn’t quite grasp what she was missing or searching for. In a state of curiosity and courage, she ventured out on a series of first-time experiences, including a trip to Sedona, diving into the practice of meditation, and sessions with both a psychic and a hypnotherapist for a past-life regression. She felt restless in wanting to know everything and to truly find what resonated with her. She claims that she felt awakened, but lost, for nearly two months following these new events. As she was finishing up her bachelor's degree in Psychology at ASU, she quickly became disenchanted with the idea of continuing on. Christa jokingly shared that in hindsight, she knew she was onto a new path when she excitedly mistook her curriculum’s Astronomy class for Astrology.

Disenchanted with the path she was on and seeking something more, Christa allowed spirit to guide her to SWIHA

One day during this transitional time frame, Christa’s co-worker approached her desk after regular talks about essential oils and her other newly acquired “toys” Christa received from Sedona. This included a pendulum she named, “Pendy” that everyone else in the office was well aware of. As Christa mentioned college and her recent inner conflict with staying, her colleague stated those magic words, “Hey, you should check out SWIHA. That's where I went for my yoga training.” Christa didn’t hesitate one bit, and immediately researched the school online. She joked, “All these months there was an X-men school for me and you didn't even tell me?!” Three days later, she was meeting with SWIHA Staff member Janelle Erikson to continue with enrollment.