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Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM



Posts Tagged Consciousness

Returning to my Roots by Kam Monroe, LPCC

Returning to My Roots: Embracing the Mission of Transforming Consciousness Through Education As I stepped back onto the familiar campus of Southwestern, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. It felt like just yesterday that I was a new graduate student in the Art Therapy and Counseling program, soaking up knowledge and expanding my horizons.…
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The Magic of Trans-Formation: Alchemy, Gender, and JKR  

  Trans- (prefix): From Latin. (1) On the other side of : across : through : beyond (2) so or such as to change or transfer Southwestern College offers a curriculum that initiates transformational learning. Meaning, through the process of education one will emerge differently than they arrived. The mantra of the institution is “transforming…
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An Alternative Higher Education

When I applied for the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Southwestern, I knew I was seeking an alternative form of higher education. If the second half of the college’s name, “New Earth Institute,” didn’t give it away already, the school’s style of educating certainly does. “Transformational Learning”, a term used frequently by Southwestern, is…
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“Rising Hope” by Aubrey Leigh Newton

Rising Hope:   At first, I see the road ahead, to be long, and treacherous.  The mountains I see, as steep, and unforgiving.  I feared, challenges unknown, and obstacles well-placed ahead of me.  At times, I stumbled, from the weight of all I carry.  But, I feel my spirit, ignited once more, rising above the…
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Graduation Blessing from Graduating Student: Awbrey Willett

An Allegiance to Gratitude for Southwestern: Inspired by the Onondaga Thanksgiving Address Today we are gathered to celebrate our graduation from Southwestern college.  We look upon the virtual faces around us and we see that the cycle of life continues.  We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other…
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Cracked Wide Open

An apt title for the potential personal experience this global pandemic has encouraged. Two days after it was announced that gatherings of 50 or more people needed to be postponed, and that public schools in New Mexico would be closed until April 6th (now that has been extended through the end of the school year),…
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Southwestern College and the Temple of Chavin: Educational Centers for the Transformation of Consciousness

By Laura Addiss, current counseling student at Southwestern College, and Juan Rivas Palacios, medicine guide and wisdom keeper of Chavin Laura: As future counselors it is essential that we go into our own shadows, to observe and understand our emotions, thoughts, and fears. We must find the courage to look at our unresolved trauma and…
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Healing the Patriarchal Wound by Dr. Ann Filemyr, President Southwestern College, Ecotherapy Certificate Director

  I define the patriarchal wound as ancestral suffering and intergenerational trauma caused by the power imbalance between genders. Under patriarchy, boys, men and the masculine are considered inherently superior while girls, women and the feminine are considered inherently inferior. The extreme social positionality of superior vs. inferior causes distance between the genders and distorts…
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Inauguration of President Ann Filemyr & 40th Anniversary of Southwestern College

The initial impulse to create a unique higher learning institution devoted to consciousness began in 1976 in Alamogordo, NM. Then in the fall of 1979 the first 12 students began their course of study. In the first entering class was Katherine Ninos, M.A., LPCC, who now teaches and mentors other teachers in the Consciousness curriculum.…
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Facing My Privilege of Congruency

By Deborah Schroder, MA in Art Therapy/Counseling Program Chair  I’ve always enjoyed sharing Virginia Satir’s way of working, with my students in my family art therapy course. This spring at the International Family Therapy Congress, I was faced with a belief I’ve held about congruency that was clearly formed by my own white privilege. In…
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Ponderings on Life Purpose

Life purpose and vocation; I sometimes wonder how they are related.  Sometimes I hear life purpose described simply and clearly, like this quote from notetoselfphilosophy.com:  Note to Self: “What is my purpose in life?” I asked the void. “What if I told you that you fulfilled it when you took an extra hour to talk…
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Flourishing in your Dharma at Midlife

I'd been exploring the intersection of Stephen Cope's book The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling, and Martin E. P. Seligman's book Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being in relation to a blog series when this photo quote by Brené Brown came across my Facebook feed. I think she hit…
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Embracing Intuition at Midlife: The Key to Living Your Dharma (Part 1 of 3)

Part 1 - Living Your Dharma As spirituality goes mainstream, there is much talk about “living your dharma”. But what does that really mean? René Guénon, in Introduction to the Study of Hindu Doctrines defines dharma as “the essential nature of a being, comprising the sum of its particular qualities or characteristics, and determining, by virtue…
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The Unlistening Ear

We are asked to look within ourselves in our first few classes here at SWC. This process varies from person to person. For me, it has been an incredible opportunity to work on some issues I had thought were already worked through. It only goes to prove the cyclical nature of self-exploration and personal growth.…
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Reduce Shame, Enhance Love: Reflections on Self-Love and the Journey to Find It

It was during my second week at Southwestern College, the second meeting of Tuesday’s Psychology of Altruism class, that Ann Filemyr presented us with this lesson: “reduce shame, enhance love.” We talked about feelings of shame and the aching, overwhelming presence it can have in our daily lives. Shame that can continually haunt us whether…
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The Hogwarts of Santa Fe

This morning I was chatting with one of my lovely classmates about our first two weeks at Southwestern College. She said something that instantly resonated with me- “I feel like we’re at Hogwarts!” Thinking more about this humorous comparison to Harry Potter, I began to see more and more striking parallels. We are summoned here by…
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