Meet Shirley Johnson | Licensed Therapist, Yoga Teacher, Healer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shirley Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shirley, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I started my own business in 2007. I honestly did not know that was what I was doing. I had just completed a course called African Holistic Health with my teacher, the late Dr. Llaila O. Afrika, that technically gave me a certificate as a holistic health coach and a naturopath. I was young and in my 20’s and just passionate about wholistic health, healing, and bringing the information I had gained to as many communities of Black people that I could. I also started making natural shampoos, body butters, and body care products that were made from whole and natural ingredients. It has been 15 years of Soulistic Wellness. That is my business’ name. Since then my business has grown with me, it holds all my life experiences and dedication to learning and healing.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I still am trying to figure out what my work is. Honestly it morphs and shapeshifts everyday, as do I. My work is as a therapist, movement practitioner (yoga), and a healer who holds space for people to feel all their emotions and transform. I am a caterpillar keeper who supports and holds space for people who are metamorphosing from caterpillar to butterfly. Everyday that looks different! My work is constantly shifting. Some days I am on zoom calls with couples and adults as a therapist. Other days I am leading sound healings at the beach under the full moon. And yet other days I am teaching yoga to a group of Black interns at a major corporate company.

What I am most proud of is the integrity I bring to my work. I won’t ask clients to do anything I haven’t done myself. My work is not cute branded marketing materials and strategies – my work is witnessing the raw psyche of human beings and the tenderness, magic and sweetness within. I take pride in my integrity and thoughtfulness and in being committed to my own healing and awakening and becoming journey.

This path began in 2007. I actually worked at a corporate real estate company. Actually this path started when I was in utero and my parents were doing astral travel, but for the sake of this article let’s stick with 2007. I remember feeling that I couldn’t believe this was life. I went to Brown University and studied Modern Culture & Media and Ethnic Studies. I made documentaries and art about race, culture, and gender. And I came out of college, and like many other working/artist class families, I needed to get a job! So I worked at a financial news company and then real estate development. I hated working in real estate development. I hated the pressure, the greed, and the pretending that that we were doing something good for the community. I wanted to go deeper. I knew this was not what my life’s purpose was, and I also had no idea what it was.

I began studying and practicing yoga. There was a small studio I used to go to on the Upper West Side, Life in Motion. I would trek there after work from Harlem. Yoga was satiating a curiosity I had for life. Then I was introduced to this Dr. Afrika class called “African Holistic Health” and I signed up for it. I was in community with other Black folks who wanted to learn about living a lifestyle of wholistic life. It was an invigorating experience! Soon after I quit my job and I continued practicing as much yoga as I could. I want to point out this was at a time when you could not just go on the internet and find exhaustive lists of books and articles. This was not at time when the healing and wellness lifestyles were mainstream and glamorized. This was isolating at many times. I was awakening and seeing the world and myself differently, and did not have a lot of peers around this

Fast forward to 2012, I entered California Institute of Integral Studies as a Masters in Clinical Psychology candidate. I had a vision of becoming a therapist. In between 2007 and 2012, I had travelled to India and completed my first yoga teacher training, I had lived at Kripalu in service as a karma yogi, and I had moved to Los Angeles from New York, and then to the Bay Area.

The vision and road of becoming a therapist was nothing short of challenging. It’s an initiation. Learning to hold space, learning to question everything you are taught, learning to be the only Black student in a graduate school cohort, learning how to pay bills while simultaneously working for free as an intern. And yet somehow, I did it. I graduated, I worked, and I eventually became licensed.

I would not say this path was easy. I would say that I received so much grace and support along the way – nothing short of miracles at times. The miracles of friends buying me a phone for my birthday, or a family member sending me a little cash, or getting a ride from a co worker who lived close by. I don’t know if I overcame the challenges, I just kept showing up.

The lesson I have learned along the way and that I am still learning is to keep going and receive help and support. There is nothing shameful about needing help and not coming from a perfect family. I have learned that so many of the challenges have built character in me and have taught me about who I really am. I have learned we are all constantly evolving and growing, if we let ourselves.

I want the world to know I am a human before I am a brand, and that my brand, just like me is still evolving and growing. And for people who want to dig into some deep healing work, go into their shadows, grieve, cry, sing, shout, and be in curiosity – HOLLA AT ME! I got you!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Let’s start with Saturday. The first stop is the Grand Lake Farmer’s Market in Oakland. This is one of the best farmer’s markets with farmers, artisans, catering, and music. You never know who you may run into. It is like the town square. First I’m going to get my weekly groceries – def getting a mixed bag of mushrooms, lots of green veggies from Ledesma Farms and yummy cheese from Step Ladder Creamery. Then we are definitely getting on the long line to get a delightful assortment of dim sum from Tru Gourmet.

Brunch is at Shakewell in Oakland – always a friendly vibe, outdoor seating, and yummy, fresh, cooked with love food. Hopefully one of us gets fried chicken and churros!

Sunday we getting our movement on. It’s either a morning yoga class with Black to Yoga at Snow Park or a hike through the Oakland Hills at Sibley Regional Volcanic Park. Maybe we will get a Green Ginger smoothie at The Well Organic Kitchen and do both! We will come back home, shower, make some lunch and listen to some music, and then head to Melo Melo for kava and CBD Kombucha to start the Sunday wind down and then grab soul food dinner (Sunday is for soul food!) at Southern Cafe and get greens, macaroni and cheese, and some fried chicken.

During the week we are definitely going to walk Lake Merritt, adventure over the Richmond Bridge to go hiking at Tennessee Valley which leads out to the mouth of the ocean. Perhaps we will harvest some wild horsetail and yarrow that is growing and look for other trees and plants we see on the hike. We will do a meditation at the beach and then go grab delicious Puerto Rican food from Sol Food in Mill Valley before heading back to Oakland.

Our final stop is Piedmont Springs where we are getting a a private hot tub and sauna room and decompressing the weekend and giving some TLC to our sacred bodies.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate my shout out to my mom, Susan Shook. It has been a journey together! And let me keep it real that I have been in resistance to many parts of that journey and how she parented me. It has not been a bed of roses. In the Kundalini Yoga tradition, they say that “the mother is the first teacher”, and my mother has been my first spiritual teacher. She is a woman who forged (and continues to) her own path, a talented artist and musician, a creative powerhouse, and a human. My mom has taught me so much about what growth, healing and forgiveness are, and also what unconditional love is. I love you mom!

Website: www.soulisticwellness.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulisticwellness/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shirleycjohnson/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SOULISTICWELLNESS

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SoulisticWellnessTV/videos

Image Credits
photo credits: Bethanie Hines, Ayesha Walker, Salina Mae, Sasha Kelly