Women in Bloom | Multigenerational Talks for Women of Color
Women in Bloom | Multigenerational Talks for Women of Color
Ep. 8 Speak in The Affirmative With Rev. Coach Tanishia Johnson of Beyond This Moment Coaching
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What does healing really look like for Black women across generations?
In this deeply heartfelt episode of Women in Bloom, we sit down with Rev. Coach Tanishia Johnson of Beyond This Moment Coaching & Business Consulting LLC for a powerful, soul-nourishing conversation you don’t want to miss.
Together, we explore what it truly means to heal—beyond the buzzwords. From overcoming inner childhood wounds to redefining self-care, this conversation reminds us that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to wellness.
Across three generations—Baby Boomer, Gen X, and Millennial—we unpack:
✨ The real work of healing and self-discovery
✨ Spiritual hygiene and how we each access wellness differently
✨ The unique healing journeys of Black women
✨ The power of boundaries and choosing yourself first
✨ What it looks like to hold space for your own becoming
There’s something sacred about this moment—three Black women, connected by decades of shared history, speaking truth, love, and healing into each other in real time. It’s honest. It’s warm. It’s necessary.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re carrying too much, pouring into everyone else, or trying to find your way back to yourself… this conversation is for you.
🌸 Want to go deeper?
Learn more about Women in Bloom and coaching with Jasmine at:
https://inbloomwithjasmine.com
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe to stay connected with more conversations that support your growth, healing, and becoming.
#WomenInBloom #BlackWomenHealing #SelfCareJourney #InnerChildHealing #SpiritualHygiene #HealingInCommunity #Boundaries #WellnessForBlackWomen
The first lesson I learned was allowing my heart to break knowing that I would recover. And so the very first step of my healing journey was surrendering that I don't have to remain like this with what happened.
SPEAKER_05Good morning, good afternoon, ladies. It took us so much to get on this call.
SPEAKER_06It did, but it was on fourth then.
SPEAKER_05It was, it was. We got the backgrounds in order. We have the energy is most definitely in order. Um we did the fit checks, so we're good to go. Got the tech working. The tech is working. The tech is working. Um, listeners, welcome back to Women in Bloom. We are happy to welcome you to our eighth episode. Um, and this is the third in a series of women, women who are leading and healing boldly. Um, it was something that we started with in the midst of Women's History Month, and it is stretching into April. So we just we just celebrate women all year long. So we're not confining ourselves to a month around here. So y'all bear with us. We are so very excited because we have such a very, very special guest with us. Her name is Rev Coach Tanisha Johnson.
SPEAKER_07She family. Hi, thank you for coming on.
SPEAKER_04Thank you for the invitation.
SPEAKER_06Yes, we're gonna have a good time. We're gonna have great time.
SPEAKER_05Yes, we are. Before we get into the tea and just like the conversation, um, I want to ask listeners to do us a big favor. If you are enjoying Women in Bloom, if you're enjoying our messaging, please do us a favor and like, comment, and subscribe. This helps us so, so much to gain visibility, to get our messaging out to more women and to just grow our platform. So that would be absolutely amazing. And at the very least, go ahead and share. Okay. I don't care if it's a real, I don't care if you're sharing the whole YouTube video or Spotify episode, just share it with somebody. Okay. I should. So that's that. Um, we could introduce our guest today. We could go down a laundry list of uh personal um attributes that make her oh so lovable and special to us. Um, but we are going to go ahead and read this sister's professional bio because it's just it's so robust. So I think this is a great way to introduce. So, elders, uh, would you do us the honors? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_06And it is my absolute pleasure to introduce Tanisha A. Johnson, uh, who is a newly ordained reverend spiritual life coach and transformational speaker who believes that to fully live our divine purpose, we must first know who we are. And that begins with knowing the God within. Ah, yes, we start there. On May 3rd, 2025, Tanisha A. Johnson was ordained as a minister and formally bestowed the title of Reverend at the Innervisions Institute for Spiritual Development, Innervision Spiritual Sanctuary, under the sacred tutelage of her spiritual teacher, the globally celebrated spiritual luminary, award-winning author, and Emmy-winning television host, Reverend Dr. Ian Levanz, the founder, visionary, and master teacher of the institute, whose transformative work has impacted millions across the world. Tanisha has served as a school counselor for over 17 years in Uber Urban School Districts, centering the needs of PK-12 students and families, including expectant and parenting youth. She also served for a decade as a adjunct associate professor, supporting first-year college students, and is a contributing author to The Journey of a Teenage Mother, where she shares her powerful story of triumph and purpose. Her commitment to service is reflected in her training in African centered rights of passage and membership in the Black Women's Leadership Forum. She is a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, and a charting member of the Delta Alpha Gamma Zeta chapter. Her work has been honored throughout numerous awards, including being featured in the Democrat and Chronicle as a woman to watch and in Breakthrough Magazine of one of 10 women making history in Rochester, New York. Now based in Chandler, Arizona, Tanisha continues to build her living vision while serving across the country. Her faith is the foundation of all she does, and her greatest joy is being wife to her beloved Corey for 24 years and mother to their five purpose-driven children. Getting to know Reverend Coach Tanisha, we're going to turn it over.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_06Beautiful. Thank you for that.
SPEAKER_04Thank you so much for that. To be introduced by one of my spiritual teachers, and I say big mamas. We used to say back in the day, fat mamas, the bonus women in your life who add the extra to your life. Um is such a blessing and honor. And of course, my beloved sister, the visionary behind and bloom, is such a blessing for me. You have both blessed my life deeply. I am honored and grateful and humbled to even be in this space and for such an extraordinary introduction. So I'm looking forward to our conversation. I'm looking forward to growth, to stretching, for the reciprocity in our offerings and for our exchange as we as we always do. I say as we always, always do. And only thing I'm going to add is uh we are approaching, beloved and I, 26 years of marriage. I probably should have updated that. I know he's going to be listening to this like um you shorted us two years. It will be 26 in in August. And um, and I'm so grateful to be here, you know. Our our family, our faith is our foundation with our family, and this is our bonus family. And we have been richly blessed. Richly blessed.
SPEAKER_0626 years. Wow. Yeah, I'm just remembering.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, y'all were there from the very beginning.
SPEAKER_05I was, I just realized I was muted. We were at the wedding, I remember the yes, so incredible to think like, yeah, I yeah.
SPEAKER_06Years have gone by so quickly. It's been triple. It's been a while. It has been a week.
SPEAKER_05They have and that shows that kind of shows the um the connection. You know how you meet people and you be like, I think they know each other, but you folks don't really know how how well you know people, right?
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_05No, we don't know each other.
SPEAKER_04We talk way back, like the parents of our children, or the journey, the spiritual journey, the the journey in marriage, the journey in parenthood. Um, I'm so grateful to House of Campbell family of Campbell. Uh this is family. This is family. So I am home, literally home.
SPEAKER_06I just wanted to share. I the let me, I just wanted to share one thing um that you did for me yesterday. This is about how how in relationship we are continually giving, right? So yesterday we went out and I had on a short sleeve shirt, and I was like, oh, you know, my arms are looking lumpy, right? And what did you say? You said, girl, what you say, what about your your arms? Not those arms that have carried children.
SPEAKER_04Carry children and exactly have cradled, have nurtured, have supported in someone's healing, have loved, have all of the things you know, we're gonna love on, we're gonna love on our arms, you know. We know black women, we are the cradle of humanity and every part of our body and women in general, but I'm speaking about black women right now, cradle of humanity. And when we are, you know, our arms are such a important anchor for the beloveds in our lives and how much we hold people in our bosom. And so we're we're grateful for all the the extra flesh we have that supports whatever journey we are in our seasons, and you know, we we release the extra when it's ready to go, but it's all purpose for a reason. So gratitude for every part of our body, every layer of the world.
SPEAKER_06And it's just like I just was thinking this the negative talk that we say to ourselves, even in jest, like I wasn't thinking negatively, but I really wasn't thinking uh in um in an appreciative way, yeah, right, about my arms, which have done all of that, right? So I just I'm just grateful for the continual gift that you are. Yeah, she well.
SPEAKER_04I have had some master teachers in my life, so thank you, Aldris.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, master teacher. So let's jump right in. Um, you know, when I learned the name of your uh ministry and your um offering beyond this moment, I always I always was curious about what is the moment? What is the moment that we are looking beyond? And what is the meaning in that? You know, when people name a business, it's never just the name of the business. I'm cute. Right, right. It's it's deeply, it's deeply rooted somewhere. So tell us about that.
SPEAKER_04Yes. So what I found years ago when I was working with women and in conversation, there was a lot of concern about because I'm in this family, because I'm in this relationship, because I'm raising my children, I can't see beyond what's happening right now. I can only see in my present, which is important. We want to be present, we want to be present with our experience, our bodies, whatever we're navigating. We want to be present in that, but we also get to look beyond this moment to create because there's more. We are creators, we're one with divine creativity, divine source, divine intelligence. So it's not that we have to do everything now, or it's how we get to be in the moment we're in and what we're navigating, and looking beyond that and knowing and trusting that there's more, moving with divine timing. And so I decided to name my business purpose and the fact that the women that I'm working with, I want to let them know that it's perfectly okay to be in the season that you're in. And there is more. There is more. And my support is in looking at what you can envision beyond where you are right now and supporting you in getting there and first looking at the foundation of who you are as a soul individualized expression of God. I see. That was the sort, that was the story behind it.
SPEAKER_05So, yes, beautiful, powerful, beautiful and powerful. It's so interesting as I'm talking to different women, as we are like kind of um elders and I are looking at possible guests, and there's an abundance of people who I think I don't know if it's the 35, 40 age um season where a lot of women, and and I guess it's probably like 35 to 45, where a lot of women kind of find themselves in this very um painfully transformative life season. And um it's an experience that is not unique to just one person. And when you see that and you go through it yourself, and maybe you witness it in other women, um, it becomes so important to just kind of try to be a guide for other folks who are going through. Um, like, hey, sis, you know, don't count yourself out. Let's let's look forward, you know, let's see what's possible in the infinite realm of possibilities. I mean, there's so much to reach for, you know. So I just love that. I love beyond this moment.
SPEAKER_04Thank you. And it's also for every season. So, you know, I've also worked with women who are looking at their roadmap for the future. So maybe they've been educators for a long time. And now they're like, you know, I always wanted to open my own business. I always wanted to write my book. I've always, but you know, as an eldress in this life, you know, is there more, or should I just go with, you know, what the world says is that, you know, when you retire, you're done, or that you know, that's not so much, but there's even more to discover. It's a new adventure. And so that is what, you know, my my work is is the basis for my work is that there's always more. Long as we have breath, we have purpose, regardless of the season of life that we're in, you know.
SPEAKER_06I see. Long as we have breath. I see.
SPEAKER_05I have always known you to be like a very positive, just a light bringer. And I can't be the first person to tell you that, you know, yeah, I know you've heard it probably before, and it's such a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful gift that you just embody in a very natural way. So I'm curious what life experiences shaped your path into this work.
SPEAKER_04Yes. So, first of all, light recognizes light, right? So I see you lighthouses, you brave hearts on this beautiful souls on this journey. Uh, what has been framed for me in my experience in my experiences really started within my family. And a lot of the unpacking that I needed to do as it relates to my relationship with my parents, even my grandparents, my siblings. And so where that started was begin, I've always had a deep connection and relationship with God. It was expanded as I got older and started looking at my spiritual practice and how important that became for me. And I think when I think, when I look back at my experiences, every morsel of what I learned has gotten me to this place. So even the experiences that didn't feel so good, even the relationship specifically with me and my mother that has been in tender places, uh, the relationship with me and my dad that has been in tender spaces and with my siblings, it really started there and looking at it all relates to what is my relationship with God, what is my relationship with source, what is my relationship with God within. And that for me is where the true work began. And I did not unpack that, or let me speak in the affirmative. I began to unpack that in a deeper way when I began my spiritual life coaching journey at um the Intervision Institute for Spiritual Development. That was the first place where I learned in order to change your external world, everything begins within. So what we see energetically, we can call into existence. And the amazement of God and how things could shift by a change in our consciousness, by a change in perspective and how we, you know, once viewed a narrative, how things can shift when we begin to expand deeply spiritually around not just what happened to me, what happened for me, what happened through me based on what God was doing in that moment, a deeper, intimate relationship with God. So I started to look at experiences there. So it's no coincidence that the work that I do with women, I see them as mirrors. They all have these tender journeys with their parents, especially with their mothers. You know, um, they all have walked journeys that were very tender with other women. And that is my ministry. And so had I not had those experiences in my own background, and um I would be on a different journey. So I'm right where I am, right where I'm supposed to be, still navigating those experiences as well, still healing, still growing. And I keep my energy clear by really um staying vulnerable, staying vulnerable and soft. I keep, you know, I keep hearing people saying this is my soft girl era. No, this is we're just being soft in general. And uh looking at, you know, my inner children. Y'all know I do a lot of work around my inner child and lending myself compassion, the way that I'm able to do that for others. But the more I do it for myself, it lightens, um, it lightens me up to give myself a break, allow myself to weep, allow myself to be vulnerable, not take myself so serious, don't not get caught up in the narrative and releasing, you know, um, some things when they're ready to release. Because it's a journey. We're on this life journey for a long time. So um it's definitely a huge contribution to my spiritual practice and my commitment to my grounding practice and staying center.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Amen.
SPEAKER_06We know a lot um because we know each other so well, right? We know a lot about um your past, right? We know we know we know who you are, right? At your your core. So um tell us if you can uh tell the listeners, right? Yeah. What did your um healing journey actually require of you? Like what did you have to commit to and do to be in this healing space?
SPEAKER_04The first lesson I learned was allowing my heart to break, knowing that I would recover. And so uh the very first step of my healing journey was surrendering, that I don't have to remain like this with what happened, you know, um, some of the um some of the experiences that were abusive, that uh started this trajectory of other painful experiences that I then called in and patterns that I began to create. The beginning was really allowing myself to sit in it, sit in the mess, sit in the story that I had been telling, and also lean into self-forgiveness because the retelling and the replaying of the story and being attached to it, I began to add more to it. So then I began, it became more satious. I would retell it and re-injure myself and re-injure myself. So the initial allowing my heart to break was being with the experience and really unpacking it, but then leaning into some practices around surrender, some practices and standing in, you know, what what it looks like to really being this divine loving space of you know, releasing, retelling the story, which keeps us attached to what happened. It happened, it's not happening, right? Right. But when we retell it, when we we keep giving energy to it. And so initially for me, I had to dig really deep into the wound. What is the wound? What let me unpack that and now let me integrate some of what I learned, and that was throughout the institute learning the practice of self-compassion, how that looks, nurturing my inner child, reparenting myself, looking at the resilience and started to be able to retell my story in a way that was honoring to me and also lending compassion and forgiveness to my family. Because when we first are able to do it for ourselves, then we're able to do it for others. And so the first step was really going all the way deep into the heartbreak. Okay, I'm gonna go into the story. And once I go into the story and all of the happenings, then moving into this place of what does self-compassion look like? And so I learned some spiritual practices around self-compassion and really healing my inner child and um taking my inner child on play dates and all the things.
SPEAKER_06I just wanted to you um you said something about um spiritual practice, like just give us one little tidbit like what is a spiritual practice that helps you.
SPEAKER_04It's yeah, it's it's all about our spiritual hygiene. So one of my spiritual practices that I began to engage in, um, one of my forgiveness projects was actually recording exactly what I wanted to say to the adults in my life that my inner child felt unheard. Um, I recorded, I also wrote, engaged then in a burning ceremony of what I wrote. So these are letters that you know the folks didn't receive, but I was able to really unpack and say exactly what I was feeling and what happened and how that happened. So that was one of my forgiveness practices in addition to doing recordings. The other, actually, for me, which I think is important, I started to engage in a daily spiritual hygiene practice. So these are not one and done. Those are part of my spiritual hygiene practices when I was walking out my forgiveness journey and going about healing at a deeper level. But the basic tenets of spiritual hygiene really was looking at my relationship with God, with source, and each day incorporating what felt good for me, not just what I learned, but how do I get to know the essence of God within me at a more intimate level? And for me, you know, creating my altar space, my prayer space and Being in oneness with spirit, silent meditation, meditations that aren't silent, walking gratitude. And it also includes the honoring of my ancestors. And so I learned some of that growing up and watching the practices of my grandmother, but then I learned in a more deeper way as an adult the importance of knowing my ancestors and learning about spirituality in a deeper way. And so I think those, you know, it's what I support women is is sometimes, you know, we try to say I have to chuck everything I learned when I'm creating a spiritual practice. When it's like, what were the things that you did love? You know, I loved rosary beads. So you'll see me one moment with my rosary beads, and then another moment I'll have my mala beads. And I think what I've learned is I don't have to choose like how my practice looks. And so in honoring myself and my healing journey, you know, it could look different. When I'm feeling heavy, I may take, you know, of course, I know folks say, you know, we just call on Jesus, we just call on Jehovah, say Yeshua. And I can also engage in a very spiritual bath, spiritual bathing is a part of my practice when I'm feeling heavy because energy is in everything. And so, you know, those are some examples of what supported me in my healing journey. But the first role to all things was really being in spirit and looking at what I enjoyed, because it shouldn't feel like a burden. I think sometimes if you're a person that likes the checkbox or a checkoff list of these are all the things I need to do for healing and to be closer to God, then that's not what we want. Right. Right. Because then it becomes a checklist. It's really in discovering what how do I most experience God to divine feelings differently, yes, and walking it all the way out. And it's not going to look like always what you were taught. It can, but it may be in a different way. I've experienced God hugging trees, I've experienced God smelling flowers as I'm taking a walk. And so, and so my practice also shifts as I'm a human becoming shifting in my sacred season of life. My sacred season of life in menopause, I'm rediscovering God in a different way. And you know, some of the way that I look at the world in my body.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And so I'm being more sacred and more gentle with my body. So one of my practices is that I will not scrub rigorously when I'm when I'm bathing. And I noticed I was doing that. And the sacred season that I'm falling into is I get to be more gentle with how I'm through. I get to, you know, engage in this full practice of taking moisturizing my skin and not rushing when I see these videos of women putting the stuff on. And we got, we I I want to be, I'm in this menopause, gentle, soft season that can feel brutal, but I get to be gentle and experiencing God in that with this beautiful body that I'm blessed with that goes in all these seasons.
SPEAKER_05Um I love what you said about the spiritual practices. It sounds like they they can be as ornate and elaborate as you want them to be, or they can be as simple as um going on a walk in nature, smelling flowers. Um, I found that like my spiritual hygiene does include paying attention to the simple things and you know, and allowing the things that are naturally happening in my environment. If I just take a moment to look, these are things that I get to enjoy and they're part of my healing process. They're part of my spiritual hygiene and my spiritual upkeep. Um the walks, getting my steps, yes, but also like observing the smell of grass when someone's out cutting a lawn is like, oh my gosh, like I just I love it. I think Tanisha, you and I talked about this, the wellness spaces can feel a little bit overwhelming because it's like you gotta practice gratitude, you gotta journal, you gotta pray, you gotta light your incense, you gotta sage your did you sage your house? You know, it's like the things. It can and it's great, right? Because I feel like it presents us with a menu. Like you get just like at a restaurant, you like, oh, I'll have that for my um, you know, appetizer. This is my main course, right? And the main course is prayer for some folks. The the main course might be um purpose-driven work, like something like doing something like in bloom is the main course for me in this season. So I love that. I really do love that. Um, another thing that you said that we spoke about earlier too, um, is we spoke a lot off camera, is this aspect of what is happening for me versus to oh my goodness. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_04Because it don't feel like that as you're navigating it, right? No, whatever the itch is.
SPEAKER_05It doesn't, it doesn't. I think there's so much to be said about being able to transmute like a phoenix, right? A phoenix is the bird that eats poisonous stuff and they have these bright, vibrant colors. It's, I mean, that's the concept of this mythical creature, and it really is like as women, when we're able to do that, it's really like you are transforming into something else. It's it's just transformation, transformation.
SPEAKER_04Transformation all the way on to transfiguration, yeah, which is the you know, it's like going from freedom to liberation, which looks and feels different. And you know, it's when you speak to the menu, it's all about choice and where spirit is. And so as we're, you know, I invite the opportunity like to, you know, we get to release the words. I have to do this, I have to, I get to have a beautiful adventure with God, with source, with the God of with God of my understanding on my life journey. And that could look different any day of the week, any hour. You know, sometimes even washing dishes. I opt to not put my dishes in the dishwasher because when I'm washing my dishes, I'm having this dialogue and this inner communion and sometimes external communion with God. That's part of my practice. So the communion is happening all throughout the day. Everything we know is prayer, you know, everything that we're speaking is a prayer. So when we're mindful of that, that translates from prayer into our practice because the intention is to always be in connection with the divine. So when we have wellness folks out here, you know, coming from sometimes a place of superiority and they're speaking, you shouldn't do this. And if you're doing this, do you even know what you're doing? It's about coming from the oneness of God within and moving from that space. And we get to do that, not have to. It's what I get to do as I'm expressing with God in as and through me. God is expressing as me in everything I say and everything in all ways that I be in the from the breath to the way that I move. And so when we're intentional about that, we don't, you know, we can receive information. And that's what I say when I listen to and I say, Oh, this beloved person sharing information. We get to, as the as our elders and eldresses used to say, chew up the meat and spit out the bone. There are some wellness practitioners. I was like, Oh, that was yummy, that's good. And then others, I'm like, okay, that's an offering for someone else that's not for me. No blame, no shame, no hate, no judgment, no guilt. It's just not, it's not me. And I'm grateful to know the difference of what is and what isn't. And so we want to be mindful of what we're taking on because folks are telling us and be intentional about what spirit says. That is the divine authority, it's in me, not out there, right?
SPEAKER_05I say, I say, Anisha um ref coach. You go by many names, so and I know that these were be bestowed upon you from Inner Visions Institute for Spiritual Development. So, first of all, what are your names? What names have you been bestowed? And what was that experience like for you working with Mama Ida, Yanla?
SPEAKER_04Absolutely, Yanla. It was an amazing experience. I also want to give honor to my grandmother. My middle name is Audrey, my mother's mother, and that means noble. So that was my given name. And of course, you know Tanisha, it means beautiful. Um, my parents named me Tanisha because my dad loved the name and little history behind my name. It was actually spelled T-A-N-I-S-H-A. And I recently learned an interview with my dad. I said, you know, dad, I've never asked you or mom why the I is after the H. And he said, we actually spelled it without the, we spelled it T-A-N-I-S-H-A. The registrar who created my birth, who did my birth certificate, accidentally placed an I there, and my father and mother loved it and kept it. And so I found that out less than two years ago. So I always share that story. And of course, my mother named me after her mom, Audrey, and that means noble. What inner visions bestowed for me in my spiritual life coaching experience was Adeola. So Adeola means the crown brings honor. And I'm gonna speak to both experiences together. When I moved into the ministerial program, um, which was almost within the same year that I completed my coaching, a few months later I applied to ministry and was accepted and went through um went through that experience for three years and graduated in May. And you all were present for that experience where I was first learned of my name. And that name was Adevo. Adevo means nothing but God can change my destiny. And so um the experience for both experiences were unique and incredibly beautiful. It was a rites of passage, it was a coming home back to myself, even understanding when we received our certificates, we understood the deeper meaning. They couldn't go into everything at graduation, but they gave us some personal um information and history, um, not only be behind our name, but behind what is our uh what is our uh our strength and our practice. And for me, it's prayer and praise and um my element is water. Um, there were reasons, you know, that that was given to me, but given my experience and what uh my elders, my spiritual teachers had witnessed. And so it was a journey of returning home and a remembrance of the truth of who I am, being able to find my voice, being able to, a lot of it for me was intimidating. A lot of my work was being able to get away from the approval of others, specifically adults. I I found because of how I was raised that even if an elder, if they say it's right or wrong, even if my intuition or my inner knowing is like that doesn't feel right for me, I would go with it. And so a large part of my journey, even when you know I came um face to face with beloved mama Ia sharing an experience with me. And I had to say that that's that's not my experience, that's not how I feel. And I had to be able to verbalize that to someone I deeply love and respect and breathe through it. That was a big part of my journey. And I was actually loved through it by um by beloved mama Ia and by faculty because I was finding my voice and saying, you know, this experience or what was shared is not in alignment with where my thought and my feeling is. And so this is why, and so boundaries was important for me on my journey. So everyone that comes to the spiritual life coaching program for the Inner Visions Institute for Spiritual Development and the ministerial program for the institute, which is also the Inner Vision Spiritual Sanctuary, everyone is on a different journey of discovery. For mine, it was about boundaries, finding my voice, trusting myself. And it was about the remembrance of returning home to the God essence of who I am. It's and that's what it was for me. And for ministry, it goes even deeper, even deeper. So all the triggers will show up about you know what's happened in life and how it was approached and what your things, areas that you heal through, areas that I heal through. I'm like, I thought I healed through that in coaching. Well, it came back up because I'm in this experience with 11 other beautiful souls on my line. And so you're seeing mirror images of your mother, of your father, of your cousin, of the adults in your life, of and you're navigating your individual experience while others are navigating theirs, but you're all mirror images. And so there's levels to healing. And so I released the language that, oh, I healed through that, I'm good. There's levels to it. And then the the more awareness we have, and the more awareness that was happening for me, I began to become even more vulnerable. So vulnerability was big work for me where I had to really surrender to being vulnerable in a community where I'm the one always asking, How are you doing? What's going on? And I kind of got I got called on that. Like, oh, you're the one on the line that, and I was the middle of the line and I am a middle child. I'm all, you know, the one that makes sure everyone's okay. So all of it, when you're in an experience like that, who you are in the world, it shows up even more when you're in this experience and you're invited to unpack it all. Because if you're going to minister to others and support them, you know, you have to thine self be true. You have to really know yourself and really know what your triggers are. Because, you know, there have been people that have caused spiritual harm um because they didn't do the work.
SPEAKER_01Right, right.
SPEAKER_04And inner visions, what makes it unique is you are called, you will do your work, you will not hide. There is no hiding. You can try it, but it won't work out for you too well.
SPEAKER_06Right, right.
SPEAKER_04It won't fall out.
SPEAKER_06Especially if you're really being called to develop this um greater relationship with yourself, right? Because we love to hide. And the the the practice that we get is hiding from ourselves the most. Just I want to expand a little bit on all you've been sharing, just all the juiciness of that. And of course, uh in your bio, um, you uh mentioned or we mentioned that you are a member of the Black Women's Leadership Forum. So why don't you just shift a little bit to talk about black women and our um experiences? So, what what is unique about the healing journey for black women, right? Like we all need to heal, like everybody needs to heal, women in particular, but black women in particular. So, what's unique about our healing journey?
SPEAKER_04Yes, so as I always say, we are the cradle of humanity. All things began with us. And I think what there is there was an interruption in um what has happened to our ancestors and the you know inter intergenerational trauma and all of that for the interruption that happened by our ancestors who were enslaved. And I think for us as Black women, our healing journey is so crucial. First, it's it's the importance of knowing who we are, that we are the essence and very fabric of life and humanity. What makes it unique is that we, our experience, our lens of life looks so different, looks different than anyone else. We are the most vulnerable in this country on this soil, um, because of what happened, because of enslavement, because of um even what happened post, you know, and what is happening today. I think that there is this continued belief that, you know, we we have the we are strong, we're resilient, and it's literally uh taken a lot of our black women out. And so the importance of our healing journey is first in taking care of ourselves. Um, we are the least protected demographic, yet the most resilient. And so to have that duality with all of that that has happened and all of who we are, it's knowing that our healing is not for ourselves. When we're doing our healing, we're doing ancestral healing for what happened and for who we are now and for who is to come.
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_04It's not just for ourselves. And I believe that always first begins with um sister folks that we're in sistership with and eldership with. There was an interruption of eldership because of enslavement. There was an interruption of how of rites of passage and and how we were ushered into our womanhood. And so now we get to get back to what was ancestral. And so, you know, I and I think healing is a big part of that. And many of us are are learning for the first time or relearning what that looks like because we were raised by strong women. And I think I shared yesterday my grandmother, her parents were enslaved. And so when you think about that, I wasn't far removed from me being raised by a grandmother whose parents were enslaved. There were thoughts, feelings, patterns that interrupted, you know, the very cycle of what was hundreds of years ago to how she showed up in her strength. I I can't, I can't remember, and I'm just thinking of this now. Did I ever see my grandmother cry? I don't think I did. I don't think I did. I don't remember, I remember rigid, I remember preparation for all of y'all for the outside world. I remember hard.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_04I remember resilient. I remember faith. My grandmother was the medicine woman of the of the projects. Um, if you had a problem, apartment five e, you knocked on a door, you asked for Miss Miss Audrey, she fixed it for you. She knew her power and she used it for good, and and she used it in other ways. And and so I think the healing for us, for me, it actually began with learning the practices for my grandmother, being connected with source, watching my mother and her pattern of raising and how they raised me, and then this divine shift that happened within me. But it showed, but before the shift happened, I was in all these other relationships with women. We all in relationships called toxic trauma-bonded relationships, all unhealed black women, not being kind to each other, but we weren't being kind to ourselves. And I'm grateful for those relationships because the expression of who I was at that time needed those relationships. And so those seasons closed as I unpacked another level of healing, which I still to this day believe I do for myself, my mother, my daughter, my grandmother, all before and all ahead. And so I think it's critical that we look at our healing, but in order to do that, looking at the divine feminine essence of who we are, um, starting with our relationship with God.
SPEAKER_06Okay, yeah, I um I was this I have this idea um because I the talking about the interruption, right? So in in our own family, like I've been the beneficiary of certain things that I got from my mother and from her mother. And um, but being from the islands, right, that I had access to uh my grandmother in a very limited way, right? So most of that, like I did get a chance to uh meet my grandmother in person and she would send like send me a little letter and she would send me she sent me little things, um, but not necessarily often, but things that I that I treasure. But my my children had a fuller relationship with their grandmother than I had uh with my grandmother. So um, but um the the connection is still there, and we have this this one photo of my mother, my sister, her daughter, and her daughter's daughter. So there's four generations in this photograph, and there's also um my my sister and I and our daughters. So you have the women with this line, and it's just it's such a beautiful um photograph. And and so part of, you know, as we move into purpose, like I part of of our uh feminine history in our family has been sort of like an interruption, some trauma, um, you know, just some things that happened and how we responded to those. And so part of my journey is sort of to um part part of my purpose, not say my journey, my purpose, like one of the things that I know I'm supposed to do is to help bring that together. And what I realize is that between my sister, my sisters, and my um brother who has two daughters, like I have nieces who don't even know each other. And um or and then my niece, my oldest niece, has two daughters. Right. And they're they're in their 20s now, so they you know what I mean? And um, but we've not had any the only time that we've really been together any significant time um is around a funeral. Someone died, yeah, someone transitioned. Yeah, so part of what I what I want to do for the black woman in my line, right, is to bring us together so that we get to know each other, um, and so that we can think about relationships with each other in a different way. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Right.
SPEAKER_06Like the narrative out there doesn't have to be our narrative. And I love when you say we don't get to, we don't have to sit in that what was, right? We get to write a new new beginning. That's right. So when my when when when the so one of my nieces or my daughters will think when it's their time, right? And I'm no longer here, right? It's like, okay, we need to, the women, we need to do that. And it's so important because of epigenetics. Right. That's what we have inside of our bodies, we never think about those things, like how we respond to certain things and how things, how things trigger us, but for no doggone reason. And and part of it has to do with um our epigenetics. And I I I've just wanted to share this, this just came to me. Um and I don't know if I talked about this before, but I was we I was in a um I'm in in in my previous uh job, we were doing a um a workshop or a summit to someday that we were getting together with different people. And at the for the icebreaker opening activity, we had some young people who um disigned it for us because it was, you know, we had young people, people were working some elders, right? And and black and white. So it was a, you know, everybody was in the room. And the experience that they um identified was something like you had to stand across from a person and and when they clap their hands, one person had to chase another one around the room. And then when they clap their hands again, then it would switch, right? So you have about like 30 people running all over the space, right? And young people like to do that. That's a young people's activity. I was standing across the the person that I was standing across from was this tall white man, and I knew him, and he was a gentle person, like I knew him as a gentle person, but I'm gonna tell he was to chase me first. I'm gonna tell you, when they clapped their hands and we had to start running, I immediately went into fight or flight. Yeah, it was not a game. Wow, and I was everybody was running around laughing and having and I was yelling at the top of my lungs, I don't like this, I don't like this. I don't that the I don't like this. And what I knew was if he got close to me, because it was a game of tag, he was just needed to tap me, I was gonna clock him. Yep, right, he was gonna catch it, catch both these hands because I felt like I was running for my life. Yes, I knew that that was an experience that one of my ancestors had running from a white man on the plantation. It's real, that's what I felt. I knew that in my bones. So when we start talking about epigenetics, right, and how we are experiencing things that this never happened to me before, it's coming from somewhere, it's coming from your bloodline, right? And that we have to do the work now to understand what that is, and that we are not um reacting to it, but we are responsive and understand what we need to be. So I the the this whole work with black women and why it looks different for us is so important, and it's really, really important that we start with our family. So I just really wanted to share that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, even when you the um Tanisha, when you mentioned the piece about um black women carrying things and it it literally taking us out, the churning stress of doing it and being everywhere and everything to everybody is one of those things that I do feel like we carry. Um, it came from a place of having to be that, um for whatever reason, historically in this country, that that's our nature. Um, and we carry that now. You know, it's something that even in you have it coming from an epigenetic standpoint, but you also have it being modeled for us, like the backbreaking load that we carry quietly. Um and it's it's time to set some things down, it's time to really be picky and choosy about the things that we devote our time to and establish those boundaries. As much as people give us flack for our sass, we really historically don't do well with boundaries when it comes to our families and our responsibilities to each other. And you know, it's one of those things where it's like, oh I gotta put on my mask first.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and we get to do better. So whenever I say, you know, we don't, we're not doing this, we're gonna, and we get to do better.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Uh and one of the things that I find really interesting that we don't talk enough about is our history was interrupted, but we I want to just remind us I can't leave this space without saying, and we are the interruption. And so I'm the interruption in my family. Every generation there's one that interrupts. Usually it's the black sheep, usually it's what they call the black sheep, usually the one that always is questioning, well, why is that? and probably got popped for asking, why is that? Usually it's the one who said, you know, it didn't feel right when people would just grab me and hug me. My internal was like, I didn't want to, but the adults in my life forced me to. And that threw our internal intuition clocks off. But and I want to say that each of us are interruptions. If we say yes when we receive the sacred call and whisper, that that one right there is the one that is doing the work for this lineage. You know, one of the things that I'm um challenging myself to do is learn how to swim. Now I understand the story better behind why I've been so resistant. And I met with a shaman and I was like, I just can't get under this fear. I've gone to several spaces, I've tried, I've tried, I've tried. And like Eldra shared with what happened with that experience with the group. Well, this the shaman shared with me, I see that you had an ancestor that as they were swimming, they were losing their breath. So when and I walked out the entire experience of me being in the water. But when I get into the deep water, there's an issue with surrendering. And she said it's this ancestral. And so we never know why we're triggered. We don't have all of the stories. And so I invite us to explore it when we can because there's more to just the fear of swimming or the fear of, or why do I walk around with shame? And one of the things I learned was, you know, my mother was a young mom, so she kept it quiet and had a lot of shame, even though she was married and had my sister that, oh, I'm a teenager, I'm pregnant again, but she was married, but she felt a shame. And so I grew up releasing, you know, in my experience as an adult, releasing a lot of shame, feeling shame, hiding a lot, you know, feeling like um unseen and things like that. And we're trying to figure out why. And now we know, and this is the work that I'm studying my doctoral, that, you know, trauma is transferred to the body in some really deep ways from many years, from thousands of years ago, it's in our DNAs and our bloodline. And we are the interruption. And so the resilience we see, we should be celebrating. The when we see some things, you know, oh, our parents didn't rest or didn't get in sacred rest. Well, well, now we know sacred rest is medicine. And so now we know that we get to create a life that incorporates rest. We don't have to stay in the story of what they didn't do. Thank you, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, all the ancestors for what you did. And now we know better, we can do better, and we can incorporate some of what they did. Some of the medicine stuff my grandmother taught that I watch, I do right now. When doctors are like, do this, do that. I'm like, wait, my grandmother did this, that, and it worked. And so we don't have to take on everything, but I do take on a lot. And I also have brought closure to the areas in my bloodline that have not served our bloodline well because I am the interruption. My work isn't supporting women in their healing. Now, my daughter's work may look different. My son's work may look different. This is my work. And I think when we get there, and each woman, each black woman stand in our power and knowing that we have the power to interrupt these cycles, these patterns, that there is more, and we support each other on that journey. Will every bit of healing, what I've learned, heals another corner of the universe, another corner, another corner. So what someone thinks is, Oh, I just did a little bit of healing here, it is a ripple effect. It is a big deal. And so we don't have to do the big healing. I gotta go to the healing retreat, I gotta bathe all of this, I gotta do all of these things. It's how we be.
SPEAKER_05It's our connection to our divinity. In our lineage, it ripples in our lineage and outside of our lineage, the women that we touch and it's a light switch for another woman, which is like that's the reason why. Like, even if it's even if today you don't go and you know, turn your life around, you know what I'm saying, or like take up space, which is more in alignment with my belief system, but like it's just that little small seed that is planted and it's a modeling that we do, even when folks who you don't think are looking, um watching us take up space, watching us choose joy, you know, watching us um go through something unimaginable. Y'all know my story, and still decide to claim what's yours in this life. It's a it's it's a seed planted for somebody else that benefits community. I think in the last episode I said um the best thing we can do for a community is to heal ourselves. And this point that you make, Tanisha, and that we're all making here, it just resonates even more deeply because the work is going to, I hate to say rising tides lift all ships, but in this sense, the rising tide will lift other ships.
SPEAKER_06So and not to call negativity in the space, the opposite is also true. When you don't heal yourself, you you you you negatively impact others, right? Right? People don't just bump into you and say, oh, let me just move this way. They're impacted, so that ripple can be, you know, can go in the other way as well, right?
SPEAKER_04So into our bodies, so that negative response goes into our bodies, it makes us sick and can show up also as as ailments, which can be another part two for another time because I know where we are with time, but right there is a connection. There is such, and that's so important, there's no separation between body, mind, spirit.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Um, um, rapid questions to close us up. But I do want to um highlight in our previous call, um, we talked we talked with an esthetician who does like healing work and holistic healing work. And one of the things that struck me what she said was um when she started doing her own shadow work and healing work, her skin changed on its own. Her skin changed on its own. And I like your stress hormones will show that over your body will be doing the things like happy people, people who are in happy, real peaceful relationships who regulate their nervous systems, you that transfers that shines outward as beauty. No makeup, no, no, you know, whatever. And it's an example of what it looks like on the inside. When we are in toxic, stressful environments, and what you think you're putting on your face, it's going to show.
SPEAKER_06Yes. Oh my goodness. And I've I've I've I can relate to that because I've had, you know, when you've had those times when you like nothing seems right, right? It's like, oh, I tried this. You you know, sometimes I used to like get ready for work and it would take me an hour and a half because nothing was appropriate, right? And you end up like, oh, I'm just going for this. And no, that's the energy that you're putting out there, right? It I I can attest to that. I can attest to that when you're doing the work, right? It shows up differently on your face and on your body.
SPEAKER_05Um biological level, on a bi on a hormonal level. Absolutely. Um when they say stress kills, it's the overproduction of certain hormones in your body that begins to tax your organs. That's a whole nother conversation, a whole nother podcast.
SPEAKER_04And the holding of our breath when we don't realize we're doing it. And so that's why it's really, you know, part of the message I hope that um those listening take away is it can start as simple as just being aware. Just being aware and paying close to where do I tense up my body? Where's what's my thought pattern? What are my thoughts looking like? You know, because sometimes we go to fix, well, I'm having this issue with my skin, or I'm having this issue with this medical and or I'm having this issue with this relationship, this person, this work. The the first place to go is within and checking our energy and checking in with our alignment and our thought patterns and what we think about ourselves. And something Eldritch said yesterday, if I have permission to share this when we're talking about gray hair. And I had shared, um, you know, I'm I'm waiting for my gray hair to come in a little bit more. And, you know, Eldris is such a sage because she speaks with wisdom without even realizing like how much of a bucket she poured into me of wisdom yesterday. Because I'm like, yeah, it's coming in all kinds of way. It's kind of metallic. So, you know, I do get some coloring. And one thing she said was, you know, I said, how did this happen for you? Because your gray is so beautiful. And we saw another sister girl with some beautiful salt and pepper gray. And she said, you know, and she just sounded like, oh, when I um just surrendered and accepted it, it just started to come in like this. And I was like, oh my goodness, the holy grail of what this whole life experience is about is surrender. And so even when we surrender to the experience of, you know, I surrender to let my body be and come forward as it may, and I accepted that even the the way that our grade grows in, and so it is. You know, it's our it's what we think about it. And, you know, I was like, I'm gonna start talking more gently in terms of how my grade is, you know, oh, here it is, it's coming in. Okay, it's it's almost, it's not just around the edges no more, it's coming forward and embracing it more to say, here, see this, I gotta pluck this, I gotta color this. And I'm like, wow, you know, as in, you know, moments before we're talking about language around arms. And I was literally having this internal dialogue about my language, about my hair and how my grade comes in. And so that's why awareness is the first step. Because that piece of awareness, yeah. Now I'm gonna be mindful, even as I'm doing my hair, I'm nurturing my sides, my and all of that. Now I'm more aware of being more um gentle in my conversation, even about my hair. Because I, my intention is to have a beautiful full head of salt and pepper hair. You know what I mean? And so as I'm saying, the little pieces are coming and they look metallic and I don't like this. And I said, How did this work for you? So, you know, I used to dye mine and then, you know, one day I made the decision and I'm just gonna let it come in. And that's when it came in. I was like, holy grail. Wisdom. This is what this life is about, surrender, the awareness part of that, and and moving in spirit with that, because from us resisting, restricting our breath, like we're all learning how to breathe more and taking a breath, to, you know, simply our language around what we say to ourselves or about ourselves, you know, bumping into something. I'm so no, I had a moment, you know, I missed a beat and bumped into something, but I'm not clumsy. The other day I asked someone for directions. I said, I'm directly, I said, I just need directions. I began to say that I was directionally challenged. That's not my language anymore. Right. So the awareness is what's important. And I had said that for so many years because I heard that before. Your book smart, but common sense smart, you're not. So again, it's relearning, releasing. And what that transferred into was how did I get lost and I'm on this road and I only had to turn around and I just didn't know where I was. It's no big deal. I get to ask for directions. That does not mean I'm directionally challenged. Tanisha, where do we get that language from? Regular, we released that language. We just needed a little support.
SPEAKER_06Really?
SPEAKER_04And it's okay to need support.
SPEAKER_06Absolutely. That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_05We are going to self-talk. Yes, positive self-talk and releasing the negative self-talk, honey. That's the name of the game. We are going to move into a rapid-fire question segment um for our guests. So, Tanisha, these are just quick, quick answer questions, um, which will support us in closing out today's wonderful, wonderful session.
SPEAKER_04Starting with and you're finishing the sentence, blooming means coming into the fullness and wholeness of my divine feminine essence.
SPEAKER_03Feminine essence.
SPEAKER_06That's another podcast.
SPEAKER_04Awareness and self-love and surrender.
SPEAKER_05Awareness and self-love and surrender.
SPEAKER_04Right now I am becoming an even more beautiful soul-individualized expression of God.
SPEAKER_05Couldn't have done it better myself. Um Tanisha, share how listeners can connect with you before we head on.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so my website is beyondthismoment.com. My Facebook is Beyond This Moment Coach. And that is also my Instagram, Beyond This Moment Coach. And so I welcome you all to the journey. Because there's more, there's more, there's more.
SPEAKER_05And I also share that Tanisha um hosts a prayer line, which is amazing. It's a daily Monday through Friday prayer line, which I am a member of. Um and if you tap in, you that you'll find that it's a wonderful resource, I can attest. Um thank you so, so, so much for joining us today. It was wonderful as always to spill some spiritual tea with you, some cooking tea, and just have these wonderful moments um together. And I'm sure the value of your wisdom is gonna be really impactful for our listeners. So thank you. And Eldris, you're um you have anything to say, closing remarks?
SPEAKER_06Um, just I would just echo echo uh the gratitude for you being with us today. Um, as always, you bring light. Um, you said light recognizes light, and yours is always beaming and always so fulfilling um when you share it with us. So thank you for um for being here. Thank you for the energy that you give.
SPEAKER_01Love you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04I received that and extended and humbly grateful for the opportunity. Thank you for creating a beautiful, safe, loving, blooming space. This is a sanctuary of love, and I'm so grateful.
SPEAKER_07Thank you.
unknownThank you.
SPEAKER_05Last word to listeners, if you enjoyed this interview, head over to Spotify Women in Bloom. Check out all the episodes that are available if you're watching on YouTube. And similarly, if you're listening on Spotify and you enjoyed this and you want to check out the video component, head over to YouTube and check out the many episodes we have available. If you are interested in coaching with jasmine, you can head to inbloom withjasmine.com to learn more. And that is it for us today.