Shanta (pronounced shawn-tay) Wilkerson is a holistic health coach who provides holistic lifestyle support through meals, movement, and mindfulness to help her clients, mainly women, create a lifestyle of holistic wellness. Her services include Kemetic yoga and meditation, plant-based virtual cooking classes and meal deliveries, plant-based transition coaching, vaginal herbal steams and and holistic coaching consultations.
What started you along your journey?
I started out making handcrafted skincare over 10 years ago which prepared me to become a mother to a child with sensitive skin and eczema. By then, I had begun formulating herbal remedies, and soon I began making soaps regularly. I just kept learning about this natural living thing because it just resonated with me.
As my own health and wellness journey unfolded, I experienced a lot of mental and emotional deterioration. I made a decision in 2019 to make my health the central focus of my life, but I had no idea how to do it. I didn’t realize how much my spirit had been impacted by all the heartbreak and mistreatment I received in my intimate relationships until I discovered that there was a link between mental, physical, and spiritual health.
What support have you found along the way in your healing journey?
Both Yoga Skills Healing Racial Trauma [Kemetic Yoga] and Queen Afua’s Emerald Green Holistic Practitioner training found me in 2020. They were catalysts in my healing journey, and I credit them with helping me get to where I am. Now I am on a journey to become the type of holistic wellness professional that I have needed over the years.
How important do you think it is for Black women to have a voice in the holistic health and wellness industry?
It is of paramount importance. Black women have a very unique set of experiences and genetic traumas that have been passed down through the generations. We went from stable communities to being sold, having our children sold, being raped, and being experimented on to advance gynecologic knowledge all while being treated as animals. When we as black women enter the holistic practitioner space, we reclaim our legacy and create safe spaces to heal ourselves and our ancestors – mind, body, and spirit.
What are some things that women can do to improve their health and wellness right now?
Breathe deeply and prioritize rest. Women tend to pour into ourselves only after we have made sure everyone else is taken care of, but that doesn’t always leave much for us. Once we learn to observe our bodies and breathe deeply and rest as needed, we generate peace and fullness within that allows us to pour abundantly into others. It keeps us grounded and balanced in our most important relationship – our relationship with ourselves. Right now, as you read this article, take a deep breath through your nose. Hold it for a few seconds. Exhale through your mouth. How does your body feel? Good, right? Give yourself more of that throughout each day.
How can our audience find you?
You can find out more about me and all of my service offerings at my company The Benevolent Life by SMWC here.
