We Heal Together with Aya Nikole Cook of Haji Healing Salon

Gotta get up, get up Tell the whole world you a winner, winner vision of a star with a mission in the cause what you doing, how you doing, what you're doing and who you are Flex yourself and press yourself Check yourself, don't wreck yourself if you know me then you know that I be knowing what's up. Hey, Stephanie Graham is noseyAF WLP.

And HD1 Chicago 105.5 FM. Lumpen radio. Happy Saturday, Chicago. It is 2 o'. Clock. Welcome to nosy AF live on Lumpen.I'm your host, Stephanie Graham and August is Black Business Month.And this month on Nosy af, I'm highlighting black owned businesses that are making our city stronger, not just through what they sell, but through what they make possible. Chicago is full of incredible resources that many of us don't even realize are right in our own neighborhood.So today's guest has spent the last decade building one of those resources.Aya-Nikole Cook is the founder and wellness curator of Haji Healing Salon, a community centered healing space of Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, celebrating 10 years of service. She's an artist, mother, sacred, spacemaker, community herbalist, reiki master, yoga nidra, priestess, and death doula.Aya has dedicated her work to making healing more accessible through herbal education, movement, tea and community care. At Haji, her guiding belief is simple. We heal together.Today we're talking about what it means to build a business around care, curiosity and community. And that's actually where our conversation begins.

I'm actively undoing that go, go, go in my life right now. Because I have to.

Yeah. Which I love because it also feels like you're like, so, like on top of it, like with your business.Like, it's like, what is that like to be like, on top of it while, like, maybe being like, moving slow, I guess.

Is that the first question?

You know what? Yeah, let's start there.

Yeah. So let me get my tea. Okay. Yes. I like to have this in my hand. So, yeah. The first question is, what is it like to be on top of my business?

Yeah.

While trying to dismantle the. Go, go, go.

Yeah.

Okay, girl. It's. Let's get into it. It's wild. There's some really, really deep conditioning and it requires. I feel like I'm.I'm actually right now in the middle of a ginormous paradigm shift. I'm at a stage in life where there are some dramatic changes happening with my body, the chemistry of my body.I feel like I'm being remade in so many ways and I'm Using this opportunity to also examine the other parts of my life that need remaking, essentially. And the business is always an extension of me. It always has been.And so as I am in this, I've been calling it actually a death portal, because I'm a scorpio, I'm a death doula, and I'm hella dramatic. So people are like, how are you doing today? I'm like, well, I'm in a death portal. Want to hear about it?You know, I feel there are all these ways in which, you know, when we're awake in our lives, we know that there are many. There are multiple deaths that are occurring all the time. And some of them are really small.Like, you know, you might have a change in a friendship, which that could. I don't mean to make that seem small, because that could be huge, Right? Yeah. But that could be a death. Maybe you actually lose someone, a beloved.Maybe you change jobs, maybe you move homes. You know, it's like these. These changes can show up like they're endings.And so there are also deaths, but there are also opportunities for a new beginning. Right. And so when we understand where we are in life and what's actually happening, we can.We need to slow down, because in those transitional spaces, we are very vulnerable. And this is also something that I've always. It's a core teaching in my yoga practice. When I'm teaching yoga, I teach vinyasa yoga.Although right now I'm on a teaching sabbatical that I've been on since last October because I've had to edit my life. I've had to slow down. I've had to do less just in order to keep myself regulated.But the phrase that I often tell my students in yoga is that the transitions between the poses are the places where the most mindfulness is required. Because, you know, if we're just flowing, we're into the music, we're not, you know, aware of what's happening.That's the place where we can be injured. Right. And it's really the same in life. When we are in these transitional spaces, we have to allow ourselves grace.We have to employ the wisdom of slowing down. We need more rest. We need more nourishment. We need more time outside. We need spaces that are sanctuary spaces that we can go and be and feel safe.And so I'm building all of that for myself. I've always been that. Yeah. For everyone else. And I haven't necessarily had those spaces in place for myself. But this is a time where it's Understood.They're not optional.

Yeah. That's really.

I know that was a lot of words, but hopefully no.

Well, that's wonderful that you're, like, that aware of yourself to know. To, like, make those changes. Yeah.

Um, in this season, I have released caffeine, meats, dairy, gluten, sugar. Um, but I feel so much better. And it just has. It's really what my spirit moved me to do.Um, I had to release anything that I was using as a crutch to keep me from being present to what's really happening right now.

Yeah.

And that presence is part of the medicine that's needed to make this transformation that I'm in the middle of.

It's like your own version of a elimination diet or something.

Yeah, yeah, sure.

You know, you've had Haji healing Salon for a long time now. What kind of world were you trying to create when you imagined. When you imagined it?

Ooh, what a great question. Well, you know, Haji was really born from my own healing journey. I was. I would say I suffered with a lot of emotional.I always experienced a lot of emotional distress in my life. I'm an extremely sensitive person. And growing up, it just felt like I didn't belong here. You know, I. I was. This place was too hard, too harsh.It was always. It always felt like too much for me. And when I say this place, I mean like, this world, you know?Um, and I grew up with a lot of challenges within my family that are not uncommon for people my age. Um, but they set me on a. Those challenges set me on a certain path in life that I want to be succinct here. There's a lot to share.Basically, I wanted to create a space where healing was normalized because. And I wanted to create a space that would make healing accessible to people on the south side of Chicago, because I grew up here.I lived on the south side most of my life, though, as an adult, I did live in all these other neighborhoods. But now I'm back on the south side. I live here in Bronzeville. This is where my business is. But I grew up in Hyde park and also further south.And when I became self aware, which was around the age of 16, you know, I started seeking out different kinds of. Different lifestyles, different kinds of practices, and I always had to leave my neighborhood to find them. You know what I mean?And so I thought that was interesting. And as I went on and became eventually a yoga teacher, the places where I could go to teach were always outside of my neighborhood, too.And so I Just thought, what's up with that? You know? And I knew that I wanted to bring.As I moved through my life and progressed on my healing journey and started to experience so many different kinds of healing modalities, it felt important to bring those to the south side. It felt important to help my community understand that there were so many tools available for us for our healing.But, you know, maybe we just didn't know about them or we didn't know where to find them.So I wanted to sort of break down the barriers that existed for black folks primarily in accessing these, what used to be called alternative healing methods. But now, now we understand that actually they're not alternative, they're core, they are indigenous. You know, they're, they're instinctive.They're a very natural part of who we are actually.And part of the illness that we're struggling with and that we're suffering from is the disconnection from who we actually are and what is really for us. And so, you know, some of the challenges that other cultures seem to be like the holders of certain practices that we may have felt weren't for us.But I feel like especially this moment right now that we're living through, it's time for us to use every single thing that we have available to us, because it's just that crucial of a moment. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So I think I was just really imagining a place where, you know, I thought about the challenges that my family faced growing up.And even though I was born into a Buddhist family and that was a tremendous resource for me in my life, my Buddhist practice was probably how I managed to get through so many very challenging times. I didn't. We'd never had a place that we could go together to heal as a family. We had like a faith based place.But, you know, these other practices like acupuncture and energy healing and meditation, because we, you know, we meditated as Buddhists, but mostly we chanted and chanting was. It feels now to me like it's an active kind of prayer where you're asking for something and meditation is when you listen. And we need both.We need prayer and meditation. We have to be able to listen. We have to be able to hear the call of our own inner source and also the source of all there is.And our guides, our ancestors, our angels, all of that becomes available when we are willing to come into stillness and just have a devoted practice of listening. Right. So all of that, as I, you know, grew older and, and continued on my path just Exploring different things.All of that seemed really integral to creating a healthy human.And it felt like I wanted to bring all these things together in one place with, you know, a host that looked like you, who you could trust, you know, who's inviting you in.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I think that's. I just wanted to create a space where families could come and heal together. You mentioned in the beginning, that's my motto here at Haji. And it is.And every time families come in here to get acupuncture or do a group reiki session or anything like that, I'm just so touched because I know that I'm helping to transform, you know, this phenomenon of suffering and challenging families.

Yeah, I love that families can come together because I feel like any of those things, like, you know, yoga, Reiki, they were definitely like on the outside, like you had to travel, like you're traveling by yourself because maybe your friends, like, I'm not going downtown and paying for that. Like you had to pay for parking, then pay for the service and then, you know, or you might know, like, oh, there's.You're gonna go to a yoga place in the Gold coast and like, oh, we're gonna go to the black girls class. You don't know the black girl, but you know that the black girl teaches like the six o' clock class. So like there's always like this traveling.So I love that you are like in Bronzeville. You can walk up.You know, I don't know how to say this, but I also feel like it still feels sometimes intimidating in these like not alternative but core spaces. Because like, maybe if we have like our like 30 inch bust downs or like we have like our peli leathers, like if we're not like woo, woo.Like, like sometimes the spaces can feel intimidating, but it shouldn't. Do you have any.Can you speak to that really quick when like where folks feel like they might not visually look the part to be a part of these types of services.

Does that make sense? Sure. Yeah. There's been a long history of these spaces not being so inclusive.

Yeah.

And you know, when we look at the media that's put out around. Let's just talk about the yoga world. Right.So you know, you, you might be in the grocery store and look to your left and see on the rack there a yoga journal magazine. Well, who's always on the COVID of the yoga journal magazine or I mean, I also don't have to name the specific magazine.Probably want to edit this out later, but. Oh, is that the name?

Like A real.

Yeah, that's the name of it.

We didn't mean you Yoga journal. We're just saying in general, no shade to yoga. Yeah.

Because I still want to be in the magazine, period. But, you know, typically the. The.The models that are put forward are, you know, white women who are super thin that, you know, don't look like the majority of us black women or just women of color. And, you know, that alone is sending a message. Right. It's like if.If every time you go to YouTube to look for a yoga class, the only people are white people. If every time you pick up a yoga magazine, all you see in there are white folks. If. And it's crazy because, you know, yoga originated in India too.Right. While we don't see, like, Indian people aren't the prominent teachers in the west, it's the white folks.But, you know, there's a certain amount of gratitude that I have for even the path of, you know, that path, as problematic as it is, because it has made it so that yoga is now known all over the world, you know, and it should be. I mean, I believe everybody who has a body has done yoga because all it is, is consciously moving and breathing. It's. There's a yoga to everything.Whatever you bring devotion and mindfulness to can be yoga. There's a yoga to washing the dishes.There's a yoga to walking to work, you know, and so I. I don't, like, I've never appreciated how restricted the spaces have felt. But despite that, my calling was very strong, and I went through my yoga teacher training in a predominantly white space. But my goal was always to.I remember back in the day when I first became a yoga teacher, you know, there was Facebook, because I've been teaching for over 17 years now. So back then, I felt like a yoga evangelist. Like, I was literally every day, great day, good people.It's a good time to stretch, you know, wake up and breathe. And I'd be telling them this, and I'm like, I'm teaching today at this time. And people were like, whatever. Aya's on her yoga thing.And a lot of folks weren't into it at all. And it was hard to get people to come to a class. But now everyone knows yoga. I feel like this is another place where there's.We're experiencing a paradigm shift, because black people, black women, you know, people of color are really starting to realize we too are entitled to this healing art, and we too can practice it and become adept at it and benefit from it in so Many ways. So, you know, it is. I guess when I was teaching yoga, I would always have the experience of not being given the best time slots. Right.There's certain time slots where, you know, that class is going to be filled because, like, right after work, the 6pm Everybody gets off at 5. They come to the 6pm Class.You know, I'd find I was given, like, you know, the 3pm class where, like, only people who were entrepreneurs or, you know, whatever could come. And so that was challenging to navigate, and it meant that I had to have more classes and more spaces to make ends meet.Um, but, you know, when I opened this space, my intention was to really center us, you know, and to offer all of these practices that have been so helpful for me on my healing journey, but through the lens of blackness. Yeah.So when you come in here, you know, even though there's no, like, you know, pictures of us on the walls or big painting of Africa anywhere, but you can feel. You can feel that the culture is here.You know, you can hear it in the music that I'm playing when you come in, and you can feel it in the way I hold space and the way my practitioners hold space. So all the people who work here at Haji are people of color, and they are, you know, they've essentially been chosen. Spirit has brought them to me.We've found each other because there's an alignment there, because they are devoted to their practices. They are, you know, really experts in their field, and they know how to hold a loving space that is welcoming. So that has always been my.That's always been my number one goal, is just to help everybody feel seen, heard, and held, because that wasn't my experience. And then I would say, so I had one experience as a teacher, you know, mostly teaching, also people who didn't look like me.And then I had another experience as a student going around and practicing.And because I was so adept at yoga, I'd go into a class that was taught by someone else, and I would basically be invisibilized because they're like, oh, well, she's either. Either she's so good that she doesn't need anything from me, or, you know, it was like they wouldn't treat me like a student. I would get no.No corrections, no adjustments, you know, no. Sometimes I come into a room and not even be greeted by the teacher. And that is a horrible feeling. Yeah, that's so rude. Yeah.So I just made it, you know, it was. It just became paramount that, you know, I hold this space In a different kind of way.So I'm grateful I had those experiences because they all helped me to, you know, create the space that exists now where people literally, when you come to a yoga class at Haji, the mats are set up in two rows that face each other so people are literally looking at one another.

Oh my gosh.

Like, which can be confronting, you know, if you don't know that that's the setup.But people, you know, they might feel some kind of way when they first come in, but once they're in the class and they see that we open with check ins, everybody gets to share their name and how they're doing.Today every class is themed so, you know, the teacher expounds on the theme and we think about through the practice how that theme is, you know, how we can relate that to our own lives. And so it's because yoga is first and foremost a self study. It should, like you talked about, you commented on my self awareness in the beginning.Well, that's what yoga should help us do. It should make us more self aware. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It makes me think like some of these places is, as we talk about the Go go go, they just like churn out classes. Like yeah, we have yoga like 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. And I don't know if you're necessarily taking that time.And I feel like you broke yoga down so beautifully because I've never even heard it explained as like, it's just sort of like a practice in what we're doing every day. You know, you describe yourself as a sacred space maker and we talked about like, you know, the experience of coming into Haji and how things work.But what does like sacred spacemaker mean to you? And if you can even talk about like we know the experience, but how did you think about the design of that experience?Like did you take customer service experience classes or something? Like how did, is it intuitive?

Never ever. You know, my background is in fashion, ironically, right. So I went to school and have a degree in fashion design.I don't have a degree in sacred space making. I don't know if that even exists.But it probably does now because they're commodifying every single aspect of, you know, spiritual life as people are awakening and realizing the need for, you know, more a greater relationship with spirit. The, the image makers, I don't know what to call them. I like they.But you know, the powers that be know that people are awakening and they're trying to profit from it too. So now you probably can find a university offering a sacred space Making course or something. Yeah. And I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing.Everything is about, you know, your intention and how you enter into it.But for me, you know, growing up, I think it was essential that I grew up in that Buddhist household because part of our practice was always meeting we all, you know, community was a huge part of that. And so we would have these Buddhist meetings. And so I always loved, even as a child of, like, seven years old, reading the sacred texts.You know, I always wanted. Always volunteered to, like, host, or we call it mc, the meeting.And people would come together and they would share their lives, they would share their experience, you know, so for me, where a lot of folks would see that as extremely vulnerable, it was kind of commonplace for me, you know, just to always be sharing who I am, how I'm living, what's happening in my life, how I'm being called to grow or to expand. And, you know, I kind of had a sense of what made me feel safe enough to share in those spaces.And so essentially, that's just what I set out to create, was the kind of space that I would want to come into and feel relaxed in and be able to open up within, you know, And I sensed if I could feel that, then it's likely that other people would feel it too. I think the plants, for me are really essential. I have become a plant whisperer. They are probably my closest friends, to be honest with you.I talk to them, I listen to them, I sit with them, I meditate with them, I make medicine with them. You know, here I'm getting one of my teas. And so they're essential to sacred space making for me, maybe not for everyone.You know, Um, I think I've always had a knack for, you know, you could say I have a natural or, like, an innate understanding of, like, maybe what people call feng shui, you know, just like, arranging space so that energy can flow properly within it. That's really important. You know, we've probably all walked into something. I hear a lot when people come into the.The apothecary here at Haji, it's like, wow, it's so clean and open. Because a lot of spiritual shops or mystic shops tend to be overwhelming with all of the things that are inside.You know, I mean, it's like you could walk in and, you know, there are a lot of tools required for what we do, but there's also a way in which sometimes you can feel overwhelmed by the energy of all those things, because things carry energy. So I'M always editing here. There's a lot of stuff in here, but the majority of the things that are in here are actually plants.And the plants help with the healing work. They help to transmute a lot of the negative energy that comes in when people are just.They don't mean to be negative, and they're not negative in a sense of like, this is a bad experience I'm having with you, but just that they're holding a lot. And when they come in here, they're. They feel like they're able to unburden themselves and they really do leave feeling lighter.And I think part of why that is is because this is a healing space. But part of why it's a healing space is because the plants help to transmute so much of that energy.So rather than having a whole bunch of idols and, you know, statues and different things that speak to how spiritual this space is, I filled it with plants. Yeah. Because they are living things that remind us of how important it is to nourish ourselves. Right.And they provide nourishment for us at the same time. So to answer the question more succinctly, maybe just coming up in the Buddhist.In the Buddhist environment, understanding, you know, some things about how I feel in spaces and developing my relationship with plants, I think have all been really central to the way, like the kind of spaces that. That I create, you know. Yeah.

And before we go on, I just want to let you know I have my questions on another screen. So if you see me looking off, I'm not like. And that's what I'm looking at. Just so you know.

Yeah.

Because I didn't want, like, if you saw me doing that, I didn't want you thinking I was looking at my phone.

Well, I thought so. Yeah. Yeah. I imagine you have like five screens there. Yeah, I do. Yeah.

You know, I am not a plant person only because I don't like bugs, but I do know that they are very important. What would be a good beginner plant you would suggest somebody start off with,.

I would say a ZZ or a snake.

Okay.

So a Sansevieria is the proper name for a snake plant. It's also sometimes called the mother in law's tongue. So they're the. Yeah, the really tall, kind of spiky plants.They're all over here, but they're great. They actually bring the energy of protection as well. Okay. And they purify the air. And just to be clear, all plants purify the air.I remember during COVID somebody told us that, you know, only these specific plants we should have to help us, you know, navigate the challenge of COVID So everybody came wanting to buy those plants, and they're like, it's because this is air purifying, where they all are doing that. That's just inherently what they do. But snake plants are beautiful, and they're great to have in the bedroom also.But anywhere you want to put a snake plant is great. They are very drought tolerant, and they are tolerant of all kinds of light conditions. Like, if you have a.You live in a basement or you want to find a plant for a space that doesn't have, you know, very much light, the snake plant is kind of perfect. You can water it, like, once every 10 days or so. Oh, wow. It's super forgiving.So if you travel a lot, you know that you're that kind of person who can't really care for a plant in a deeper way, or if you want to become more confident in your plant care abilities, then I would say a snake plant is definitely the one to start with. The ZZ is very similar. It's all the same. It has all the same qualities, but it looks different. It has.It has long stalks with lots of leaves that come up along the stalks. Snake plants don't have leaves themselves. I mean, they're just sort of like fronds.

Yeah, I think I've seen that when I showed you. And they have the green on the side. Yeah, yeah.

And there's a lot of different. There's a lot of different varieties of snake plants, too, and different varieties of ZZ plants, because they're always making these hybrid plants.But ZZ are great, and they tend to grow very tall, too. So they also are low light, and they're drought tolerant, which means they can. They can handle, you know, neglect.

Yes. Those are perfect for beginners.

Yeah.

I was thinking, thinking as you were talking, because I know folks have to, like, have people take care of their plants or in the shows, shows go on hiatus. Like, folks who have them in their apartments are trying to, like, give them to people to take care of before they come back for the season. So. Yeah.How do you know when healing is actually happening? Because I feel like healing. As you said, people commodifying. It's just such a buzzword.

Like, how do we know?

Like, even when you say, like, meditation, you have to listen. Like, how do we know?

Yeah. So this is such a great. Your questions are great. Thank you. So I would say I'm sorry for.

The cliffhanger, but we've got to take a quick break. We'll be right back with Aya. Nicole Cook, Wlpn LP&HD1 Chicago 105.5 FM Lumpen radio. We are back and let's continue our conversation with Aya.

Gonna borrow from one of my teachers, whose name is Maladoma Patrice. So May. He's now in the ancestral realm, But I am a lover of his books, his writings, his philosophy. He's.He was an African man from the Dagara tribe of. In West Africa. And we read. We read every. Every year we read a spiritual text together as a community, and we form a book club around it.And so a couple years ago, we read his. What I think is his kind of seminal work. It's called the Healing Wisdom of Africa. And we read that together as a community.We took the whole year, so we just read like two chapters each month. And then we have our book club and we talk about it. We go deep.So his take on this is that in order for our healing to feel real, it has to be witnessed by our community. Okay. And so essentially what that means, and this is. This hearkens back to my motto. We heal together. Right?It's that you can be in your body having a certain kind of experience and taking care of yourself in the best ways that you know how, and addressing the traumas that you know about that you've experienced in your life. The. The heartbreak that you've had, you know, the different ills.But you won't really know necessarily that you've had a breakthrough until someone who's close to you says, you know, oh, I remember it used to be like this, and now you're like this, or. You know what I'm saying? It's like our community will mirror back to us, and so will our environment. I feel like your environment.And this is kind of a Buddhist. A Buddhist tenet is this knowing that our external environment is always mirroring how we are inside. Okay.So if we are experiencing chaos all the time outside, if our outer world is, you know, causing us suffering, we have to know then that there needs to be some change inside.

Okay.

Yeah. So there's always this mirroring that's happening. The community mirrors you and how you're showing up your environment. Mirror is a mirror of you.And you can use those things to help you understand how much more work you need to do.

Yeah.

And then there's. It's important to also have periods of rest where you just let yourself be. We can't always be healing. Sometimes you gotta Go dance.Sometimes you gotta turn up, you know, and enjoy life. So, you know, it's both and.But yeah, I think really it's about being present to what you see outside of yourself and how people are responding to you, how your environment is responding to you, how you're interacting with, you know, everything around you. Yeah.

Which even also sounds overwhelming because people can come up to you and be like, you know what, Aya, you've changed. You've changed. And then you have to, like, respond to that. And that can also send you on, like, another spiral.

Well, I just say, yes, I have. Thank you very much. Yes, I give. Thanks. I've changed. You know, we were not brought here to stay the same. That was true.That'd be a kind of hell, if you ask me, you know, And I. I believe the whole purpose of. Of our beingness, of our humanness is we're. We're here especially because I personally believe where we are. This Earth plane.

Yeah.

This is a school. Yeah, this is a whole school. We are here to learn and we're here to evolve, and we're here to rise above our human nature in some ways.

Yeah.

And to remember that we're not. We're not these. We're not these. So what we are actually is we are spiritual beings having a human experience.We're not these humans who sometimes are spiritual.

Yeah.

That's the paradigm shift that has to happen, and it's happening right now. So, you know, we're learning that there's a way to live where maybe work isn't centered in your life anymore.

Yeah.

I mean, it requires a lot of creativity. I don't have all the answers about how to do it yet, but now we're moving forward. We're moving toward us.We're moving toward a time where I think more of us will be able to center ourselves in our lives rather than centering, you know, capitalism and working for money. Yeah.We'll be able to center just like taking care of ourselves and nurturing our relationships and spending time in nature and hanging out with plants, you know? Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. What's something that you've learned about people simply by watching them walk through your front door?

Oh, they need to breathe. Okay. Yeah, we. We're not breathing. We are.We're in a kind of holding pattern and the breath is so shallow because we're in fight or flight, most of us, you know, because this is a lot. This is really, really so much.

Yeah.

But the thing is, we were never meant to navigate this alone. And we have so much help in the spirit realm.And I know that's going to sound very woo woo and weird to a lot of people who are listening, but it's absolutely true.And when you tap in, and that's what that book, the Healing Wisdom of Africa taught me, when you tap into spirit, life becomes more easeful and you realize you can move differently, you can breathe differently, you can, you know, be of greater service to your community because you're not always in overwhelm because you realize it's not just you by yourself.

Yeah, definitely.

You come with a whole tribe. You have a spirit tribe. We all do.So I feel, what I see when people walk through the door is they breathe, they come, they cross the threshold, they take that deep breath that we took in the beginning of this conversation, and they exhale. And I watch them soften because they know they're in.And I don't like this term typically, so I don't use it a lot, but safe space, I tend to use brave space more often than safe space. But they know when they walk in here that this is a place that they can soften. Yeah, they can sense it. I don't even have to say anything.I just sit here. They come through. I watch it happen. Then I say, great day, welcome to Haji. And they're like, oh my God, it feels so good in here.I already feel healed. This is what I hear 90% of the time. Then I say, oh, wait till you try the tea. Yes.And I hand them a cup of tea, you know, and then I give them a tour around the apothecary. I show them what we have, I answer their questions. This is absolutely a learning space because so many people are returning to spirit. Right?Because we all know this. We all know how to do this. Yeah. And. But we've forgotten. And so we need some reminders. And some of us need a kind of new kind of education.You know, they come in, they see something like they see our.Our sacred smoke tower, which is, it's a shelving unit that has all these different dried plants that we can burn in order to do energy cleansing, in order to change the way an environment feels. We can cleanse and clear ourselves, we can cleanse and clear our space, our cars, you know, our offices, whatever needs to happen.But they see that and they say, oh, what am I supposed to do with that?And that gives me an opportunity to teach them, you know, And I always appreciate that moment because another thing that you see sometimes in spiritual shops and mystic shops is I've gotten this feedback from clients is that there's a kind of. There's an attitude of like, if you don't know how to use it, then you don't need it. Or, you know, like that kind of thing.

Right, right.

If you don't know, you shouldn't be in here. It's like a little secretive or some gatekeeping or something. Yeah. And that's wild to me. Like, why? You know what I mean? Just teach the people.It'll take you two minutes. And then now you've opened a whole portal for this person so that they can experience change and transformation in their lives. Yeah.So, yeah, I don't do any of that. This is definitely a learning space. So. Yeah. But the thing that people need the most is to breathe. Oh, yeah. That's wonderful.

And since you even brought up tea, your tea salon, I would love to talk about that because I'm so curious. What's the difference between a tea salon and just simply serving tea?

Okay, let's get into it.

Yes.

So the first thing is that word tea. I'm using that word because that is so common in our lexicon. You know, it's what people know of.You know, when you put plants in hot water, we call it tea. But honestly, tea is always caffeinated. That word tea, it points to beverages that are made with the same plant all the time.It's called camila sinensis. And that plant is the plant that we get. Green tea, white tea, black tea, the pu erhs, the oolongs. All of those teas come from the same plant.But the plant is handled differently. It's harvested at different times. It's fermented differently to create these different tastes and flavor profiles.Now, there are tea sommeliers, just like there are, you know.

Oh, no way.

Yes, absolutely. And I'm not one of them. I'm not one of them.So, you know, I'm not going to talk too much about tea, but I'll say what I serve here are actually herbal infusions. Okay. But an herbal infusion salon don't sound so nice. So I call it taste salon. But. And everybody knows what tea is.And so, you know, I keep using that word, but technically, when you steep herbs which are. Which never have caffeine, you know, the medicinal herbs are not caffeinated.When we steep those plants in hot water or in cold water, we're making an infusion, or we're making. If it's a short steep, it's called a tisane, which is a French word. T. I S A N E. Some people say tisane.So when you go to a tea bar or a tea house, you'll look at the menu and you'll see the teas and you'll see the Tuscans. The are going to be the herbal beverages that don't have caffeine and the teas are going to be the caffeinated ones. Okay, so just to clear that then.

It sounds so fancy.

I know. It can, it can get, but. But again, I'm about lowering the barriers for us. Right. Sometimes fancy stuff feels like it's not for us. No, it's true.

I'm a Libra, so I lean into it.

But yeah, I get it. Yeah. And so, you know, I host classes here for.To help people understand how to use the plants, how to integrate them into their lives and how to make, you know, delicious tisans, infusions and even some tea. Because we do have some caffeinated teas on the herb wall over there. But the tea salon is a new space.So when you come to Haji at 4448 South Cottage Grove Avenue here in Bronzeville, it's what I call a dyadic space. Meaning there are two parts. Dyad. Right, Two parts. So the one part is the apothecary.The other part has historically for the last five years, been the healing salon. And that's the space where the yoga classes have happened. That's the space where we do reiki, acupuncture, sound healing, all the things.Recently, as I've been going through this, as I've been in this death portal, I've been receiving all these intuitive nudges that I needed to change the space, that I needed to change the way the space is being used, that I needed to do more centering of meditation in this space. And this happened at the same time that I was starting to center meditation in my own life.So it was like, oh, this makes sense, you know, Again, my outer environment is reflecting my inner world, right?

Yeah, yeah.

So I had this vision of a space and I could also. This morning something occurred to me in my meditation, which was that I could just as easily call this a B salon as I'm calling it a tea salon.Because what it is is a tech free space. So when you come, you check in your phone, it's not a co working space. It's a space where it exists for you to just be.You get to be with the plant, you get to be with the T, you get to be with each other. And there are not enough Spaces like that where. None at all. Yeah.Where the noise level comes down and you're able to actually practice listening to yourself. So in this space, when you come in, there are benches that my dad built for us.

Oh, that's so sweet.

And there are tea tables that are low to the floor, and there are cushions, meditation cushions at the tea tables. And there are also. There's also a big community table with benches, you know, regular heights, so it's accessible for all the bodies.

Yeah.

And there are reclining chairs for folks who might want to nap in this space.

Oh, wow.

There's a tea bar. So when you come in, there's always tea available that you can serve yourself.And then there are also herbs that you can explore and learn about and sort of, you know, make your own herbal infusion. So depending on the day, it's set up for different kinds of activities. Okay. Yeah.But essentially, it's space like no other that I've been to where you can come in, serve yourself some tea, sit down, you can journal, you can plan your life, you know, with a actual pen and paper, like, planner. You can have a quiet conversation. You can silently sip tea. You can draw, you can paint, you can nap, you can daydream. Yeah.You can rest, you know, so. Yeah, I'm really excited about it. I'm. I'm usually sort of ahead of the curve with these kind of things. Yeah.

So are people.

Are people beating down the door to come and, you know, be quiet and be off their devices right now? No, not necessarily, but I know they're coming. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

We need that. Especially, like, did you hear, like, folks, you know, leaving social media or limiting their phones?Like that brick app that people are, like, hitting their phones, and it doesn't.

Yeah, my son has that.

Yeah. It doesn't. Let them use it. Yeah.I think that that's, like, really exciting because I didn't know, like, if, you know, the space would come in and you can just, like, buy your infusion and leave. But it's nice that you can, like, come in and, like, stay there, essentially.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's something that also was. This was also born of, like, I do a lot of listening to the people who come in here, and two things they say all the time.I love it here, and I don't want to leave. Yeah. I wish I didn't have to leave. Boy, I could stay in here forever. Like, I hear that kind of sentiment a lot.So I was like, okay, well, how can I design this space so that they can Stay longer. Yeah. You know, so you could come in, you could do your shopping, and then you could extend your time over in the tea salon.

Right?

Yeah. You can stay with the cards that you bought. And I do also provide lots of tools that help people. So it's not just a room with nothing in it.But in addition to the furniture, there are books on meditation over there. There are cards that you can pull that have contemplation prompts. You can sit and journal about that.You know, there's conversation cards that are on each table. So there's a lot of different ways to engage yourself in this space.But I think the biggest thing is just giving people the opportunity to understand the value of slowing down, the value of just sitting, you know, because we don't. I mean, there's. There's value in even just sitting, just taking five minutes where you're not. There's nothing being input to you.You know what I mean? We're just inundated with so much information all day long. Yeah.And it gets to be kind of second nature where you're constantly reaching for a device and you're constantly researching something or looking something up or trying to figure something out or planning something or talking to AI. It's like, when do we ever have space for us?

Yeah, no kidding.

And this is central to our humanness, and it's something that is threatening our humanness. Is our. The way that we are constant, that we are allowing this technology to take us over? Yeah, for sure.

Do you still have the community healing room, like with the acupuncture? And how can you get different treatments, like, in a room together?

Yes. Yeah. So there's. Haji's always been open space. We've had two.We've had two locations, and both of them were wide open space where there's no private rooms here like there would be in a typical wellness center. You might come in and you go into a little room to have your acupuncturist, and it's just you and the acupuncturist. Yeah. Well, not at Haji.At Haji, all the healing is happening out in the open. Yeah. So we're sharing the space.So there could be several healing modalities happening in the same room, but you're locked in with your healer, your practitioner, you know, but the nice thing about it is that you get to see if you're someone who's afraid of needles, and you're in a room having an astrology reading with an astrologer, and there's someone lying down, having Acupuncture, right across the room, and you see how peaceful they are and how they're just napping with needles. It would help lessen your fear of that, because, you see, oh, they're not crying. They're not in pain. Oh, it must be a pleasant experience.They're actually able to sleep with those needles in. Maybe I'll try it next time.So part of how I was invested, part of how I chose to lower the barriers for us, is to open up these practices and let everybody see what happens. Yeah.Now, that does require that you're willing to be a little vulnerable, because it might mean you're crying in front of some people who you don't know, because sometimes we have these, you know, these heart releases. But everybody here is healing. Everybody's on the same journey, so, you know, there isn't any judgment or competition or any reason to feel ashamed.You know what I mean? Where it's just you're showing your humanness and thank God, right? Yeah.So, yeah, the tables that are over here in the tea salon, those are folding tables that I fold up and put away when we have a yoga class, for instance. Okay. Yeah. But the benches are always there. The plants are always there. You know, the. The room always feels amazing.There's healing soundscapes that play over there. And. Yeah. Just beautiful music. Lately, I've been very into plant frequencies. I don't know if you've ever heard.

No, I've never heard that.

Oh, you should look it up, Stephanie. Wow. Yeah. Okay. The music of plants, it's so phenomenal. So that's what I've been on for, like, this whole past year playing in here. Yeah.A lot of plant frequencies. Wow.

Okay. I'd never even heard of that.

And, see, as I'm damning technology, I also appreciate it, because were it not for technology, we wouldn't know that plants sing. We wouldn't know that they have, you know, some.Some scientists went out into the forest and put electrodes on, like, mushrooms and, you know, all these different plants and trees and learned that they have this beautiful music that they make. And then they layered on. You know, they layered actual music made by humans, too. And it just is such a beautiful thing, and I'm grateful for that.So not all technology is bad.

Yeah, no, that's a really beautiful thing. I've never heard of that. And again, because I'm, like, asking you advice about plants for beginners. Like, you know, I've never heard about it.If I'm like, oh, my God, a bug, you know.

Yeah. The bugs are an inevitable part of. Yeah. Plant life and also just of life in general. Yeah.

No, it's true.

Yeah. And they're our friends, you know, they. They are not. Most of them don't care about us at all, you know. Yeah. They're just trying to live.

That's really something to remember.

It's just so intimidating.

Oh, my God. Bug.

Thanks.

You know, as we close up, what do you say? I feel like, you know, it's nice to know that. How's she available?Is like a third space, you know, And I now I'm like, thinking of, like, sacred third spaces.Like, as, like, we think of these, like, different terms of you being ahead of the curve, you know, what is it that you want, like, Chicago, you know, to know about just how this resource is available to them, about healing is available to them?

I guess just come in here. Yeah, Come in here, please, because this is the space will do so much for you in and of itself.

Yeah.

People want me to be online. They want me to turn the apothecary into an online store and all this other stuff.And that might happen at some point, but right now it exists as a real space that you can visit, and that is. It's a joy and a privilege to walk through the doors here.You know, something happens when people walk in here, and I don't think all of that is my doing. I think some of it has to do with the spirit of Haji Healing Salon. A lot of it has to do with the plants.A lot of it has to do with the intention that I set when I first created this business, which is to inspire and support the creation of a sustainable healing lifestyle. It's time for us to live in a way that heals us. Not to, you know, create.Not to heal as an isolated experience, but to make our living a healing experience. You understand? It's different. That's the paradigm shift again. Right, Right.And so within this space, and it's not about spending money, because plenty of people come in here and just pull books from our resource library and sit at the community table and study or take pictures of things there, take pictures of the guidance around something they're trying to heal, you know, and then they go home, they study some more, they come back, and then they get the herbs they need. It's not about how much money you spend, but in this space, you will find all of the accessories. I like to say this French word, Accoutrements.

Yes.

You know, that go along with a healing lifestyle because there are some Things that will help you create it. Right. But do you need these things to live in a way that's healing? No. What you need is the intention, the mindset, the devotion.You know, like a spirit of devotion. Okay. I'm devoted to myself now. I'm going to devote to my. I've been devoted to everyone else.I've been devoted to this job, I've been devoted to these kids. I've been devoted to all these things, but I've never devoted to myself. What does that look like? What does that feel like?What does this body even need to feel whole? These are questions we have to be asking ourselves if we want to heal. Right.

Yeah.

So I just want Chicago to know they're welcome. Y' all are welcome in here. I built this space for everybody, literally.And I built this space because nothing like this existed when I was a little girl growing up in a challenged family, you know, and it's hard for me, I think historically, in the whole 10 years of Hajji, it's always been hard to communicate how much is available here because there's so many layers, there's so many practices, there's so many different tools and accessories, and I could never really expound on all of it in a podcast or in a, you know, five minute reel on Instagram or whatever. You just have to come in to experience it.And you need to come in again and again and again because every time you come in, it's going to be different because you're different. Yeah. So something else is going to grab your eye, something else is going to pull you in, you know, and, yeah, it's never a static space.It's a life filled and a life giving space. And just being here will heal you. Yeah, that's.

That, that's really wonderful to hear because one of the things I was, you know, so curious about with it being like Black Business Month and all that, it's like, oh, what's it like being a business owner? But it also seems like this is such an extension of you that. Does it even feel like a business?

Yes, because I have to be here every day. Sure. But no, there are times when it doesn't feel like a business. There are a lot of times when it is very much a business.Like when I have to do the business things I have to manage. I've been a quote unquote, one woman show for all this time too. And that is something that is ending in this time.I'm right now training someone who's gonna be the manager of the Space. And I'm really excited about that because I really can't hold this by myself anymore. And it's gotten to a place where it's like, okay, I've.I've reached my limit, you know, and because of. Because I've been so devoted to maintaining the space and sustaining the space. Yeah, I've done that at a great sacrifice to myself.And it's something that I would never. I would never recommend anyone do. Um, I've gone through periods where I felt absolutely like a martyr, you know, where I've.You know, there have been days that I'm so busy here, I don't get a chance to eat, you know, at all between, like, 12 and 6.

Oh, my goodness.

And that's part of why now I'm challenged in the. In the. In the space that I'm in. I mean, I. I don't mind being transparent and saying I'm in perimenopause like every other woman my age.And, you know, that is an initiation. It's a call to rise. It's a call to rise into my elderhood.It's a time for me to become more wise, to use all that I've learned through all these years and to really integrate that wisdom. And also, it's time to delegate. It's time to. To do less and teach more. And so I'm feeling into how to create greater balance in my work. Life.Work, live life. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah.

Because, to be honest with you, for the past 10 years, I have been really myopic, in my view. And just, you know, it felt like there was nothing more important than Haji on so many levels.People who I have, you know, friendships and relationships with will tell you that. That nothing comes before Haji. And that's really been the truth.But I think now I've gotten it to a place where, you know, it can do a lot on its own. A lot of other people can come in to support it. And also, I've really realized that is not the way.And so I would never want anyone to follow me in that regard, you know, because I feel it was. It was unwise. And at the. What I understand now about, like, hormones and adrenal glands and these kind of things that are.That contribute to the kind of experience you have when you get to menopause. Had I.Had I known how to operate differently in the past decade, I think I would be having a much more smooth transition and initiation through perimenopause. I think part of the challenge I'm facing is that, you know, I've worn myself out.I'm completely burnt and depleted, and now I have to build myself back up again, you know?

Right.

And so that's just a little cautionary tale, you know what I mean?Just to right away figure out how to call folks in, how to share your vision, how to allow other people to help hold the dream for you, and because otherwise it could take you out. Even something as that is as high a calling as this. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So I'm glad I got to say that, Stephanie, because honestly, it just. That's so important. So important.

Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that and for creating such a powerful resource for us in Chicago and making it accessible because it doesn't seem so.Even on myself. So now I know that this is a space that's available to everyone, including me. So thank you so much for.For taking the time to talk with me and share and again, for making such a beautiful space, you know, because black folks, we do like things to.

Be pretty, so we are worthy.

Yeah, we are. And.

And everything we do is beautiful. So why would you know? How could we not have? Yeah, this is. This is for us. Come through Chicago, come through. Even outside Chicago, come through.It's worth making a trip. This is a whole destination.

Yeah. For sure. Thank you so much.

You're welcome, Stephanie. Thank you.

Thank you, dear listener, for listening to Nosy af. For more information on Haji Healing Salon, please visit. Oh, please Visit.Please visit hajihealing.com thank you so much for being here and for listening and supporting Lumpen and enjoy the rest of your afternoon. That concludes another episode of nosy AF31 Days of Black Business. I'm your host and friend, Stephanie Graham.I hope you took something away from today's conversation and had a good time hanging with us. Be sure to check out the show notes to learn more about today's guest and consider supporting their work.You know how it goes, whether you're making a purchase, hiring them, or simply spreading the word. Listen, who doesn't love a referral? It truly all makes the difference. Quick thank yous go out to Queen Lex and Freddie.Bam Bam for the nosy AF theme music. And Emma McGolrick who hooked me up with the COVID art and branding.Shout out to the partners and supporters who for this series, you could check them out in the show notes as well. Super grateful for a partner. Hello. That's the show friends. Until tomorrow. Stay curious and take care. Bye.