We recently connected with Josh Odom and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Josh, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
The idea for Chakra Challenge® came to me while I was meditating. After serving in Iraq for a few years and getting injured, I was forced to seek the path of healing. I thought this healing would only be about my physical injuries; little did I know those issues were just the beginning. I soon realized that I had spiritual, mental and emotional healing to do as well. I sought out many different healing arts, techniques and teachers. Some of these included: yoga, massage therapy, hypnotherapy, metaphysics, spiritual teachings/coaching, acupuncture, reiki, reflexology, breathwork and sound healing. It took many years of trial and error to find some balance in my life and heal the deep wounds that I carried within.
My goal in opening Chakra Challenge was to provide a place of refuge and healing for the community. A sanctuary to come and find balance in the Four Pillars of Existence; the Spiritual, Mental, Emotional and Physical (SMEP). I brought many of the healing arts that I used when I was going through my recovery to Chakra Challenge so others could benefit. I knew that if these holistic services could help me heal from the horrors of war, then they should be able to help heal anyone. I wanted Chakra Challenge to be a one stop shop for mind, body and soul where we don’t just treat physical symptoms like most of western medicine – we focus on and target the underlying causes that produce physical disease, pain, addiction, stress, tension, anger, fear, anxiety and depression. This is what sets us apart.
If you don’t include spiritual work in your healing, then you won’t be truly healed on the inside; you will give in to addiction, anger, judgment, guilt, fear and attack if your relationship with God is not close. There is nothing that Unconditional Love, forgiveness, compassion, truth, faith and good o’l willpower can’t accomplish.
The forefront of our philosophy and practice at Chakra Challenge; “We are all spiritual beings having a physical experience…Love, Truth & Forgiveness is the way home.”
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Prior to becoming a Spiritual Teacher and Life Coach, I served as a soldier in Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003–2004), worked as a Professional Mixed Martial Artist (2005–2008), as a Deputy Sheriff (2008–2009) and as a Private Security Contractor (2009–2012). My identity was tied to being a warrior the majority of my life and the loss of that identity (because of injury) had me questioning whether or not I wanted to go on. It was truly the Dark Night of the Soul, everything seemed to be going wrong in my life.
The idea for creating something like Chakra Challenge was influenced from my personal struggles and experiences throughout life. I was injured in Baghdad, Iraq and had to have three major surgeries; thoracic and lumbar fusions, disk replacements, and an ankle reconstruction. This led to my darkest point in life as the recovery took many years. Fear, doubt, and the unknown weighed heavily on my mind and emotions. Anxiety and depression seemed to be daily companions that seldom took anytime off. Divorce, financial difficulty, loss of purpose and meaning all piled on feelings of loss, despair, and failure.
After working hard for many years to pass all of my physical requirements for federal law enforcement, I was turned down because of my previous injuries, even though I was cleared by the DEA’s medical staff. This was the first thing in life that truly broke me, it made me hit my knees sobbing. I finally reached the bottom; the point we all must reach eventually where we realize there must be a better way than our own. I asked God with all my might what that better way was and if He had something for me to do because I was out of options. In that very instant, I heard a voice. It wasn’t so much what was said – it was a feeling of peace and power that came over me like nothing I had ever felt. From that, I was immediately assured that there was much more to life and death then I knew.
Over the next three years I developed powerful intuition, clairvoyance, clairaudience, vivid dreams and an inner knowing of things that I couldn’t explain. Synchronicities and coincidences began happening daily. I was having psychic experiences quite often. At
first, I was amazed by all of this and thought I was quite special and unique. It took me a while to realize that everyone possesses psychic abilities and can be taught to use them.
To keep it simple, everything is energy. We can either use it negatively or positively throughout our days. Things like fear, judgment, guilt, anger and attack are examples of negative energy that prevent us from using our psychic gifts and being happy. Through the power of forgiveness, the bridge from fear to Love can be restored; truth, peace and joy are the inevitable result.
Chakras represent the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical (SMEP) challenges we are all here to face, balance and master in life. Earth is nothing more than a classroom for the soul to learn all of the lessons of Love and Forgiveness. After meditating one day, I was inspired to develop the Enlightenment Formula which helps to find and heal the root causes of addictions, turbulent emotions and negative thinking. In the end, it proves that forgiveness is the key to happiness.
Chakra Challenge offers many holistic healing services to help people heal, regain balance, and live their true purpose. Some of these services include: spiritual coaching, yoga, metaphysics, hypnotherapy, reflexology, meditation, sound/light therapy, breath work and reiki. These healing services help us to find and stay balanced throughout our daily lives. They help us to build and keep higher levels of energy that can be used to help create the life we were born to live. Our mission is to eliminate negativity and to heal with Love & Forgiveness.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Our initial strategy for growing our clientele was to ensure we had sufficient funding for a ton of marketing efforts. This proved to be important for brand identity and reach but client retention proved to be a different ballgame. When you start a business, you must do so with passion. Being present and getting to know your community is essential for success of the business and for those who are invested in the journey. Every person who walks through our door is greeted with love and given our full attention. Positive energy fills our space and that is what keeps many of our customers, who are now friends, coming back each day –sometimes twice a day!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
For someone like myself, when passionate ideas come about, they must be brought to life. I knew opening my first brick and mortar business would present challenges but my imagination proved too limited at that time. While we had resources to lean on, we missed an important detail that led to a 4-month delay in our opening…We removed the drop ceiling for an open floor concept that required the fire sprinkler system to be relocated higher. This may seem like a quick fix to those who are unfamiliar with building code enforcement (my hand is raised), but it is an extremely tedious process that required architects, engineers, sprinkler specialists, fire marshals, permits and a lot of money that was not in the budget (4-months worth of rent and no operating income).
This overlooked detail was an expensive and painful lesson to learn but with faith, prayer, perseverance and a lot of help from our friends and family, we were able to jump the hurdle and open our doors.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chakrachallenge.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chakrachallenge/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChakraChallenge/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chakra-challenge
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/chakrachallenge
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chakra-challenge-yoga-and-holistic-wellness-boynton-beach
- Other: MINDBODY: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/ws?studioid=5722432&stype=-7&sView=week&sLoc=0 CLASSPASS: https://classpass.com/studios/chakra-challenge-llc-boynton-beach
Image Credits
Casey Carlson