We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chianni Powell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Chianni thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Healing is a big risk. Surrendering into the unknown as you delve into and unearth the darkest parts of self that have been buried and forgotten for years is an unexpectedly and yet entirely necessary risk.
Choosing to meet myself at my lowest point as I came face to face with my own demons has been the most challenging risk I’ve ever taken. It has been a journey of pivots and constant relearning. That risk taking leap of faith wasn’t one of exhilaration! It was terrifying and eye opening – and yet allowing myself to love and cherish the harmed and traumatized parts of me has been the singular most important part of my journey thus far. I could have continued on, in that ignorant bubble of bliss, but Pandora’s box had to be opened in order for me to come face to face with wholeness. It’s a never ending journey, but one that I would readily take over and over again.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a powerful enforcer of change. I’ve always been someone who sees a problem/issue as something that has the potential to be fixed, and I think that I’ve always seen the world as something that needed my magic and my love. I know it sounds kind of cliche, but that phrase “love is all you need” has always been a motto of mine. When I was 18 I got the phrase “love never fails” tattooed on my ribs, and it devastated me when almost every woman who saw it said: “how I wish that was true”. It gave me a purpose, and a desire to show the world something different. The journey to finding that modality for me took around 5 years. One night, I was in the middle of my own deep post partum depression, and my empath heart allowed the pain of the world to penetrate me to my core. I felt the agony of millions of lives that could have been changed if only they felt a small semblance of the infinite love I carry within. I found reiki soon after and it catapulted me into my own healing, unearthing years of indoctrination and brainwashing that I didn’t even realize had been so deeply ingrained in me. I chose to dive all the way in, and began learning everything there was to know about crystals, energy, the universe and frequency. It wasn’t long before I decided I needed to share this with other women, so I started offering women’s healing circles and gatherings. I was met with so much love and deep gratitude, watching as each one encountered powerful shifts, witnessing the magic of their transmutation unfold, but I wasn’t done with my own healing. I encountered sister wounds, witch wounds, and mother wounds I didn’t even know I had, cementing in me the knowledge of how much of a necessity this healing work actually is.
I’ve now been doing this for over 6 years, and know that my work has literally just begun. In the time that I’ve begun healing myself, I’ve been witnessing my family line begin to heal – watching my mother become empowered, cultivating a deeply nourishing relationship with her (never in a million years did I think my mother would become my best friend, and yet – SHE IS) as she also has begun to heal her own relationship with her mother. When we heal ourselves, the relationships around us change too – with the universe either super charging them, or showing you that they no longer serve you. Friends that I thought would be forever, stripped away, however painfully, have made way for relationships that are flowing with love and affection. But I digress.
I am a lighthouse. A shining light that provides a safe path for those seeking healing. But my light is only for the ones who are ready to witness themselves in their entirety. This work strips away the defenses and carefully cultivated shields that keep the darkness in. This work does not take the darkness and destroy it. This work is the one that lovingly shapes the darkness, providing my clients a way to come face to face with wholeness – a mirror in which to fully appreciate the complexities of the human experience. I am the key that opens Pandora’s box, but I am also the trainer of the shadows that escape. I teach women how to integrate and accept these shadows and hidden aspects so that they can understand themselves on a much deeper, almost transcendent level.
My light cannot shine as brightly as it must without my darkness. And neither can theirs.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My entire work journey has involved pivoting! I’ve built 4 business plans from the ground up, each one with a different partner, each one revealing to me that my magic/light is not for everyone; each one has been an expansion of another, each one teaching me about different shadows within myself, each one leading me to greater, deeper, more fulfilling purpose. No longer do I feel the need to have someone else to partner with, I’m empowered and confident now, even if all of those pivots brought some of the deepest heartache into my life.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My main goal is to see the people closest to me thriving, living their best life in the most healed version of themselves! My hope is to be a beacon of love and light to all who cross my path, each one leaving my presence changed for the better, loving themselves more deeply, connecting to the earth with more intention. To make the mundane into something sacred. To find ritual and beauty where one might see routine.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.newagehippiemama.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/iamchianni