We were lucky to catch up with Michelle Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michelle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.

I am a young African American woman from a small African American town. The population is less than 5000 and we were once known as the first black community above the mason-dixie line that was fully operated by African Americans. We have a proud strong history but like most African American communities we have been hurt by the war on drugs (the crack cocaine era), over policing, and trauma related to poverty. This community now struggles to survive but still has produced numerous D1 athletes, young professionals, and caring individuals such as myself. I am a survivor of a single mother and a father who was a drug addict. With the odds stacked against me I have always played safe and low risk due to me feeling the pressure of not having a strong financial foundation. I’ve always been a person who will try anything once and if I like it, I’ll stick with it. You can imagine I’ve switched interests many times in my life but one thing that I have always appreciated was health and wellness. I love exercising, learning about different diets, and overall connecting to what makes people feel better. I know what it is like to feel depressed, unhealthy, and disconnected from something greater than myself. That is why my business Awakening Vibrations is so important to me. As previously stated I typically played safe because of my upbringing but when I experienced the positive effects of reiki healing, my life completely changed. In 2019 I went to get a massage with reiki and ended up being in tears at the end of my session. Reiki is a Japanese form of natural healing through laying hands on an individual to release pressure, pain, and trauma from the body. For 24 years of my life I had walked around with trauma from my parents, lack of financial security, stress from my family, and so much more. That release from all the negative energy changed my life and landed me in a newly found passion. My company foundation is built on the use of reiki in everything that we do. This is not a common business and when I started this company it was a high risk decision because people are still fearful of people who can help them feel better without logical explanation. I had to overcome my mind of caring about how people would feel about my business and take the next step to share this energy with the world. I quit my traditional job and I’ve been pouring my energy into this since. 1 year later I have helped over 100 people and been apart of educating groups of the importance of meditation, energy management, and living a gracious lifestyle within the AA community. I believe if we start with our mental, physical, and spiritual health we can transform our circumstances and turn our communities around. Everyone deserves access to this information but those that are struggling the most would benefit greatly. My mission is to reach millions and bring more love and light to our planet.

Michelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into this industry by natural curiosity, My grandmother was into holistic lifestyles so when I found myself having issues with traditional medicine, I resorted to natural medicine out of desperation and it aligned with my body perfectly. I grew up eating a typical American diet consisting of a lot of meat, processed foods, and little to no fresh fruits or vegetables. When I was 15 I started having severe digestive issues where I started missing many days of school because of the pain. Eventually my doctor told me it was all in my head. He and many others were no help to me. By the time I was 19 years old I had been to the hospital 2 times in the matter of a few months because of the pain. It was interfering with my mood, energy, and now my life. I started studying alkaline diets, vegan/vegetarian lifestyles, and even fasting to heal my body. Anything was worth trying. So in 2014 i cut all artificial sugar, pork, beef, juice/pop, and bread from my diet. I added leafy greens daily, 1/4 of my plate being chicken, turkey, or fish, and ate at least 3 servings of fresh fruit daily. My life changed completely. The doctors at the time never suggested my diet was the culprit of what I now know to be leaky gut and low liver function. I’ve added spring water and herbal teas to my regimen and I feel great.

Once I found that I could make adjustments to my lifestyle in order to feel better and be a better person I made it my mission to help others. I originally went to college for nutrition but it did not align with what I wanted to do. Apart of being a mindfulness lifestyle coach is encouraging people to make changes necessary for their growth and development. I consistently remind them that I have been where they are and that they have the support to transition into whatever their goals are. I provide coaching sessions weekly for most of my clients where we focus on three main areas: becoming more grateful and living heart centered, learning about themselves and different aspects of the energy body, and lastly developing a stronger connection with their spiritual selfs and acquiring their spiritual gifts. In this process we remove negative energy through meditation, reiki, and yoga. A lot of our mental and emotional health is attributed to our gut and physical health so I also offer cold pressed juices to detoxify the body and continue their healing journey. In addition to my juices I have meditation kits that are a step by step guided process on how to meditate for 15 minutes per session. With every session I do sound bowl therapy, tuning forks, and crystals to intensify the energy. This can be done individually or in groups.

I solve mental, physical, and spiritual blocks for my clients. I provide intuitive insight on many of their issues and also outsource them to therapy, massage, yoga, and astrology when they need more than what I provide. Many of them leave with a more confident outlook on life and learn how to manage their energy with the techniques I teach. I am very proud of everyone who takes the first step to know something is off within themselves and they want to change. I am even more proud when they let me know they use the teachings to cope with the everyday issues that life presents to us in a more healthy way. The results are usually clients are more in tune with their emotions, become more present, and they learn to believe in themselves and take risks that they wouldn’t have taken before. They come broken and leave healed. I am very grateful for the process.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

My business is non traditional because it involves a certain level of intuitiveness to successfully help my clients. I have a lot to learn but so far I have found deep connections to self help books and experts in the area of Quantam Physics. I listen to a lot of the best motivational speakers like Les Brown, Steve Harvey, Dr Joe Dispenza, Deepak Chopra, Sadguru, and John Rohn. Books like The Body Keeps the Score by Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk, The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra, Get Over It by Iyanla Vanzant and The Power of Positive Thinking by Dr Norman Vincent Peale are an integral part of my practice for my clients and I suggest all of them to every client. I adhere to Dr Sebi, Dr Llaila Afrika, Iyanla Vanzant, and Queen Afua for their holistic and spiritual teachings. I constantly listen to the new information on the science behind meditation and praying. Also as a beginner the book Crystal Reiki by Krista Mitchell and Chakra Healing by Margarita Alcantara is helpful. I explore all religions and listen to all religious leaders to find the commonality among their messages. My philosophy stands that we should all work to elevate our vibration through love and gratitude, find better ways to live in harmony with nature and balance the forces within ourselves to be better individuals.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I am resilient because I come from a very traumatizing background. I’ve been homeless, parentless, molested multiple times, broke, and had physical health issues. I come from a community that by the time you are 13 you start to experience consistent loss from peers being killed. I have a parent who has been depressed most of my life and I had a parent who was a drug addict. We were so poor at one point we had to wash our clothes in the bathtub. I am not ashamed of who I am and what I come from. I have never stopped moving forward. I have always tried my best to still be a good person. I have always still believed greater things would come for me. It might knock me down but I still would get back up. My life is full of different struggles and none of that could ever compare to being evicted when i was in the 4th grade. I lived with multiple people and it took until I was 26 to realize how that affected me. Through therapy and energy healing I overcame the emotional and mental trauma that caused me. I am still standing and now I am an encouraging story to others that you can shift from pain to sanity through consistent work on yourself spiritually, dietary, and mentally. You can thrive after trauma!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.awakeningvibrationsllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehealersvibe/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michelle.c.brown.75
• Other: tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thehealersvibe

Image Credits
Branson Davis Major Entertainment LLC