SPEAKER_01 1:45

Welcome back to another episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Chantelle Davis, a wellness advocate, yoga instructor, and entrepreneur dedicated to empowering Black women through holistic healing. As the founder of Goddess of Herbs, Chantel creates herbal teas and wellness experiences that blend traditional practices with modern insight. Her passion for decolonized health and self-care is evident as she integrates yoga, herbal medicine, and community activism to help women reclaim their well-being. Chantel is deeply committed to exploring the intersection of epigenetics, neuroscience, and quantum physics to deepen her understanding of the mind-body connection. Her goal is to bring transformative wellness practices to her community, offering a holistic approach that caters to the unique needs of black women. Through her work, she inspires others to embrace their journey towards health and healing and honors both ancestral wisdom and contemporary knowledge. Okay, I love it.

SPEAKER_04 3:12

So recording?

SPEAKER_01 3:16

All right, so how are you doing today, Chantel? Great, happy to be here. Thank you for being here, actually. Thank you for inviting me. No problem. So we kind of like to start off each episode with a little bit of background history about your growing up childhood. What was it like for you?

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Well, uh, I grew up here in Charleston, and I spent some time in Louisiana, Baton Rouge, and I spent a year in DC with my aunt. Um, grew up on James Island. Um, yeah. Okay, you have any siblings? I do. I have I'm the oldest of four. My mom, I say my mom has two sets of kids. She had me and my brother. We're three years apart. Ten years later, she decided to have my other brother and then my sister, and they're three years apart. Okay. So yeah, we um have a really good close bond with each other.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

What was it like growing up in Louisiana?

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Um, it was nice. Uh, we spent a lot of time out in the country. Called it's a place called Gonzales. Um, so it was really nice being out in nature, spending that time with cousins, running through the field barefoot, living that um country lifestyle.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Um they don't do that anymore. No. So um you're into neuroscience, epigenetics, all this stuff. Do you know voodoo? Voodoo. I just had to jump into it. You said Louisiana, so I'm like, okay, she must know some tricks. I practice voodoo. Okay. Okay. But do you know anyone that that was into it? I said my grandmother does. I see, I knew it was around, you know. I just had to get that question out because it was not in in the question.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

You got voodoo as a religion, you got voodoo as a practice, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:08

But do you you don't do you practice it or no? I don't. Okay. I do not. Okay. So as a child, how did you know that when you when did you have your first spiritual encounter or that you can remember?

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Spiritual encounter? I would say um I've always been spiritual. I've always had um a certain level of awareness and sensitivity to people and places. Um, I I don't remember a moment not being spiritual. I think um everything we do is spiritual. Um the physical starts in this in the spiritual, so everything happens in the spirit first and then it manifests into the physical realm. So everything you do is spiritual.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

I agree, I agree. Thanks. And how has your inner tuition intuition grown over the years?

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Um, I would say it's grown. I I wouldn't say grown, I'm just trusting it more. Um instead of using that logical side of my brain, um, I tap into my intuition more, into the feeling of things, into my heart.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

So yeah. When that logical side of the brain comes into play, how do you tell it to like, okay, no, I'm not listening to you right now. I'm focusing on my inner self, my meditation.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Meditation. So taking a step back, breathing, clearing the mind, um, getting centered with myself so I can really hear what is what my intuition is trying to tell me. Really listen to my heart and what I really truly desire or what I'm trying to gain from a situation. And how often do you meditate? Every day. How long? Uh five, at least five minutes all the way up until an hour. So I have to I have to have some type of meditation, even if it's just me taking a five-minute break just to center myself.

SPEAKER_04 7:22

Do you have any like particular meditative practices you do, or is it just kind of sit in silence, kind of?

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Um, sometimes I do a get a guided meditation where I'll have someone, I'll listen and have someone guide me um through it. But most of the time it's just me sitting. Um so meditation is people think of it as like you're not supposed to think about anything. Right. That's the bad thing about that logical brain, it's like the thought you just gotta wear it out. It's not not thinking, what it is, is it's not attaching to the thoughts that come. Yes, allowing it to come and go. Not a lot, not attaching it and going down that spiral with the dots. It's just observing the thought, not judging it, um, just letting it pass by, letting it go through.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

That's a healing within itself. So I want to go into more of like how do you teach women to heal themselves?

SPEAKER_00 8:20

I would say I hold space for them. Um I teach them about the body. So the body holds memory. People don't realize that the body, when you're you may go through something traumatic, and your conscious mind may not be able to handle that traumatic thing, and so you may suppress some of that, but the body still remembers everything that happens. So I teach people how to tap into your body, how to come back into the body so that you can um find awareness of what that where the trauma is. And then once you figure out where the trauma is, then I can start to teach you how to release the trauma or stress. It could be it, it doesn't necessarily have to be a traumatic event. Sometimes we just go through uh stresses throughout uh through throughout our lives that we need to release. Like animals are really good at going through a traumatic event and then being able to shake it off and come back to center and not letting that traumatic event affect them for the rest of their lives. We humans are not so good at that.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

But I think sometimes it's because we're trying to like hide it or bottle it up, like hide it from ourselves. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

That didn't happen today.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Right. We don't value vulnerability, we don't see it as a strength when it absolutely is a strength, it's a superpower to be vulnerable with people.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

So I agree. Yeah, so talk about the different ways that you release the trauma or stress. I know you said you do yoga and meditation.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

So uh breath work, breathing is a great way to center and start to tap into um the body and getting the body to remember and release any stagnic or traumatic energy that's in the body. Um, movement, so yoga, dancing, um, somatic healing, so sound is really good at releasing um traumatic energy, stress. Those are some of the things I start off with teaching people. Those are really simple, it doesn't cost anything to do those things, and um everybody knows how to do that. You know how to sh scream, you know how to breathe.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

We asked you earlier to scream it. Yeah, you guys, it was like a song. We had to, you know, scream. Scream. So I holding all that energy in it plays a big role in how you talk to people, how you come across. Have you seen a a difference in people after doing your techniques? So maybe the breath work, what was a difference in their lifestyle or their attitude?

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Um you feel lighter, actually. You don't feel because energy can be negative energy can be heavy. It can kind of feel like people say, I have the weight of the world on my shoulder. So once you tend to, once you release that energy, you feel a lightness, you feel um clarity. Um you are not up in the mind, you're more in the body, grounded. Um, those are the some of the things I hear people say. Those are some of the things I've experienced as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

I would say grounding, now that you say that is another good thing to do. You know, walking on the bare earth with your feet in the grass and absorbing the sun as much as possible.

SPEAKER_04 12:00

Or even just paying attention to your sensory. You know, what am I smelling? What am I hearing? What other things are there than what I'm paying attention to?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Slowing down.

SPEAKER_04 12:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Yeah. And people don't realize we exchange ions with the earth. So you you're releasing positive ions and picking up negative ions from the earth. And so we don't we have plastic rubber on the bottom of our shoes that doesn't allow us to have that exchange with Mother Earth.

SPEAKER_04 12:29

So literally grounding.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yes. It's also healing. So if you are having pain, um, going out and standing in the grass will help alleviate some of that.

SPEAKER_04 12:42

I tell people sometimes it's like I gotta be out in nature knowing that everything's right. Like, like it lets the animal brain just like know, hey, oh no, it's good, it's good. We're good. Whatever you're wearing, it's fine. The birds are still chirping, everything's still fine, it's fine.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Right. Because we're we're constantly communicating with the universe, Mother Earth. And because we're so busy, we don't necessarily pay attention to that. And so, like when you go out into nature, she you're able to listen and hear, right? And then you're able to to tap into that intuition and be confident, and then also being in in nature and grounding yourselves help you helps you to um tap into that perisympathetic nervous system, so that allows you to to create a safe space. I'm safe instead of sort of calm, yeah, because calm your nervous system. Wow, and so you're like, yeah, everything is right in the world, everything is good.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Talk about um some of the herbs that you use daily for yourself and different herbs that women, other women can use to help heal themselves.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Yes, um, I would say um herbal tea is one of the safest ways to introduce herbs into your system. Um, some of the herbs I would start off with would be um holy basil. Um, holy basil is good for stress and balance balancing. Um ashwagandha is an adaptogen, it's really good for your adrenos. It's another one that's good for stress. Um, what else? Nettle is a good one, it's full of minerals, it's um good for nourishing the body. Um, ginger is really good, it's good for um digestion and your immune system. Um, what else?

SPEAKER_01 14:47

I love ginger, yeah. It's really good. You can use ginger on anything. Like I would I will literally I've been starting to use ginger as seasoning. Yes. And I'm like, okay, I'm getting a little carried away here. I just want all the ginger.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yes, because it's such a warming herb. It's a fiery herb. Yeah, so it's it's like a nice little hug.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

What um herbs do you use while you're cooking?

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Uh I love ginger, I love thyme, rosemary, um, basil, uh, what else? Pepper. People don't think of pepper as an herb, but yes, pepper. Um cumin. Um, what else? It's so many, so many. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

So I want to go into like your vibration and the the light that we all carry within ourselves. Can you tell us about how important it is to just be a a light in this world with all this darkness?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Well, I think first you have to um that's a very good question. Being a light in this world amongst all the darkness.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Because we all carry energy. We do. And like you said, if we don't release that energy, we can be given off negative energy.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

And you don't want to do that if someone's being positive and you're giving off negative, so well, I I say we we also have to honor the negative energy, like we can't just be positive all the time, it's about balance. So I don't want people to think like you you suppress your negative energy that you don't um look at the negative because it's coming up for a reason.

SPEAKER_04 16:34

Worse feel guilty about it, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Right? We want to have compassionate self-forgiveness, um, have compassion for yourself. So that's a way to um introduce more light is having self-compassion, compassion for other people, taking a moment to like put yourself in a person's shoes can shine light. Um self-care, taking care of yourself. You know what I mean? Taking and I don't mean like consumerism, going out there and spending care. Yeah, break down the self-care, please. So not going out there and spending your money, but really listening to your body and what your body is telling you that it needs. Like you may need to just turn on some music and dance a little bit. You may need to go out in nature, you may need to uh find your support system and go hang out with them and let them pour into you. Um, another way to find more light is to not try to give when you're depleted. I know we all know about like your cup should be full, but I it's not only full, your cup should be running over, right? And so what is running out of the cup is for everybody else, and what's in the cup is for you. So if you keep your cup full, it's a way for you to allow your light to shine in this world. So I I would say being selfish is a way to allow your light to shine.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

I always say that self-care isn't selfish. And when you talk about your cup running over, can you talk about how important it is to have people that water you?

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Like a community.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Because we're, you know, we we know that being of service is a good thing. But when you're depleted, are you really able to give a hundred percent of yourself? Are you really able to do the best job in a situation? Are you really able to give what you're trying to give if your cup is empty? I don't think so. I think, like I said, being selfish, focusing on yourself first, like Michael Jackson said, take a look at the man in the mirror. So look at the person in the mirror again, asking yourself, what do you need today? Let me fill my cup up until it runs over. And once it's running over, then I can give to people who who need it. If I'm if I don't have it, how am I giving to people? Wow. That's major.

SPEAKER_04 19:15

And sometimes pulling back is self-care.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Absolutely. Now I want to go into, of course, the divine feminine. Um, how do you how can you describe the divine feminine to somebody who's not aware of it?

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Uh I would describe divine feminine as nurturing, intuitive, um, allowing, um, receiving um grounding and flow. That's how I would describe divine feminine. So very creative, very intuitive, um, very grounding, nurturing energy.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

And how important is it for all of us, even men, to possess this?

SPEAKER_03 20:12

Yeah, we have to do it. Well, because they already have it.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Yeah, you have it, but how you can't.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Like I said, we all have masculine and feminine energy, and so um it's about balance, right? It's not because masculine energy is about logic, it's about um discipline, it's about um structure. You need a little bit of intuition to go along with your logic, you need a little bit of nurturing to go along with that discipline, right? And so, like, if you're too much in your masculine, it can cause you to break. You need some softness, you need that balance of the feminine to and feminine energy will allow you to tap into your masculine even more so you can make those decisions for yourself, so you can have discipline into your life. So, it's about balance. We're not trying to be all masculine and not have that nurturing side of us.

SPEAKER_04 21:21

Logic and reason will lie to you. You will lie to yourself about all kinds of things, particularly if you're not like okay with logic and reason not being the end-all. It's like our our society now is very much like if it's not logical and rational, then like it's BS.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

Right.

SPEAKER_04 21:46

That really screws us up and it puts us on this trajectory where like you don't trust your intuition and you don't trust your uh uh vibe about somebody. And we all know that that's spot on a lot of times. Like we have instincts, we know a predator, like it's it goes back a long way. You know what it look feels like when a lion looking at you is is there, right? And and I feel like and perhaps it's because like that masculine idea has been asset like associated so much with like men, and that it's the only thing that we're allowed to embody is that masculinity, but we're really screwing up the culture with it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Your your energy should really be androgynous, right? That allows you to have balance in the masculine and the feminine. So, like I challenge you all, like on your way home to tap into the feminine energy, chap, tap into your intuition. Um I don't know, I know we've all been on the road, and like something's telling you you have your route home, and you're like, I always take this route home, but something's telling me to take a different route, right? And you're like, why is why is why is it telling me to take a different route, right? And you listen to it and you take the the different route, it may be five, 10 minutes longer, however, your normal route, it was a 10-car pile-up, right? And you would have been 20 minutes late getting home to get your kid off the bus. Like listening to that intuition, because again, the universe, nature is always communicating with us. And so, like, if you just go with the flow, tap into that intuition and trust yourself, um, you made it home in time to pick up your kid from school.

SPEAKER_04 23:41

Do you have a like an explanation or a story of like where that comes from? From like and I call it story because it's like, you know, every time we're talking about stuff that's not tangible, like we have we all have our own little story or description about what in our mind.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Yeah, about what it is.

SPEAKER_04 23:57

And you know, some people would say, Well, that's you know, angels, or that's your higher self, or like to you, what is where does that intuition come from?

SPEAKER_00 24:05

I think it comes from the oneness, universal law, divine oneness. Like we're all connected, we're connected, we we are connected here in this room, we're connected to Mother Earth, and again, we're constantly communicating with each other. And so, like, like you said, the society that we live in live in now, it doesn't honor that side, it doesn't honor the feminine, right? It it honors the masculine, what you can see. You have to be able to see it in front of your face to believe it. Where we know that the feminine is in the darkness, right? It's in the subconscious mind, right? And so, like giving honor to that.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

I was just gonna head into that, the consciousness and subconscious, you know. So it's like, okay, I'm conscious of what's going on around me, but my subconscious is, you know, buried, but you have to tap into that. So, how can you honor the subconscious, if that makes sense? How can you make it stronger?

SPEAKER_00 25:06

I guess knowledge is power. When you realize that 95% of what you do in your conscious life is ruled by the unconscious, subconscious mind, you're going to start to get curious about that, right? Like if you know that um the way you grew up in your childhood, things that happen in your childhood, you may not be conscious of it right now, but unconsciously it's controlling how you behave, it controls the environments you put yourself in, it controls whether you're self-sabotaging. And once you realize that you start to get curious, well, let me let me start to dig and figure out what's in the unconscious mind that's causing me to behave or have these um situations come up for me. Curiosity, get curious about it, get curious about your because 95%, that's a lot. That means like only 5% of your conscious mind, you have like you have control over how your day is gonna turn out.

SPEAKER_04 26:18

You're worried about the email you gotta write. Your body is worried about your protein and your sugar levels.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Right, right. So get curious about your con your unconscious mind because it's controlling who you are, the the friends you pick, the relationships you have. Um start to dig up some of that stuff, do the shadow work, do shadow work, meditation, getting grounded in your body, listening to the body, because the body speaks to us, the body is always trying to keep us in homeostasis, right? The body is trying to survive, and so like you talk about needing protein, the body, you you may be um feeling achy all over, and you're like, This darn body, you have uh achy knee, but no, you need to be thankful, yeah, because the body is communicating like, hold on, take a minute, slow down, something's going on. Um, it's a warning signal. Yeah, pay attention to me before I hurt you.

SPEAKER_04 27:22

The subconscious is not that subconscious, we're just telling it to shut up all the time. Correct, right? We get those bad vibes about people. That subconscious is very like, it's just a different type of consciousness that we've just been taught to ignore it.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

That kind of goes into um yoga because I love doing yoga. So when I'm doing yoga, I literally will like kiss my body. Like, thank you, knees, thank you, arms, thank you. Like, I literally have to show my body appreciation for surviving, holding me strong, you know. So, can you talk about the impacts of yoga and how has it helped you in learning more about your body?

SPEAKER_00 28:01

Yoga has helped me so much. It has helped me with my anxiety, it's helped me with my balance, with my strength. Um, it it also helped me to deal with trauma. Um, yoga for me is a holistic approach to healing. Um, you're connecting the breath, the spirit, the mind, and the body together. Um, so when I do yoga, um I try to do it in the morning and in the evening. I too give great um thanks and and gratitude to my body while I'm doing yoga. Um, I would tell people to start off with just one pose. You would be so surprised how just doing one pose will um benefit you. Yeah. Um, yoga is not just about the asanas, it's actually eight limbs to yoga. Um and so it talks about like withdraw withdrawing your senses and going inward. Um, and we talk about the subconscious mind. I wanted to let you know that's feminine too. That's feminine um energy.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Okay. Um so yoga is a beautiful thing once you start to practice. I tell people not to judge yourself, yeah. Uh, not to be if you go to a yoga studio, um, don't be concerned with the other people on their mat. I promise you they're not concerned, which they're not. They don't care.

SPEAKER_04 29:31

What do you do with them?

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Um, so yeah, just start off with one pose. Practice that one pose. Um, because yoga and the the asanas in yoga is to help you to be comfortable in your body with sitting for a long extended period of time so that you can meditate, right? It goes right back to the mind, right? And spirit. So don't think of yoga as just the asanas. Start to really dive deep into it, learn the other eight limbs of it, um, so that you have a holistic approach to your wellness.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

So can you tell us um what do most people come to you for?

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Uh truly to hold space. People really just need someone to be compassionate, non-judgmental, and to hold that space for them, to be vulnerable, to tap into um the unconscious, subconscious mind, um, and a space where they can release that and not be judged. That's really what they come come to me for. Yeah. The other stuff is just extra.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Yeah. But you give off that energy where it's trusting, and because once you first walked in, it's just a calmness that comes over you.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Yes, yes. I um I worked to get here. I used to carry a lot of anxiety. I used to have a lot of social anxiety. Again, um, cleaning up my diet, um, doing yoga, being selfish, setting boundaries really helped me to get to the place that I am now.

SPEAKER_04 31:20

What's your son?

SPEAKER_00 31:21

A Taurus.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

Wow. Most Taurus I know like to fight.

SPEAKER_04 31:27

And you don't seem like we are more than our son's son.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

There's a lot going on. Right. You have to really push us to that point. Yeah. Like where we really want to fight you. Tauruses are lovers, they're ruled by Venus. We love love. We wanna, we love our our space as well, but we love people, we don't want to fight.

SPEAKER_04 31:48

Yeah, I'm a Taurus rising, I think. Cancer, Cancer, Aquarius, Taurus.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

I don't know my whole chart. I should be ashamed of my. So, how can people get in contact with you or find you on social media or schedule appointments with you?

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Yes, you can find me at A Goddess of Herbs on Facebook and Instagram. I also have a website, a goddess of herbs.com. Um, just shoot me a DM.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

Is there anything else you want the people to know about you that we didn't cover today?

SPEAKER_04 32:38

Anything coming up for you?

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Uh, well, I am uh I am doing a six-week beginner workshop, um, yoga workshop. Um, as soon as I find a location, I will be posting that on my social media website, but that will be coming up um mid-April.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Okay. Yeah, let us know so we can, you know, repost or share anything to help support you. Absolutely. You know, people like to travel in Columbia, so they they'll come down here for that. Oh, especially after they see this episode and they hear about the benefits of yoga.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Yes, yoga is very beneficial. Again, just start with one pose, one pose, and it's more to yoga than just the asanas. Yeah, yoga is about meditation, yoga is about going within. Um, so yeah, start to tap into that. And it's free. Oh, your class? Well, I do offer. Well, I know yoga, period. It's free. Yeah, well, I thought you went to your class. I'm like, ah, you need some money, right? I do offer uh no at no cost um yoga sessions in the park when it starts to get a little today is a beautiful day. It is um when it starts to get a little warmer. Um, I will I usually go to Riverfront Park if they have no events or Hampton Park. So yeah, you could come out and do yoga for free at no cost to you. We do accept donations, though. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Always accepting donations. We gotta build an economy, you guys. So it's float the money. Well, I'm just gonna sign off and say thank you for a great episode. We do want to have you on again so we can talk about other things. So we'll stay in contact with you.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

I would love to come on again. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

So, today, guys, we're at Lynx Recording Studio here in Charleston, South Carolina at 1668 Old Trolley Road. And this place, this space is available to book if you would like. It's gonna be your podcast here. And we have other rooms available, so just DM us if you guys would like or interested. And I'm just gonna sign off. And we're here with Mike. Sophia, DJ Ann Wood, and our esteemed guest, Chantel Davis. Thank you for being here and tell someone you love them and have a great day.