LOUNGE 11:11 ALL IN THE CARDS episodes & WARRIOR WOMAN WORDS OF WISDOM BLOG
EPISODE 8 feat JOSEPHINE SPEAKS
EPISODE 7 feat TATIANNA TAROT
EPISODE 5 feat RED PILL
EPISODE 6 feat DJ RASHIDA
EPISODE 4 feat BLUE PILL
LOUNGE 11:11 ALL IN THE CARDS
EPISODE 3 FEATURING AQUARIUS MAXIMUS
Death bed to Living my best life!
How Sickle Cell & "Pimp My Ride" host Xzibit changed my life!
Use the art of transformation and personal development via isolation to help you thrive during this Pandemic.
posted March 29, 2020 3:03pm PST by Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri
Sickle cell silenced me. As a child, I always wanted to be outgoing. I was held back by my own mind. Overthinking. Do I unveil my excited expressive self? Fun things like running, jumping, playing, dancing, singing and doing impersonations. Will I take it too far? By too far I don’t mean overdoing it because my peers wouldn’t understand my witty charm. I mean physical overexertion and having to explain how doing normal kid activities caused me to go into a sickle cell crisis. What is a crisis? Sickle what? What is that? Some of the questions I feared answering. Hell, I didn’t even know all the answers. I wanted answers! Why do I have this? What did I do? Why me? All too common self inflicted questions by special exceptional people. I can answer your questions confidently and briefly now. Sickle Cell is an inherited blood disease from your parents that cause abnormal oxygen-carrying hemoglobin found in red blood cells. The cells can become rigid, sticky and sickle shaped under certain circumstances. This is called a crisis which can lead to swelling, infection, extreme pain, stroke, and sometimes death.
I remember being 5 and walking up what seemed like 100 flights of steps that were outside a San Francisco building on a cold winter night. I was climbing my way up looking forward to dancing along side Yeye Luisa Teish, author of Jambalaya and revered Osun Priestess, as she played Zora Neal Hurston in the play, The Sanctafied Church. Once I reached the top and entered the building I had a crowd of people around me! Catering to me. But it wasn’t for my acting or dancing extraordinary performance. I was in crisis and it was bad! So bad it left tears rolling down my face with an expression that showed extreme unbearable pain. People were shocked! I made it out of the building to Children’s Hospital in Oakland, CA safely. So don’t worry, I lived! And I received applause for my performance in the play. When it premiered I also had the pleasure to met The Color Purple’s lead actor, Danny Glover. Pretty cool right!? My life was destined to be filled with isolation, transformation and joyous one of a kind fulfilling experiences.
At 21, I did the unspeakable, impossible and not recommended task for a sickle cell patient. I became pregnant and was going to have a baby! Sitting in the hospital a week before giving birth 6 weeks early to my first child, I reflected back on my hospital stays in New Orleans. I was by myself. None of my college associates understood what I was going through to be of assistance. I laid in pain awaiting the arrival of my sister who was driving from Indiana to be at my bedside. It was my first experience away from home having huge sickle cell crisis. They were devastating and life changing. My first and last week of college year one. I fell too far behind as a pre-med student and decided to leave a city I loved. That brought me back to California. Long Beach to be exact.
Long Beach is a beautiful city. I relied heavily on it’s natural beauty because the people I was in contact with were a different vibe. I remember riding down the never ending streets of Long Beach when Xzibit switched gears from rapping and began hosting the hit show “Pimp My Ride”. The body shops were poppin'. The ride pimpin' aficionado's had a boasting air about them like, 'y’all late, we been doing this'. And folks that were debating whether or not they should take that leap were finally convinced. Then, there were those of us who were in awe of the process. Wanting to look and touch and smell this tangible transformation. 'Thinking, oh snap you see that! You see what they just did with their hands and pure creative thoughts!' This was amazing to me. However, I still felt very alone and couldn’t relate to the lifestyle or energy. I spent many days and nights listening to India Arie and Erykah Badu sitting by the ocean. That was my peace. As a girl from the Bay, more specifically Oakland, SoCal seemed fake. But “Pimp My Ride” was real. It quickly became an obsession of mine. I would sit in awe at the tv then, take a drive singing my heart out with India to have a good cry at the ocean. That was my life. Sounds lame and pathetic but I realized later that this was the beginning of my transformation!
I became pregnant and quickly decided this was not an environment to raise my child. Oakland, home was. So I moved.
Pimping rides led to HGTV! Enthralled by the more grandiose transformations of homes, I gained inspiration through the landscapes, color palates, feng shui and of course the rags to riches metamorphosis. I wanted to “host” transformation like Xzibit! That subconscious knowing led to my thirst of knowledge and expression in massage therapy, Reiki, making one of a kind pieces of jewelry, music, cardology and elevating to Reiki Master Teacher. Special thanks to all my teachers and readers XULA, NHI, Nedra Williams, Aquarius Maximus, Tomeekha Pitre and many more.
Even though I have yet to fulfill all 3 things on my list of career choices I wrote as a 17 year old child, the journey always comes full circle. I did not become a doctor however, I offer cardology insight to my clients health and lifestyle. I offer coaching and counseling just not with a psychology “degree”. I am a massage therapist but focus more on teaching Reiki self love healing techniques.
I’ve had a tremendous amount of downloads from being in isolation in my bedroom or at the hospital that led to: song lyrics, book ideas and finished product, how I want to mother my children. And more ambitious dreams, like pitching my ideas and talking to Oprah about how to execute them, reaching into bags and suitcases full of money, having JAY-Z hop on stage after my music set because my song Warrior Woman inspired him leading to a song feature with Beyoncé. Although those are still dreams and visions that I trust they will happen.
I’ve had amazing things happen in my life! WolfHawkJaguar, world music artist performer extrodinaire, award winning filmmaker/actor, tapped into my talents and mentored me back to my passionate love of music. We've created music, family and performed together all over the world. I’ve opened for singer Aloe Blacc, Damien Marley international reggae artist, Congress Woman Barbara Lee, producer/singer/songwriter Georgia Ann Muldrow, performed in front of over 60,000 people at the Women’s March. I’ve collaborated with one of the illest rappers who does an extremely limited amount of features Sa-Roc, as well as world famous Tajai Massey of Hieroglyphics & Souls of Mischief, the late great Prince’s dj, Dj Rashida, Jinho The Piper of Flipsyde, Dr. Lynne Morrow musical director of the Oakland Symphony Chorus and more. I was a poster child for Children’s Hospital and defied many Sickle Cell odds like: living past childhood, 21 and now 36. Not only am I living, I am Thriving! I am a wife! Let me tell you, it takes a whole lot of strength, courage, love, dedication and more to be married to anyone who battles disease. And for sickle cell patients depression, medication and isolation can quickly take over your life almost never allowing for the opportunity to meet a potential soulmate. I have given birth to 6 children! Six children is a feat for any person but to have sickle it is EXTRAORDINARY! Life has been a beautiful journey thus far. And in 2019 I was blessed with the honor of performing for the author of The Color Purple, Alice Walker at her private show.
I say all this to reiterate transformation is possible. You can Pimp your life. Lol. That sounds politically incorrect but if you really resonate with my message you feel what I’m saying.
The Stay in Place/Social Distancing we are currently in is forced isolation much like when I'm in a sickle cell crisis. I am thankful for sickle cell because it was a way, an extreme way lol, my spirit guides sat me down to communicate with me especially when I wasn’t listening. You can take advantage of this forced sit down as well. Develop daily rituals that allow your spirit guides to communicate with you to receive the messages they have that are explicitly for you. We are going through a collective shift. This is not common by any means. Normally, isolation involves one person going inward to heal and grow. Mother Earth, the spiritual energy we reside in, wants us all to go within individually but together to collectively to shift our focus and lives to a more sustainable way of life. Family. Healing. Health. Longevity. Legacy. Reciprocity. Abundance in a new way. Take advantage of your time!
Osunfemi is a vocalist. You can find her voicing her transformation and guidance in her music, healing workshops and cardology readings.
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