“I realized that in making the decisions that felt right to me, that’s when things really started to work,” Johnson says. “That was when I started to feel whole again, that was when the weight dropped. All good things happened when I started to lean on what I knew to be the truth for me.”
So for 360.Mind.Soul.Body, Johnson cultivated a sense of togetherness that dismissed the myth that Black women, who primarily comprise its membership, can’t motivate each other. In fact, 360.Mind.Soul.Body is the complete opposite. There, women hold each other up.
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“I think that our sisterhood is completely necessary,” Johnson says. “We need each other to share our stories and to get through situations.”
When Johnson first started as a fitness professional, she tried to train her clients individually, but they just weren’t losing weight. She noticed that they weren’t holding themselves accountable and knew that in a group setting, they could be more successful.
“If you’ve ever tried to lose weight by yourself, there’s a lot of room for quitting,” Johnson says. “You can go to the best gym with the best bells and whistles, but you have to be the one to use that equipment.”
This principle of group activity extends to Johnson’s popular challenges – like the annual Bikini Challenge – which are growing exponentially each year. Currently, 104 members are divided into teams that take responsibility for each other’s weight loss and fitness progress to build individualized plans that turn into lifelong habits.
“What we preach is a lifestyle,” Johnson says. “We don’t do 30-day challenges. They’re more like three-month and six-month challenges, with seven or eight classes per week to try to concentrate you into this lifestyle surrounded by like-minded people who are all doing the same thing within the same sort of situation as you.”
To keep clients motivated on their goals, Johnson stresses the importance of being present: thinking about what actions can and should be done right now. The benefit of focusing on current tasks, she’s seen, is that people don’t feel the need to compensate their shortcomings with unhealthy habits like junk food and liquor.
“If you practice being in the now, life opens up for you. You don’t have to numb your way through it.”
For more about Ashanti Johnson, visit 360.Mind.Body.Soul website at www.360mbs.com.
Mind, Body & Soul Sisters: How Entrepreneur Ashanti Johnson Gets Black Women Fit Through Sisterhood was originally published on blackdoctor.org
