Exploring Life & Business with Tiana Sherrod of The Healing Corning and Flowtious Soul Yoga

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiana Sherrod.

Hi Tiana, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
It was during my time in graduate school that I fell in love with the practice of yoga and advocating for mental health and wellness. At that time I didn’t have aspirations of being a yoga instructor.

Practicing yoga was more about slowing down for myself and engaging in physical practice (Asana). I was pursuing my career as a therapist and I enjoyed the ease and relaxation it provided me during stressful times personally and professionally. However, my focus was on starting my career as a therapist.

The more I practiced as a therapist, the more I adopted the holistic perspective of considering each individual in mind, body, and spirit considering barriers systemically and traumas experienced. I tried to incorporate this as much as I could within the realms of practicing in mental health agency settings because treatment goes by their rules, training, and selected modalities.

As I began to learn about trauma-informed yoga and decided that I wanted to pursue Yoga Teacher Training but it didn’t happen immediately due to the associated cost and other professional goals I had at the time. I also wasn’t quite ready to pursue my goal of private practice, so I began advocating in the ways I could. In 2018, I founded the nonprofit Healthy Pleasures Inc.

I hosted self-care events, workshops participated in panels, and more. In 2018 to raise awareness and reduce the stigma associated with mental health, I started the Cope for the Culture Podcast 2019 geared toward discussing mental health topics and experiences as it relates to black and minority communities. I also published a Self Care Journal ” Letters to the Queen’s Soul, The Journey to Queendom and Self-Care Planners. My dreams were slowly but surely becoming a reality.

In 2020 during the pandemic, I finally got my chance to pursue my 200 hr Yoga Teacher Training. I received a scholarship from My Vinyasa Practice based in Houston, Texas. This studio was one of many that were offering scholarships at the time. The scholarship came about after the trauma associated with the murder of George Floyd and the many other lives lost at the hands of the police.

The scholarship was specific to helping diversify and decolonize the yoga space to make training more accessible to Yogis of color. This was to help others experience yoga teachers that looked like them and could also have an understanding of their experiences.

After completing my training in 2020, I began teaching classes immediately on a donation-based level and opened my online/mobile yoga company Flowtious Soul Yoga (pronounced Flow-Choo-Us). I didn’t stop my training there. In 2021, I went on to pursue my 300 hr yoga teacher training through Lenaya Crawford’s Holistic Therapist Academy making me a 500 hr CYT. This training allowed me to bridge the gap between the work I was doing as a trauma therapist and a yoga instructor. I began putting together things for myself and making connections that would allow my dreams to become a reality. Having this additional knowledge/framework gave me the courage to pursue Private Practice full time through the Healing Corner, PLLC.

Within the past two years, I have been able to offer yoga in the form of Weekly Virtual Yoga Classes, Virtual Corporate Wellness Yoga Classes, and private 1-1 sessions. prenatal Yoga, Virtual Yoga classes for various Non-Profit Organizations, Yoga within Schools, and Collaborating with other Wellnesspreneurs.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My journey to becoming a Wellness-preneur wasn’t a straight one but I wouldn’t trade the journey. Each step along the way led me exactly to where I am now. I have always had the desire and passion to help others. As a child, I thought I would feed this desire by pursuing a degree in Medicine.

It was my childhood dream to be a pediatrician. Anyone close to me knew this. At the end of my sophomore year of college, I realized becoming a pediatrician wasn’t the right track for me to help people. I decided to transition my major to Human Development and Family Studies and later pursued my Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

As I embarked on my career as a therapist, I started to learn more about the impact of trauma beyond what I learned in my school training. I was gaining a real word perspective and my passion to help others increased in a different way. I began to lean Into this innate feeling that there was more to healing than what we focused on soles in the mind.

It was my goal to pursue private practice but it was important for me to gain the knowledge I needed to provide therapy services in the way I desired. I transitioned from behavioral-based therapy to trauma-based. From my experiences, I was learning the behaviors and symptoms were a result of traumatic experiences. It became vital for me to transition my focus to a more holistic view.

I quickly became an advocate for all things wellness, mental health, and healing.

In September of 2019 my holistic view was put to the test.  I was diagnosed with MS and the farthest thing from my mind was teaching others to find safety in their body when I was struggling with my own. Being a therapist became harder because I wasn’t operating in a space of normalcy anymore. The diagnosis shook my world mentally, emotionally, physically and changed the relationship I had with my body. Most days work was a chore because I couldn’t wrap my mind around the changes I was going through. During the pandemic, yoga allowed me to have an outlet to the pain I was experiencing. Yoga was a big part of bringing me back to balance and reconnecting with my body in ways I hadn’t done before. I wanted to offer similar opportunities to others who may have been struggling and had something that changed their lives or relationships with their bodies. It’s still a surprise to others at times that I even have the diagnosis because I continue my life regardless. Don’t get me wrong, it definitely has impacted me but I don’t want MS to be my story or my reason for not pursuing my dreams.

I had to put in the hours to gain my full license and get the training I desired prior to stepping into private practice. In 2020, I started the behind-the-scenes work of building my private practice. I invested in myself and training by learning ways to incorporate my holistic mental tools into my work as a trauma therapist.

In December 2021, I made the transition to Private practice full-time through The Healing Corner, PLLC, and Flowtious Soul Yoga.

As you know, we’re big fans of The Healing Corning, PLLC, and  Flowtious Soul Yoga. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
My work overall is dedicated to promoting overall wellness in mind, body, and spirit. It’s also important for me to show more representation in the wellness space. Up until my 200 hr Yoga Teacher Training, I didn’t have much exposure to Black Yoga Instructors or Yogis of color.

I had only experienced being taught by 2-3 Black women in the 8 years that I had been practicing yoga. I have been a therapist for 9 years and have 14 years of overall experience within the Mental Health field and have also seen many more faces that don’t look like me and didn’t understand my experiences.

I am dedicated to being the vessel to provide change and reduce the stigma associated with mental health with a focus on marginalized communities and people of color. My hope is to help raise awareness and combat systemic issues/racism that deters someone from caring for themselves as they humanely deserve.

From my experience as a yogi and holistic psychotherapist, I understand how imperative it is to incorporate tools and resources that promote wellness into our day-to-day lives and learn how to take care of ourselves from the inside out. Flowtious Soul Yoga and The Healing Corner, PLLC are two separate entities but they operate with this viewpoint in mind.

As the owner of Flowtious Soul Yoga, my mission is to represent a safe, trauma-informed, diverse, and holistic space dedicated to allowing others to engage in practices such as meditation, journal work, breathwork, yoga, and more. Flowtious Soul Yoga embodies what it means to practice mindfulness and allow yourself to be fully present in your journey and experience in mind, body, and spirit.

I have been able to offer yoga to my community and beyond in the form of Corporate Wellness Yoga Classes, Yoga for various Non-Profit Organizations, A Fun Yoga & Mindfulness Program Yoga within Durham Public Schools, Yoga for Teachers, Collaborating with other Wellnesspreneurs for events and private 1-1 sessions.

The Healing Corner, PLLC strives to provide a Trauma Informed Holistic Mental Health therapeutic experience designed to allow the individual to meet themselves where they are in their healing journey. There is no specific way to heal all people and this approach will allow the individual to take the path specific to them.

In my practice, I work with clients to return to themselves and begin their individual journey toward healing in mind, body, and spirit. I assist clients in managing symptoms of Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression through talk therapy and incorporate other alternative holistic practices such as Mindfulness, Yoga, Meditation, Sound Healing and Breathe Work.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t know that I would call my journey one of luck. Personally, life has definitely thrown things my way that could have stopped me from being where I am today. Resilience has offered me the opportunity to continue pushing forward even when I have wanted to quit.

My journey toward my aspirations has been a result of the passion, commitment, and work I have dedicated to my craft. I believe alignment with my purpose and putting myself in a place to receive allows for things to flow to me more freely. Trials will come, people will people and life will live. It’s better to prepare to receive than to try to control every aspect. This was an important lesson for me to learn.

I have been intentional about building relationships and making connections that have afforded me many opportunities and placed me in rooms that I hadn’t thought of.

One thing about entrepreneurship is that you cannot do it alone. Support is a must. I am grateful for the support network I am continuing to build. A good portion of the opportunities I have received has been word of mouth and testimonials from others about their experiences. I am excited to see how things continue to unfold and grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thehealingcornerpllc.com https://flowtioussoulyoga.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.comflowtious_soul_yoga/ https://www.instagram.com/thehealingcornerpllc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Flowtious-Soul-Yoga-103706858307101/

Image Credits
Phyrose Photography https://www.phyliciabarrphotography.com
3rd iphotography https://www.3rdiphotography.com