Name: Olufemi Sharp
Age: 62
Occupation: Licensed therapist, mindfulness coach, sage energy healer
Education: Bachelor’s in Psychology at Park University, Master’s in Counseling from Webster University, plus training in West Africa, Thailand, Ghana, China, and Italy
Motto: “Tuned up, tapped in, turned on.”
Fitness Start: I started this focus about 30 years ago on one of my first trips to Africa. The African drumming, dancing, and rituals that connected me to the spirit really opened my mind and showed how energy, emotion, and trauma can get stored in the body.
Fitness Advice: Fitness is more than just your physical fitness; it’s about whole-body healing and being in alignment with your true self. You’ve got to move, and you’ve got to breathe to get your body right and let go of pent-up trauma.
Top Tips: Start your day early with positive affirming words followed by a few minutes of meditation, then spend a few minutes doing some physical movement. Commit to doing all three every morning, five days a week, and you’ll find it transformative.
Nutrition: Hydration is key — I drink about 70 oz. of water a day, even though it’s hard sometimes. Seek out fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, fresh herbs, fresh everything.
Motivation: You can’t wait for motivation. I tell people to take that out of their vocabulary. You can’t wait for something outside of yourself to motivate you. You have to tap into your inner knowing, don’t overthink it, and be committed to baby steps. It’s like that old Nike commercial: Just do it.
Social Media:
Instagram: @olufemisharp
Website: olufemis-counseling.com
Best Physical Tip: You’ve got to move every day. It can be African dancing, hip-hop, Tai Chi, yoga, hopping on the treadmill, or taking gratitude walks. I’ve incorporated an Eastern technique called EFT, or tapping, that’s helped me with sinus pressure and sciatica. It’s all about mixing it up so you don’t get bored.
Best Mental Tip: Learn to work with the patterns of your mind. We process over 70,000 thoughts a day, and you have to write them down and look for the thought streams and familiar feelings blocking you from doing what you want and need to do for yourself.
Best Spiritual Tip: Mindfulness and meditation are essential. You need to embody an attitude of gratitude no matter what is going on. Resolve in yourself that you’re going to tower over your circumstances, and you’ll find that things slide off you like Teflon when they used to stick to you like Velcro.
