Karite Naturals – Getting to the Root of Wellness

By: burgundy bug

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Karite Natural Hydrating Hair Potion

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P3

Karite Naturals is a holistic wellness center and shop located on the first floor of the Springfield Mall in Pennsylvania. The store is open every day of the week from 10:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.

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Karite Naturals on the first floor of the Springfield Mall

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

Karité Naturals

Karite Naturals has been owned and run by Tami Williams at the mall for almost two years, however the location on the first floor just opened on Mar 8th.

“As an herbalist, it wasn’t really working at my kiosk,” said Williams during my visit on Monday. “People would come in, ask me a million questions, and I would tell them to do certain things. Then, they’d send me a text message, take a picture, and ask what I had told them to do again.”

At the store, Williams said she is able to sit down with clients for a consultation with a chart on a weekly or biweekly basis so they could both remember the instructions from the prior visit.

Williams also said having a store rather than a kiosk gives her an opportunity to follow up with clients, go over the lab results from their doctors, and asses how the herbs are working with their situation.

“I’m able to be more accurate that way,” Williams added.

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Products at Karite Naturals

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

In addition to personalized consultations, Williams provides natural, handmade body and hair care products. She also sells a variety of spiritual items, such as: sage, crystals, Florida water, organic herbal tea, and extracts in tinctures at Karite Naturals.

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Crystals at Karite Naturals

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

Williams is also a doula, so she said she has a few clients she provides birth coaching to.

“I also do Yoni steaming, which is when women sit over a pot of herbs and steam their vagina,” Williams said. “They sit on the pot, steam, and balance their sacral chakra.”

Williams explained Yoni steaming is both a spiritual and physical cleansing because it detoxifies the womb and balances hormones. It may also be helpful to those who have reproductive concerns, such as fibroids.

“On a spiritual level, it helps detoxify a woman and her energy,” Williams said. “That’s where we hold a lot of our energy, in our sacral chakra.”

Williams said the Yoni steaming is for women who are at least 16 years of age and that it is not recommend for women who are pregnant or have an IUD.

“The steam has herbs in it and those herbs in particular can penetrate the walls of the vagina as well as the uterus,” Williams explained. “Those herbs have volatile oils. That’s why those particular oils and herbs can help balance the hormones.”

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Karite Naturals

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

Williams is also very in tune with the moon and it’s cycles, which play a role in her detoxification services.

“If it’s a full moon, I’ll have women recite different affirmations,” Williams said. “If it is a full moon as it is going into the new moon, that’s when you want to manifest. If it’s a new moon you can’t see and it’s about to grow, that’s when you want to release.”

Prior to the Yoni session, Williams sits down with her clients for a consultation. They discuss what they want to manifest in their life as well as what they would like to release.

“Because we came from a womb, a lot of the time we have these generational issues that we don’t know why we can’t get over,” Williams said. “All the women in the family may have experienced the same thing, or maybe it’s an issue where someone keeps attracting the same kind of men.”

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Karite Naturals

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

Karite Naturals also holds multiple yoga, zumba, and meditation classes.

“My nephew is a certified yoga instructor, so he offers yoga classes and meditation classes,” Williams said. “I also have someone who comes in and teaches Zumba classes.”

The traditional yoga classes are every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:00 to 6:00 P.M. followed by cooldown yoga at 7:45 to 8:00 P.M.

There is also early morning chair yoga from 9:00 to 10:00 A.M. followed by all level yoga from 10:00 to 11:00 A.M.

The meditation classes are every Tuesday from 1:00 to 1:30 P.M. and 6:30 to 7:00 P.M.

Zumba classes begin at 5:00 P.M. every Friday.

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Karite Naturals

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

Then, Williams shared that she has been studying herbs for about 20 years now.

“I am at a family herbalist level right now, but I am actually in a course where I am trying to reach the master herbalist level,” Williams explained.

Her journey as an herbalist began after meeting a master level herbalist her friend had wanted to visit in regards to her fibroids. At the time, Williams had atrial fibrillation, which is an irregular heart rate.

“He kept looking at me and asked if I had any cardiac arrythmias,” Williams said. “I was like, ‘how did you know?'”

It had turned out the master level herbalist was also an iridologist.

“I thought he was just very attentive based on his eye contact, but he was actually reading my iris,” Williams explained.

Williams said she had originally dismissed his advice until she went into atrial fibrillation about a week after meeting him. Then, she revisited his store and asked him for his advice again.

“I tried at that point to stop eating meat, dairy, processed foods, and I did an internal cleanse,” Williams said. “I didn’t stick to it at that age, but we kept going back and forth and became friends.”

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Karite Naturals

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

Now that she is able to treat herself, Williams said her condition has improved.

“I went through a whole process where they had me on a bunch of medications, they had me on blood thinners,” Williams shared. “I was never one of those people who wanted to take a bunch of pills, so I was kind of hard headed.”

Additionally, Williams had experience from working in the healthcare industry throughout most of her life.

“I knew both sides, which is why I really wanted to use herbs instead of medications,” Williams said. “Working in hospitals most of my life, they mostly treat symptoms. If you have a headache, they give you this pill. If you have a stomachache, they give you this pill. But what is the headache coming from? What is the root cause? Sometimes it’s stress, sometimes it’s diet.”

Williams said she found that if you cleanse yourself properly and change your diet to include the nutrients your body needs, you are able to heal yourself.

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Karite Naturals

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

For those who are interested in getting into wellness, Williams recommends doing your own research and burying your nose in books that actually pertain to your interests.

“Start reading. A lot of the times there are classes you can take, but I would just say Google. I know you have to find reputable sites, but a lot of the time you can find books that have what you are interested in,” Williams said. “If you are trying to heal yourself, I would say go into different places where there are health and wellness stores and maybe they can help you. As for myself, I’m an herbalist. I know it helped me.”

Williams said she recommends doing your own research first to also save you time and money.

“A lot of time people say, ‘Oh, I’m interested in this’ and then they take a class, go to school, and find that isn’t what they wanted,'” Williams said.

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Lemongrass bath bomb at Karite Naturals

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

However, there is definitely a merit to getting formally educated, Williams added.

“One of the reasons I decided to go to school and get my certifications as an herbalist was basically for liability reasons,” Williams explained. “I felt that even when I was in the health field, I had a lot of knowledge that I didn’t give myself credit for ’cause I didn’t have a piece of paper.”

A lot of places had also wanted to hire Williams for her expertise, but she said not having a degree would make the employer apprehensive.

“I didn’t want to go to a traditional school that would teach you about herbs and stuff like that because a lot of those schools will teach you about herbs, but not about diet,” Williams said. “If they taught you about diet, it was the traditional diet. It was like, you need this many carbs, and this many vegetables, and this much protein. Most of the places I went to and did my research at, I didn’t agree with [the dietary] part [of the curriculum]. I had to find a program that I believed in.”

When you do find a program or a diet that works for you, Williams said it’s important not to beat yourself up if you’re not able to follow it 100-percent of the time.

“I’m really transparent, too,” Williams said. “I tell my customers all the time I try to follow a plant based diet. I try to eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, use herbs, I never eat processed foods – but I’m in the mall, I’m hungry. I’ve been here everyday since I opened, so I haven’t had the chance to cook the way I want to, but I use different herbs to help me cleanse.”

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Beads at Karite Naturals

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

At the end of the day, wellness really boils down to figuring out your own path.

“That’s why I would suggest people do their own research on the side and do what feels right,” Williams said. “We all have an inner voice that most of the time we don’t listen to – and we need to listen, because a lot of the time it will give you the right advice.”

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Tami Williams

Source: Karite Naturals | Penelope Peru Photography P³

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Be sure to show Karite Naturals a little love on Facebook and stop in next time you’re at the Springfield Mall in Pennsylvania!

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