Big Bank, DJ Scream, and Baby Jade hosted an enlightening conversation on today’s (Oct. 12) “Big Facts” installment with an herbalist, spiritual teacher, and dietician, Yahki Awakened. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, the self-taught healer has been alleviating poor health for 13 years. Yahki began his journey treating himself for so-called incurable diseases like diabetes, scar tissue on his heart, high blood pressure, eczema, and a few other health issues.
At the age of 21, Yahki suffered a heart attack that almost took his life. Doctors emphasized the high risk of death there was if he had another one. They put the young man on several different medications to guide him to recovery. Unfortunately, his blood pressure medication was causing erectile dysfunction, which, at the youthful age of 21, affected his confidence. As a result, he started watching YouTube videos on natural remedies that would nurse him back to good health and relieve him of this major heart condition and ED. That’s when Yahki came across his first video of Dr. Sebi and binge-watched his clips for almost three days. After creating his own concoctions of herbs, the amount of knowledge Yahki gained from Dr. Sebi’s content wasn’t enough. The eager student enrolled himself in an herbology class, where he became certified in that field of work.
With the knowledge the detox expert gained, he went on a juice cleanse that lasted for 120 days. By the 100th day, Yahki had lost 60 pounds, relieving his body of weight and waste. He went on to heal his mother and sister of their health issues and even friends throughout his neighborhood. In due time, an unnamed basketball player reached out to Yahki via Facebook, was healed, and then funded his first seminar; noting that he believed in the budding herbalist. Over a decade later, Yahki Awakened Botanical Health Club is thriving, selling millions of dollars in products, and has hundreds of thousands of healing testimonies.
Moreover, the student of Dr. Sebi initially thought he’d turn out to be a rapper, singer, or instrumentalist, as he is musically inclined. However, prison and poor health redirected Yahki and helped him find purpose. “Man, that heart attack hit me, and they put them clinks on me; that changed my whole trajectory of life,” the certified biochemist recalled. He progressed the discussion by explaining that guns, drugs, and the projects were not brought into Black neighborhoods by Black people, but they were placed there. Yahki compared these low-income communities and people within them to a rat maze and encouraged the “Big Facts” cast and viewers to research “Tryon’s Rat Experiment.” The keynote speaker noted several similarities between the rodents in the trial and Black people based on what they were fed and the conditions of their environment.
Furthermore, Yahki encouraged people to start holding musical artists accountable for the content they release. “Until this s**t starts promoting life in the communities, we not buying another one of your digital downloads, and we not coming to none of your concerts. I bet you the lyrics will change then,” he suggested. The self-made entrepreneur noted how he has healed some rappers who didn’t even live the lives they spoke about. However, the adults and children who were listening to their words were living in that manner and suffering, Yahki Awakened explained. Baby Jade asked for tips on how to enforce the abandonment of support for public figures who don’t start pushing more positive messages. Although it would be a challenging process, Yahki implied that society needs more men who are less afraid of death, as death is the No. 1 fear tactic that maintains control in the Black community. In addition, he advocated for revamped educational platforms and schools. “True education is meeting the needs of your tribe and for your people,” he insisted.
In closing, Yahki Awakened shared a few resources that would help those seeking higher knowledge, better health, and more power within themselves: 19Keys, who is an amazing resource for critical thinking and strengthening analytical skills; a Black psychologist by the name of Amos Wilson; as well as Dr. John Henrik Clarke, a historian and professor who has literature that helps people navigate their environments better.
Be sure to tune in for more episodes of “Big Facts” every Thursday. If you missed this educational conversation with Yahki Awakened, click here to watch.