The health and wellness industry is ever-growing, as more and more people seek natural forms of treatment and move away from Western medicine. There’s also a shift toward prioritizing self-care, encouraging folks to heal their minds, bodies and spirits. Many cities lack the outlets to help us be our best, but DeSoto is no longer on that list.
HeyyHealer, a holistic health and wellness studio, is one of the newest additions to the Grow DeSoto Market Place. From herbs and teas to wellness boot camps and yoga, HeyyHealer is leaving no health stone unturned. Owners Kira Buckley and Portia Andrews will be the first to tell you that it was a journey worth taking.
“One of the main reasons that contributed to us coming here was because we didn’t have a space like this in DeSoto,” Andrews says. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve never seen a space where somebody can go and be catered to mind, body and spirit all at once. A place that felt warm and inviting and felt like you could be your genuine true self, whatever that looked like, without judgment. That was really important in coming here and creating a space to be able to do that.”
Andrews, a DeSoto native, lived in Atlanta for close to six years before returning to Texas to care for her father, who was ill. Now, having been back almost four years, coming from a place that was very pro-black and progressive gave her a shift in perspective. A shift that led her to join forces with Buckley, an herbalist and intuitive holistic coach who was deep in the wellness game, and on a journey of her own out in California.
“In my transition from San Diego to here, in all the places I have been — even overseas — I know that each time I make a decision to move out of my comfort zone, I have to shed a great amount of myself,” Buckley says. “In the drive here, I knew the trajectory was going to change and become more community oriented in terms of giving access to the community, but not by myself, with the help of others.”
HeyyHealer opened their doors in August 2019. And in just a short time, they’ve been able to build a community extending from staff to customers. Aside from herbs and teas, HeyyHealer offers biweekly self-care workshops that explore various healing modalities through case study games, plant and herb tastings, aromatherapy and meditation.“Since I’ve been here I’ve never seen a space where somebody can go and be catered to mind, body and spirit all at once." — Portia Andrews
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“Our clientele comes from everywhere,” Andrews says. “We get support locally — which was amazing — but people from up north, down south, east, west also come. It seems like they feel the vibe that we created and are flocking to it. It’s been overwhelming at times, but in a good way.”
One important element HeyyHealer wanted to implement into the business was taking their practices to places and spaces they felt needed them. They recently visited an alternative school that’s next door to the Grow DeSoto Market Place to pitch bringing meditation to students. After a meeting with the principal, he suggested they perform a meditation and mindfulness session on the faculty first.
“There’s no long preparation needed,” Buckley says. "I told them to lose control so they could fall into themselves and become mindful of their own breath. This alone is what we want to carry to every school and staff meeting and classroom as far as we can go in Texas.”
This month, HeyyHealer will be bringing the same concept to the alternative school’s students, with a little bit of tweaking as they’ll be working with adolescents. They’ll also have metrics to review to see what the meditation and mindfulness are helping and what kind of difference it’s making.
“HeyyHealer was birthed out of the notion that every healer needs a healer," Buckley says. “There’s a quote I like: ‘Your wound may not be your fault, but healing is your responsibility.’”
