Nicole Chandler
Photo courtesy: Nicole Chandler

By Constance Garcia-Barrio

Civic leader Nicole Chandler pulls no punches about her childhood.

“My father abused us,” Chandler, 56, raised in Southwest Philly with her sister, Toya, and her brother, George Jr., said. “He would set an alarm clock for 30, 45, or 60 minutes, and we had to stand absolutely still during that. If we moved, he would beat us and add more time.”

Chandler at her Royal Gardens Workshop.
Photo courtesy: Nicole Chandler

Chandler’s challenges didn’t stop there.

“I got pregnant at 13 and had my son at 14,” Chandler, a former SEPTA bus driver who now works in the transit system’s Quality Control Department, ensuring that vehicles are well maintained, said. “I struggled, but I kept him and finished school.”

Chandler has found a way to heal from past trauma and flourish, as a 2021 profile of her on 6ABC’s “Philly Proud” revealed. This past March, SEPTA gave Chandler an award for “exceptional leadership and acts of inspiration.”

It has been a long journey toward peace, Chandler said — one that has included conventional psychological counseling and prayer. She has also found a path to more wholeness by studying for 10 years at the Inner Visions Spiritual Sanctuary Institute.

Founded and led by lawyer, teacher, and author Iyanla Vanzant, the institute trains students in clearing the mind, body, and spirit of emotional clutter, and in living aligned with one’s personal truth.

“Earlier this month, I received certification as a spiritual hygiene practitioner,” Chandler said.

Chandler, who launched the Rooted and Rising Wellness Collective in 2023, a nonprofit centered on holistic healing, will present a free workshop on principles of spiritual hygiene as a community offering. The workshop, also called “Rooted and Rising,” will take place August 29 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

She began studying spiritual hygiene during an impasse in her life.

Nicole Chandler, at the Keep America Beautiful event, is awarded the Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson Award, the organization’s highest honor for volunteers.
Photo courtesy: Nicole Chandler

“I was driving buses: the 54 on Lehigh Avenue, the 47 on Fifth Street, and other routes,” Chandler said. “Sometimes passengers were abusive.” Once on Route 77, a young man in a mental-health crisis cussed at her then punched her.

“I would leave a sometimes-abusive situation at work and return home to an abusive husband.”

Something had to give.

For Chandler, spiritual hygiene proved part of the way forward. This approach emphasizes the need to grow in two ways.

“We’re just like trees,” she said. “Tree roots reach down into the earth for nutrients while their limbs stretch toward the sunlight (which turns water and carbon dioxide into food).”

Human beings must also grow in two directions for well-being — looking into ourselves is often painful, but fruitful, added Chandler.

Photo courtesy: Nicole Chandler

“As children, we develop strategies for survival that may not serve us adults,” she said. “I was abused by my father as a child, so as an adult I was attracted to men who abused me. My experience in childhood influenced what I tolerated as an adult. I had to understand that connection to clean up my foundation.”

Understanding one’s roots also involves looking at ancestral patterns on both the maternal and paternal sides, Chandler said. Many of us African-heritage people shy away from that task because of the violent legacy of slavery and the generations of trauma that followed, she believes.

However, she considers such probing essential for healing.

It’s also good to look at “our limbs and branches” or what we show the world.

“Looking at my outward self means examining what I show the world through my relationships, work, communication, boundaries, and caring for others,” Chandler said.

Rooted and Rising will look at both aspects of participants’ lives.

Royal Gardens in Morris Park, the site of the workshop, can promote healing. The sounds and scents of nature can reduce blood pressure, lower one’s heart rate, and improve sleep, among other benefits, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

“Being in nature helps us to slow down and journey inward,” Chandler who has a special connection to Morris Park, said. The park was overflowing with trash and invasive plants when she began cleaning it up with the help of neighbors and students and corporate volunteers, she said.

In 2013, Keep America Beautiful gave Chandler the Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson Award, the organization’s highest honor for volunteers. Earlier this year, Chandler also received a $15,000 grant from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to make the park more accessible to older adults through changes like better seating and raising flower beds.

In Royal Gardens, she will lead a meditation to invite participants to look at their lives with clarity and calm. Next, attendees will fill out a worksheet to help pinpoint areas that need healing.

Chandler will also discuss — and guide participants through — a body scan.

“The body gives us signals, like tight shoulders, headaches, or a jittery stomach, that something is wrong,” she said. “We’re used to stuffing down those signs. I ignored them until I was exhausted. But the body can clue us in that something needs to change. We’ll practice listening to our body.”

The afternoon will also include journaling, art, and techniques like grounding, which involves standing barefoot on the earth to encourage physical and emotional healing.

Finally, Rooted and Rising will focus on forgiveness. “You can’t heal without releasing anger and resentment,” Chandler said. “It’s a critical step.”

“I hope that everyone leaves with a deeper understanding of themselves and courage to start becoming the person they were created to be,” she said.

Rooted and Rising is a free workshop, registration is required — wear comfortable clothes. For more details, contact: [email protected].