In Akan cosmology, as with many other African belief systems, a person is made up of multiple parts.
‘Mogya’ is your blood, and is believed to be inherited from your mother. Akans being matrilineal, it is your mogya that determines your clan. This, along with your honam (body) forms your physical being.
The subtle parts of a person include the kra (soul) which is the drop of the Divine that lives within you and carries your Nkrabea (Divine Destiny), and the sunsum (spirit) which is your animating spark and is believed to determine your personality.
So, why am I telling you all this? Because there isn’t a simple way of defining the work I do – it is multi-faceted. But I believe that my purpose is to create food for the soul and spirit, the kra and sunsum. Everything I do is intended to aid you in nourishing your sunsum, listening to your kra and aligning with your nkrabea.
But here’s the official bio…
Araba Ofori-Acquah is a healer, cultural curator, DJ and award-winning writer interested in the preservation of African past and the reimagining of African future. She lives and teaches African-centred wellness, a practice rooted in African wisdom that promotes the wellbeing and empowerment of the global Black community.
By the age of twenty-five, Araba had ascended to marketing management roles in industries ranging from legal to tech but faced many unspoken challenges as a young executive and often the only Black woman in the room. Her journey to becoming a healer began with herself through experiencing first-hand the power of talking therapies, mind and body practices and meditation. Inspired to create safe spaces for other Black people, Araba studied different healing modalities, including a 200hr Yoga Teacher Training in India, an NHS-accredited Wellbeing Coach qualification in the UK and the study of Advanced Pranic Healing in Ghana.
Drawing on her experiences as a Ghanaian-British woman who searched in vain for ways to achieve wellbeing that felt authentic and in alignment with her African identity, Araba’s debut book ‘Return to Source: Unlock the Power of African-centred Wellness’ is a timely guide that gives readers an insight into traditional African knowledge; with a view to making it relevant and accessible to Black people of any religion or spiritual belief who simply want to live well.
Brimming with hard-earned wisdom from seldom reached sources, ‘Return to Source’ is much more than a personal development book. It is an accessible, powerful and practical guide to rediscovery and reconnection for Black people, that leads readers through unlocking the power of soul-affirming wellness practices.
Araba views her DJing as an extension of her healing work. She is a resident on Oroko Radio with her show ‘Nsuo Ba (Water Baby)’, an exploration of African spirituality soundtracked by relaxing tunes from Africa and the Diaspora. As a gig DJ, her sets infuse nostalgia to encourage her audience to connect with their inner child, release their inhibitions and have fun!
Araba lives between Accra, Ghana and London, UK, and when not working can usually be found by the sea.