Meet Pamela Johnson
Leading a SoulPATH™ workshop.
Transformational Life Coaching is my passion, joy + Soul’s Life Purpose
I have been a Transformational Life Coach, Enneagram Teacher + Certified Archetypal Consultant for over 10 years with a Master Certification from DCI - The Deep Coaching Institute and certification from CMED - Caroline Myss Educational Institute. I also have a certification from Enneagram Worldwide and am a “Fire Keeper” for DLI - Deep Living Institute, meaning I share responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the organization’s core learning + wisdom as it moves into the world through its emerging practitioners. My Soul Path Guidance™ approach results in your ownership of the insight and courage required to answer your Soul's calling.
Back on the mat to demonstrate the Power of Presence.
I work effectively along a person’s SoulPATH™ -- the intersection of where Ego + Soul meet
This intersection is symbologized through The Enneagram and Soul Archetypes. The distinctive journey I guide you along is yours alone. It is deep, personal work activating awakened + alive access to your whole self. I personally experienced this awakening to and journey through the intersection when I started on my personal Soul Counseling path. I did and continue to do this work for myself. It’s become a way of being for me and it will for you too.
Sweet Devotion
When our Soul reveals itself to us, we’re given glimpses into the dark because our truth runs like rivers through the darkness. With practice of turning down the mental chatter and grounding into our bodies, our attunement to our interior becomes razor sharp and gives our heart space to be heard. With the sweetest devotion to illuminating darkness, we realize we are capable, at any time, of doing what we dream of. Our bodies hold secret codes that assist in uncovering our inner treasure.
You will learn to trust in this personal process as we work together.
There is a warm light inside you. Allow your attention to ride your breath and to meet yourself where your light illuminates your truth.
The Language of the Soul
When I merged my extensive background in Dance with the insight and wisdom in Life Coaching, I discovered that Symbolism is the language of the Soul - and modern day Mystic, Caroline Myss reinforced that. I further learned that a direct access point to our Soul’s communication is through our bodies. Allowing myself stillness - tuning out the external world and turning my attention inward, and asking “What I need most right now?” precipitates response if I listen deeply (and symbolically). The answer sometimes comes in subtle ways, but it always comes.
With Caroline Myss, whom I consider a modern day Mystic and has achieved so much for humanity.
I realize that whatever I do, is a compulsion to “energy dance.” Whether it’s my inner Athlete channeling gymnastics, my inner Artist channeling dance or my inner Teacher channeling Transformational Coaching, I’m “dancing the dream of co-creation” with the Universe. I do that either with the Universe for people or with people for the Universe. And I simply cannot not do it. I know in my Soul it’s what I’m her for.
When we’re expressing through our Soul, we really only have one language. That’s why though I was best dancing Jazz and Hip Hop/Breakdance (both rooted in African dance), I could easily adopt African, Modern, Tap and ballet. Then, once well-versed in dance, I could adopt acting and yoga. Later all of that, through a series of events, translated into Transformational Coaching.
A pitch on relevé was no problem for me to hit and hold at the height of my dancing days. During a fun Modern Dance photoshoot in New York City.
Childhood + Family Virtues
My childhood home in Michigan. I’d actively lose myself in the surrounding trees, grass and sky. Looking back now, I realize how held by nature I was.
Raised without a father and in a trailer in Michigan directly challenged my self-esteem on a daily basis. I compared myself to my childhood peers who seemed to come from perfect worlds filled with things I’d never have. Later, through personal integration, I’d learn that my father’s abandonment held shadow aspects that pointed to my personal Soul Gifts. I chose to honor them.
My maternal side of the family is of the ilk that gives the shirt off its back, or tells you to sit down and eat with them if you’re hungry. Strong role models, my mom and Gram demonstrated getting up every day, despite adversity or abuse, to do what you must for the family.
Me - standing, second from left.
My siblings and I adopted early independence, allowing my mom to both study and work. My Gram, who worked at a bar + cared for my grandfather, spent as much time with us as she could. Mom earned her high school diploma and then her undergrad in business. Mom would later earn her MBA and end up in I.T. She’s a brilliant Enneagram Type 7 - a quick and agile mind for problem solving and resource + tech management. At age 5 mom had me write a letter to a booster program about wanting to be a gymnast.
Confidence through Body Wisdom into my Pathway to Presence™ for faith and transformation
John Waltz, the father-figure I never had and an embodied Teacher, taught me faith and hope without even speaking the words.
A booster selected my letter and paid my initial gym fees. Discovering competitive gymnastics at age 5 was a gift. I thrived under John Waltz, my Gymnastics Teacher. John had such grace for my life and held that fatherly structure for me in the gym. He cheered me on. He was just being him, but there was a definite Sacred Agreement there. He was a big guy with an even bigger heart who’d stand in the middle of the gym projecting faith and confidence for his students. He'd be right there when I’d roundoff into back flips. I experienced total trust and transformation with this gentle giant. Moments of absolute Presence in my body became a cornerstone of my personal foundation toward my Life Purpose.
Gymnastics gave way to dance when John Waltz’s gym closed. It wasn’t an easy transition. I was in the 7th grade and had lost my father figure. My body craved the intensity of the gym. Beginning dance focuses on foundational technique and wasn’t physically intense - it didn’t challenge me the way I needed it to. We also watched ourselves in the mirror, which made me self-conscious … and I just didn’t want to adjust to it. I was afraid of it and therefore hated it. There were tears in the car for weeks as we drove to and from the Sally Doerr Dance Studio in the small farming town of Cass City, but my mom had me stick with it knowing Sally Doerr to be an amazing dance Teacher. By this time, mom had money to pay for my classes. All of a sudden, I fell in love with dance at 14 as I placed 5th in a group dance competition. My Athlete Archetype gleamed again as the competitive and physical aspects became more demanding. My teacher, Sally Doerr immersed me. We’d travel a dance convention circuit to compete and take specialized trainings. It was on that circuit that I’d notice the different Teachers and Choreographers. I wanted to be like them - out front, up on stage and teaching.
Sally Doerr immersed me in the art of dance.
That same year an uncle drove me, my siblings and cousins to experience New York City. I so appreciate my uncle’s wild compulsion to expose a bunch of midwestern kids to NYC because I somehow knew then, in my Soul, that I’d be back one day. This wildness runs through my family of artists and musicians. I am no different. So, all through high school I dreamed of dancing in New York City but committed to follow my mom’s footsteps and attend university an hour away from home.
Another Sacred Agreement toward a Life Purpose of Teaching
My last show dancing with Joan Malone. I moved to New York City just two weeks after this photo was taken. The ballet base she gave me got me to Carnegie Hall.
I graduated high school and was gifted with another amazing Teacher and role model in Joan Malone. Ms. Joan had heard about me and came to watch my senior dance recital. She offered me a teaching position at her dance center in the same town as the university I’d attend. No-nonsense + old school, Ms. Joan taught with what she called a “tough love approach.” She’d espouse, “The discipline of dance must also apply to life, for not all students will be dancers.” Because of Ms. Joan, I gave my full Presence any moment I danced. Many Joan Malone Dance Center students went on to Broadway, become Choreographers and opened their own dance studios - a tremendous legacy. Ms. Joan, my first “teacher’s teacher,” mentored me in my transition from dancer to Dance Teacher and Choreographer, which earned me my first pay on the familiar dance circuit. I believe it was this Master Teacher’s Soul that prepared me for Caroline Myss.
Because there’s a Student in my Teacher Archetype, I flat out love to learn and easily held a high university GPA . I danced + taught professionally on the circuit as I earned my BBA. With student loans to pay back, a business degree was a safe bet modeled by my mom.
My “tough-girl” look - part of my New York City street dance attitude. During a Hip Hop Dance photoshoot in NYC.
Dancing the dream in New York City
Vissi Dance Theater Artistic Director, Courtney FFrench was the first person to pay me to dance in NYC.
New York City continued to pull on my Soul, and I had permission in a dance scholarship waiting for me at Broadway Dance Center. After assuring Ms. Joan was set up, I left to NYC for a summer experience with two fellow dancer-teachers. We landed, rented a studio apartment and began auditioning immediately. Tammy, who is tall and blonde; and Whitney, who had a better voice than I, both got Pokémon within three days - but I didn’t. I was crushed and decided that I’d stop trying to be what the industry wanted and just dance. On my sixth day in NYC, I auditioned for a dance opera performed by The Vissi Dance Theater and got it! I danced with Vissi regularly and they really took care of me - naive midwesterner that I was. I successfully auditioned for a Prince Tribute, which was cancelled during rehearsals. However, one of the Choreographers, Danielle, who also danced for Lindt Ballet Company at Carnegie Hall, was looking for someone who could stand on point for her Jazz dance performance. I was the only one who could. Because of the excellent ballet base Joan Malone had given me, I got to Carnegie Hall well within my first year in NYC!
I continued meeting people and getting gigs. I think it was just because I kept saying yes to everything. I became well known. Our plans to stay a summer had become a year. Tammy went on tour with Pokémon and Whitney returned home to finish his college degree. I stayed in NYC dancing with two or three dance companies - The Underground Dance Company was one of them. I had plenty of money saved, which allowed me to remain focused on getting paid as an artist - something most artists struggle with. The dance companies paid me and I even danced professionally in music videos. I could afford to study acting too. I ended up renting a spacious bedroom in Washington Heights, and could see the George Washington Bridge from my window. It was lovely.
I became part of Vissi’s fabric. They loved me and I loved them. My Soul’s NYC tribe.
Despite my success, had it not been for Courtney FFrench’s dance theater company, I would’ve been very alone in NYC. They were my people, they had my back. Like, if we had a gig near Harlem, they’d make sure I was on the subway train safely. They knew how to take care of a big-eyed midwestern white girl who was taught to be kind to everyone. That summer I got “my skin,” however, an experience jaded me not long after. I had auditioned for a tribute to Michael Jackson. There were about 3,000 dancers auditioning and I made it to the final cut. I had the choreography down, but they selected a blonde girl who had fallen when she did a one-handed breakdance move called a “freeze.” In the end, I knew the Choreographers well, but she knew them better. And being blonde meant that the other girl seemed “more right” than I was. The image politics over the quality of dance got to me.
NASDAQ at 1 Liberty Plaza
I had entered a disillusioned downward spiral over the reality of dance performance industry politics. I even turned down dance work or auditions with Danielle. I decided on another direction, and to put my MBA to use. A new friend got me an interview at NASDAQ in 1 Liberty Center. It was with Brian - a big, type-A, suited Wall Street guy with a reputation for chewing people up and spitting them out. He had the office on the 52nd Floor with the Statue of Liberty outside the window. I go in there with my midwestern spirit and big heart. Brian says, “Okay, Pam. Sit down. Now, what do you know about the stock market?” I was honest, telling him I didn’t know anything about it - not like he did. But he adored my midwestern thing as he’d gone to school in Ohio and said those were the best years of his life. He called me “Pammy” and took me under his wing. This was the very guy whom when he entered the office or walked the halls, everyone would scramble to get their stuff together - “Brian’s coming, Brian’s coming!” So, the Wall Street “shark” that everyone feared was taking care of me, championing me.
Personal crossroads - arriving at The Intersection of My Ego and My Soul™
Waking on September 12th, after 9/11, felt like waking from a terrible nightmare. Then the traumatic realization landed - “It really did happen!” Above: 9/11 Attacks Tribute in Light.
The catalyst moment that shifted my life's work was surviving the WTC on 9/11. This has been the most personal and spiritual transformational event in my life. What I found to be true is that life shifts direction on you, and you go with it.
As Brian mentored me and I made friends in the office, dance auditions compelled me again. I recommitted to my Artist-self deciding to give it my all once more. I was even more focused than before. My Athlete-self knew I’d beat the politics now that we’d been face to face. Brian liked my resolve. If something big like a Madonna audition came up, Brian would say, “Just go, but don’t tell anyone.”
I had taken the A-Express Train from Washington Heights and gotten off at Chambers Street Station. I walked through the World Trade Center toward 1 Liberty Plaza. It was beautiful September weather. In my backpack were my new dance promo kit headshots on CD, and my Hip Hop shoes + clothes for class after work. I was listening to Nikka Costa in my headphones because her music embodied my mindset: “I was back!” I didn’t hear anything over my music when the first plane hit the Tower, but there was a sense of chaos. I immediately went above ground to find some people standing in shock staring at the first tower burning. Others were already grappling with the reality that people they knew - even loved ones - were perishing. There was confused speculation as to why a plane flew into a building in lower Manhattan. Shopkeepers closed their shops. No one expected a second plane to hit the other tower. At that moment, I was standing outside, near the second tower where soon it was bedlam. People were running fast as they could in a panic to get away - I was one of them. There was debris + dust, shock, fear, suffering, deafening noise. The sky was falling! Once far enough away, I found a pay phone that worked and called my mom.
Shock + lack of comprehension are understatements for the numbed senses I experienced as I walked the three miles back home to my apartment in Manhattan.
It was impossible to discern between the mass hysteria + collective trauma, and my own personal experience. I’d discover years later how much of both remained trapped in my body as undigested pain. Further, the personal relationship to power that developed and sustained me through my formative years, which only recently began unraveling, had been shattered by 9/11; and it would fail me continually until I became conscious enough to answer my Soul’s Calling.
Entering my personal “Dark Night of the Soul”
When I opened my eyes on September 12th, 2001 - the morning after, there was a momentary wave of relief as I thought I was waking from a terrible nightmare. Then reality struck: 9/11 really did happen. I felt a heaviness as the next thought hit me: “I’m still here.” The next couple of years were rough in the sense of how grief and PTSD unfolded in my life.
Frenzied, I’d dash about by cab, taking on way too much to obtund myself to my life.
For months, like many New Yorkers, I denied myself the trauma. Societal demand for “toughness” an “endurance” often delays the important healing process that we should embark on immediately following such trauma. It became hard to sleep, so I’d take Nyquil or have a drink or more before bed. I lost weight from throwing myself into my life in order to outrun the PTSD. It was NASDAQ by day, performing by night. I had always joked that dance was my first love, New York City my second. I would dash by cab from one rehearsal to another, taking on way too much. I was never at home. Eating less and drinking more were part of the constant numbing. Frenzied is the best way to describe how I obtunded myself to my life.
My personal Dark Night of the Soul was upon me. My Spirit had been pursuing me, and it would continue to. I wouldn’t recover until I stopped running. I wouldn’t transcend until I faced the pain, named + accepted it in order to release it.
On my personal SoulPATH™ toward fulfillment of my Life Purpose
Candlelit yoga in a dark gym: deep healing began as I processed layers of undigested pain one breath at a time.
In 2003, I came to live in Michigan for the summer and, unknowingly at first, begin deep layers of healing. I discovered my first yoga class and remember thinking how I’d be good at this stretchy stuff because of my dance background. My surface-level thinking opened the door to what my body and Soul were craving – attention and space to BEING.
Me, Ego in tow. I’m thinking “If I look yoga-serious + hippie-funky, no one will know of the chaos + pain inside of me.
After a few weeks, I started to replace the emptiness and nightly drinking with Ashtanga Yoga and tea. The classes were held by candlelight by a lawyer, Francis “Bujold,” in the back of a dark gym. It was a perfect place to hide my tears as I processed the undigested pain in my body, one breath at a time. Deep healing began as I stopped running and instead turned toward the pain, meeting it with an intense body practice. I immersed myself in yoga as I had dance. My heart began to open and I followed it along a kind of “yoga circuit” the same way I had the old dance circuit. In fact, I was able to teach as a “traveling dance instructor” wherever I needed to be.
Through a vision I was told to visit Sedona, Arizona where a clairvoyant helped me understand my transformation. I discovered Tibetan Heart Yoga through Michael Johnson at Clear Light Yoga, which led me to study with his Teacher Lama K. I was also greatly impacted by Lama Marut, author of the book Be Nobody. I received my first yoga teacher training certification with OM Yoga in 2005-06.
A wonderful Reiki practitioner introduced me to the teachings of Caroline Myss. I first met Caroline on her Sacred Contracts book tour in 2008 having no idea that I’d eventually study under her and some of her top students.
I was on “auto-pilot” for my corporate management job at the time - showing up but my PTSD made my usual level of productivity difficult. It went unnoticed by everyone but me. Only yoga made me feel normal. I was sent to Indianapolis for Six Sigma Certified Black Belt Training and then to San Jose to transition into sales for the Northern California region. I continued yoga in Cali but my inner Artist craved creative expression again. I found Christy English at her Bay Area Acting Studio and studied the Meisner Technique, which anchors on authenticity and an open heart to connect and feel. I ended up teaching Meisner Technique for Christy and do to this day. I spent additional time studying and pursuing acting in Los Angeles. I had a disciplined body practice and performing arts back in my life. I could no longer avoid formal psychotherapy for my remaining PTSD. A wonderful Therapist would propel me much closer to my Life Purpose and the work I do now.
A Bounty of Master Teachers + Mentors - Life Purpose discovery
Kimberly Theresa (right), a High Teacher - an invaluable Mentor and source of inspiration.
My Therapist, Gabriele Hilberg , Ph.D.’s intake was so efficient that it made my work with her incredibly effective. She did EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) with me and seemed to know instinctively that I should study The Enneagram. I resisted, not wanting to take on another discipline but Gabrielle consistently advised (+ gently nudged) me toward not only taking an Enneagram course but getting certified through Deep Coaching Institute (DCI). Another Agreement between Souls fulfilled, and I’m so very humbled + grateful.
With the late Dr. David Daniels who contributed so much to the world through Enneagram Worldwide.
Arriving on my personal SoulPATH™ of Transformational Life Coaching + Enneagram Teaching aligned me with incredible people who have blazed trails in modern day Spiritual Coaching. A Master Teacher at one organization lead me to others. It was layered and dynamic. So many things happening simultaneously. It was fluid, as being on our SoulPATH™ always is once submitting to it. I was exhilarated.
I became certified through the Yoga Institute in 2012 and then taught yoga. Kimberly Theresa, Yoga Studies Institute co-Founder/Executive Director + Spiritual Philosophy Teacher mentored me. In January 2013 I became certified by Enneagram Worldwide. I had wonderful Teachers there in Terry Saracino, Helen Palmer, Marion Gilbert and Laura Borden. And, of course, the late Dr. David Daniels who began annually teaching The Enneagram to Stanford University’s Faculty Staff Help Center. Dr. Daniels passed that torch onto Peter O’Hanrahan who has recently brought me in to contribute at The Farm.
All the while I taught acting for Christy English at Bay Area Acting Studio + held a corporate job in Silicon Valley, I continued toward DCI certification. I also took on another sacred role of becoming a mother. The beginning of my third trimester, I paused DCI + wrapped up my corporate job. I also took a break teaching acting. But after giving birth the next year, I returned to finish at DCI. I actually took my family to Santa Fe, New Mexico to study with Belinda Gore at a retreat, and then privately with DCI Founders, Diana Redmond and Roxanne Howe-Murphy at their Santa Fe homes because there were no student groups occurring at that time. I mentored for DCI in 2018-19 and facilitated workshops.
It was in 2017-18 that I started Caroline Myss’ Soul Archetypes Consulting professional track through CMED and reconnected with Caroline Myss’ work again.
With Peter O'hanrahan of Enneagram Worldwide
Anjali Mudra (“Prayer Position”). Practicing Presence with lion qualities: courage, strength, power, wisdom, balance.
With DCI Founders Roxanne Howe Murphy (left) and Diana Redmond (right).
Again with Roxanne Howe Murphy, DCI Founder.
Acting - me (on right) during production for a comedic short film. I trained in and now teach the Meisner Technique.
Epilogue
My Soul, as a piece of Divinity, was under Divine Orders to express as a Transformational Life Coach + Enneagram Teacher. My Ego interpreted that as Professional Dancer-Teacher. So, I pursued that. Paradoxically, it was meant to be - through my Ego’s pursuit I survived my childhood and grew. Through that part of my journey I learned + cultivated Soul Gifts; I met people + fulfilled Soul Agreements. It was very symbolic of my Life Purpose. Beautiful as it is, performance dancing was only a reflection of the Soul Dance Teaching that I am here to do. Divinity said:
“Enough of the reflection, enough of the shadow. We’re going to crush your Ego and it’s illusion in order to set you free. You must be free to profoundly be your Teacher-self because the community is seeking you out. Master Teachers are seeking you out to prepare your unique Soul Gifts. Students are seeking you out to learn through you. Be ready.”
It is the same for everyone.
Rumi says, “What you seek is seeking you.” Your life is so precious and your being here is no accident. The inner work continues for me so I can grow. Being in the mess of my life is actually where the gold is. I’m not exempt from inner work just because I teach it. In fact, it’s even more important for me to have spiritual coaches now, so that I am consistently held accountable for my Shadow, and I can continue to listen deeply to my Soul.
Urdhva Hastasana (“Upward Salute”) on a cliff in The Grand Canyon.
Affecting my community to heal and change the world
I have been featured in the "Give Love" documentary, "Journey Forward" podcast and "Your Healthy Living Radio Show" which highlights my signature program, “SoulPATH™: The Intersection Where Ego + Soul Meet™ - activating awakened + alive access to your whole self.”
