Spring is the season we bring forth seeds of the self that have been gestating during the winter. It is a time when your dreams push to come out and blossom — whether in ways that refresh old visions, or are new inspirations. Although many people associate Spring with light-hearted images of young love and butterflies, Spring is also a time of “emergenc-y,” where your life force pushes forward unexpectedly and in potent ways…If you imagine a young tree as a pale seedling pushing through the winter-hardened earth, reaching for the warmth and light of the sun, you have an image for how insistent your own life force becomes during this point in your cycle. Way of Joy
Although I recorded this vlog almost 1 year ago, I think it is worth sharing again as we move towards Spring Equinox, which is considered to be the peak (as opposed to onset) of this season in the Chinese calendar.
One of my favorite qigong forms, Blossom in the Spring, has continued to inform me in ever-deeper ways over the years. This seated form takes the practitioner through a cycle of life, death and rebirth, the cycle that connects us to all living beings. In the practice, there is a moment where a budding blossom appears to close before opening into full blossom. I love musing on the ramifications of this moment of expansion and contraction, how resistance can be just like pulling back an arrow in a bow before releasing to move towards a new level of accomplishment or spiritual opening.
Want to know more about this powerful practice? I am so excited to announce that I have gathered some of my very best information and tools for a virtual program, The Seed to Blossom Starter Pack will give you a quick shot of energetic fuel to make this Spring the best one yet. Or better yet, come to a VIP Sunday Morning retreat on May 22.
“Renegade-Woo” Vicki Dello Joio, founder of The Way of Joy: A Spiritual Fitness Program, brings together East Coast Attitude and West Coast energy consciousness as a master teacher, transformative speaker and performing artist. Integrating over 40 years of Chi Kung practice with other martial arts as well as her work in Yoga, Feldenkreis, physical fitness and theater, Vicki has developed a dynamic set of tools to transform obstacles into opportunities and enhance creative potential. Book: The Way of Joy, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think as I type the title above, which is a quote by Fritz Perls. And I know that there is nothing to fear but fear itself, (Franklin D Roosevelt) at least in my mind. But when my demons are clattering at me, I forget that I have the option to invite them in, as the wise monk did in an old Tibetan Buddhist tale, to tea.
I guess it’s inevitable that as I prep my upcoming event to Turn your Ideas into Reality and New Year’s Resolutions into Results, that I need to face all the ways I get scared that I’m not up to the task of delivering these potent tools well, despite past successes and testimonials.
What helps me spiral out of those old tired doubts is the absolute commitment I have to passing forward this potent information to people who will use it well. Well — that and, of course, embodying it All with qigong.
SAVE THE DATE! DEC 29 Nourish the Flame: A Winter Workshop to Transform Ideas into Reality and Resolutions into Results. Bring in the Joy for 2014!
Vicki Dello Joio, founder of The Way of Joy: A Spiritual Fitness Program, is a teacher, speaker and performing artist. Integrating over 40 years of Chi Kung practice with other martial arts as well as her work in Yoga, Feldenkreis, physical fitness and theater, Vicki has developed a dynamic set of tools to increase awareness, transform obstacles into opportunities and enhance creative potential. Book: The Way of Joy, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life. On-line videos you can use to supercharge your energy in less than 4 minutes a day: From Muck to Mastery.
“I stood alone in the living room, hand pressed against the cold window, and watched abrupt spurts of wind as they whipped oak branches in the darkening morning light. I could feel echoing tremors in my own 8-year-old trunk as the willow near the fence bowed down almost to breaking.”
We had a mighty windstorm here in the Bay Area a couple of nights ago that reminded me of a hurricane I’d experienced in Long Island when I was a kid. When, with no small effort, I was able to shove my back door open in the morning after the storm, I was stunned to see the view in the picture above.
Even though neither of these storms, then or now, come close to matching the extremities of damage happening in different parts of the world in the last several months, most recently in the Philippines, the power of these primordial forces lodged themselves in my awareness with an almost detached curiosity about what it means to be at the Eye of the Storm.
SAVE THE DATE! DEC 29Nourish the Flame: A Winter Workshop to Transform Ideas into Reality and Resolutions into Results. Bring in the Joy for 2014!
“I see manifestation as a spiritual journey—a coming home to your “best,” most realized self. What you create with your life reflects your essential values, beliefs, talents and responses to circumstances as well as your capacity to make choices, commit to your own intention, and take a proactive approach to making things happen. How you go about that process is a combination of how you “be” and what you do, the balance of yin and yang. It requires first that you be rooted in the present moment and then that you accept and integrate whatever happens, whatever “the universe sends to you.” It is not by attaining whatever you are striving for, but rather through the process of creating that you mature. You become, not “get” the prize. Does this mean you won’t get any “prizes?” No, but the ones you get will bring deeper meaning to your life.” — The Way of Joy
Vicki Dello Joio, founder ofThe Way of Joy: A Spiritual Fitness Program, is a teacher, speaker and performing artist. Integrating over 40 years of Chi Kung practice with other martial arts as well as her work in Yoga, Feldenkreis, physical fitness and theater, Vicki has developed a dynamic set of tools to increase awareness, transform obstacles into opportunities and enhance creative potential. Book: The Way of Joy, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life. On-line videos you can use to supercharge your energy in less than 4 minutes a day: From Muck to Mastery.
Although I was thrown up in the air for only a fraction of a second, it was long enough for me to have a whole internal discussion. I experienced complete stillness as my body flew through the air and within that stillness I had a life-changing dialogue with myself. — The Way of Joy
Today’s the day! As I take care of last minute preparations for my event, Conscious Connections, I’ve been thinking about how to live in the “eye of the storm”,” how to return to an awareness of spaciousness when life can be so crowded. I remembered some of the lessons I learned when I was hit by a car while walking across the street…
Vicki Dello Joio, founder ofThe Way of Joy: A Spiritual Fitness Program, is a teacher, speaker and performing artist. Integrating over 40 years of Chi Kung practice with other martial arts as well as her work in Yoga, Feldenkreis, physical fitness and theater, Vicki has developed a dynamic set of tools to increase awareness, transform obstacles into opportunities and enhance creative potential. Book: The Way of Joy, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life.
Explosion of positive energy. Photo by Łukasz Strachanowski
Did you know that Boundaries Dissolve Barriers? That is the theme of my upcoming workshop, Conscious Connections: From Drained to Dynamic! as well as a core concept in The Way of Joy system. I am so excited to be presenting this workshop for the first time (in just two weeks!) that I literally couldn’t think of what else to blog about today. And I gotta say that for me to be excited about looking at boundaries and what they mean actually signifies a Huge personal shift.
You see for me, boundaries have always been my “weakest link”. I used to think that setting a boundary meant I had to create a barrier that would isolate me from other people, which was not something I ever wanted. As an empath, I value connection, compassion and love. But how I acted that out was by merging with others and losing myself in the process. Then I would end up feeling depleted and drained.
When you don’t have boundaries, you end up either having so much empathy for another that you lose touch with your own wisdom, as I did. Alternately you might erect barriers to “protect your space,” or ”take care of yourself” and end up being isolated or disconnected. This is the burden of the “lone wolf” or the “I am a rock, I am an island” mentality — also draining and maybe a little depressing.
Over my years of practice with energetic and martial arts, I discovered that in very concrete and literal ways, healthy boundaries are actually a key to true intimacy and connection —whether in personal close relationships or in work or business contexts. When those boundaries are clear, clean and energetic, you can truly connect with others in authentic ways. Then true synergy kicks in with an enormous amount of vitality — the kind of empowerment that gets you up and out to do the things you know you are meant to do in your life.
When you have set good boundaries, do you tend to merge or become stand-offish?
Vicki Dello Joio, founder ofThe Way of Joy: A Spiritual Fitness Program, is a teacher, speaker and performing artist. Integrating over 40 years of Chi Kung practice with other martial arts as well as her work in Yoga, Feldenkreis, physical fitness and theater, Vicki has developed a dynamic set of tools to increase awareness, transform obstacles into opportunities and enhance creative potential. Book: The Way of Joy, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life.
Spring is the season we bring forth seeds of the self that have been gestating during the winter. It is a time when your dreams push to come out and blossom — whether in ways that refresh old visions, or are new inspirations. Although many people associate Spring with light-hearted images of young love and butterflies, Spring is also a time of “emergenc-y,” where your life force pushes forward unexpectedly and in potent ways…If you imagine a young tree as a pale seedling pushing through the winter-hardened earth, reaching for the warmth and light of the sun, you have an image for how insistent your own life force becomes during this point in your cycle. Way of Joy
