Embracing Resistance: A Natural Anti-Anxiety Remedy

Embracing Resistance: A Natural Anti-Anxiety Remedy

by | Oct 3, 2011 | Women's Empowerment

Despite encountering many of the mind power techniques out there in the market of self help and inner growth, I admit freely that there are still times I come face to face with my own anxiety, self-doubts, or inner resistance. To be blatantly honest. my first instinct is to open the refrigerator or look on-line for something (preferably shallow) to distract myself from painful feelings. Or maybe I’ll pop in a dvd or watch an online streaming movie to focus on other people’s problems for a change.

These are times I seem to forget how much I love qigong, meditation, stretching, hiking in Nature and other activities that pivot me from inertia to a zest for life. While I was writing my book, The Way of Joy, I realized that, in part, I was creating a manual I could go to when I felt stuck. I wanted a reminder of how to access some of those tried and true, “kitchen-tested” tools that really work to shift me out of an outlook and/or activity that actually drains my energy. One of my favorite themes in my work is I call the uses and misuses of resistance.

In other words how can we Drop Dread and Flow Instead?

What images or memories help you to shift out of feeling stuck or resistant? I’d love to know so comment below!

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: An Evolutionary Process to Awaken Inspiration, Focus Intention and Manifest Fulfillment, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life.

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Training Self Esteem: A Reflection

by | Sep 26, 2011 | Women's Empowerment

After the expansion of energy I experienced while performing with my theater company, Living Arts Playback Theater, this past week, I was fascinated to take stock on how my self–esteem has shifted over the years. During the time of post-show “contraction,” I found to my satisfaction that I no longer evaluate what I do with the same level of harshness. My beloved, Sherry Mouser, once proposed giving her “inner critic” the new job description of “quality control expert.” Maybe her idea rubbed off on me.

In generally, feelings of contraction that are self punishing often accompany this Autumn season, which in Traditional Chinese Medicine is associated with the element of Metal and the emotion of grief. This is a time of letting go and releasing, like a tree losing its leaves. The question is how might you experience times of contraction as an opportunity for discernment and, rather than experiencing only loss, allow yourself to let go in the spirit of coming home to yourself?

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: An Evolutionary Process to Awaken Inspiration, Focus Intention and Manifest Fulfillment, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life.