Expressive Arts Coaching

On Wednesday night I had the honor of being a guest speaker along with fellow member, Greg Nelson, at the SF Coaches meeting. (I’m glad I recently took Patricia Fripp’s Public Speaking Class!) My presentation was on Expressive Arts Coaching. I define this approach as combining multiple art modalities (e.g., drawing, painting, dancing, sound, music, poetry, etc.) to help clients deepen awareness, imagine goals, discover fresh perspectives and accelerate action.

It was so much fun to share what I know about this emerging field with my peers. We scribbled with crayons, danced around with colorful scarves, vocalized sound and some even penned haikus! I wish I had a picture to capture the energy of the room. In the midst of all the wild creativity, it was super cool to see people gain some really deep insights about themselves and their lives. Goes to show how powerful this work is!

Earlier this year, I was disappointed when a proposal I co-submitted to a large conference on this same topic was turned down. So, you can imagine how excited I was when I found out I was selected for this opporutnity. The icing on the cake was seeing the delight on people’s faces as they let their inner artists burst forth that night and to hear people say on their way out how much they had fun and learned.

Living “On Quest”

Last weekend I was in Toronto as a Circle Coach for Quest, The Coaches Training Institute’s latest leadership program. In three days, it’s amazing to see the transformations that occur and the quests that participants have embarked on!

The concept of a quest is rooted in Joseph Campbell’s model The Hero’s Journey. In his research of ancient myths, Campbell articulated the shared path of ordinary people being called forth to do extraordinary things. Below is a great video that uses one of my favorite movies, The Matrix, to illustrate the steps of the hero’s journey.

Quests can be as grand as saving the planet or as close-to-home as creating shared community in your neighborhood. What’s most important is that the quest comes from your essence and that it’s making a positive impact on others. In your life you’ve probably had and will have many quests. Don’t get trapped into feeling like you must search for the one perfect quest that defines your life purpose.

A key to living “on quest” is to stay engaged and in action around your quest (even when you’re up against challenges, rejection and doubt). One of my quests is to create an Expressive Arts Coaching community. So, earlier this year Jamie and I submitted a proposal to present our perspectives on this emerging field. We were disappointed that we didn’t get selected AND it didn’t stop me from submitting another proposal for a new opportunity to speak next month. Living “on quest” means staying in it, course correcting, asking for help and celebrating your steps along the way.

One of the things that helps me stay “on quest” is to connect with other questers. I get energized witnessing others making a positive impact and showing up so fully in their essence. One of those inspiring questers is Doug Somers who is spearheading The Hero’s Journey Project, a collaborative initiative to create musical accompaniment for the hero’s journey. Take a listen! These magical songs will no doubt move you in your quest! And this week I heard from another amazing quester who just signed a book deal to write about creative women entrepreneurs. Exciting stuff is happening!! I can’t wait to see how the Toronto questers’ quests unfold!

What quest(s) are you being called to do? What will keep you living “on quest?”

Meeting Jamie

While I’m out here in Toronto (or just outside of Toronto to be more accurate), I just HAD to meet my friend and kindred creative spirit Jamie. What a treat to finally meet this amazing woman in person!!! Jamie is such a wise, intuitive soul who dances vibrantly with life. That’s us above finishing up our dinner. (I’m hoping she got a better picture!)

Jamie and I “met” early last year through an online coaching community for creative artists. One of my paintings was posted on the home page and Jamie reached out in her magical way to connect. From there we started to exchange e-mails back and forth, each time finding more things we have in common and are passionate about. Since then, we’ve been supporting each other in building our businesses, living creative lives and making a positive impact in the world. We’ve even started to collaborate together on ways to be pioneers in the emerging field of Expressive Arts Coaching.

I love that we both do things even if they scare us (see collaboration point above for just one example). I love knowing that I can drop her a line when I’m frustrated or stuck because I know she’ll understand AND she’ll call me forth. I love knowing I can always look to her for inspiration and insight. I love knowing that we’re there to celebrate successes with each other. I love that all of this grew out of a simple, spontaneous e-mail hello.

Who are you wanting to meet? What magic might unfold by simply saying hello to someone you don’t know? What new connection can you create today?

Next Steps Gathering

Yesterday, I was invited by a friend Cathy to lead my dream box workshop with her small networking group of East Bay entrepreneurial women. These five financial- and foodie-focused females get together regularly to help support each other in their “next steps.” It’s such a great idea to have a group of like-minded people to help keep accountability and motivate each other to keep moving forward. We had a fun few hours of collaging and gabbing. I love doing workshops like this for small gatherings of women who already are friends (like I did for my painting and collage workshop last year). It’s usually a nice change of pace for them and they get inspired by each other’s creative visions. What fun, new creative activities can you do with your group of friends?

Backyard Yoga and Dream Boxes

It’s been another full week and challenging for me to keep up with all the great things going on. I did make a point on Wednesday to take advantage of the gorgeous spring-like weather by practicing yoga in my backyard. With the sun shining overhead, birds chirping in the trees and the cool breeze on my skin, I was in yogi heaven! I’m amazed at how the fresh air brought me so in touch with my breath and my body – wonderful!

With another Ladies Who Launch Incubator that started last night, I’m reminded to get creative about doing more nice things for myself. After all, pampering is part of the lady launching way! So, I can’t wait for more sunny days like this to do backyard yoga ‘cuz that sure counts as a nice thing.

Today I was at It’s Yoga for another dream box workshop with a new circle of teacher trainers. It’s hard for me to believe that it was almost a year ago that I completed my yoga teacher certification. So many wonderful things have manifested since then. One being getting to lead this workshop at the studio!!!

I had fun laughing and hanging out with the group. They were a playful and engaging bunch! And I loved hearing about their dreams and seeing the unique ways they all decorated their dream boxes.

One of the students crafted her own “guru-in-a-box” with a pop-up Sri Swami Satchidananda to offer inspiration and wisdom! How cool is that?!

Mandala Magic

Our Creative Playground met at Laura’s lovely home for an afternoon of mandala making. A mandala (which means means circle or completion in Sanskrit) symbolizes wholeness. Laura explained that in Sanskrit, bindu means particle or dot and is the center point of the mandala. It’s a place of infinite capacity. We are always moving toward this point. It is a journey.

We circled around a table on Laura’s front porch while she led us through a visualization to our creative center. Then, to warm us up, she invited us to pick up oil pastels and chalks and quickly create our first mandala in 10 minutes. I loved the freedom to just intuitively let the colors flow. During the visualization I was reminded of some powerful insights I had while listening to someone from the Strozzi Institute speak about body-based coaching at SF Coaches earlier this week. The presenter led us through a centering practice to get us really grounded in our bodies. We aligned from top to bottom, lengthening while grounding. We became aware of our width, meaning how we show up in the social dimension. And then we noticed our front and back, where we’ve come from and where we are going. Throughout Laura’s visualization I imagined that energy surrounding me like a globe and that’s what I depicted in my first mandala below. This piece felt very airy and dreamy.

Once we were done with our warm-up mandala, we moved on to a more focused project. I decided to play with brighter oil pastels against a black background. I explored feeling more in my body and more grounded and bold by using the vibrant, warm colors of the lower chakras. The mandala of the yellow, red and orange blossom emerged.

Mandalas come in all types. Some are very symmetrical and others, like mine today, are very organic. What’s amazing is that mandalas show up in nature all around us. Think of the rings of a tree trunk, the spirals of a sea shell or even planets circling the sun in our solar system.

What connects you to your center or bindu? How can a mandala help you journey inward and expand out? For more ideas on creating mandalas, check out Mandala: Journey to the Center.

Blowing the Lid Off of 2008

While rain drizzled lightly outside, 11 vibrant women gathered for my Dream Box workshop at fellow Lady Launcher and coach/therapist Laura Parker’s Creative Action Center. We christened her lovely office space with positive energy and creativity as the women visioned their goals and collaged colorful dream boxes.

I love witnessing everyone in their creative process.Â In the beginning we discussedÂ how as successful women we’re so conditioned to have very specific and practical goals (often brought on by others outside ourselves). But by rolling up our sleeves and getting messy, we’re able to tap into our intuition and childlike creativity. Our imagination and right-brain helps us dream big!

One of my favorite parts of the workshop is the show and tell at the end. We get to hear about what each woman is creating in her life and what action she’s taking to continue moving forward. It’s always cool to see how unique everyone’s dreams are and also where there is synergy and opportunity to support one another on their journeys. I can’t wait to see these dreams of health, travel, meaningful connections and creative projects come true!

How are you blowing the lid off of 2008? What creative ways can you tap into your big dreams? And what support do you need to move forward?

Questers, Dreamers and Launchers

The past 10 days have been a whirlwind of excitement, connection, fulfillment and fun! I visited Washington DC to be a Circle Coach for Quest, returned home to lead a dream box workshop at It’s Yoga and then flew out to Cleveland for our Ladies Who Launch leader training. I had a great time at all the different events. And this weary traveler is happy to be home (where it’s not snowing!).

Quest was amazing. What an honor to help shepherd our Questers on their journey of discovering their leadership essence and taking action on their inspiring Quests. I look forward to seeing how they each continue to make their unique impact on the world!

The icing on the cake was meeting up with my friends John and Marie last Saturday night in DC. I hadn’t seen John in about three years and this was my first time meeting Marie in person. What a treat!

Had one day back home to make dream boxes with the yoga teacher trainers including students from Mexico, Israel, Japan and all across the US. I’m always so moved by what the participants dream of and create!

Next up, Cleveland! On our first day there, Launy, Corinne and I ventured to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’m no music buff, so much of the paraphernalia was beyond me. But I did get a kick out of seeing a letter that Madonna wrote to a friend while she was at the University of Michigan, Jim Morrison’s report cards from grade school and drawings that Jimi Hendrix did as a kid.

California girls Launy, me, Corinne and Claire braving the snow. It was so much fun to be at the training with these smart, savvy gals. And we’re so excited to bring all our launching energy back to our fellow Bay Area launchers.

Oh, and I just had to take a picture of the infamous chocolate cake that magically appeared after every meal. Good thing we had yoga class Friday morning to work off such decadence.

And finally, a beautiful shot of all 14 leaders in training from across the US and Canada along with our awesome trainer Stella. What an amazing group of women!

Right-Brain Business Plan Blog

In November of 2007, I participated in Leah Piken’s Art Every Day Month. The final two days of the challenge serendipitously culminated in a new creative idea that I call the Right-Brain Business Plan. Well, in the last several weeks, my Right-Brain Business Plan has generated quite a bit of interest – comments on my blog, others posting about my plan on their site, and those who’ve seen it in-person wanting to create one for themselves. I even recently worked with a client and her business partner to develop their own Right-Brain Business Plans. So, given the great response, I figured, hey, why not officially start a movement!

I’ve created a new blog called “The Right-Brain Business Plan Blog.” Please check it out! Stay tuned for more creative ideas for your business and opportunities for connection and community with fellow right-brainers!

This is NOT business as usual!

The Year it all Came Together

In December, I like to have my coaching clients reflect on what they’ve accomplished throughout the year. It’s such a gift to set aside some time during the frenetic holiday season to actually honor everything you’ve manifested in the last 12 months.

After spending a few hours last Saturday journaling about my own learnings, discoveries, milestones and achievements in 2007, I was amazed at how so many different pieces of my life have flowed together in such meaningful ways. I looked back at some notes I had when I started working with my last coach after leaving my job and one of the things I wanted was more integration. I was tired of living a separate work life apart from the rest of my life.

I’m happy to say that I gave 2007 the title, “My Year of Integration: When it all came together!”

So many big things happened this year. Revamped my coaching brand, celebrated my one year of freedom, got interviewed for a book, started leading Incubators, led my second year of the CDB leadership program, got selected as a CTI Circle Coach, became certified as an Ashtanga yoga instructor and led dream box workshops at the studio, got my MBTI qualification, participated in Art Every Day Month, traveled with friends, started a creative playground to explore Expressive Arts Coaching. And so much more!

Given all the insights I gained from doing art every day last month, I picked up my watercolors and painted a mandala to represent all that has unfolded this year. I love having a visual reminder of this wonderful feeling of integration and of what has blossomed in 2007.