Workshops

A stand-alone or series integrating the creative arts to build stress management skills. 

Introduces participants to the concept of mindfulness, which involves learning how to bring a new level of awareness to each moment and shifting from automatic reactivity to daily stressors and mindfully responding to them. 

• A one-hour introduction
• A four-part  series 
• A university  class

 This weight-neutral workshop will focus on what it means to live in our amazing bodies, appreciate them, and practice good self-care.   We will use creative and mindfulness exercises that encourage you to be your own kind of beautiful.

Participants learn how to keep an expressive journal and learn why it improves mental, physical, and creative health. Using paper and colored pencils we will explore the research and do creative journal exercises. No prior creative writing or art experience is necessary. We all become poets and expressive writers with a few simple exercises.  

 Joan has many offerings in this area from one-hour lunch and learns seminars to ongoing classes. She has years of experience in the field of compassion fatigue and providing workshops on creative self-care.  

 This playful approach to making dreams come true applies imagination to the "real world".
Through photo collages & journal exercises, we learn to think with both sides of the brain.In creating  "wish maps" we use visual thinking and illustrate our purpose and potential. No prior experience In the arts or writing is required. Techniques can be applied to personal life, relationships, health, work, and business. 

Everyday decisions we make from how we spend our leisure time to who our are friends take us deeper into our own story and every decision can affect its outcome. We are in the process of creating ourselves a moment to moment, day by day.   

Using slides, journal questions and poems participants will engage in a process that will assist them to become conscious of what their path has been, what they want it to be, and how their unique voice will help them in their journey. 

Identify what sabotages your efforts in a fun creative way
The Inner Critic began as a survival mechanism that emerged to help us learn social behavior and avoid pain when we were children. It’s the internal voice that has a lot of rules and uses phrases like “you can’t, you shouldn’t, don’t, people won’t approve”.  As adults, the voice of the Inner Critic can prevent us from being bold and creative.  Once we become aware of this voice, we can work with it in helpful and healthy ways. 

 General Overview with lecture and some mindful eating exercises. In this talk, you will become aware of your food-related habits and choices and new ways to eat mindfully. This moves beyond any dietary guidelines to explore your connections to food and your own food stories. It’s not a nutrition class but broader than that as we explore what nourishes you in life. 

Grief is a natural response to losing someone or something important to you. Any time you face a change that disrupts your life, you can experience grief. You may feel a variety of emotions, like sadness, despair, loneliness, or even anger. This is normal. A growing body of research highlights the positive benefits of connecting with the natural world. Walking in nature is a powerful way to be present to grief.

This is a two-hour mindful workshop in nature. We will walk, journal, and explore what we have lost. We will walk. We won’t be alone. The forest will support us. Groups of 1-6 people. We meet in Morton Arboretum or other natural environment.