Author Archives: Paula Josa-Jones

Dec24

joy

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You cannot judge the value of a life by its quantity. It is by the joy that you are feeling. The more joyful you are, the longer you live. Let yourself relax and breathe and be free and be joyous, and romp. The optimum physical life experience is to have plenty of things that stimulate you to desire, and an awareness of the way you feel, so you’re reaching for thoughts that feel good—so you’re wide open, so you’re tuned in, tapped in, and turned on.

Abraham – Excerpted from the workshop in Chicago, IL on Saturday, September 7th, 2002

 

This is a photo of my daughter Bimala with the mules Gizmo and Gomez.  May your holiday have moments of this kind of happiness and connection. Appreciation for the small moments and for what is precious to you.

 

 

 

 

 

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Dec23

softness inside, softness outside

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Today was a strangely, deliciously balmy December day in the Hudson Valley.  I went to see Nelson (the formerly wild Mustang) with some holiday carrots. He was very cuddly from the beginning, seeming to echo the softness and quiet of the day. Have I mentioned that I love this horse?

I have been asking him to move around me in a small circle, while staying calm and responding to the “go” signal from my hand and the “whoa” signal from my movement and my voice.  Today he was flawless when circling to the right, still uncertain to the left.

So I played with that by asking him to stay with the hard side, to keep trying.  And here’s the lovely part:  he allowed me to improvise more freely with changes of direction and with different kinds of cues than ever before.  My hand, my body, the lead rope, the wand, nothing seemed to really phase him.  It was as if there had been a quantum shift in his tolerance for new information – his ability to take it in without being frightened.

Even after I opened the gate of his catch pen out into the six-acre field, he stayed with me – no halter, no lead rope – moving smoothly around me to the right, and doing his best in the other direction. No running off, no spooking.  He wanted to continue the dance.

Everything about my work with Nelson during the past eight months has been an improvisation.  But the movement vocabulary was very small, very careful.  Now, our language is suddenly expanding:  new options, different choices, greater flexibility. A reservoir of trust. This new softness is deepening, penetrating, lasting from week-to-week.

This expanding relationship reminds me of the comparison of meditating to dipping a cloth into dye. For the first 100 times, the color will rinse away, but slowly, surely, the color starts to take and deepen.

Dec22

I feel I can

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I gave this paperweight to Pam a couple years ago.  It was actually a note to myself – something I wanted to remind myself of daily.  It has migrated to my desk, which I keep very clear otherwise.

Doing a weekly (at least) ritual clearing of my desk seems to be something that helps me to find focus.  Otherwise stuff accumulates and I lose the thread; the gathering detritus pulls me in before I have a chance to feel the more tender buds of whatever is percolating.  

I listened to an Abraham rampage driving through the hills of the Hudson valley the other day.  A rampage is a river, a pouring, a flood of appreciation.  In this one, each sentence started with “can you feel” and then went on to name a sensory experience.  Like this:

  • Can you feel that view?
  • Can you feel the sun on that mountain?
  • Can you feel that song?
  • Can you feel how delicious that tastes?

And on and on.  I was grinning by the end.  So coming back to Henry Ford’s quote, I want to say instead, “Whether you feel you can or if you feel you can’t, you’re right.”  Putting it that way puts me in a more emotional, less think-y/figuring it out relationship with the can part.  And that allows me to feel more connected to the can than the can’t.

What do you feel?

 ps.  Be sure to write if you would like more information about my new offering:  Breaking into Blossom:  Moving into an Improvisational Life.   Five weeks of jump start strategies for improvisational living.

Dec20

a deadline & an elevator

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On December 24,  the price goes up for my class Breaking into Blossom: Moving into an Improvisational Life.  Right now the price for this 5-week class is $75.  On December 24, it goes up to $100.

I think that this is a wonderful gift to give someone you love – a terrific way to launch 2012.

I am excited about this class because it is where I am pulling together pretty much everything I have learned about embodiment and improvisation and how those two things can change the way you go about your daily life.

What I have observed is that for many of us there is a big commute between what we consider creative and “life.”  My belief is that everything can be lived creatively.  This class is intended to help you close the gap; to weave improvisation into the fabric of the ways you move, eat, work, play.

You don’t have to be an artist to enjoy this class.  That being said, it will spark the artist in you.  Twice a week for five weeks, I will be using writing, movement, brilliant guest posts, and specific strategies to help you close the gap and find a deeper creative engagement.

By the by, this class is not about horses.  However, if you are a rider, it will change how you approach that too.

If you have questions, shoot me a comment and I will answer.