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It’s been months since I last wrote a blog post, and as my mind attempts to
reprimand me and remind me of all my unaccomplished writing intentions,
I stopped, took three deep breaths, and then consciously decided to just jump
right in…so here it goes.
It’s been a very interesting, intense and productive 2011 so far.
Some of the highlights for me in the past several months include:
- Having back surgery and a long recovery. Ps, I’m all healed now!
- Seperating, then reuniting and redefining my love relationship.
- Welcoming my third nephew into the world.
- Working my butt off to bring forth my latest business project,
The StoryPlay® Life Skills Enrichment Program, into five different schools this fall.
- Meeting, working with, and learning how to Stand Up Paddle Board with my
amazing friend and business coach Rich German.
- Taking an incredibly transformative business course with Hiro Boga called
Become Your Own Business Advisor.
- Learning that my spiritual teacher and depth mentor has breast cancer and
then participating in her hair cutting ceremony.
- Visiting my soul and September 11th birthday brother in Puebla, Mexico,
then Cancun and Chichen Itza.
- And most recently returning from a wonderfully restfull and restorative trip to
Laguna Beach, CA with my newly redefined life partner.
I’d like to talk just a little bit about my Stand Up Paddle Boarding (SUP) experience in Laguna as it describes the theme for me thus far in 2011 which is: Balance, Surrender, Trust & Faith.
Allowing myself to be moved and protected by the water, not pushing against it or trying to control it; surrendering to the flow and movement, grounding and centering then finding my upright balance while at the same time trusting completely that I am safe and being held by the Great Mother Ocean, and finally placing my faith in the Divine Source that All Is Well.
The day was picture perfect. I saw three dolphins playfully glide by as well as a family of seals and a bunch of pelicans happily soaking up the sun and sharing the same resting space on this big beautiful rock about one mile out into the ocean.
I felt peaceful, protected, and so grateful to connect with the ocean and the sea creatures in that way, and I very much look forward to getting out on the water and SUPing again as soon as possible.
And thank you again to Rich German for the SUP lesson and for taking those awsome pictures of me and Jeff with your cool waterproof camera!
So as I confidently move and am moved forward into the final five months of 2011 I intend to continue practicing my life with the Divine Qualities of Balance, Surrender, Trust & Faith and also, of course, with JOY!
With love and gratitude,
Joy
©2011 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved. .
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In America, today is Thanksgiving, and as we prepare to stuff our faces with a huge turkey feast this evening, I wanted to take a few moments to express my Love and Gratitude to ALL of my readers, and to the entire MomsZone community.
As I was writing my list this morning of 10 things that I am grateful for and 10 things I want to attract into my life, or the “10-10,” as the creator and my amazing business coach, Rich German calls it, I was suddenly filled with such an amazingly strong feeling of love and gratitude that it gave me pause.
I then remembered these facts and stats that I had recently read
in an article by Anup Shah:
1 – If you have a roof over your head, food on your table, and
clothes on your back, you have it better than 75% of the planet.
2 – 50% of all human beings live on less than $2 a day.
And that quickly, all of my so called ‘problems’ and ‘ailments’ seemed to dissipate and then dissapear.
In other interesting Love and Gratitude news: 
Dr. Masaru Emoto’s describes in his book, The Messages
From Water, the ability of water to absorb, hold, and even retransmit human feelings and emotions. He showed in his research that the amazingly powerful combination of the English words Love and Gratitude, when exposed to water crystals, can actually impact and alter the entire crystal structure. Dr. Emoto goes on to say that by consciously expressing our Love and Gratitude that we have the ability to heal our planet and ourselves.
So this being true, consider for a moment:
The human body is approximately 75% water, and just looking at these water crystal photos in which one was exposed to the words; “Love and Gratitude,” and the other to “You Make Me Sick,” there’s really only one question that I need to ask…
Which words do you expose yourself and others to?
Moral: The messages you send to yourself and others DO IMPACT the STRUCTURE of who you are and who they are. Think good thoughts and send good words out to others and you will MOLECULARLY CHANGE! Oh and also, be grateful for all that you have today on this American day of giving thanks!
In Love and Gratitude!
Joy
©2010 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved. .
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Hello Everyone and Happy Fall!
This month’s blog topic is on the importance of Deep Breathing and the amazing benefits it has on the mind, body and spirit.
As most schools are already well into their fall breaks, you may be experiencing in your kids some extra pent up energy, possibly leftover from the classroom and playground. This energy may be manifesting itself as stress, anxiety, frustration, and/or hyperactivity.
Many times kids don’t know how to let go of this sometimes labeled “negative” energy in a constructive way, and it’s the parents job to help steer them in the right direction.
During the years I was teaching first grade there was a series of books written by Adolph Moser and illlustrated by David Melton that I, and the children, really resignated with. Each book was written for a certain day of the week and explored different important topics such as: Stress and anger management, self-esteem, violence, grief, divorce, and truth-control.
Each Monday at the beginning of class I would read his book entitled, Don’t Pop Your Cork on Mondays: The Children’s Anti-Stress Book to my class which always led to very interesting, and yes, entertaining discussions.
My favorite part of that book was his kid friendly approach to deep breathing. So without fail, every Monday morning for 13 years my students and I had the opportunity to begin our day by lying flat on the ground, imagining that our bellies were balloons, and on the inhale through the nose we’d inflate our balloons, holding for five seconds, and then on the exhale, slowly letting all of the air out of our balloons.
Throughout the day I began to notice that the children seemed more calm and more in control of their bodies and their emotions, and remember, these are first graders I’m talking about, 6-7 year olds. Not to mention the calming and balancing effects that I felt after each deep breathing seesion. This Monday morning breathing ritual soon became a daily event.
So without further ado I’d like to introduce you all to a simple deep breathing relaxation practice for the entire family to enjoy; it’s called, The Magic Happy Breath.
The Magic Happy Breath was created by my teacher Dr. Joyce Mills as part of her StoryPlay® therapy and coaching model, and I will teach it to you as I learned it in my training.
This relaxation practice is a wonderful way to give children a valuable tool for helping themselves to reduce stress and gain a feeling of control in their lives. It can be practiced anywhere and anytime and is a wonderful technique for the entire family.
Here’s how it goes:
- First get into a comfortable position…For younger children allow them to wiggle their body around until they’ve found the best spot for them. (You might even want to demonstrate this to them).
- Then tell them to find something that they enjoy looking at, and to let their eyes rest on that spot.
- Now that you have the spot, we’ll begin taking a Magic Happy Breath like this…(You demonstrate first to your kids).
- Breathe in deeply through your nose…you want your belly to expand or stick out like a balloon if possible, and hold it for five seconds, counting aloud so your children can hear.
- Then exhale, or let your breath out slowly through your mouth, as if you were gently blowing a feather, or letting the air out of a balloon. If you’d like you can hold your hand up to your mouth and pretend you have a feather, or if you have one handy, better yet.
- Then check in with your body and notice how wonderful you feel inside.
- Repeat two more times, or as many times as you wish.
If you are teaching the Magic Happy Breath to your child, you might want to demonstrate the inhale and the exhale for them a few times so they can see you do it first. Then ask him or her to repeat it three more times following the same instructions as above.
I can’t say enough about how deep breathing has changed my life and health for the better, and I’ve seen firsthand the incredible results it has on kids in the classroom.
Did you know that by simply taking three deep belly breaths whenever you’re feeling stressed, anxious, tense, frustrated, angry, etc., that in an instant your entire body chemistry changes?
In ancient times, famous doctors claimed that the one who is able to control his breath – is able to control his life. There were no painkillers back then and people, especially those who knew the value of life and health, managed to prevent illnesses and get through stressful situations by practicing deep breathing.
Research shows that some of the amazing and immediate benefits from deep belly breathing include:
- Increased Clarity and focus
- Reduced tension and stress
- Increased concentration and energy
- Calming of the mind
- Reduced abdominal and stomach pain
- Relief from headaches, backaches and other stress related aches and pains
And the best part about deep breathing is that it’s free, safe, and easy. Your kids can do it in the classroom at anytime whithout anyone even knowing, and finally, it’s one of the best things you and your kids can do for your health.
So until next time…
Happy Breathing!
Joy
©2010 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved. .
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Hello everyone, and happy September!
My blog topic today is one that I am quite passionate about and I hope it will be helpful to you.
Often I hear parents say…
- I wish my child would listen more in school and at home.
- Why is my child so easily distracted?
- Why can’t s/he follow simple directions and do what s/he’s supposed to do?
- All the other kids seem to get it, why doesn’t mine?
- I want my child to be more responsible and care about the works that s/he does.
- How can I help him/her to focus and stop procrastinating?
- The teacher says s/he’s too fidgety, and can’t/won’t sit still…
…and on and on and on.
Well first of all, depending on the age of your child, it’s SO important that you read about and know the developmental growth pattern of your child before any unreasonable demands or expectations are made.
Remember, as it’s commonly said, the attention span of an elementary school child is between five and twelve minutes, depending on their age and grade. Their general interest, the challenging nature of the task, and how complex it is, also determine how long that child can pay attention. If they’re being shown something new and it’s highly complex and very hard to follow, they will not be attentive for long, they may even get overloaded. In fact, if the task or the new information is not interesting or challenging enough, that also can lower attention span.
So this being true, isn’t it only natural that your child will be fidgety, distracted and unfocused at times???
What can you do to help your child…and yourself in the process?
Well, you can first start by looking at the different ways a child learns.
As human beings we have five main senses: Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste
and Touch.
However, we use three of those senses most often in our daily learning and communicating; they are, Sight, Hearing and Touch.
Of those three senses, most of us are usually stronger in one, and sometimes two, making us either, Visual, Auditory, or Kinesthetic learners.
So back to the title of this blog; Do you know your child’s
sensory strength?
Can you imagine how helpful this information could be to both YOU and your child’s teacher? Well as a veteran teacher of 13 years, let me answer that one; it would be INVALUABLE! Yes, just knowing this little tidbit could help a teacher out immensely and simultaneously put you, the parent, into more of a proactive position.
I mean really, if parents take responsibility to discover how their children learn best, you can then work together with, and help support your teachers in a way that will promote success for all, and can make learning more fun!
All teachers learn in school that every child is UNIQUE, and that each child learns in his or her own way and at his or her own pace.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that if a teacher is given this information in the beginning of the year that she or he needs to write 28 different and unique lesson plans for the students, I’m simply suggesting that knowing in advance that each student will come into the classroom having a sensory learning strength that is either Visual, Auditory, or Kinesthetic, can be very helpful for the teacher when it comes time to creating lesson plans; it’s much easier to modify one lesson than to write three seperate ones. This will also really demonstrate to your child’s teacher that you are invested in their learning.
Let’s say for example, your child is a visual learner; in this case he or she will need to SEE the assignment in a visual form like in pictures, maps, videos, slides or diagrams.
If you child is a kinesthetic learner, then just seeing the assignment on the board will not be enough. He or she will want an experiential or hands-on understanding and FEELING of the assignment and will need to write it down for him or herself, draw a picture, make a map or diagram, or even use manipulatives to feel it out.
Your auditory learner will need to HEAR the assignment. This can occur in a multitude of different ways. For example the assignment may be simply spoken by the teacher and then repeated by the student, or played from an audio recording, perhaps tapping their fingers, drumming, or marching while repeating the assignment in their head; the options are endless.
Both Auditory and Visual learners are often very strong in the Kinesthetic sense and might need to move around the classroom, or stand up while learning. Personally I don’t understand why many teachers have an issue with this, I think it’s a control thing and will spare you the rest of my diatribe for now. These are the kids who are most likely labeled ‘fidgety,’ and are often misdiagnosed with ADHD and put on meds. It’s sad really, as these are children who are just highly creative and need to be accepted for who they are.
How can I identify my child’s sensory strength?
By actively listening and observing…and for you kinesthetic learners out there, you’ll feel your way around.
The clues to discovering your child’s sensory strength can be found in their dialogue, and once you’ve discovered this gem, then the fun can begin. You can make up all kinds of creative ways to help your child to; complete their homework, do their chores, finish their responsibilities, etc. If you’d like to hear some of the ideas I’ve tried with kids and have been successful with in the past, then please comment on this post, as I’m more than happy to share!
Here’s a handy list of sensory words that will help you in discovering your child’s learning strength.
Visual Auditory Kinesthetic
See Hear Feel
Look Sound Sense
Bright Volume Shape
Observe Pitch/Tone Form
Watch Listening Touch
Clear Giggle Grasp
Focus Voice an opinion Hurt
Shine/Glow Roar Hold
Get the picture Speaking up Sensitive
Appears Scream Stuck
Reflect Wordy Relaxed
Foggy/Blurry Tune in/Tune out Excited
So to sum up, learning your child’s sensory strength will be an invaluable tool for you as the parent to use when creating and implementing your house rules, chores and responsibilities, and will help to create a more peaceful home environment for all!
It will also be pricelss information for the teacher to have when designing his or her lesson plans. After all, with your child spending a majority of the day at school and away from home, wouldn’t you like to help your teachers understand how your child learns best?
Now you can both communicate with your child in a way that he or she will understand thus promoting their success, inspiration, motivation and enjoyment, both at home and at school!
Remember, have fun with this! As you embark on your sensory learning expedition you will undoubtedly uncover your child’s strengths and passions…I invite you to be open minded and surprised at what you will discover.
Please comment and share some of your discoveries, successes and non-successes, (I like that phrase better than the word failures) with me and the MomsZone moms. I look forward to hearing from you!
With love and blessings,
Joy
ps. For a more complete list, and for more information on learning the sensory language of your child, read Dr. Joyce Mills’s book called, Therapeutic Metaphors for Children and the Child Within, which you can find and buy from her website.
©2010 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved. .
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Hello All You Moms Out There!
My name is Joy Rigberg and I am so excited to announce my upcoming monthly Mom's Zone blog!
Each month, beginning in September, (well actually beginning right now with this blog : ) I’ll be sharing some educational secrets, stories, successes, tips and a whole lot more with all of you wonderful Mom's Zone moms!
My intention with this blog is to make it as interactive as possible, meaning, you tell me what your current concerns are or what you’re struggling with, and that topic will be my focus for the month.
If at first you find that you’re a little shy, or possibly even too overwhelmed to know where to begin, don’t worry, because I have worked with and helped many children who struggle both at home and at school with things like:
Focus
Motivation
Stress
ADD/ADHD
Confidence/Self-esteem
Anger
Procrastination
Social Skills
Communication
…and more, so I have plenty of topics from which to begin! : )
So now a little about me: I began Conscious Joy Coaching a little more than a year ago with the intention of helping both parents and children to live a more consciously joyful life and to Reconnect with and Remember Their Innate Potential.
After obtaining my second Master’s Degree, this one in Counseling, I knew it was time to leave the classroom setting, which I had been in for more than 13 years, and work with children in a more conscious and authentic way. With this in mind, the universe led me to a woman who has become both my mentor, teacher and spiritual mother, and her name is Joyce Mills.
I could write blogs and blogs about Joyce’s experiences and accomplishments alone, but to save time I’ll give you just a little teaser; if you want to read more about this fabulous Fearless Woman, just click on the links.
Joyce Mills is the founder of the StoryPlay® Center in Scottsdale, AZ, she’s a nationally and internationally recognized storyteller, a keynote presenter, a licensed and certified Marriage and Family Therapist, a Registered Play Therapy Supervisor, and most recently, she’s been featured in Mary Ann Halpin’s new book; Fearless Women, Fearless Wisdom.
Joyce developed a strength based method of therapy and coaching called StoryPlay® which has become the foundation of my Educational and Parent Coaching practice.
What I love most about this creative, multicultural, experiential, multisensory and transformational coaching process, is that it brings together three of my most favorite things: Play, metaphor and the elements of story, and creativity…and then draws on the natural inner resources, skills, and strengths of each individual, to effect positive change, problem solving and natural healing.
As I am a diverse, creative, multicultural kind of girl myself, I also implement into my coaching a dynamic variety of mindfulness and breath practices, body movement and energy work, an array and lifetime of teaching and travel stories and experiences, as well as consistent and constant new learnings. I am an open minded, humble student of life; I love to learn, I love to give, and I love the element of surprise!
Speaking of surprise, I’d like to leave a little element of mystery and surprise for my next blog, so I’ve decided to end with an amazing quote by Michelangelo that sums up my beliefs about coaching…
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
Until next time!
With love and blessings,
Joy
©2010 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved.
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Jeff and I drove up to Sedona yesterday to escape the heat in Phoenix and to re-energize our body’s, mind’s and soul’s, and I’m so glad we did! I’m still vibrating from the magic of those red rocks, and the flowing water in Oak Creek.
That’s all it took for us to feel re-balanced and re-centered; beautiful natural surroundings, along with a good hike, the sound of the wind blowing in the canyons, and the running water. It’s so simple really, although at times it seems so hard to remember the simplicity.
It was a good reminder that we create our own reality, and that we constantly have a choice of how we want to be and feel in each moment!
Yesterday we chose blissfulness and that is my new daily intention, to choose blissfulness!
I wish you all blessings and bliss today!
Warmly,
Joy
ps. Although photos really don’t capture the magic of a place, they’re still beautiful to look at! : ) Enjoy!
©2010 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved. .
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After all of the preparation, anticipation, nervousness and excitement for my first international presentation at the World Congress of Play Therapy in Marrakech, Morocco, I blinked my eyes and just like that, it was over.
Joyce Mills and I returned from Marrakech one week ago tomorrow, and what an incredible experience it was!
The first part of our adventure began when we arrived at London, Heathrow and waited for 6 hours for our Royal Air Moroc flight which was meant to stop in Casablanca and then go directly on to Marrakech. After being grounded for 2 hours in the Royal Air Moroc plane, we finally took off for Casablanca. The 3 hour flight was very nice, however, rather than stay on the plane like we were originally told, we had to disembark in Casablanca; but not before waiting 1 & 1/2 more hours just to get off of the plane. It was then that our real Moroccan adventure began!
Although with Joyce’s little French we were able to say hello and thank you to many people in the airport, and meet a really nice Greek pilot who helped us get through the document and immigration line, we were still unable to get any relevant information regarding our flight to Marrakech. We eventually learned that our flight had been cancelled with no explanation.
So after hooking up and hitching a ride with an English tour group, we finally arrived in Marrakech 6 hours later and were safe in bed at 6am. All in all it only took us 1 day & 1/2 to get to Marrakech from Phoenix, all the while keeping a playful adventurous attitude, knowing that nothing was as it seemed.
After sleeping through the entire first day of the conference, I awoke just in time for the Moroccan Gala. The food and the people were wonderful!
Joyce’s first presentation entitled, “Inspiring Children to Soar: Planting the Seeds and Reaping the Harvest,” was on Wednesday the 19th of May, and she was amazing! My presentation followed on Thursday the 20th, (also my father’s birthday: )
I so enjoyed presenting how I have implemented the StoryPlay® model in the classroom and I loved how well it and I was received by an Internation audience.
Joyce also presented the 4 day post conference and I was again able to experience for myself the impactful self-empowerment that occurs though story, metaphor, play, and the reconnection to my strengths and my Imaginal Discs.
I am so deeply grateful to Joyce for all of her time, dedication and love, as well as for her trust in me to present her wonderfully creative and strength based model called StoryPlay®.
Before I go I want to give a quick note of thanks and gratitude to Monika Jephcott , the president of Play Therapy Internation (PTI), and her husband Jeff for organizing such an amazing Congress.
I know they were disappointed that the participation count was much lower than it was meant to be due to an unexpected withdraw of support from UNICEF and Play Therapy Africa. Both Monika and Jeff are dedicated to bringing treatment and healing to the children of the world by training professionals in Play Therapy world wide.
They have recently spent much of their time and energy in Ethiopia following up on promises from UNICEF to provide “Child Friendly” schools and other programs only to recount thier visit with tears and heartbreak after witnessing the real goings on and happenings. After listening to their horror stories I made a promise to myself that I would do my best to get the word out.
Please if you are interested in learning more and taking action contact Monika, and she will discuss with you how to proceed.
Until next time!
Blessings and love,
Joy
ps. Please enjoy some of the photos from our trip!
©2010 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved. .
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Tomorrow evening Joyce Mills and I leave for the the World Congress of Play Therapy Conference in Marrakech, Morocco.
I’ll be presenting my first International workshop entitled: StoryPlay® in the Classroom: A multicultural model for helping children overcome obstacles to learning and achieving their goals. I’m really looking forward to this new and exciting experience, and hope that it is the first of many to come!
And what a place for this first presentation! Marrakech is such an ancient and exotic city, and although my loving partner will not be with me, I am excited to explore and wander around all the different souks, or markets, of Marrakech, drink tea, and be introduced to a new and very flavorful culture!
So, until I return, have a wonderful 10 days exploring whatever world or worlds you find yourself in!
Love and blessings,
Joy
©2010 Conscious Joy Coaching. All Rights Reserved. .
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Joy Rigberg, MEd, MA, CTACC As an Educational Coach my sole intention and desire is to help children remember their strengths and potential. 
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