Close-up of a Zinnia

Now that the weather is warming up for those of us in the U.S., it’s a great time to grab your camera and head outdoors to engage in your own version of “photo therapy.”   How we experience life has a lot to do with what we choose to focus on.  I have found that a camera can help us to hone in on the beauty that surrounds us rather than on all that is “wrong” in the world.

For the past few years, my passion has been to photograph flowers, whose beauty and perfection always make me feel better.  Every year, I keep focusing in closer and closer until I recently found myself marveling at their loveliness on an almost microscopic level. Just take a look at the close-up of this zinnia–flowers within a flower!  Gorgeous!  By taking photos daily of the miracles of nature, I am reminded of the many ways in which we are living in paradise–my little taste of heaven on earth.

I invite you to try this pleasurable assignment:  Venture outside for a leisurely walk and take photos of anything that strikes you as beautiful.

You will not only soak up some much-needed sunshine (complete with free vitamin D), but you’ll also begin to pay much closer attention to the gifts spring time brings.  For those of us who have endured so-called “Seasonal Affective Disorder” (the winter-time blues), this is the perfect antidote.  With the help of your camera, you can focus on the promise of new life that comes with the transition from winter into spring and sadness into joy.

Many of us spend hours a day watching or reading the news–a predominantly a fear-based account of all the bad stuff happening.  Won’t you give yourself at least as much time daily to focus on the good?  The “Law of Attraction” tells us that “like attracts like,” so as we set our sights and our camera lenses on the glorious aspects of life, we will draw more of that into our experience.  Happy snapping!

The event is happening on  Saturday, January 22nd, 2011 from 8:45am-2:30 pm.  Included in this wonderful day are free breakfast and lunch, many different educational and fun workshops, a complimentary tote bag, and a keynote speech by University of Michigan  Breast Care Center Director Lisa A. Newman, M.D..

You deserve to be healthy and happy! Click on  Women’s Health and Fitness Day or go to http://www.umich.edu/~amwa/whfd/ to register for this incredible event.  I look forward to seeing you there!

The New Beginnings Cleanse consists of FREE live, nightly online radio programs that run January 2nd through January 8th, 2o11 at 9 pm EST, 8 pm CST, 7 pm MST, and 6pm PST.  These programs last about 60-75 minutes and are designed to help you cleanse your mind, body, and spirit! (The programs will be available for free until January 16th and for purchase as MP3s for a nominal fee afterwards.)

This is the third year I will be attending the New Beginnings Cleanse.  It has been so inspiring to me, I wouldn’t miss it!  Consider giving yourself this gift to start your New Year off happy and healthy. You deserve it!  I’ll be listening in…please join me!   Register now at The Journey (http://www.thejourneyusa.com/cleanse2011.html).

Be on the lookout for the December issue of CoSozo Living so you can check out my article on self-compassion. We always need self-compassion, but it seems especially important this time of year when holiday season has many of us running around like crazy and pushing ourselves over the limit.  Read why self-compassion is the “gift that keeps on giving,” and take your sense of compassion and self-love to a new level!

Kristi Davis--Drama Therapist and Holistic Health Educator

Well, I’m back in cyberspace tomorrow for another interview on Drama Therapy, but this time I’ll be talking specifically about why I’m so passionate about Drama Therapy and Holistic Health.  I’ll share the secrets of my unique approach to healing, how it helped me in my own physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual challenges, and how it can help you, too!

Listen in and learn why you should never give up hope!  You can feel better.  Healing is a matter of LETTING GO.  All you have to do is let go of the emotions, resentments, unforgiveness, and negative/limiting beliefs which are not serving your Highest Good.  As you let go, you will be left with your natural state which is love, peace, joy, and total well-being in body, mind, and spirit.  And remember that your life is a work of art–you are the director, writer, and lead actor in the drama you are living.  If you don’t like how this adventure is unfolding, you can write a new script, focus your camera lens on what you want to see, and create an adventure you are passionate about.

Want to hear more?  Then join me for the live interview on Wednesday, October 13, 2010 at 11:00 am EST on BlogTalkRadio–Deep Healing Through Drama Therapy with Kristi Davis.  You can also phone in at 1 (760) 283-4626, if you prefer.  You can also access the archived show anytime after it’s been recorded by clicking the previous link or visiting http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thebusinessspringboard/2010/10/13/deep-healing-through-drama-therapy-with-kristi-davis.

Drama Therapist Kristi Davis with Christine Andrew, Host of MI Health and Wellness Radio

Join me, Drama Therapist Kristi Davis, and MI Health and Wellness Radio Show host Christine Andrew for an inspiring and informative show about Drama Therapy.  Learn about the history of drama therapy, where it is popular, who benefits from it, and why it is such a deep and powerful healing method for mental, emotional, and physical challenges of all sorts.  Discover why the arts–particularly an “embodied” approach like drama therapy–are so effective at getting to the root cause of issues and transforming them into positive life change.   You’ll see why drama isn’t just for entertainment!

The original air date was September, 25, 2010, but you can tune into MI Health and Wellness Radio Show to listen to the show anytime.  It is also available there as an MP3 download. Or you can listen to the podcast at CoSozo.

MI Health and Wellness Radio Show is a wonderful resource for health topics of all sorts.  Tune in and stay well!

On February 22, 2010, I presented an “Introduction to Drama Therapy” lab for the talented and exuberant freshmen and sophomores from the University of Michigan Department of Musical Theatre.  Most had never heard of drama therapy, so this was their first real taste of how drama and theater techniques can be used not just for entertainment but for profound healing and life transformation as well.

Students did improvisational warm-ups to get their bodies, voices, and energy moving and to develop spontaneity.  They learned about expanding emotional range through expressing different emotions with their bodies.  They tried a Playback Theater exercise in which  people told personal stories and saw portions of them acted out by others in the group for insight and emotional validation.  Through psychodramatic techniques such as family sculptures (creating a snapshot of one’s family using actors from the group) and role reversal, students experienced how enactments can provide a lot of information to the therapist quickly and can elicit awareness, empathy, forgiveness, and deep healing on the part of the client.

Finally, students had fun acting as if they already were the people they desired to be in the future–in this case, Tony Award winners walking the red carpet.  Drama Therapy can be a powerful tool to help people practice desired behaviors, feelings, characteristics, and life circumstances in order to get the ball rolling in the right direction. It helps them to begin to not only imagine a new and better life situation but to experience the joy and relief of having what they wish for NOW.

Intrigued?  Then please enjoy this video of highlights from my Introduction to Drama Therapy class.  Remember, you just may be witnessing our future Tony Award winners!

Intro to Drama Therapy from Kristi Davis on Vimeo.

If you do, look no further than www.nightlyhealing.com.   This is such a wonderful service, I had to tell you about it.  It is a FREE nightly guided visualization for self-healing of emotional, physical, and spiritual issues, and it happens via phone conference.

Each night different speakers welcome those on the call and then lead a relaxing guided visualization followed by a time of sharing for those who wish to say something about their experience.  It is a beautiful way in which to feel connected to others in love and acceptance, to have a time for healing and reflection, and to return yourself to a place of peace.

The Nightly Healing website states, “No matter how it is needed, or how you have suffered, come and participate in your own healing process.   Empower yourself to heal.   Empower yourself to live in a place of  freedom from life’s chaos, anxiety and fear….  In a place of love, openness and joy.

Are you sold yet?  All you have to do is go to www.NightlyHealing.com to register and find out the phone number to call.  Then call in at the designated time according to the time zone in which you live (9 pm EST, 8 pm CST, 7 pm MST, 6 pm PST). The only charges you will incur are whatever long-distance phone charges you have on your phone plan.

This service is graciously offered by practitioners inspired by Brandon Bays’s teachings in The Journey.  I have done quite a bit of work with The Journey and have attended many Nightly Healing sessions as well.  Both are phenomenal healing modalities.  What an incredible FREE gift being offered to you.  Give this gift to yourself and let the healing begin!

Holistic refers to the word whole, and the holistic medical model is interested in not only what’s happening in one’s entire body but in what is happening in one’s life, one’s mind, and one’s spirit.  Ancient traditions and cultures (e.g., India, China, and Greece) have known for thousands of years what science and our American medical system is just starting to recognize: our view of health must be expanded to include lifestyle choices, mental and emotional processes, relationships, career and contribution, and our spiritual nature if we are to heal and remain healthy.  All of these components contribute to our total well-being or lack thereof.

The holistic model essentially looks at everything that makes us feel good–gives us a sense of ease–or bad–gives us a sense of dis-ease (i.e., “disease”).  What makes you feel good and nurtures you? Spending time in nature?  Bubble baths?  Painting? Laughing?  Spending quality time with loved ones? Do more of it!

What in your life puts you in a state of dis-ease? A strained relationship? Too much junk food and not enough exercise?  Lack of sleep?  Fear and anxiety? Hanging on to old resentments?  Feeling not good enough?  All work and no play? Do less of it!

Sometimes, the most simple of positive changes can make the most profound difference in our health and happiness. What one thing can you do today to make yourself feel better, either in body, mind, or spirit?

As I explained to the wonderful women at the Women’s Health and Fitness day, there is much we can do to improve our health and to support our body in healing itself.  Watch this website for more tips on doing just that….coming soon!

Kristi Davis and Florine Mark

Florine Mark, President and Chairwoman of the Board of WW Group, Inc. (Weight Watchers), impressed an attentive audience of women at the Women’s Heath and Fitness Day, sponsored by the University of Michigan Medical School, on Jan. 23, 2010 in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  Her story was one of inspiration, learning to love and respect yourself, and enjoying life.

Her story began with how she flew from Michigan to New York and braved her first Weight Watchers class, determined to lose weight.  Fifty pounds lighter and thirty years later, she can brag that she turned that one courageous step into  a Weight Watchers empire in which she was the owner of the greatest number of franchises in the world.

But she doesn’t.  Instead, she humbly shares that every morning she looks herself in the mirror and says, “Florine, you can do anything you want to if you are motivated enough.”  She recognizes that every day we have two choices: to be happy or not to be happy.  She chooses to be happy, even though she lost her first and second husband to illness.  “Make every day special.  Make every day an adventure,” she declares.  “We don’t know what is going to happen to us tomorrow.”  I think Ms. Mark is right on the mark.

How about you?  Why don’t you start each day off looking in the mirror saying, “Hey, good lookin’! Whatcha got cookin’?  You are awesome!  I love you, and you can do anything you want, if you are motivated enough.”  And then cook yourself something healthy and delicious and make today special.