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Can Qigong Unlock the Secrets to Stress-Free Living? The Vicki Dello Joio
58 Plays11 months ago
In this riveting episode of "The Organic Matrix," we embark on a journey with Vicki Dello Joio, a beacon of wisdom in the realms of Qigong and holistic wellness. As we navigate the contours of her life, Vicki unfolds the tapestry of trials, transformations, and triumphs that led her to discover the ancient art of Qigong. From the bustling streets of San Francisco to the serene embrace of nature, Vicki's story is a testament to the power of resilience and the quest for inner peace.
Dive deep into Vicki's narrative, where a near-fatal accident becomes a pivotal moment of awakening, propelling her into the depths of Qigong practice. Through her eyes, experience the melding of movement, breath, and intention, and learn how this harmonious blend can be a cornerstone for anyone striving to lead a balanced and stress-free life.
Listeners will be treated to practical insights and techniques, making the art of Qigong accessible to all. Whether you're navigating the pressures of modern life or seeking a path to wellness, Vicki's journey offers a beacon of hope and a roadmap to transformation.
This episode is more than a story; it's an invitation to explore the potential of Qigong to transform your own life. Join us as Vicki shares her profound wisdom, lessons learned, and the undeniable proof that peace, even in today's fast-paced world, is within reach.
Special Offer for Our Listeners:Vicki Dello Joio extends a special gift to our audience – a free guide titled "Let's Get Real About Charisma: 3 Tips to Inspire and Motivate Your Audience Every Time You Speak." Visit http://yourpowerpresence.com to download your copy and embark on a journey to captivating storytelling and public speaking.
Stay hydrated and energized on your wellness journey with Liquid IV. Use code “ORGANICMATRIX” for a special discount, courtesy of our partnership with Liquid IV, and keep the vitality flowing.
For more enriching content and to continue your journey with us, visit our website at Https://www.organicmatrix.net and follow Vicki on Instagram @vickidellojoio for daily doses of inspiration and holistic wellness tips.
Tune in now and let Vicki Dello Joio guide you through the transformative power of Qigong, revealing the secrets to a balanced, stress-free life.
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Transcript
Meet Vicki Dello Joyo
00:00:00
Speaker
I hadn't noticed. And so he was just very close to my body. And I thought, well, I don't want to resist this. I want to go with it. I had done a lot of Aikido at that point, too. And so I want to move with where it's going. So he hit me at about 30 miles an hour. I flew up into the air. Welcome back to The Organic Matrix. In today's episode, we have an extraordinary guest.
00:00:21
Speaker
Vicki Dello Joyo, an expert in holistic wellness and key gongs, she's here to help us dive deep into stress management. And matrix members, I'm sure you hear a lot of yelping in the background. And don't worry, it's just a bunch of puppies. My dog recently gave birth to a litter of seven and they're getting bigger and louder every day. So bear with me.
00:00:46
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In life, we all face stress in our daily lives, whether it's from work, personal relationships, or just trying to navigate the complexities of modern living.
Holistic Stress Management
00:00:55
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If left unchecked, stress can take a toll on our mental, emotional, and physical health. That's why we brought Vicky on the show today to discuss some common problems people face when managing stress effectively and provide guidance on tackling these challenges head on.
00:01:12
Speaker
During our conversation, we'll address various stress management issues such as lack of awareness, inadequate coping strategies, poor time management, and the struggle to set boundaries. We'll also explore the negative thought patterns that pressure us and high pressure environments.
00:01:30
Speaker
The resistance to change can make stress management very difficult. But don't worry, Vicky will share her knowledge of holistic wellness to help us all better understand and overcome these challenges. So sit back, relax, and let's learn together how to transform our lives by conquering stress one step at a time.
00:01:51
Speaker
Looking for career advice, personal development tips, or inspiring stories? Our Matrix Mentors have you covered. Don't miss out. Bookmark our podcast and follow us on social media for a life guide in your pocket. Matrix members, I'm pleased to introduce our guest today, Vicky. Vicky is truly unique to
00:02:10
Speaker
a talented individual who has a rich knowledge in theater performance and directing, as well as a lifelong study of martial arts. Her passion and expertise have led her to become an accomplished coach, helping her clients hone their skills and deliver powerful captivating stories on stage. But Vicky's approach goes beyond traditional public speaking.
00:02:31
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She draws on her deep knowledge of holistic wellness and her specialization in Qigong to help speakers craft engaging narratives and harness their energy and presence, enabling them to connect with their audience on a whole new level.
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Having transformed the lives of hundreds of speakers through her coaching career and workshops, both in person and virtually, Vicky has dedicated her career into helping others overcome their fears and find their inner confidence to share their message with passion, presence, and power. So without further ado, welcome to the show, Vicky. Thank you so much, Sam. I really appreciate that introduction. It's so good to be here.
00:03:12
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Oh, it's an honor to have you. Vicky, can you share with us with our listeners how your journey began with Qigong and holistic wellness?
Holistic Practices and Early Experiences
00:03:21
Speaker
Yeah. When you asked that question, all of a sudden this memory just popped into my mind of being about six or seven. And I was always very insulted when for holidays or for a birthday, people would give me a doll. So I remember I had this doll and I used to do things to it, like kind of
00:03:43
Speaker
bruise it or something so that then I could heal it. So I started healing at the age of six when I was healing my dolls because I was always just really curious about how things worked. And gradually, as I had different injuries myself and learned how to heal them through holistic ways, it kind of set me on a course. So it started really, really early for me. And then, of course, the martial arts and qigong piece of it then really blossomed into a whole other depth of study. That's so cool.
00:04:13
Speaker
that you actually had the instinct to be a healer as a child. That's amazing. Yeah, I have this image of me putting tonsil powder on this little doll's arm and saying, it's going to be OK, and soothing what I was imagining was a rash. How did these practices impact your personal and professional life as you were developing? I think that I've always been drawn to it, like I said.
00:04:43
Speaker
And in terms of my personal and professional life, I would say it's really even kind of hard to articulate because I can't imagine not doing it. I remember when I first started studying Tai Chi Quan, which I started studying when I was, I guess, 16 years old, something like that, that one of the people I was studying with, his wife, I was with his wife one day and she was talking about baking bread. This was way back.
00:05:10
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As she was talking about baking bread, she talked about baking bread as a tai chi move, as push hands type of a move. I think that even then, in my late teens, I realized that this was a lifestyle, that what I was learning in terms of how to move my body, how to move energy through my body was a lifestyle. Then that blossomed out in terms of how I
00:05:34
Speaker
took care of self-defense, how I did stress management, how I helped my clients, and then also finally how to cultivate that sense of living life from the inside out. Can you tell us more about the differences between living outside in and inside out? That is a superpower to be able to feel like you're cultivating the experience within. Can you share with our Matrix members the benefits of living from the world within?
00:06:03
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Yeah, I think we're in a time right now where there's so much polarization and so much tension. And I think that a lot of times, I know, especially for women, but I don't think for some men too, and not obviously for all women, but that there's that sense of how you appear, how people perceive you is who you are.
00:06:23
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I think there's something about tapping into that inner wisdom, inner sense of who you are that allows you to relax even more. There's a Chico move that I love to practice, particularly in the winter months, that's called the crystal generator, where it's like you're becoming your body's becoming like a crystal where you're attracting different types of you could call it light or energies, and then you refract it as a rainbow of colors.
00:06:50
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which, by the way, you're having a rainbow of colors that keep appearing behind you, which really is inspiring and beautiful to see. So I think of it that way. And in that form, and there's a couple different forms that do this, you actually do these movements where you're moving veils aside, or you're moving away any sense of mask that you're holding. There's so many different ways where we become defensive. We can get defensive in a moment.
00:07:16
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sometimes even just anticipating a problem, we get defensive, to be able to start to move away, not to become defenseless, but to become non-defensive, to be able to really show up as our true self. And that means removing projections that other people put on you, and also projections you may be putting out about yourself as a way to kind of stay safe or protect yourself.
Living Authentically and Joy Slumps
00:07:40
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But that when we can start to have that sense of really being who we are,
00:07:43
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We go into what I call the joy slump. There's a way in which you can just kind of relax and just be, that I think that's how I would contrast those two. I love the name of it, the joy slump, like relaxing and joy. That's like, reminds me of like a laughing Buddha. Yes, yes. The visual that I got when you were explaining moving aside the veils is like,
00:08:13
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It's it's incredible when you have like a spiritual practice. It's like you can visualize your own neural pathways and like see your own habits and Like actually energetically, it feels like you're touching it. Like yeah, it's pretty incredible Yeah, yeah, I think that I love that you're bringing in that sort of how the brain works because I think that that's really accurate and that when we can really let ourselves
00:08:40
Speaker
be coming again from the inside out, be that sense of like, I'm really okay. Yes, I'm a person in progress. Yes, there's things that I'm still learning and developing. Yes, I make mistakes and mess up, but that there's still ways in which to really trust that inner core and then speak from that or tune into that.
Qigong Styles and Benefits
00:09:01
Speaker
So you asked about Qigong and you asked a little bit about what that is for your listeners who aren't familiar with it. Qigong is one of these
00:09:08
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words like dance. So if you say, well, I'm a dancer, it's like, oh, okay, what kind? Ballet, Alvin Ailey, tap, you know, what kind of dance do you like to ballroom? What kind of dance do you like to do? Qigong is like that. There's many different styles of Qigong coming through many different lineages. And so there's martial arts Qigong, which Tai Chi is kind of one of those, martial arts style of Qigong iron shirt. And then there's healing Qigong, medical Qigong, which is probably the one that's most popular in the United States.
00:09:37
Speaker
They're spiritual practices of qigong, which are the ones that I tend to be drawn to the most, although I've been doing this for over 50 years now, so I've brought together a lot of different styles. And the word qigong is actually relatively new. It was created in the early 50s or late 40s to cover anything that had to do with movement, breath, and intention, how you could move energy in your body with intention, with your breath,
00:10:05
Speaker
And so it covered, there's over 6,000 exercises that get called qigong. So somebody could study with me for years and then go study with somebody else and have a whole new approach or whole new series of movements and exercises. And there's internal qigong and external qigong. So there's qigong where you're actually moving your body and doing very intentional movement with your body and others where you're moving energy internally through guided visualization or meditation.
00:10:32
Speaker
That's beautiful. Thank you so much for giving us the explanation. I Love that we get to talk about these practices and that people like teachers like you get to keep them alive because it's there's so much that sneaks past our our mind's eye and our physical eyes while we're like living and
00:10:55
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like letting in all these impulses that we have in today's age with all of the shiny lights and distractions and new gadgets. And I love that this practice helps you realize your point in space. Like that was one of that. Yeah. Yeah, your proprioception. Yeah, I love that. I love that. I actually know a blind Shigong teacher who
00:11:23
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navigates the appropriate, you know, figures out how he is in space a lot because of his own practice and how he perceives and can kind of hear and sense what's around him. So I love that. There's, you know, one of the kind of core things with Qigong is about centering, right? Bringing yourself back to center. So when you're talking about the shiny object syndrome that we all live in, it's like, okay,
00:11:48
Speaker
So I can enjoy these things, but how do I keep coming back to center? So that's, again, part of that inside out idea, I think that really helps us calm our minds and calm our nervous system, relax the vagus nerve and be able to really come back to center so that we can really operate from a place that is more empowered and more true to who we want to be.
00:12:11
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Absolutely. There's another thing that you were saying in space. Do you mind if I just say a little bit more about that? The concept in Qigong, in most Qigong and Chinese medical practices, is that there's three realms, or the triple Don Qian. But it's what I think of as, I call it, the three realms of consciousness. It's a heaven realm, which has to do with your inspiration, the idea that we are just a small speck in the Milky Way,
00:12:41
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you know that the universe is so much bigger than we can even imagine and it's all about perspective like you're up in the cosmos looking down at your life like a little ant in an anthill it's all about perspective everything is possible in the heaven realm and then the second realm is the human realm which i think of is where we take the
00:13:01
Speaker
the downloads from the heaven right. Some people talk about having downloads or getting inspiration. When we take that inspiration and we personalize it, it comes through who you are as the unique person that you are with your unique face, your unique way of seeing the world. That's the human realm. It's all about our interconnection with one another and with all living beings, with the earth, with the planet.
00:13:21
Speaker
What are our strengths and our limitations? How do we express ourselves? That's all human realm. And then the earth realm has to do with what we're manifesting. How do we walk our talk? What are we creating in our lives? So you go from the heaven realm where you think, oh, I'm going to write a book. And then the human realm, okay, I need to get this together. I need to have a publisher. I need to take time. I need to do this. I need to do that.
00:13:42
Speaker
And then by the end, you have the book in your hand, that's the earth realm, you've manifested something. So those are these three realms that, that Qigong really helps to open up the flow between them because in Qigong they say we're vessels that bring heaven down to earth and earth back up to heaven. Oh, I love that. As above, so below. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
00:14:04
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That's so beautiful, the three levels of consciousness. And I can conceptualize that. The root word to enthusiasm means possessed by God. So I love that, those divine inspirations.
Envisioning the Future
00:14:20
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And then sometimes when I get downloads like that and I'm in my intuition, I'll get a vision of a future that I want to see. And it's almost as if when we're in a meditative state, we're living backwards.
00:14:34
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Mm-hmm, you know, I was just thinking about that the other day I was in a situation where I was in a state of mind I would say where there was just a lot of fear coming up first for specific things that I was dealing with and I just was noticing this and then I and then I just decided to go into an inner monologue or inner
00:14:56
Speaker
visualization where I imagined myself in 10 years having completely resolved the problem. Everything was fine. And it's like, if I was there, what would I want to say to myself now about this process? So I think that relates to what you were saying. 100%. And that's incredible how you have the mental flexibility to do that. To me, that's time traveling. Yeah, it is. That's exactly right. It's time traveling. It is.
00:15:25
Speaker
In the context of holistic wellness, what do you believe are essential components for achieving and maintaining inner peace, especially when we're faced with daily stressors? For me, it always comes down to breath. It seems so simple, and it's almost so generic that I hesitate to say it. But there's certain techniques, particularly of breath, that I think really can help with shifting stress into, I think, of a surge of energy. Because in Chinese medicine,
00:15:55
Speaker
stress and other forms of dis-ease or things being off in our bodies or our minds or our spirits come down to stagnation. So when we can start to create some kind of flow in our body, that starts to make a difference and particularly flow through the breath is a really great way to start because when we focus on our breath, that's already bringing us back to center. It's already
00:16:17
Speaker
taking a moment to just say, all right, who am I? What's going on right now? And there's a practice called Six Direction Breathing, which I love that really helps, for me, helps to take us out of that stress and fight flight, freeze, amygdala response, and really come to a place where we can become more resourceful about the choices that we make. Would you like me to share the breathing technique? You're smiling and nodding.
00:16:46
Speaker
If we could just do it together, if you just focus on your solar plexus, we'll talk about that from the belly button up to the xiphoid process where your ribs come together. There's a little bone that comes down. It's the xiphoid process where your floating ribs come together in front.
00:17:04
Speaker
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Techniques for Stress Relief
00:18:49
Speaker
And lengthening your solar plexus. So as you inhale, it just gets longer.
00:18:53
Speaker
And then you exhale and just relaxes down. So as you breathe in, it's lengthening and then releasing. And then the same thing side to side. You're going to inhale and just feel your ribs open to the sides. And then exhale, they just relax down. And again, inhale. And then exhale. And then we're going to do it front and back. So as you inhale, you let your belly and your solar plexus relax and breathe into your back as well. So it's getting front and back, it's bigger.
00:19:22
Speaker
And then you exhale, release. And again, to inhale, front and back. And then release. So that's six directions. And I want to try all six together so it's like you're a balloon. So you inhale, up, down, side, side, front, back. And then release. And then again, you inhale and expand. And then exhale, release.
00:19:45
Speaker
And for me, sometimes it doesn't take more than just a few rounds of that for me to just go, OK, now I feel better equipped to deal with whatever it is that's stressing me at the moment. Oh, yeah. I just did the practice as you were saying it. And I just felt all this heat release from me. And I hadn't started getting clammy, but.
00:20:09
Speaker
Like when you mentioned stagnation like and I'm somebody like I see a lot where when I'm stressed out or if I'm overwhelmed I could see where I'm being stagnant and so in somewhere of my practice in my mind I like my lifestyle like there's somewhere I'm falling short my subconscious sees it it circles around and like in my mind and I feel like after doing this breath work like feeling all that heat release for me like
00:20:37
Speaker
I think it's a sign of releasing stagnation because while I was holding it on to all of that, after I breathed like that, it was just, it got so hot. I love that. I love that. Yeah. I like to think about how do we move stagnation into stillness? So instead of feeling stagnant and stuck where there's like an effort to push through,
00:20:59
Speaker
just go into a place of stillness and then all of a sudden flow starts to occur by itself. So you're feeling that heat leave you, especially if it's leaving from the upper part of your body, right? Because a lot of times when we're stressed, it's like heat is rising up to our heads. And the heat needs to be down below. We need to bring heat down to our lower abdomen. That's where we start to process stuff or integrate information where we can compost, you know,
00:21:23
Speaker
turn waste into fertilizer, that all happens in the lower abdomen, which is the lower dan tian, which is the earth realm, which has to do with compost. It has to do with being able to chain. Everything becomes useful at that point.
00:21:38
Speaker
I love it.
00:21:54
Speaker
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00:23:10
Speaker
experience the difference that your high quality supplements can make in your life. Remember, it's not about the supplement. It's about investing in a better you. This I love this conversation. And I love how you put it because like in the in the modern world, these like the terminology of like seeing, like imagining the heat pushing it down and it does work because what happens when we're stressed? Yeah.
00:23:36
Speaker
Everything like our metabolism freezes like fight-or-flight responses keeps us from maintaining homeostasis it starts prioritizing survival instead of Wellness and so I I love how you put it where it's like we send that pressure down let it Spell from us like it's supposed to yeah to appreciate the system like that. I love that Thank you. I do. Thank you. I love how you just reflected back. That was beautiful
00:24:06
Speaker
Could you, what kind of Qigong exercises can a beginner do at home to incorporate in their daily routines to help alleviate stress? I love the Six Direction breath. Are there other practices that we can take home too? Absolutely. Yes, there are. So Six Direction is always a good one to start and it's also a good one to do when you're doing any other type of practice, whether it's yoga or Qigong or Reiki or any other energy type of practice.
00:24:35
Speaker
Another one that I really like to do that's super simple, just call sitting or standing tall. What happens when we're stressed is we tend to hunch. We tend to clam down. The bones in our spine tend to press down against one another. If we can stand tall like you have or sit tall like the
00:24:55
Speaker
crown of your head is lifting up towards the sky and your back of your neck is long. And so if you're listening to this on the podcast, make sure that you don't lift your chin up when you do that. So when I say lift the top of your head, I don't mean your chin. The chin stays down because you want the back of the neck to lengthen like a giraffe. So it just gets really, really long. And then you ground through your sitz bones or through your feet. So if you're sitting, you're grounding through your sitz bones or if you're standing, you're grounding through your feet.
00:25:21
Speaker
And your tailbone is dropping down towards the earth like a kangaroo's tail. So I've come up recently with this hybrid animal of a giraffe with this kangaroo's tail, which is just kind of weird and bizarre. I mean, one of these days I need to draw it because it's, but anyway, it won't feel grounded through your sitz bones.
00:25:39
Speaker
and lift it up to the crown of your head so that there's space between each one of those vertebrae. A lot of times, like for example, I work a lot with speakers and performers. I'm a performer myself. I've been performing for years and I've directed a lot of performers and speakers to encourage them before they stand on stage, especially if they've got stage fright, is to really have a sense of lengthening and
00:26:01
Speaker
grounding so that you're when you're when you lengthen this way you're letting your head the top of your head access that heaven realm which has to do with inspiration and your feet and your legs and your hips are grounded so that you're really accessing what nourishes us right food comes from the earth we're connecting we're taking energy up from the earth
00:26:21
Speaker
That way, it doesn't become just about will. You have to do this. The show must go on and grit your teeth and go. It's really about lengthening and allowing whatever to come forward. Presumably, if you're a speaker or a performer, you're prepared with what you want to say.
00:26:38
Speaker
that you are able to actually let yourself access the energy behind it. So it's not just about reciting lines or not just about proving anything. It's really just about allowing, because Qigong is all about allowing. So that's another technique that I just encourage people to do is just to sit or stand tall. And of course, we know it's always good to have good posture. But even apart from the appearance of good posture, it actually literally allows energy to flow through you.
00:27:07
Speaker
So that's another technique to do when you're doing your six-direction breathing.
00:27:12
Speaker
And then a third one that I would say that's a really good stress release is what I call grounding to earth. And it's just as, or actually, let me let you said as above so below. And I thought, Oh, I'll show her as above so below. So let's do that. Really any of these techniques will work. Any of them, you know, that people feel drawn to, that they feel motivated to do will help. So with as above so below, you basically rub your hands together and then you cup them, right?
00:27:41
Speaker
You cup them and so you have a little heat between your hands. And if you don't feel heat, you rub together again until you do. And then as you, what you do is just move your hands apart from one another as you inhale and see if you can feel the heat still between your hands. And then as you exhale, bring them back in. So it's almost like you're playing a little energetic accordion here. You're inhaling and your hands come apart.
00:28:06
Speaker
And you're exhaling. You can see how that goes really well with six direction breathing, right? So if you're breathing front, up, down, side, side, front, back, that just helps to increase the sense of sensation between your hands. So that's a really good de-stressor also because that allows us to just have that sense of chi moving in the space between the hands and chi starts to flow through our bodies.
00:28:29
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I'm so happy he showed us this technique. And I'm just getting so in tuned right now with this conversation. I never knew that that exercise was called as above so below. That's my name for it. It's a generic form that goes through all qigong and tai chi. A lot of folks use it. So as above so below is my nickname, my personal nickname for it.
00:28:54
Speaker
I love that. When I was very young, I was in elementary school. I think I was in first grade, very early like that, around five, six, seven.
00:29:06
Speaker
I had a science teacher that would come once every two weeks to my elementary school to teach us things. And she actually taught us that. And I was very young. And I was always like, oh my gosh, we have energy that we can't see that interacts with our world. And it impacted me so much. It made me the spiritual person that I am today.
00:29:27
Speaker
I love that. So you learned Qigong when you were five or six years old. How wonderful. And I thank you so much for bringing this practice to us because I remember how like amazed I was and how much more curious I was about the world around us and how it works after that exercise. Matrix members, you will not be disappointed if you try this exercise. It is so cool
00:29:53
Speaker
I love that. That's so great. Yeah. And like I said, I've studied Qigong with many different master teachers for many years, and pretty much every system that I've ever studied includes this one. So it's one of those really foundational things to practice that, again, it helps us from, like you said, the world is much more magical and brilliant and multilayered than we could ever guess just from, you know,
00:30:22
Speaker
the narratives that we give to everything. So it's really about tapping into something that's much bigger than, you know, and much more, much more bountiful than we could even imagine. Yeah. Oh yeah, that's a great word for it.
Coaching Speakers with Qigong
00:30:38
Speaker
How does your unique approach to coaching with speakers, how do you incorporate your qigong and holistic wellness principles when coaching individuals?
00:30:49
Speaker
It's been an interesting journey because when I first started speaking myself, it was really to amplify my business as a Qigong teacher, but I've also been doing theater since I was seven years old. Theater is sort of in my blood at this point and I'm in a theater company and I've been performing for most of my life.
00:31:10
Speaker
One of the things that I think that she did she going it's like she going and performing at this point are inextricable to me but one of the things I know as a coach is that there are certain ways in which speakers are taught to tell stories that are sort of a template and I'm kind of out of the template out of the box type of coach So I'm not really looking to do what's called the Jay story, which is like things are good right now but they won't weren't always this way and I went through this hardship and now things are better and
00:31:38
Speaker
There's this kind of a curve of a story that most speakers do. Sometimes I feel like if I hear one more story like that, my head's gonna explode because our lives are so much richer than that template. So really when I'm working with people, part of what I do is I work with
00:31:53
Speaker
Withdrawing out stories a lot of people come to me then they feel like oh I don't really have a story or I don't have trauma And some people do have trauma and that's what they've built their business around and their mess is their message But other people, you know, it's like i'm not even sure that this matters or anything like that It's like things that that we take for granted We may not even realize might be a real inspiration for other people and I have a knack for being able to draw that out
00:32:19
Speaker
from people. I always have and I love doing it. It's an excavation process. So I'm teaching people how to tell stories in a way that pop so that they're not just sort of that generic, this happened and then that happened and then that happened, but really we're looking like how do we breathe life into every moment when you're
00:32:36
Speaker
telling your story or when you're speaking about your message. How do you breathe life into that? What does that look like? What are the techniques that you can use to do that? And part of that is your energy. So I think of it as a coach is there's basically four pillars that I work with. One is the message. What's the message that you're bringing to the world? This is for my speaker clients. The second is what are the stories that you're telling that carry that message because they're what bring people to the offer. If you're a platform speaker,
00:33:05
Speaker
what people will bring people to you to want to work with you. The third is what's the delivery of that story? How do you embody that story so that it's not just saying or talking about something but inviting people into the movie so they experience it with you? And then the fourth is the energy behind it all which unites it all. So I'll be revealed qigong like you know here's a practice to do before you go on stage. Here's a practice to do when you're dealing with
00:33:30
Speaker
to be prepared to deal with somebody who's giving you a lot of pushback. Here's a practice to do when you're feeling stage fright or whatever. I have a lot of qigong practices that I use that I just throw in with people. So I work with everything from how they create their talk and their signature talk or prepare to go on stage for a TED Talk or something like that. And then what are the techniques that you can use once you've developed the material that help you really ground in it and deliver it in a way that people
00:33:59
Speaker
Your audience can feel you, not just hear a bunch of words. Oh, that is so cool that you teach in that style. And I personally, as a podcaster and someone that wasn't performing arts for a long time,
00:34:16
Speaker
I definitely was looking for a coach like you many times. So Matrix members, if you're looking for a coach that is actually gonna like help you develop your story and help you articulate it, you know, Vicky, it could be your coach. And I love the way you put it because it's so true. Like there's a template about like that seems so generic. And then as someone who wants to learn how to tell good stories, sometimes it's hard because
00:34:46
Speaker
where we were living the experience as a speaker, and sometimes the feelings that come up with that visual experience for some of us could warp the way we bring the message to the audience. Yeah, you know, I think there's two things that happened. It's either people could get really just very rote, almost like they were reciting a resume, like this, I did this, and then I did this, and then I did that.
00:35:15
Speaker
versus other times people get so lost in the weeds it's like too few details or too many details and sometimes you can't see the picture when you're inside the frame so I think that's why it's helpful to have a coach or a director so that you can really hone in on what matters and what doesn't in a story and what helps move the story forward and then what helps make it live and embellishes in a way that really
00:35:37
Speaker
like I said, invites people into your movie. As when we go to a movie where you identify with a pro-cat-tagonist and that's what you want. You want to be able to identify, have people identify with you and see the world through your eyes for that moment of discovery. That's so beautiful. What are some other holistic wellness practices besides qigong? Do you recommend for individuals looking to improve their stress management and cultivate inner peace?
00:36:05
Speaker
Well, it's a hard one for me because for me at this point, because I've done Qigong for most of my life is, you know, everything is Qigong. So whether I say, well, you know, check out when you're eating sugar or chocolate, you know, check out, you know, be, you know, be attentive to, you know, and I don't believe you have to not eat those things, although to be transparent, I haven't had sugars for, it's like 60 years now. So it's been a long time since I've eaten sugar. But just, that's just because I have a personal allergy to it. That's not,
00:36:35
Speaker
It's not a holier than now thing at all. But I think that diet is a huge piece of it. Breathwork, whatever the breathwork is, it doesn't have to be jigong. It could be yoga. It could be mindfulness training or anything else.
00:36:52
Speaker
And then holistic practitioners, you know, I really believe in getting help. So whether that's from somebody who is a guide or a mentor or it's an acupuncturist or a chiropractor or any other of the holistic things or complementary medicines out there, I think all of those are good. I actually think it doesn't even matter, to be honest. I think anything that you're drawn to, like if you want to go
00:37:17
Speaker
You know, massage is your thing. You want to go get the, get, have that sense of the tension moving out. That's what you should do. If you want to really like be more clear about your diet and know, you know, be able to figure out what, what really serves you and what doesn't, then go work with a nutritionist. I think that what, what all, you know, it's all roads lead to Rome is that, that, that cliche.
00:37:39
Speaker
I think it's really true. Anytime we take ourselves to a place where we say, I deserve to be well, I deserve to be whole, I deserve to live the life that I know I was born to do, and then whatever road you take to that, to me that's the holistic approach. It's really about allowing your full self to be.
00:38:01
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:39:27
Speaker
That means if your dog doesn't love fresh, delicious meals, num num will refund your first order. No fillers, no nonsense, just num num. I love that and that's beautiful and I love that answer because it is unique to everybody. It depends on if we're listening to ourselves, if we're asking ourselves, am I happy, am I fulfilled and if not, what can I
00:39:53
Speaker
What can I bring into my life that will bring me that fulfillment? And then to remember that it's going to cost hard work. And that it's a common thing that I see with people in my age group with relationships, like in their early twenties, when they're first starting to get the swing of things, that they're in a position of like, I want, I want, I want, I need, I need, I need. And then the expectation of their partner to fulfill that. What I learned was
00:40:22
Speaker
Becoming an adult, becoming a well-rounded adult means there's a lot of self-parenting involved. And there's also like self-love involved. Now that self-love word is getting kind of diluted with like pop culture right now, but what, let's like boil it down. What is self-love? Self-love means you listen to yourself. You're patient with yourself. You're not highly critical with yourself. You can apologize to yourself.
00:40:51
Speaker
You can do acts of love for yourself. And you know that you have to do hard work to be happy. And once you understand that hard work, it's not hard work anymore. It's a routine. I want our Matrix members to hear this message like this because
00:41:12
Speaker
It's easy to be in a position of desire. It's easy to say, I want to be healed, but it is going to cost us work. We can hire coaches to help guide us, but it all comes down to us. We have to do what the doctor says. We have to do what our coaches guide us to do. So we have to learn how to be receptive to transition, advice, and not being afraid of it.
00:41:39
Speaker
Thank you so much. I love that. I love that so much, Sam. And I think the other piece I would add is to really allow for your own discernment, to be able to really discern what is it that feeds you? What is it that drains you? And to really kind of go from there. I think that's another way to sort of tap into that stress release.
Energy Management and Personal Stories
00:42:01
Speaker
And that can be in terms of
00:42:04
Speaker
how you are in a relationship or how you are in relationship to food or to sleep or to anything. What is feeding me right now? What is draining me? Really go for what feeds me to realize no matter who you are, you deserve to be nurtured and fed. Find out what those things are and do them because then that also takes the sting out of hard work and it also helps to release some of the resistance we might have to doing stuff that's good for us.
00:42:34
Speaker
Finally, can you share a personal story or experience where qigong and holistic wellness helped you or someone that you've worked with overcome a big challenge or stressful situation? When I was in my 30s, and I'm quite old now, so this was a while ago, I had been doing martial arts
00:43:03
Speaker
for years already, but I was training myself. I was studying very intensively Qigong, a particular style of Qigong, and I was training, doing my own personal practice on top of classes and stuff like that, about two and a half hours a day. So I was really replete. I was doing a lot of Qigong.
00:43:21
Speaker
One day I was feeling super stressed and I realized I was in a lifestyle that was not working for me. I was working super hard. I was a house painter and a Robix teacher and I was doing all of these various things and wasn't very happy. And I was out on the street one day. I was going to pick up a friend and I parked my car in California in San Francisco. I was walking across the street
00:43:50
Speaker
Uh, Jay walking and I saw a car at the end of the block coming up to a stop sign and I thought, Oh, he's got a stop sign. No problem. And I was just in my own brain mutter, right? Yeah. And he can't, he came, uh, and I looked over my shoulder again.
00:44:08
Speaker
as I was in the middle of the street and he was coming at me about 30 miles an hour. So he hadn't stopped at the stop side and I hadn't noticed. And so he was like just very close to my body. And I thought, well, I don't want to resist this. I want to go with it. I had done a lot of Aikido at that point too. And so I want to move with where it's going. So he hit me at about 30 miles an hour. I flew up into the air and it was like time stood totally still.
00:44:32
Speaker
I guess anybody who's been in an accident has experienced the time slowing down and life flashing before your eyes thing. That's not what happened for me. What happened for me was
00:44:41
Speaker
I was up in the air and this time stood still. I felt like I was a seed inside of a hole right below my belly button. And I was looking around on the inside silhouette of my body and going, wow, I really am just a consciousness, a seed of consciousness inside this shell. And I can decide to stay or I can decide to go. And I was a little depressed at that time because I was having a hard time with my relationship. I mean, there was all this stuff going on.
00:45:11
Speaker
But I decided to stay, obviously, because here I am talking to you. And I opened my eyes and I was coming down to the pavement really fast and I tucked into an aikido roll. So this is a place where I would say that my practice saved my life.
00:45:27
Speaker
And I went into an aki roll and then I jumped up on my feet and I started doing some qigong. And the guy who had hit me jumped out of his car. He was screaming, get down, lie down. I just hit you with the car. You got to lie down. So I lay down and I started doing some internal qigong. And they took me to the hospital. Nothing was wrong. I was really fine. And I'm sure it's because I was practicing so much at that time.
00:45:51
Speaker
And they wanted to do all of these different procedures. And I said, no, I really don't need that. They were all sort of the doctor. I remember there were two doctors and three nurses standing around scratching their heads saying she's supposed to be dead being hit at that speed and then hitting the pavement afterwards. That double impact should have taken her out or broken something.
00:46:11
Speaker
So I think that's one of my most dramatic stories of really feeling like I had this, I guess near-death experience where I had a choice, and then shifted so much, right? When I walked out of that hospital, which I did a couple of hours later, limped out because I was a little twisted from the impact, and it did take me a couple years to untwist my spine to a degree where I wasn't in pain anymore.
00:46:37
Speaker
But that was a turning point of like, okay, I'm alive now and what do I want to do now with my time? What do I want to do with my energy? Who do I want to serve? How do I want to do it? What do I need to drop away? It's this discernment process. What am I doing that's really not serving me anymore? Or serving anybody else? And where do I want to go? So that's one story.
00:47:02
Speaker
Oh my gosh, you took my breath away. So I got stuck on the part where like you went to the doctor and you were fine. Yeah, I was. Oh my God, that's incredible. I had a big bruise. I had a very big bruise before it hit me on my hip.
00:47:21
Speaker
Wow, thank you so much for sharing that experience with us. And I feel like I'm still watching the story that you told me. I'm in shock, but it's so incredible. I wonder what that guy was thinking when he saw you practicing qigong right after an accident. It scared him. He thought that I was just nuts, I guess, or maybe I was delusional or something. He just wanted me to lie down. So I saw how stressed he was. So I thought, I can lie down and do this internally. So that's what I did.
00:47:51
Speaker
Thank you. So usually at the end of the show, I do something called a rapid fire, but I want to switch things up a little bit and I'm going to close the show with a philosophical question.
Maintaining Inner Peace
00:48:04
Speaker
Okay. Can one achieve inner peace in a world filled with stressors and challenges? Short answer is yes and.
00:48:18
Speaker
Yes, and. I don't believe that it's helpful to just shut out stresses and challenges, and I don't think it's realistic. To me, part of the Qigong practice is about being in the world as it is in a way where I can show up as much in my presence and in my power as possible. So I think that the inner peace has to do with the inner world that I live in,
00:48:46
Speaker
so that there's a practice in Qigong called Eye of the Storm where you're really working with being able to be what is on the outside of you and what's on the inside for half of your attention on what's around you and half of your attention what's inside so you can self-regulate and show up in the ways in which are most resourceful for you and for the people that you want to show up for. So I think it's possible to achieve inner peace
00:49:11
Speaker
But that doesn't mean we don't have feelings that are negative or hard or that we don't feel grief and anger and all those other types of things that can be more difficult to navigate. But it's more about that self-acceptance when you were talking about self-love. I was thinking, yeah, that's the key. That's where it all starts and where it all goes to. Because when we love ourselves, we can love others. When we love ourselves, we can see others in ourselves.
00:49:37
Speaker
So there's a piece of that that feels like that's a source, that's a source to inner peace. And again, that doesn't mean we don't get thrown off and we don't have to bring ourselves back. Like you said, there's some work involved. I love this interview. Thank you so much, Vicki. I feel like spiritually charged after our conversation today. Thank you. It's been a pleasure connecting with you, Sam.
Episode Wrap-Up
00:50:02
Speaker
We hope you found today's episode of The Organic Matrix both enjoyable and enlightening.
00:50:08
Speaker
and I hope it's motivated you to welcome inner peace by making Qigong and holistic wellness practices a part of your daily routine. But wait, there's more! Vicky has kindly shared some valuable resources with us and we want you to take full advantage of them. Visit her website, yourpowerpresence.com to delve deeper into her work and discover her unique approach to coaching
00:50:33
Speaker
And don't forget to snag your free download guide, Let's Get Real About Charisma. Three tips to inspire and motivate your audience every time you speak. This guide is filled with practical advice and wisdom to help you genuinely connect with your audience, whether you're on stage, or in a meeting, or just having a casual chat.
00:50:51
Speaker
A huge thank you to Vicky for spending time with us today and to all of you joining us on The Organic Matrix. If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to our podcast and follow us on social media to stay on the loop about our newest episodes and content. Until we meet again, take care of yourself and let's all work towards finding our inner peace and well-being.
00:51:13
Speaker
Ready for more Matrix Mentors and exclusive content to help you improve your life? Stay tuned for next week's episode. Thanks for tuning in to The Organic Matrix and we hope you found our Matrix Mentors and their insightful and inspiring. If you enjoy the show, these are two easy ways you can help us grow and reach even more amazing Matrix members. One,
00:51:38
Speaker
Share the show with your friends and followers on social media. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful ways to spread the word about our show and help us reach new listeners. Two, leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Not only does this help us improve the show and serve our audience better, but it also helps us rank higher in search results in