life's a party
The gift of a good party is that you don't really know what will happen.
Sure, the party host can plan a few things, provide some hospitality, etc. But when it comes down to it, the gift of a good party is its unpredictability.
What will be the sentence that everyone busts out with laughter in reaction?
What will be the sentence that silences everyone gratefully, that draws forward that gleam in every single eye?
Such deep knowings.
When we began in 2010, we gathered in a living room every week or so and dreamed together. Some relatives and friends of those gathered even said that 'VITALITY' -- our dreams -- could not be done.
But here we are in 2023 celebrating our 13th year, and wondering what the wind will call us to next.
Mike Eck was there in that living room. And the dreams he brought to life were just ideas in 2010. And now we celebrate him as the one who began gleaning in Southwest Ohio...a dream and reality that has created jobs and fed thousands of people farm-fresh food that would have gone to waste if volunteers had not gleaned it and brought it to gourmet chefs at La Soupe and food pantries and soup kitchens to turn into nutritious meals.
Mike is also now a published author, a poet, something he readily tells people he never dreamed in 2010. Check out the poem & coloring book he and his friend Claire Long created in 2021. With You in Our Dreams. Yes. The photo below is from their celebration. Another party, another unexpected gift.
Our Board had a small celebration of Mike's 13 years of service to VITALITY's Board as he 'retires' to dream up more and more good ideas. We hope you'll join us to celebrate Mike at a bigger gathering -- mark your calendar now please:
Sat, May 27
The Inaugural VITALLY Wild Poetry Awards
& Salute to Mike Eck, VITALITY co-founder
special lunch-potluck party
at Gorman Heritage Farm, 12 - 3pm ET
all welcome!
Come read your own poem and we'll celebrate you. Or invite a poet to read a poem and we'll celebrate them. Or come and simply enjoy!
Perhaps you feel called to join the journaling-circle tonight. Penny is our host, and she has a special way of inviting everyone to dream and wonder and even create. Hope you'll consider joining us at 6:30 pm ET via Zoom:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86501049196?pwd=M09nenVwU3RPWUNsN3dZSUw4QXNQZz09
Meeting ID: 865 0104 9196
Passcode: 215933
Life is a party and you never know what gift might show up...!
Brian Shircliff
something you know too?
We had a light dusting of snow yesterday morning.
And in just a few hours Spring begins here. A new season.
It’s not anything new, though, right? We’ve had snows even into April in the Ohio River Valley.
Those early February and March blasts of 70° F weather always tease us here.
But the birds seem to know, even with these chilly temps we’ve had, that something is upon us. Their lazy, playful song disappeared in the deep Winter, even on warmer days. But now, even in the cooler air, the birds sing their positively lazy, joyful song. They know.
I suspect the worms and nematodes know too, vibrantly doing their slow, lazy work, their life, their survival and ours, their luxuriating in the goodness of creating life below the surface of Earth. I’m certainly grateful they do their thing. I like to eat fruit and vegetables thanks to their involvement in making that process possible churning death into life and tunneling places where water and air can flow. Worms and nematodes know too. Something new is about to happen, this springing into a different step of life, this new season.
And you? You know too surely. You and I can look on a calendar and say, yes, today begins a new season. Or we Google when it begins. We know from past years that we will soon descend into a world of plentiful color, flowers of so many sorts in the Northern Hemisphere, leaves changing colors -- even slightly -- in the Southern Hemisphere. The photo below is from last year, a memory I have of Spring in Cincinnati.
We know from memory, from calendars. But the worms and nematodes and birds know in other ways too. They might remember too in some way…though I expect they know in ways we humans could too if we gave ourselves permission to sense more deeply, more lazily, luxuriating in all that life in this moment offers, noticing the subtle, ever-changing differences. That's what a nervous system does, no matter the creature.
Would you like your eyes and ears and heart to be just a little more tuned in, perhaps into something the worms and nematodes and birds know?
There is something ‘deeper’ that can be known. We gravitate toward people who have that gleam in their eye, or we’re at least a bit curious about them, right?
Our monthly Healing Touch public sessions are tomorrow, Tuesday, March 21…
one spot available at 5:30pm ET + one spot at 6:30pm ET
at our Walnut Hills Center
791 E McMillan St, Cincinnati, OH 45206
$20 donation requested for the 45-minute appt
where trained volunteers simply place their hands on your body
or above your body in gentle, easy ways
as you rest fully clothed on a massage table
claim your spot by replying to this email!
Come meet a friend with whom you can gleam and know together through the simplest, lightest touch that life springs forward with abundance, full of color, renewed air, and possibility!
Brian Shircliff
PS Or maybe you’re ready to sign up to take a Level 1 class…April 29-30 with Stephanie Beck Borden! Very limited spots available!
"I've been noticing..."
It was a gift to gather with new friends and long-time friends at the Spring Retreat last Saturday.
One of the resounding themes seemed to center around noticing things that maybe have always been with us but now we've come to appreciate...from the joy in movement to Spring daffodils to a family member to the tastes and camaraderie of food.
Could it be that simple and profound all at once?
Noticing. Sensing.
These are some key learnings in Bones for Life® and Feldenkrais®…that sensing oneself invites each one of us to become all that we continue to desire to be. Noticing and sensing were also the key aims of yoga long, long ago before we silly humans became so addicted to ‘poses’ and trying to make a so-called perfect shape based on what some teacher thought the ‘pose’ should be like. It's possible ancient yoga had no prescribed poses..."like a serpent on the waters," Patanjali invited.
My one-year-old nephew makes such lovely shapes without anyone telling him what to do. He laughs with deep joy at his moves, at his moving his hands through running water, at the taste and texture of food, at people's smiles. His moves come from within him, from his own curiosity, from his playfulness…not from his parents or big brother or grandparents or silly uncle or anyone telling him to do this or that.
My little nephew’s curiosity leads him.
Noticing. Sensing. Playing.
That’s the bliss we adults might be seeking, yes?
Tiffany West’s gentle yoga-invitations last Saturday invited so much playfulness, exploration, sensing. Thanks, Tiffany!
This week we have two special opportunities to notice and to reflect with two Inner Journeys…our journaling/contemplation circles:
Tuesday/today beginning at 6:30pm ET via Zoom, led by Penny
> one advantage…you can join us from anywhere in the world and wrap up in your favorite blankey and make yourself a warm cup of something delicious
reach out for the link!
this Thursday, March 16 beginning at 7pm ET in-person, led by me
> one advantage…you get to be in a room with other humans and chit-chat before and after…sometimes it's in those side-conversations that the real gift we need comes to us, announces itself…
791 E McMillan St, Cincinnati, OH 45206
$10 donation requested for each (one option is to pay by clicking here);RSVP appreciated by replying to this email
Zero journaling experience needed. Whatever shows up on the page is a gift…words, sentences, doodles, drawings, or even a blank page as we stare off into space, watch the paint dry, luxuriate in something else, at whatever arrives for us. Even a getting up and twirling, dancing…or sitting and resting, daydreaming...all welcome.
Who knows what you might come to notice, sense, playfully appreciate, and behold with wonder that ripples through your whole life…I’m looking forward to noticing what happens!
Brian Shircliff
PS Our next 45-minute $20 Healing Touch sessions are one week from today…appointments available at 5:30 & 6:30. They disappear quickly! Reserve your spot by replying to this email. Or maybe you’re ready to sign up to take a Level 1 class…April 29-30 with Stephanie Beck Borden!
PPS photo above of the lovely daffodils VITAL-friend Helen Buswinka brought to our retreat - grateful!
final hours for this opening!
Things are opening -- flowers and retreat opportunities -- in these last hours to sign up to join us.
Come join the circle and feel the joy with us...
you can get to know three of your retreat guides in VITALITY's documentary (click here)...Tiffany, Logan, Helen...Crystal was on vacation with her family when we filmed it. All four are inspiring human beings!
SPRING RETREAT
Sat, March 11 11am - 3pm
gentle yoga led by Tiffany West
Healing Touch self-care led by Helen Buswinka
tea-sharing & the story of Gracious Farm by Crystal Judge
time for relaxation & journaling
lunch included in what you pay
hosted by Logan Probst
held in our new center: 791 E McMillan St, Cincinnati 45206
cost is pay-what you can...$21, $31, $41 and bring a dessert to share
registration: closes TODAY Wed March 8 at 12 noon ET
reply to this email to save your spot!
Witness the opening!
Brian Shircliff
it's happening!
Well, it's that time of year when the changes are in such contrast -- maybe anywhere in the world.
A liminal time. Winter into Spring for us northern people. Summer into Autumn for our southern hemisphere friends.
What's it like for you? Are the contrasts easier to perceive these days and nights?
Things have been budding earlier here in Cincinnati.
I have to confess that Spring might be my favorite of the seasons, all this newness of life and the very tangible reminder that I can discover Spring within myself too. But honestly, in my heart of hearts, I have to admit that I enjoy every season...that new life abounds in every season, sometimes it just takes a more perceptive eye and ear and hand and heart. And nose and mouth for that matter.
I have to confess that I love Zoom too -- being in conversation with people all over the world, especially as we discover together the possibilities for new life through things like Bones for Life and yoga and meditation and journaling and Healing Touch. Such goodness.
But there's something within me knowing how important in-person gatherings are too, indoors and out, as safe as we want them to be.
We're delighted by the interest in the in-person Spring Retreat...and there are just a few more spots left to welcome a few more new and renewal-craving friends.
SPRING RETREAT
Sat, March 11 11am - 3pm
gentle yoga led by Tiffany West (photographed above)
Healing Touch self-care led by Helen Buswinka
tea-sharing & the story of Gracious Farm by Crystal Judge
time for relaxation & journaling
lunch included in what you pay
hosted by Logan Probst
cost is pay-what you can...$21, $31, $41 and bring a dessert to share
very limited spots
registration opens today Feb 27, closes Wed March 8 at 12 noon ET
reply to this email to save your spot!
Catch the opportunity while you can -- registration closes Wednesday! -- just like these beautiful trees, they last only so long.
Brian Shircliff
Tiffany West, Crystal Judge, and you!
As we mentioned last week, VITALITY has circles where we can all wake up to life together, and grow into our dreams for life no matter what the next challenge is that comes.
We love that we can Zoom at times with friends all over the world...but there is indeed something special that happens when we gather in-person...
and, my goodness, when these four people are involved and in the same room at our Walnut Hills center -- powerful!
SPRING RETREAT
Sat, March 11 11am - 3pm
gentle yoga led by Tiffany West (photographed above)
Healing Touch self-care led by Helen Buswinka
tea-sharing & the story of Gracious Farm by Crystal Judge
time for relaxation & journaling
lunch included in what you pay
hosted by Logan Probst
cost is pay-what you can...$21, $31, $41 and bring a dessert to share
very limited spots
registration opens today Feb 27
text/call Brian at 513.300.5174 to save your spot!
What might you discover as we begin the turn to Spring...might this be your move to bloom?
Brian Shircliff
and save one of these dates for yourself!
HOLISTIC SAMPLER...
try out Healing Touch, Bones for Life, NLP, journaling, & yoga in ONE HOUR
on each of these dates:
Sunday, March 5 at 1:30pm ET
Thursday, March 9 at 7pm ET
Saturday, March 18 12:30pm ET
cost = $7
hosted by Brian Shircliff
RSVP required since there are only 10 spots for each date
text/call Brian at 513.300.5174
what the pandemic did
Have you been noticing what the pandemic has done to you, to all of us?
Maybe you know someone who got very ill or died from covid-19. I grieve with you, friend.
And even more than that, this three year window did something to us, I suspect. Anything that upsets our routines for so long would. And when our routines are disturbed, often the deeper contents of who we are come swirling up.
Recently I was driving behind someone who zigzagged up Madison Rd where it crosses the new Wasson Way bike/walk trail. It's already a super congested area, and with the trail there even more so. And this person drove with sharp turns of the wheel and stops and then speeding up, all of this for a few blocks. It was a scary 90 seconds. Horns were blaring. Cars were dodging everywhere.
The car finally came to a complete stop, in the middle of the road.
I wondered who I'd encounter as I tried to inch past her.
And she was just like me -- about my age, well dressed, looking like she had just been awakened from a dream. I mouthed with my hands up, "what are you doing?"
She brought her hands to her mouth in shock and mouthed "I'm so, so sorry."
I tried to muster a soothing smile to her as I nodded and drove away -- ahead of her :)
Now things like this certainly happened before the pandemic, but maybe you too are noticing that things are different now. We've all been changed somehow.
We at VITALITY have circles where we can all wake up to life together, and grow into our dreams for life no matter what the next challenge is that comes. Best to stitch together one's parachute long before we're called to jump again...be internally ready for Nature's next call to change....
While our Bones for Life Immersions offered with our friends at Future Life Now filled last night -- yay! -- we do have two in-person opportunities that might be of interest to you this Sunday and Tuesday at our new location...791 E McMillan St, Cincinnati, OH 45206:
HOLISTIC SAMPLER...
try out Healing Touch, Bones for Life, NLP, journaling, & yoga in ONE HOUR
this Sunday, Feb 19 at 1:30pm ET
cost = $7
RSVP required by noon tomorrow/Saturday since there are only 10 spots
RSVP by text/call at 513.300.5174
45-minute HEALING TOUCH APPOINTMENTS...
as you rest fully-clothed in a chair or a table (your choice)
and 1-2 trained practitioners work with you
this Tues, Feb 21 at 5:30 & 6:30pm ET
$20 donation requested
RSVP asap...very limited spots: claim your spot by text/call at 513.300.5174
Welcome a new, calming, joy-filled world for yourself and those you love!
Brian Shircliff
sample?
Delighted to see so many of you taking advantage of the free Bones for Life series Cynthia Allen, Andrea Tutt, and I have offered the past ten days.
So many of you've been telling us about such big aha's and life-improvements from such small little movement-explorations - yay!
If you missed it...click here to catch the recordings for the next few days: https://www.futurelifenow-online.com/op/free-bones-for-life-jan-2023/
And if you're thinking of signing up to join us for a full Bones for Life immersion on Zoom, better do that soon as there are very limited spots in this worldwide offering.
* * * * *
Or maybe you're still wondering which path to take for yourself to improve your life this year...
Healing Touch
Bones for Life
NLP
journaling
yoga
We offer a number of choices through VITALITY! Choices can be hard, right?
So we designed the Holistic Sampler for you!
Join us Sunday, Feb 19 at 1:30pm ET in person in Walnut Hills for ONE HOUR to sample all five modalities and decide what's best for you.
Sunday, Feb 19 at 1:30pm ET
791 E McMillan, Cincinnati 45206
cost = $7 RSVP required since there are only 10 spots
RSVP by replying to this email or texting 513.300.5174
Feel free to stay after the hour for tea and to talk. If you're curious about VITALITY's New Yoga Teacher Training in 2023, here's your opportunity to find out more too.
You might even find that your life is better in that hour alone!
Brian Shircliff
PS...Tuesday 11am Feldenkrais classes resume this week...and you can choose to join us via Zoom OR in person at our Walnut Hills space for Tuesdays just like Thursdays!
Special Invite: Free Bones Training Series
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could Healing Touch save you $ in 2023?
When I first began exploring Healing Touch many years ago, I was amazed by the relief I found by something so simple.
At the suggestion of a friend, I showed up to a group offering Healing Touch and two people I didn't know rested their hands lightly and gently on my ankles and knees and hands and elbows and shoulders. And -- wow! Something so simple as that relieved an ache I had had in my shoulders and neck from grading papers when I was a high school teacher.
A few weeks before, I had reached out to a sports medicine doctor and his staff who, after some expensive and invasive tests, suggested some pain killers and muscle relaxers. Those weren't solutions that I wanted to pursue, especially with the side effects.
But I found relief just lying on the soft Healing Touch table, fully clothed, and something so simple as these heart-centered Healing Touch practitioners resting their hands on my joints for a few minutes made my life so much easier.
And not only did I feel better, I began to wonder how much money -- and grief -- these little sessions could save me.
As you probably know, Healing Touch was begun by nurses in hospital settingsfor relief of pain and anxiety. Today, many of us trained as Healing Touch practitioners are not medical professionals.
Maybe Healing Touch calls to you this year? We hope you'll consider joining us Tuesday for a session for yourself!
45-minute Healing Touch Appointments
this Tues, Jan 17 at 5:30 & 6:30pm ET
$20 donation requested
791 E McMillan St, Cincinnati 45206
masks welcome/optional
RSVP: claim your spot by replying to this email!
Healing Touch founder Janet Mentgen, RN, envisioned a world with a Healing Touch practitioner in every home. Imagine how life might be different for you and your loved ones!
Brian Shircliff