Monthly Archive for January, 2010

Create A Better Vision Board

Published on January 5, 2010 in Vision Boards. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

I’ve been teaching Vision Board Workshops for a few years now, and am still constantly amazed at the magic that takes place at these events.  People pick up felt pens, crayons, scissors, and glue sticks, and start playing with their personal visions of life.  It’s a profound process – fun, but very, very deep.

The process itself changes you – especially using the feng shui bagua as your template (as we do in the workshops), because it invites you to look at every area of your life – something most of us don’t typically take the time to do.

If you’ve ever considered making a vision board, I say, just do it!  And soon.  On a single day in the middle of this month — January 15, 2010 — we will experience a convergence of several, potent astrologically-driven events that all bode extremely well for creating a grand vision of what you want to manifest in your life:  a new moon, a lunar eclipse and Mercury (finally!) coming out of retrograde.  That’s right, all three are happening on the same day. It’s a veritable, planet-driven bulls-eye for setting your most heart-felt intentions!

So I will be facilitating two Vision Board Workshops in the Los Angeles area on Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17.  If you would like to participate in the group process, which includes visualizations and affirmations, please join us.  The details are on the “Events” page of this blog.

You can also do it yourself at home.  Either way, I want to share with you a few pointers I’ve learned along the way.   Enjoy!

Vicki’s 10 Commandments for Making a Great Vision Board:

  1. Be Playful  & Use Your Intuition – Don’t over-think!!!  Do what compels you – make what you like to look at.  You need to love your Vision Board because your feelings magnify the Law of Attraction.
  2. Use Positive Terms In The Present Tense – “Lose weight” becomes “I am in great shape”  “Get out of debt” becomes “I am prosperous.”  The Universe hears “weight” and “debt” and thinks you want more of them.
  3. Use More Imagery And Less Words - Images ignite the creative, powerful right brain, whereas words access the more logical left brain.  The real magic happens in the right brain.
  4. Include Yourself - Try to have photos, or your name, or some other highly personal element in as many sections of the board as possible.  It is very important that you let your subconscious and the Universe know this entire board is about you and your life.
  5. Stay UNLIMITED - You do not have to be “realistic.”  The universe works in mysterious ways, and we are calling on the Universe here.  Do no limit your board to things you think are logically possible.  One caveat:  if you are a super-logical person and feel you will never believe your board if it’s too wishful, then by all means, limit it a bit.  But realize it is for you, not the Universe.  The Universe is just as happy to give you a mansion as a condo.
  6. Make Your Vision Board Just For YOU – Future you, not past you.  Be wary of putting things on your board that you THINK you should want, that others want you to achieve, or that you USED to like or want, but no longer do.  Heed the old adage, “Be careful what you wish for.”  If you put a photo of a supermodel in your Love & Marriage area, make sure you truly want a partner who might spend more time with their mirror than you.
  7. Create Stand-Out Elements - Think of creative ways to give your board more dimension and make it “pop”.  Some examples are:  Glue on a lucky charm, single earring, beads or piece of nature (i.e. small seashell or rock).  Add a small dry erase board or mirror.  Glue an actual frame around something you want to emphasize.  Use a small spring, accordion folded paper or cardboard backing to extend any given image off the board.  You can also use someone else’s body with your head. The sky of your imagination is the limit.
  8. Stay Loose With The Bagua Boundaries – One client had her money float from her Wealth corner all over her board, and she has had amazing financial prosperity ever since.
  9. Stay Open To Something Better – Focus on what you feel, and leave it up to the Universe to satisfy that feeling in the best possible way (maybe better than you can imagine).  I suggest writing this phrase from Shakti Gawain’s “Creative Visualization” on the back of your board:  “This or something better now manifests for me in totally satisfying and harmonious ways for the highest good of all concerned”.
  10. LOVE YOUR VISION BOARD – This was mentioned in Commandment #1 and is being repeated here, because it is the most important thing.  This is your vision board and it should express your tastes and desires so perfectly that you love every inch of it!  If there is anything on your board you don’t love, then let go of it.  Love is the litmus test.

Please feel free to use these “commandments”, share them with friends, or even re-publish them.  If you choose to re-publish, please include this text:

Vicki Howie, M.A., R.Y.T. is a yoga teacher, life coach and workshop facilitator who lives in the L.A. area.  She created Chakra Boosters Temporary Tattoos and hosts “Personal Evolution with Vicki Howie” every Sunday at 2 pm PST on SpiritQuestRadio.com.  She also teaches at local yoga studios, and facilitates workshops.  You can contact her at chakraboosters.com or sacredblissyoga.com.

Seeing Abundance Everywhere

Published on January 1, 2010 in Abundance. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Yesterday, my friend Blayne and I were celebrating New Year’s Eve Day in Sedona, AZ and we stopped in at one of my favorite metaphysical stores – Crystal Magic.  I bought a Laughing Buddha candle holder for my Laughing Buddha collection.  The happy buddha symbolizes and boosts abundance and good fortune.  When I walked out of the store, buddha in hand, I found a shiny dime at my feet.

Okay, I know a dime – shiny or not — doesn’t buy much these days, but finding coins is symbolic of more to come.  At least in my book it is.  And speaking of more to come… Blayne and I went straight from there to lunch at India Palace, where we were promptly seated at the feet of the Goddess Lakshmi herself.  A local artist, Paul Lawrence, had painted a wall mural that made it look like She was literally seated on the end of our table (see the posted photo).

I sat at the other (open) end of the table where there was no chair, so I moved it, before even noticing Lakshmi was there.  Then I looked up and was facing Her the entire meal.  Note the gold coins that spill freely from her left hand.  It’s sort of ironic that the word “lack” is even in her name, because Lakshmi is the Goddess of all things prosperous and positive.  Go Goddesssss!

I bring this up because recently my friend, Ed Mills, vlogged about “blessing all forms of abundance,” in his blog, “Evolving Times” and it made me think about how I have shifted my attitude about abundance in just that way.

I used to judge other’s forms of abundance in all sorts of subtle, counter-productive ways (using words like “ostentatious,” “wasteful”, and my personal favorite – “over the top”).

Now, when I drive through a nice neighborhood that is clearly elegant, but doesn’t “feel like me,” rather than turn my nose up, I acknowledge the level of abundance that is represented and say to myself, “in what way would I express this level of abundance?”

It’s a fun exercise! Suddenly, I realize that someone else’s large, suburban house in the Valley is their version of my more compact, modern beach house (a 3+2 would be perfect, with lots of windows, please) right on the ocean in Santa Monica (or Malibu would be fine).

In this way, not only do I not judge others or resist the energy of abundance, but I actually start to visualize what I specifically wish to create — and in that process start creating it on an energetic level.

Not surprisingly, as I have been practicing blessing all forms of abundance — prosperity has been showing up in my life more and more in fun, symbolic ways.   I keep “finding” (discovering) coins. And when I do, I consider it a wink-wink from the Universe saying, “More of this to come… keep your eyes open.” I say a heartfelt “thank you” as I pocket it — not just for the coin itself, but for its message of how abundance is right here in front of me all the time — if I just stay open to it.

I live just off Venice beach these days (thank you Universe!), so I walk the beach almost every day. And lately, the ocean has been giving me sand DOLLARS.   Now this might not seem too unusual of a thing to happen on a beach, but anyone who lives in the L.A. area knows that unfortunately, Venice and Santa Monica beaches are more likely to wash up empty soda cans and used plastic bags, than exquisitely, intact sand DOLLARS.

A couple weeks ago, Blayne and I were walking on the beach, and a sea gull dropped the biggest CLAM right near us. It was huge. And when we picked it up, it was alive and heavy. We marveled at how the seagull held this weighty, roundish object in its beak for even the shortest flight.

Amazing. I laughed. From sand DOLLARS to CLAMS (”clams” as in, the old term for money, moola, dinero, casharoony).   Blayne and I thanked the bird and the Universe for this lovely and inspiring message, and then we threw the clam way into the waves. We imagined it as a sort of investment… that this clam would go back and create a whole clan of baby clams.

In any case, blessing all forms of abundance – big, little, symbolic and literal –is a fruitful way to connect with the exquisite energy of prosperity!

Ed Mills of “Evolving Times” and I will be discussing this and other spiritually-oriented financial concepts on my radio show Sunday,  January 24 at 2 pm PST here:  http://www.spiritquestradio.com.

You can use the above link to access the launch of my new internet radio show,”Personal Evolution with Vicki Howie” this Sunday, Jan. 3 at 2 pm PST.  I will be talking about how you can take maximum advantage of the New Moon of the New Year (which falls on Jan. 15) by creating a Sacred Vision Board that encompasses what you want to create in all areas of your life in 2010.

I will also be leading two Vision Board Workshops this month on the fertile weekend of the New Moon.  Come create your Vision of what you want in all areas of your life (and don’t worry if you don’t know exactly what that is, as we explore your dreams and desires in the workshop).

VISION BOARD WORKSHOPS:

Sat., Jan. 16, 2:00 – 5:30 pm @ Yoga Blend, Burbank, CA — For more information, call (818) 954- 9642 or to register, click here.

Sun., Jan. 17, 12 – 4 pm @ Yoga Works, Valencia, CA — For more information, call (661) 799-2645 or to register, click here.