Book: “The 49 Professions of Joy”

This book represents a single layer of an immersive experience I designed, a group movement workshop for chakra alignment therapy. Participants wanted to have ongoing access to the haiku from the soundscore. Although the poems seem “simple,” they were not easy to write. Some blurted themselves in 15 minutes, others labored for 15 hours. I took entire weeks off from composing them at all, because the process is so exhausting. It took nine months to gestate all 49 haiku — it was like giving birth to a cube.

As an educator for many years, it was vital to appreciate how people learn. Personally, I am almost exactly 50-50 right/left brain dominant. I absorb best when I watch someone slowly and methodically explain what they’re doing while I ask questions. Then I attempt the skill repeatedly all by myself, eventually wanting feedback. Not everyone prefers that. Knowing that differences existed ensured that students with brains wired differently from mine weren’t excluded from understanding lessons. You will experience that in the multifaceted presentation this book provides. What does that mean? This content includes nuanced layers, allowing many types of people with any level of experience or learning style an opportunity to connect with the material.

This project required exacting methodology. I relished it, because I got to discover so much about myself. Hopefully you will find your own deliciously complex way to engage with all this “stuff.” If you were to embody it — or even create your own — that would be a beautiful gift to the world!