Dear Friends,

Happy Summer and Much Love to You! Summer solstice and Independence Day have come and gone. How time flies! It’s been a pleasure tending the many gardens in my life, including perennial gardens in my yard. Sometimes pruning is needed, rain, pulling weeds, and the key…enjoying the beauty.  Gardening is a great metaphor for life!

My gardens are in full bloom, thanks in part to generous friends with ample plants and love to share, plus an extraordinary friend who did a great deed by amply populating a steep slope in my back yard with many, many plants. Lucky, grateful me!

If your life is a garden, then what weeds do you need to pull this month?  What thorns can you trim away? How are you enriching the soil  What seeds are you planting for your future?  What blooms are you enjoying now because you committed to growth and beauty in the past?

There’s been so much goodness going on!  I continue to enjoy teaching SFQ Level One classes two Mondays each month at Holistic Gateway in Northeast Minneapolis.  Each class has the foundation of SFQ principles and practices, with its own unique theme.  Recent themes include:  Developing Better Confidence, Why People Don’t Heal (& How To!), Using Everything, and more.

I’ve been working to create brief video clips for the Wonder Horse web site and YouTube channel, to inform people what they can expect from my healing support, classes and retreats.

In this newsletter:

• Article: FEELING GOOD! as a daily practice has a powerful, uplifting effect.
• ‘The Buzz’ Reports on Recent Events
• The Art of Bliss Women’s Retreat
• Spring Forest Qigong (SFQ) Classes & Practice Group
• Good Reads: Book recommendations
• Have Qi Will Travel ~ Private instruction and presentations available!

Please share the goodness with friends and family members by forwarding this newsletter.  How can Wonder Horse support you on your healing journey?

Positively Healing, Rhonda Battisto
Owner, Wonder Horse, LLC
Improving the quality of life through love, kindness, forgiveness and compassion

How to Build Your Feeling Good Portfolio:

In some of my classes this spring, I offered a spreadsheet to my students and asked them to list ten things that they feel really good or great about in their lives.  That was pretty easy for most people, especially since it could be things, people, events, situations or conditions from the entire history of their lives, big or small.  Then came the challenge:  List ten things every day for a month.  I went home and decided that I shouldn’t ask others to do this if I myself wasn’t willing to do it!  While I had a delightful time listing things I feel good and great about most days, I found it especially fulfilling to ‘do my ten’ on my most challenging days.  Listing goodness has an uplifting effect on my spirits, and sharing a few of my entries with students  in later classes was quite fun, too!  .  The effects of thoughtful, fanciful and even silly entries was all positive!  Just as consistent daily focus on gratitude is a powerful way to holistically self-heal, having a list of things you feel good/great in your life is a fantastic resource to refer to on our ‘low’ days. Review your list and smile, smile, smile!  Try not  to take all of the goodness for granted.  Notice and celebrate it in this adventuresome experiment we call life!

Spring Retreats, Events, and Workshops!

Woman Spirit Network Spring Retreat
In April our theme was ‘Embracing the Sacred You’, I shared the Ho’oponopono reconciliation blessing and practiced with 42 women Friday evening in Crosslake, MN. I enjoyed leading SFQ healing movements with a custom meditation on Saturday, and working with wonderful women in healing support sessions throughout the weekend.  The community, food and setting were wonderfully healing and inspiring!  I always treasure time with this remarkable group!  Kudos to Jody, Karissa & Ginny for their phenomenal job taking care of many details with so much love and care!

Crescent Cove Home Dedication
It was a beautiful day for this auspicious ceremony. Many Minnesota families need respite and/or end of life care for their children. Crescent Cove is an amazing nonprofit organization that supports families with children with a shortened life expectancy. Their mission was to work toward building a children’s respite and hospice home, while supporting the needs of kids with life-limiting illness and their families. Ultimately a home was purchased and is expected to open this fall. I was honored to be present for the home dedication ceremony on May 7th,: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2017/05/07/crescent-cove/ .  I am honored to provide healing support for Crescent Cove children and their families at home and in the hospital since 2015. I look happily forward to providing qigong healing and instruction to the staff & families at the home https://youtu.be/dzDPSlCb8zM when it opens this fall!
In late September, I’ll provide an interactive presentation at the Crescent Cove Third Annual Pediatric Palliative Care Symposium. It is fulfilling to support the Crescent Cove organization and families as a friend, donor, volunteer, and healing service provider.  I ask and encourage you to support them in any way you can, too! 

Connecting with Your Inner Healer Workshop
This new workshop offering was well received and powerfully healing for all!  Thanks to Amy at Joyful Connections for her inspiration to offer people powerful events which help to heal, open, and prepare them for summer and beyond!  This workshop included great healing concepts, practices and manifestation indoors and out!  I continue to receive amazing, positive feedback and reports about how this workshop has positively changed people’s energy, momentum and lives!  Viva la Inner Healer!!

Crow Wing Crest Healers Retreat
What a joy it was to return to Crow Wing Crest Resort again this spring! My healing class with SFQ interactive healing movements and a custom meditation on Saturday was a powerful experience for all. I provided healing support services for many wonderfully open people throughout the gorgeous weekend.  The idyllic setting adds to the ease and magic of the powerful energetic shifts which people experienced and I was honored to witness.  Sunday evening’s potluck gathering is always a pleasure.  The weather was perfect for enjoying a meal and one another lakeside. So much goodness!

The Art of Bliss Women’s Retreat

Final preparations are underway for the Art of Bliss Women’s Retreat. We have an amazing group of guests as our 2016 ‘Bliss Tribe’ expands to embrace women from all over Minnesota and North Dakota! We are happy to welcome back our retreat and Soul Portrait photographer Nancy Lennon! A wonderful yoga instructor, Becca Baer will also be offering a class on dreams. Tammy and I are so excited to bring people together to explore, expand, and enjoy more bliss!  In addition to bliss-promoting programming, we’ll be offering healing services to support, uplift and expand the well-being of all!  We (each and all) are the art.  Each of us is creating our life as we go. It’s great to share energy, concepts and practices which enrich and connect lives so beautifully!  Viva la Bliss!

Click the photo above to view a slideshow from last year’s Bliss retreat, or this link for details on this year’s retreat.

Events & Announcements

Have Qi – Will Travel!