15 Apr Barbara Biziou on Practical Spirituality
Barbara Biziou, Owner, Blue Lotus Productions
About Barbara Biziou: Barbara Biziou, author of The joy of ritual
Barbara inspires her clients to create goals that reflect their values and dreams and offers them the tools, options, and courage to turn those dreams into realities. Her teachings, practices, and rituals gently allow others to incorporate spirituality into their hectic schedules and existing lifestyles without creating extra work or stress! In her words, “it’s practical spirituality,” a modern approach to age-old customs and traditions from a variety of cultures around the globe.
Barbara is a certified coach, hypnotherapist, voice dialogue facilitator, meditation teacher and Inter-faith minister whose workshops attract an eclectic crowd of upwardly mobile professionals, artists, celebrities, high profile personalities, and Fortune 500 corporations. She has consulted for the likes of Coca-Cola, Weight Watchers, JP Morgan Chase, International Red Cross, Lord & Taylor, Equinox Gym, and Calvary Hospital.
With her never-ending wealth of knowledge, warm, inviting heart, open mind, and natural gift for teaching, she brings her global travels, from Bali to South America, and personal experience to her work, enlightening everyone she meets along the way. She is on the faculty of the American Management Association (AMA), The New York Open Center, East West Living, and One Spirit Learning Alliance. She is also on the board of the New York Women’s Wellness Society and Miriam’s Well.
Barbara has been featured in Body & Soul, Harper’s Bazaar, New York Magazine, and Parents Magazine. She also starred on Morgan Spurlock’s hit F/X show 30 Days and was the everyday ritual expert on New Morning airing on the Hallmark Channel.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MW0ZxFaGVg[/youtube]
LM: You have often been described as a teacher of “practical spirituality,” can you tell us a little bit more about this?
BB: I believe that we need to integrate spirituality into our everyday lives. It is easy to be centered when you are away in a retreat, but the key is how to do it in the midst of chaos. I have studied with many amazing teachers and like to integrate many modalities into my work.
LM: Can you tell us a little bit about your practice with rituals and life coaching?
BB: I became passionate about using rituals after a very personal experience. I lost my sister when I was 6 weeks pregnant and because I was fearful of harming my child, I never really grieved. Years later, while in retreat in Arizona, I found myself creating a ritual to honor my sister. Without knowing it, I brought in elements of Native American, Balinese and ancient women’s rituals. When I was finished, I felt a feeling of lightness that I had not experienced for years. I realized that if I could create such a powerful ritual for myself that I wanted to learn more about global rituals and share them with my friends and community. For years I created rituals for healing, celebration (birthdays, new homes, new businesses), bringing in love, success, prosperity. Then eventually got ordained as an interfaith minister and began doing weddings and baby blessings. In my practice as a coach, I incorporate rituals, meditation, exercises I teach in corporations (goal setting, communication exercises) and even tarot.
LM: When and how did you get into the coaching field?
BB: I have been teaching personal growth workshops since the 80’s and have studied with many people.
LM: Life coaching has become more and more mainstream, to what do you attribute the increasing popularity of life coaching?
BB: There is more focus on what we can do NOW..instead of analyzing the past. And, people are realizing how hard it is to do it alone.
LM: Your services seem spiritual, psychological, but also physical as well. Is this a mind-body balance sort of coaching? Why is it important to address all of these areas?
BB: We need to take care of all areas in our lives. If we do not address the physical, we lose access to our energy and power. Emotions stress out the physical body and make it impossible to focus and create what we desire.
Having custom created healing rituals for the American Red Cross, the Helen Keller Foundation and the New York Visiting Nurses Society, I use my global ritual knowledge and expertise to create a thoughtful and compassionate healing ritual to suit my client’s needs. Whether it is healing for the self, getting through serious medical procedures, healing another or dealing with grief, I look to create a positive ceremony to ease and uplift my client’s spirit.
LM: What types of clients do you attract?
BB: I attract all kinds of clients from corporate executives to young artists. I love the mix of ages and ethnicities. I do have a lot of 30-40 year olds, but also work with a group of 50-60 year olds. The majority are single, but I do have clients who are married and many have children. The older ones are usually looking for a new way to nurture and express themselves and many are making career transitions and life changes. (Creative, married/single, etc.,)
LM: How can coaching help us? With what types of concerns/issues do you help your clients? What’s the most unusual or outrageous concern you’ve coached someone on?
BB: Some clients come to me to receive coaching on their careers, while others have very successful careers and are looking for some support when it comes to establishing meaningful personal relationships. While some of my clients, especially artists, are looking for help to work with both sides of their brain — wanting to be more open to receiving…
LM: How do you attract clients? How do they come to hire you?
BB: Most of my clients are referrals…or they met me at a workshop or saw me on TV.
LM: What makes your practice different from other life coaching practices?
BB: I have a spiritual orientation. I believe in coaching the whole person and making sure they pay attention to all areas in their life. I am also very intuitive and trained as a voice dialogue facilitator and have access to many techniques that other coaches do not. I am a big believer in using aromatherapy and meditation.
LM: How would you describe your coaching style?
BB: Eclectic , warm and grounded. In my experience, people learn by having someone believe in them and having someone provide them with structured tools that help bring out their own strengths. Through encouragement and support combined with practical life tools that I have learned over the years, I am here to guide my clients into the life they’ve always dreamed of.
My approach is to inspire, motivate and empower.
LM: What sort of tools or visuals do you use in your sessions?
BB: I may use a corp assessment tool, aromatherapy oil, practical goal-setting exercises and/or visualization techniques. I do find that many of my clients need “release rituals” to help them put the past behind them and move forward.
LM: Can you describe a typical coaching session.
BB: It depends on what is going on for the client. I try to be focused on “the now” and setting priorities. Some key areas I work on are:
- Guiding my clients through essential questions to uncover their most authentic life.
- Creating a custom-tailored foundation of success by helping the client formulate business and personal goals that have meaning for he/she, as well as easy-to-follow detailed action steps.
- Determine obstacles or old life patterns that hold the client back from the life he/she wants to lead and devise simple strategies to overcome them.
- Facilitate a powerful self-discovery process that encourages the client’s creativity, instills lasting change and unearths his/her unique strengths and talents.
- Provide a trusted soundboard to my clients. I am here to listen.
- Offer guidance, support and focus to keep my client on track as his/her dream takes shape.
- Guide you to gain clarity and self-confidence as you move forward to your vision.
LM: What advice would you offer anyone considering a career in life coaching?
BB: Get a mentor. It is great to have tools, but important to have someone who has done it before guide you.
LM: What is your vision for the next five years? Will you mentor others on your approach? Will you publish more so people can learn about your approach?
BB: I plan on being more global. Travelling, creating an audio series, videos, webinars and writing at least one more book. I do like the idea of mentoring others.
To contact Barbara and set up your appointment for a free 1/2 hour coaching consultation, email her at barbara@joyofritual.com.