Rewiring Your Mind Through Creativity: Finding Calm, Clarity & Joy with Crystal Mills

What if the key to clarity, calm, and joy… was as simple as picking up a pen?

In this inspiring episode, Rachel sits down with Krystal Mills, a teacher, life coach, and NeuroGraphica practitioner, to explore how creativity can unlock powerful personal transformation. After experiencing burnout in her teaching career, Crystal discovered coaching—and later NeuroGraphica—a unique blend of art, mindfulness, and neuroscience that helps people process emotions, rewire limiting beliefs, and reconnect with themselves.

Together, they dive into how small, intentional shifts can help women move from overwhelm to alignment—and why joy truly is a choice.

If you’ve been taking care of everyone else and feel disconnected from yourself, this conversation will open up a whole new way to come back home to you.

💡 Key Takeaways

• Burnout is often a signal—not a failure
  It can be the catalyst for meaningful change and self-discovery. 
• Joy is a choice (even when life isn’t)
  You can’t control everything—but you can control your response. 
• NeuroGraphica blends art + psychology
  A powerful tool to process thoughts, reduce stress, and gain clarity through drawing. 
• You don’t need to be “creative” to benefit
  This is process-based, not performance-based—no artistic skill required. 
• Small shifts create big change
  Even 10–15 minutes of intentional reflection can transform your mindset. 
• Perfectionism will show up—and that’s the point
  Awareness is the first step toward releasing limiting patterns. 
• You already know what brings you joy
  Revisit what you loved at age 8—that’s your starting point. 

🧠 Topics We Covered

•  Teacher burnout and rediscovering purpose 
•  The connection between self-worth and overworking 
•  What NeuroGraphica is and how it works 
•  Using drawing as a form of meditation and nervous system regulation 
•  The role of subconscious processing in creativity 
•  Perfectionism, self-judgment, and personal growth 
•  How to build habits of self-connection in small, doable ways 
•  Creating “Permission to Play” in everyday life 

🎨 What is NeuroGraphica?

NeuroGraphica is a guided drawing practice that combines:

•  🧠 Neuroscience (rewiring thought patterns) 
•  ✏️ Simple lines, shapes, and colors 
•  🧘 Mindfulness and emotional processing 

It helps you:

•  Gain clarity on challenges 
•  Reduce stress and overwhelm 
•  Access new insights and solutions 
•  Create a visual “anchor” for growth 

🔗 Resources & Links

•  🌐 Website: https://krystalmillscoaching.com
  
  
•  🎁 Free Resource: 5-Day Mindful Drawing Challenge
•  💫 Membership: Permission to Play (includes creative practices, self-reflection tools & more) 
•  📱 Instagram / Facebook: @krystalmillscoaching

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome to Joy Unfiltered. I'm Rachel, and this is a podcast about joy. Not the shiny performative kind. Not the everything happens for a reason kind. This is joy as a strategy. A way to stay steady when life feels loud. A way to stay human when things are hard. A way to lead, love, and live without burning out or checking out. Some episodes will be just me. Some will be honest conversations with people who have lived their way into a deeper, truer joy. No fixing, no bypassing, just real stories, real tools, and room to breathe. Let's get into it. Well, welcome back or welcome to Joy Unfiltered. I am Rachel, your host, and I am really excited. We have another guest with us today. Crystal Mills is with us, and let me introduce her. So if you're watching, I am putting on my glasses. Finally make space for themselves so that they have the energy to do what lights them up. I love that. She is passionate about helping women create more calm, clarity, and joy through small doable shifts that fit real life. She also, which I'm really excited about talking about this because I know nothing about it, she specializes in neurographica, an intuitive drawing practice that blends creativity and mindfulness to help people slow down, process their thoughts, and reconnect with what matters most. So welcome, Crystal. Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. Yeah, I I it's, you know, we are recording this on a Friday afternoon, but I was like, I am so excited to learn more about you, um, but also about Neurographica. But let's start first with let's start first with you. So how like how did you get to doing all this fabulousness that you are currently doing? What's a little bit of your backstory that you want to share?

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Sure. So I have been teaching for about 20 years now. Um, and I think it was maybe five, maybe six years ago now, I just fell into a about a burnout. Um, and I was always um teaching always lit me up. I only ever wanted to be a teacher. It was like my thing. And every year I was aware of the fact that I still felt the um excitement of like a first-year teacher, like in your classroom ready. And I was very aware of that as the years kind of progressed. Um, but yeah, about five or six years ago, it just wasn't feeling the same. Um, teaching is hard on the best of days, and I just was kind of burned out. And I'm like, I just don't know if I'm gonna be able to do this like forever, forever. So I'm 44 now. I'm like, do I want to teach? So this a few years back. Um, so basically I went on my own little journey to try to figure out really what was burning me out, and I found coaching and I figured out um some, you know, things like perfectionism and really kind of meshing my own self-worth with my work. And I was overworking. And so I once I could start to like untie some of the pieces of where the burnout was coming from, um, I never did leave the class. I am still a teacher and I was able to figure out how to really enjoy it again, but like not spend my evenings and weekends and all of the time there. And so with the coaching, I just the the way coaching works, I just kind of fell in love with and I was like, this could help so many other people maybe avoid the whole burnout thing. Um, and so I became certified as a coach. And then just a couple of years ago, I found Neurographica, which blends art and coaching. It just blends a lot of things that I love. I'm like, holy crap. Okay, no, I definitely need to pursue this a little bit more because I loved it as a tool for myself, but I also was thinking about how I could use it with clients and in workshops and that kind of thing. So yeah, so it kind of originated from a period of burnout. Um, and you know, burnout sucks. Uh, but looking back, it's like, yeah, but none of the other things ever would have happened then if I hadn't kind of hit that bit of a low point.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

But isn't it interesting that we need to go through this journey in order to really because I don't think I don't think anybody just goes through life just just you know, just cruising along, right? We all need to hit something. Um, and for some of it's the speed bumps are a little bit larger than others, but we all hit something. You called it burnout, you know, burnout from from teaching. And you used, what did you say? But we right before we were we were on the air, you're like, Can I swear on here? And I'm like, Yes, this is Joy I'm filtered. So you you you had some colorful language about burnout, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Well, it was um someone that I came across, she swears a lot. I love her. Jody Carrington is her name. And um, so I I won't go into too much about Jody, but one of the mantras that I came across was Joy's a fucking choice. And that just kind of like hit me here. I was like, Joy's a fucking choice. Yeah, like I can choose and in like the most loving way. Um, and so I actually had that on a post-it on my desk, just you know, out of sight. Um, but that was just like my little reminder because, like, no, I get to choose, it's empowering. I get to choose how I react to this. I get to choose, um, you know, to to make it feel lighter or to make it feel heavier. That is my choice. And whatever the situation is that I'm in, maybe those are factors that are outside of my control. But I get to control this, this joy part and like how I react to those things. So that reminder stuck with me for a while. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

I love it. I might need to make my own little posty notes that say that. I mean, I often say joy is a choice. We get to choose, but I um I am already thinking of a Christmas present now for a girlfriend of mine who does use that word quite a bit. So that is she is getting. I'm well, she's listening or not. You're getting this something for Christmas that says joy is a fucking choice on there. I I love it because I think it is, well, one, joy isn't always equated with happiness, right? So joy can be a fucking choice. Um, but it is a choice, right? Life is going to happen and we don't get to pick. We don't get to pick if someone rear-ends us. We don't get to pick if it's gonna be a snowstorm and it's gonna snow 12 to you know 24 inches in Minnesota this weekend. I don't get to pick that, right? But I do get to choose that, all right, maybe this weekend then is all about watching movies, and I get to choose how I react to those things. So you're right, you didn't necessarily choose that burnout or all those things were happening because things were happening, but you get to choose how you're gonna react, right? You're gonna choose how you're gonna react to those things.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

So I no, absolutely it is a choice, and I'm in Canada, so I get the whole snow reference, and it was maybe two years ago. And because I'm like, I hate winter, I hate winter. I'm like, babe, you live in Canada, you might as well embrace winter. So, like this year, I think I went snowshoeing more than ever, just like it's beautiful, like it's a beautiful day. And whenever you get out on the trails, um, this was the first year my husband and I actually went on our regular trails through the woods that we always go on in the spring and the fall. And we'd never seen them in the winter. I'm like, there are no snakes, there are no mosquitoes, it is the like the temperature is comfortable, and so it was like, yeah, this was a good choice. It was so yeah, so you can decide to complain, or you can put your snowshoes on and go and you know, play a little bit in the snow.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Absolutely. And somebody said to me once, I the snow's gonna be there, right? So either the snow is gonna be there and you're gonna be happy, or the snow is gonna be there and you're gonna be angry. So, you know what? It is a choice. It is a choice. Although I do have to share, um, and my mom probably will be listening to this because don't all moms listen to everything that you do, um I would imagine in a good way, in a good way. But that I have tried all sorts of snow um snow activities, and they are not even I really try, they're just not joyful for me. So I get to choose that I will be inside then instead of out.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Anyway, no, I love I love that. So again, now I've run learned all to one well, I have my Christmas list started already for for next year. So I'm I'm so glad that that you joined. I don't generally do that, I don't generally do that in March, but I'm gonna do that this year. Um, maybe it's a birthday gift. But let's now talk about because I'm fascinated because I think I know a little bit about it, but one, how did you stumble onto Neurographica? And then what is it? And how do you how are you using it?

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Okay, so I really feel like Neurographica found me. Okay, fair. Fair. I wasn't looking for it and I did not know it existed. So that's why I'm like, how, you know, there are no coincidences though. So it was like meant to be. So I am a teacher, I teach math, I teach visual arts though, as well. And so I was looking for some um, you know, art lessons, art activities, art inspiration, and came across neuroart, um, which just kind of looks like, I mean, it looks like lots of different things, but it kind of looks like simple lines, and if you can picture a neuron, the way the neurons kind of spread out and those shapes and and whatnot. And I was like, that's really cool. And so I started kind of doing my own thing with it, um, looked into it a little bit more, a lot of YouTube, and was finding there's like neuro art, but there's this whole other thing called neurographica. And I couldn't quite like I'd get like little pieces of it. And then I found it, it's actually like um like a school of neurographica that people are trained in. There's a basic user level, there's a neurographica specialist, which I took the basic user and specialist, and then there's instructors. And the reason I couldn't find really what I was looking for on YouTube is because it's it's a school that you're going to get trained in. So neurographica is kind of like a combination of art and psychology, personal growth. It's like if you were to take a life coaching kind of conversation where we're working through some sort of a challenge and you make it visual. And whatever the challenge is, the thing that you're struggling with, that's going to be a shape. We're going to have different lines on there that are representing some thoughts. We're rounding out some sharp bits which are representing some conflict. And it's all about bringing your energy, um, bringing a resolution to a situation. It's super um, I feel like you get into uh a bit of like a time warp when you do neurographica. The time just goes by in a flash. It's it's sort of like it drops you into this Zen zone and lets like the sort of logical side of your brain just kind of quiet because you're busy doing the drawing that I'm leading you through. You don't have to be creative, or like you're not trying to draw a sunset or something like that. I'm guiding you with all the different steps so you don't have to worry about that part of it. And it's sort of like you kind of let that logic side just quiet a little bit. So you're busy drawing, and then your subconscious is sort of bubbling up, almost like you get your best ideas, like in the shower, or when you're out for a walk and you don't really see it coming. It gets you into that zone so that you can really like think about some of those things that you might be struggling with from a different side, a different perspective. And by the end of the drawing experience, hopefully you're feeling lighter or more energized. You might have a next step. Um you might have a resolution, like you're like, oh my God, like there's this huge aha insight, which has happened. And sometimes it just has to percolate in your brain again for like, you know, a few days after it might strike you the next week. And depending on the situation, you know, nothing's going to be like fixed with a drawing. You might need to draw on the topic a couple of times. Um, but it's it's taking that time for yourself, taking that time to process whatever it is that you need to process. And it's that visual format that it's almost like if you were to look at the picture, um, it's like a diary entry. Nobody else knows what was going on in your thought process but you, but you know what that circle was representing, or you know what you were thinking about at that time. Um, so yeah, so that's kind of how I um I don't know, can express it. And that if you are familiar with coaching or life coaching, it is like a visual way to process your thoughts and whatnot on the page with like lines, shapes, and colors, really simple.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

So, okay, so that answers a couple of my questions. So one of the questions was Easy peasy. I'm sure I made it too super clear. No, no. Well, I mean, it's it's fascinating, and I love learning new things. And I had again had never heard of it before. So is so the medium is is it just pencil and paper or pen and paper, or are you using different mediums?

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Yeah, so the recommendation by like the school is paper, uh, sharpie marker. You can use any color, but usually we use black. And what they recommend is highlighters. And I hated them because I was like an art teacher, and this is like, you know, office supplies. I'm like coloring with highlighters, but then I got these for people who are watching the videos. I'm like holding up a big fancy set of like beautiful highlighters right now that I got for Christmas a couple years ago. But the the reason behind the highlighters is we want to be able to see your lines because it's like a layered process. And if you cover it with like paint, you're gonna cover over some of the stuff, some of the lines that you just drew. So um anybody who does neurographica with me, it's usually just a marker, coloring pencils, markers if you have them, and whatever kind of highlighters if you do have them for an extra little bit of uh like a pop of color. But like it's supplies that you would normally have kicking around anyway.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

And you're doing this in person. So this is something that, or is this something that we, you and I could do like this over Zoom or virtual?

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Yeah, I did my I did all my training online. So I have done in-person workshops. It's um it's a nice atmosphere to have like the people in front of you. Um, but all of my coaching, except for one or two people, has been done um through Zoom. Um, because I can just switch my camera and show you what I need to show you, and then you know what you're doing. Um, and yeah, the workshops, whenever it's kind of like if you're watching a tutorial on because I guess there's two things. There's workshops and then there's coaching. So workshops would be, you know, do with a group, but coaching, it's you and I talking one-on-one. Uh, but yeah, whenever I flip my screen on, it just kind of show you what I'm doing with the drawing. It's yeah, it's actually a really great medium to do or modality to do online because it's you can see it super clearly on your computer, your phone.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

And are you when you're guiding me? So I come from this from a it's interesting, and I have questions about math and visual arts. So you're using both sides of your brain. So you have that special gift that you can do both. I am my first thing would be I feel like I'm not that creative, right? Like I don't know how to draw that. That that that piece puts fear like in that, you know, like some people have fear of heights or fear of flying or fear of whatever. I have fear of like expressing that way. So are you one, how do you get people? Well, let me just say that. How do you get people over that fear or are people drawn to you because they don't have that fear?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Um, so it's funny, there's both. So I've done some retreats in person where the people who signed up for the retreat did not sign up for it knowing that Neurographica was going to be one of your face says it all, right? And so now I'm in front of them and they're like, I can't draw a straight line. And I'm like, no problem. All of our lines are curved anyway. That's actually great that you can't draw a straight line. Um, so the whole creativity thing is huge. And I'm realizing, like, um, you know, if if we were to dig into some different things, there's got to be something there for a lot of folks who at some point somebody judged something that you drew or colored and it wasn't good enough. And and it sticks with us forever, you know, until we sort of are able to release that a little bit. Um, so I'm totally aware of the I'm not creative thing, but it's a process art. It's not like a paint and sip, which I love those like paint nights where everyone's going and you're all painting like a sunset. I love those. Those are awesome. That's not what this is, though. So we're not like yours should look different than mine, and yours should have different colors because we're different people and your circles should be in different places because so you're not trying to like match mine or anything. It is very much a process, and um, it's literally one line at a time. So it's like we're gonna draw a line from the left side to the right side, and it's not gonna have any kind of pattern, it's just gonna flow across the page. We're gonna breathe. We're gonna notice how we feel when we draw that line. How do we feel emotionally? How are we feeling in our body? There's a huge mindful um component of neurographica that builds like a sense of presence. And I think that's is also really what helps us drop into that Zen zone to kind of quiet that logic side of your brain. Um, but it's there and it's very judgy. And um Neurographica, every time I do a drawing, because I'm someone who, like I'm aware, have perfectionism kind of tendencies in certain areas, and it comes up every time in a drawing because it's like, well, how long are you gonna smooth these lines for? Like you've been at this for, you know, a half an hour, it's good enough as it is. So it's it's um hidden benefit is uh great for people who have any kind of perfectionist kind of tendencies because it those bubble right up to the surface and you kind of can't ignore them. Um that's not super comfortable, I would say, but um personal growth isn't necessarily comfortable every single step of the way. Um it's that awareness piece. So the creativity, I totally get it. I don't know that I've done a class where I had someone hasn't said that, that they don't feel like they're creative. And um even if you don't feel like you're creative, and I even had a lady who signed up for the sessions uh series I was doing, she didn't love to color. I'm like, you signed up for this voluntarily, and you don't even like to color, but it's the process, it's it's what you're getting out of it in the end. Um, and it might be a really nice drawing that you love and would put up on your wall to remind you of, you know, what you were thinking. And it might just be the shift that you needed from the beginning of the drawing to the end of the drawing, with like, okay, I I know what I need to do here. I know what my next step is on this. And I'm like excited to take that next step.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

So are you then direct? So, as I'm trying to get clarity about this as well, um, are you directing me? I am drawing this line or I'm drawing a circle. Am I also am I also connecting that to some issue or emotional something? Like how do I, yeah, how does that piece enter in?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Yeah, we start every drawing with a brain dump. And so I guess that's the other thing to mention about um neurographica as a process. Um, Pavel Piskrev, a Russian um psychologist, I believe, is the person who invented it back in 2014. The process has um eight steps. It's like an algorithm. Maybe that's why the math side of my brain really likes it. There you go. There you go. Both in connecting what's happening in the background while you are drawing. I'm taking us through. We're at step one in the algorithm. We're at step two in the algorithm. We're going through the algorithm, which kind of takes us through different layers of consciousness and connecting in with different energies. So connecting in with your energy of yourself, connecting in with energies of like the collective and connecting in with the energies of the universe, God, that sort of thing. Um, so there's this like algorithm like running in the background. But to your first point, yeah, we need a theme. And so when I do a workshop, um, it might be on intention setting, or it could be on a goal, like a business goal that people are working towards. I did a workshop the other day uh for folks and they were choosing their marketing platform. That's what everybody was drawing about. It was choosing their marketing platform. So we started with the brain dump on their thoughts about marketing. And so that sort of gives like, okay, so this is this is what's going to be percolating in my brain while I'm drawing these lines. It's kind of impossible to have like a certain thought about every line or every circle or every whatever. That's too much. But if there's like a point where like I want to remember that this is my it's visibility, like that's what I'm scared about. I I don't want to be seen. So so then put the word visibility on that circle because that'll remind you. We can put words on the on the drawing as well. Um when Insights kind of bubble up, it's it's not a piece of artwork that's going to be framed. It is a process to help you to move along. So words and phrases, if they come up, we throw those on there too. Because my um, one of the things I really love about it is when you get to the end, you have a visual anchor. You have your picture that you are going to put up somewhere that whenever you see it, it's going to remind you of your next step, of what you're struggling with, that you know, you have the power to change. Um, and that visual anchor is really, really helpful to kind of make progress as well.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

I love that. And can I just admit it was weirdly comforting when you said you can actually use words? Okay, no, absolutely. So I'm like, oh, that's like, okay, maybe, maybe that, maybe I could, maybe I could do that. So that makes much more sense then. So that it's anchored to something and you're guiding me through all of that as well. And it's something that I will use. If you are doing this one-on-one, so you're coaching, you're you know, using this in your life coaching or mindset coaching. Do you then once I'm done drawing, do we talk about it together? Or how do you, as the coach, then how do you use that that process?

SPEAKER_01 23:15

We can, we can definitely talk about it at the end, but we can also talk about it like um at like in real time. So we're coaching on, you know, what whatever the topic happens to be. And I'm like, okay, let's draw a circle to represent your thoughts on, you know, fill in the blank here. And let me let me see your drawing. Hold it up, let me see. Oh, I noticed like it's a really, really small circle that you drew. I wonder why. How do you feel about the fact that your circle that's you know representing that marketing channel is really, really small? Like, is there a reason behind that? And maybe it's like, well, because I, you know, and and then that's sometimes where that conversation can come from. Um yeah, color is a big one too. Like, do the colors mean anything? What energies do you need to like breathe into the piece? Or it's like, I don't know, it's what it's my favorite color. It's whatever color I feel like. Like sometimes the colors people assign them a meaning, and sometimes it's just totally intuitive. Um the other thing, depending on like the um, because there's again that word algorithm, there's lots of different algorithms, meaning one looks like a tree and one looks like a lotus. And like there's lots of different algorithms. Um, so one of the algorithms is uh you're drawing a shape to represent your situation. And if your situation is feeling kind of like, you know, it's not yeah, it might be a really jagged shape, or it might be like kind of scribbly or whatever. And so then it's like, okay, so let's talk about this. So it's kind of those shapes are representing those situations. Um, we add line, we add what's called rounding, which is just kind of smoothing out the sharp bits because that's what we're trying to do, right? We're trying to make everything easy. It's neurographica, neurolike a neuron, graphica, graphic like drawing. And so the drawings have that look of neurons. You can sort of pick them out when you see a neurographic drawing. Um, but we are also, it's it's like neuroplasticity. We're trying to rewire those pathways in our brain. And so if we've only ever thought about something in one particular way, you're going to get the same results. So we want to, you know, think about it in a different way or at least be open to the idea that there is maybe another possibility. Someone is out there that we could connect to that we haven't met yet. And we're open to that possible connection, that possible relationship, something that is going to like be that next step on our journey. Um, and as we're drawing and drawing those lines and rounding those sharp corners, it's just sending that message to our brain that, okay, this can be easy. I am smart, I am resourceful, you know, all those kinds of things that that can build up that confidence and that sense of empowerment, really.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

I love that. And I'm getting my I'm regulating my nervous system a little bit as you are like just talking about the whole process. I'm not as fearful anymore. And it's actually, it's actually fascinating because I do. And I haven't done a lot of research in terms of you know that that whole doing things. I mean, I know. So my let me take a step back. So I certainly know, like writing things out. Like if you are taking notes, pencil and paper, you are much, I mean, there is that connection between your mind and your body. I believe in all that mind-body connection. I believe in um the whole space of yes, we can rewire our brains using, you know, using different things and putting ourselves in situations where we're not thinking so hard about the actual problem, but we're letting, you know, letting some of that subconscious. So that's it. This is fascinating. And now I might actually have to look into they're doing something, you know, beginning, I didn't tie it to the whole coaching piece, but what what a way to, and I'm sure that you see some amazing breakthroughs using this modality rather than some of the other things maybe that you were doing before. So, like, what are some of the um, and I know you're not gonna reveal any um like confidences, but what are some of the things that you've been most surprised at that people have transformations that they've gone through, or maybe even yourself?

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Sure. So I think what I love, or one of the things I love about the modality is just how versatile it is. Just like no matter what, like everyone's gonna think, right? Whatever, whether it's finances, like you want to manifest something, um, whatever it is, you can draw on it. You can draw on whatever, whatever that theme is. It's totally possible. Um, so there's everything from clarity around some business, um, business goals. Um clarity is a big one because there is, and I think that's the math side of my brain that likes the structure part. We can do a drawing that has like a timeline. So it's like, this is where we're at now, where were we in the past, where do we want to go in the future, what are the steps to get us from A to B? Break it down. So I'm like, break down a goal, like you got me right there, as far as the coaching. And this is a visual breakdown of the goal. Um, so I've helped folks on the business side of things. Um, there is a lady with um a weight loss goal. And so, and you've got that weight loss goal and you want to break that down into smaller steps, and what do we need to do to get to the place that um we want to be? Um, so that's an interesting one. Um one thing that has come up again and again is folks who don't love meditation, and I nothing like meditation is amazing. Um, but folks who don't like who want to meditate, and especially it's happened with a few folks with ADHD. Um, they said this is like meditating with your eyes open, because it's like it gets you to sort of that same sort of state, but without feeling like you have to not be thinking about something or like empty your brain or whatever. Um, so it's that emotional regulation piece. Um the self-judgment and perfectionism piece and insights have come up um multiple times. Um, yeah, there's kind of a variety. And I think it's kind of when just even one of those insights kind of comes like bubbles up to the surface. It can be kind of like confronting, like this is I thought we were just doing a drawing. Like, what is this? What is this all about? But sometimes it's like, but that is the point of the drawing for you. Like that is what you needed, that is what you needed from the drawing today, even though that's not necessarily even what the topic was. It's like, but that's what you needed from from the drawing today. So it's um, and the thing about it too, in workshops, because I've done more uh workshops than coaching. So workshops with larger groups, or not larger groups, but like let's say eight to 12 people. Um, so not one-on-one. Um we don't dig too much into what their personal thing was during the workshop. You know what I mean? So unless I were to kind of like follow up with them like later on down the road, um, it's it's kind of like the real time during the session. Um, but the feedback is is definitely most folks get what they, you know, what they were hoping to from the session, but sometimes what they get is a complete surprise and not necessarily what they thought they were signing up for in the first place, which is kind of interesting too.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

Yeah, and I can imagine, and I love a couple of things that you said that, and I can see where the whole meditation piece can be super helpful because you're right. I mean, I think meditation is amazing and I want everybody to meditate, but I get you get that feedback or you get that pushback when you suggest that, because I do believe that meditation is foundational in joy. Um, but there's so many people that push back and I can't, you know, I can't just sit still, I can't do this, I can't do that. Fine. But this would be then I can imagine suggesting even doing some drawing or doing something, but um, that that would be helpful because they're hoping and they're doing something and concentrating on something. But you're right, getting to that same kind of not exactly the same, but same kind of flow state, right? That that you can release some of those things. But I love the whole um, and it must be fun as a coach, then the whole, you know that there are gonna be some surprises, you know that there are gonna be some people that are really going to get there. I mean, not everybody, because not everybody, especially if they're in a workshop, probably is gonna be in an emotional state to be able to allow themselves to get there. But what a fun thing for you as a coach, then for those people who do like let themselves go there because one, it's a surprise for them, but what an amazing, what an amazing well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

I will I will say I usually preface because I did a couple of workshops and it was not what some people thought they had signed up for. Like, and I'm like, uh oh. I usually, I always, I'll take that back, preface at the beginning with if you're someone who struggles with perfectionism or if you have these kinds of tendencies, this is what you can expect. Because it's like there's two types of people um who go to the to the workshops or you know, who do Neurographica with me. And so it's kind of like your type A, you're wanting things to be a certain way, you like you want to know that you're doing this correctly. And so if you're not sure, it can be like a thing. And now I had one lady who's when I asked, like, let's check in, you know, how are we, how are you feeling emotionally? And she's like, I'm pissed off right now. Like, I am angry. And it's like, okay, thank you for sharing that. And then the lady across from her is like, meet like, okay, let's talk about this for a second. And and it usually comes back down to um, you're not sure if you're doing it right, and that's frustrating. And but then it's like, uh, but that's what you need from this drawing, but that's not what you necessarily thought you were drawing on. But there's that type A kind of personality, which I relate to because that's me. And then there's the type B, just flowy, just let it be. Just like draw the lines, guys, just put in the color, and that's my sister, right? So she's like, it's gonna be fine. Just just draw a line. It's not wrong. It's where it's supposed to be. And so knowing that those, you know, kind of two main people are potentially coming, there is something and a space for everyone. But I just want everyone to feel comfortable. So it's I don't want anyone to be like, um, I don't know, faced with this kind of um that perfectionism self-judgment kind of piece when they like did not expect it. So it's like that way, if you just kind of know it's possible, then it's not so much of a surprise if it doesn't happen and maybe it won't.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Right, right. But but good learning, good learning. And are the people then that come to your workshops, is it generally a part of a group so they all know each other? Or is it sometimes people just um not I want to say random because we're not all random, but um, or is it just a or is or is it disparate people that come in?

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Yeah, so mostly it's been more on the random side. Um, I have done workshops for groups where people know each other or they've been together for like a retreat, so they got to know each other sort of over the course of the weekend. Um, so I've done both, but if I were to like advertise a workshop, it would just be for whoever sort of relates to what the topic is and you know, maybe sees the visual that we're gonna be drawing is like, okay, that's you know, that's something I want to give a shot. So very often they don't know each other.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Gotcha, gotcha. And is this then because I know you also have said that you're a life coach and a mindset coach. So in terms of this is one of the modalities, but you'd use, I mean, I don't want to say traditional tech therapy, but traditional kind of talking in terms of in terms of the coaching, or do you use this neurographica with all of your clients?

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Yeah, good question. So it's not for everyone, and and it honestly takes a lot more time sometimes than your regular traditional, we're gonna talk it out sort of um life coaching session. So I don't do it with everyone. Um, I offer it as an option that we can like fold into our package to work together if it's something that you want to try out. Um, I think everyone can definitely benefit from it. And there's one algorithm in particular um for removing limitations um that I think even if we didn't do any other algorithm and you didn't want to draw any more than once, that's just a really good one that we could definitely do to um, yeah, just to get some some things out and also relieve stress. Um, so yeah, definitely don't have to because it is it is more of a commitment um time-wise. Like if someone really only has an hour, um sometimes an hour isn't enough to fully do the drawing, and you want to be able to do justice to whatever the modality is. Um so yeah, so I just I kind of uh dip my toe into both um both pools, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Sure. Oh, and I love though that you said, because we all probably have sub-limiting beliefs, right? So to be able to draw about them, that's uh that's amazing. So what so as you are in this, I'm gonna just shift a little bit, unless unless there's anything else about um neurographica that you're like, okay, we your audience needs to know. We need to know this, or is that? I mean, have you shared?

SPEAKER_01 36:25

I mean, I think the only other thing, and we chatted about this before too, is anyone who wants to try it. There is like I have a link to a free uh resource that they can do a mindful drawing challenge, but I can talk about it at the end or I could talk about it now.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Well, you can talk about it now, but I did wait as you were doing that, then and maybe you can wrap in the answer to this question too. So one of the questions that I did have is you coach this, but is this something that can be self-coached as well? So can I go through the process by myself, or do I need a coach to walk me through the process?

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Yeah. So the way if you wanted to do it yourself, I would recommend doing it the way I did it, which um I could I would forge you my instructor's name. Um, but there's the first level, which is the basic user. And so if you just were like the idea of this and you would like to do it for yourself, then you could do the what's called the basic user level. And you're that's what you do, and you'll get the main algorithms and you'll learn how to do it, and you'll know that eight-step model that's behind all of the workshops done.

SPEAKER_00 37:25

I think that then gives you so that if I go through that, does that give me some like, you know, when I'm going through like a self-coaching, will I get some therapeutic benefit then out of going through that? That's what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 37:37

Yes. Okay. Yep. Absolutely. That's for your own, that's for self-coaching, working your way through your own sort of limiting beliefs. Absolutely. Um I loved it so much, that's when I was like, okay, I, because you can't coach other people with that. That's why I was like, okay, I need to go to whatever that next step is with the Neurographica specialist. The one thing I would say is because you can go on YouTube and look for stuff and you can find some like really good um tutorials, really good sessions, but then you can also find some stuff with people who don't actually know what neurographica is, they don't know what the algorithm is. And so it's just kind of that's why I get frustrated in the beginning because I'm like, I just I want to I want to know what this is and how to like do it properly. Um, there's lots of tutorials that are like mindful and lovely, and you could get lots from them, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's the neurographica sort of model. Um but yeah, what you would be what you would want to search for is neurographica and basic user um class, and that that would get you your own sort of um all the skills that you need to do that self-coaching.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

Gotcha, gotcha. And then you have something, and we can talk about now. I will bring it up again at the end as well. But I would love to know what you have or that to offer then people to have some of that experience.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Yeah, just to just kind of for like a little um taster. It's um crystalmillscoaching.com is my website. And if you just go to the top and click free, and it's a free five-day mindful drawing challenge. Um, some of the drawings, like I said, can get a little um, they can take time, and people don't necessarily have an hour, an hour and a half to do a drawing. So I chopped it up into like 10 to 15 minute chunks that get delivered to your inbox. And so you're just gonna do this piece today, and you're just gonna do this piece tomorrow. And by the time you get to the end of the five days, there is a bonus day too. Um, you're gonna have this completed drawing. And it also it build, it's a few things. It's building in um that habit and ritual of like checking in with yourself, and also you're getting some of the skills in neurographic drawing to see if you even like it. Um and it's uh it's in like small little chunks. So it doesn't take your whole entire evening. You can do it in 10 to 15 minutes and then go back to it the next day, and you're just kind of adding to the same drawing over the course of the week.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Yeah, I love that. I love that because I that also seems like that it would resonate as we, you know, as as adults. One, we're busy, but two, as we're learning a new skill, sometimes it feels easier to take it in small chunks rather than you know, all at the same time. And my for sure for me, when I'm learning something, it's easier for me if I'm like, okay, a little bit here, let's continue to build on it throughout the course of a week or a couple of weeks or something. So amazing. And again, I will reference this at the end, but just want to know just a little bit more about you. What brings you, what brings you joy? Like, what are things that you are doing right now to to bring joy, to bring joy into your life, besides telling people about this, like neurographica and snowshoe.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

So many things. So um, a couple of years ago, I put in for a deferred leave from work. This was I was not burned out anymore. It's something that we have the opportunity to do. A friend of mine just got back from a year of travel. Like it's I am healthy, it's not a stress leave. It was like a planned kind of sabbatical, which just started um like six weeks ago. So I am off for like six months and I've been teaching for 20 years, and I've never had this chunk of time. Um, so and I'm back to school in September. Um, anyway, I could talk about that because having such a an amount of free time, spare time, that is a whole other thing. Um, but things I'm doing, um, getting outside. So I live in Prince Edward Island, and so nature, um, walks in the woods, hiking, um, not so much on the beach right now, but those kinds of things, like definitely outside things. Um, and I'm a huge reader, so I've got a stack of books that whenever my leave started, I'm like, I would love to read some of these books because you don't necessarily always have the time. So definitely huge reader. Um, and anything that has an art component, um, watercolor or the neurographic of drawing, sketching, um, just time to time to connect with um with art. And I have so many different supplies and things because I am an art teacher. Um, and you don't always have the time to just kind of play with the supplies yourself. Um, and the other thing is I just started a membership, um, a group membership last month. It's actually called permission to play. And so the whole thing is making time for yourself and connecting with yourself and just like having lightness and fun and joy. That's kind of the whole um, the whole aim of that membership. Um, oh, and one of the aspects of that, one of the other things I've been playing around with too is uh tarot, tarot for self-reflection, not tarot predictive card reading kind of telling the future kind of thing. Um, my uh way that I kind of interact with tarot cards and my deck is um it helps with self-reflection and like shines a light on different questions and things that I might want to consider. Um, and that's also part of that membership, just like a self-reflective kind of reading each month. So I've been having fun playing with putting that membership together too. And there's a neurographic element in that membership too. So that's that's been fun to just kind of put those things together.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

Love it. Well, I love the word play, clearly, because I I think that elicits certainly elicits joy. Um so the tarot, I'm a little bit curious. So the tarot for meditation, is it the same kind of tarot decks or the same kind of cards, or is there a different tarot deck for self-reflection?

SPEAKER_01 43:28

So so my so it's um it's a mermaid deck. And so it's the same like 78 kind of card, a major arcana, minor arcana. Um, but some of the meanings that I have for my cards are different than a traditional deck because my card doesn't look like the traditional card. Like the five of wands doesn't look like the regular five of wands. And so I just um use it as another element of kind of like intuition for myself. Um, and the way it's worked into the membership is. Um, there's a theme each month. And so the card reading is kind of like, what do we need to know about like March was releasing perfectionism? So, what can you show us about releasing perfectionism? And then seeing what cards come up and how we can kind of connect with those and you know, what the homework of the takeaway or the the card that's resonating to you. Um, that is new. It's not something I've done with um like in coaching situations. Um, so just when you say things that are bringing joy, it's something that I came to fairly recently and was offering just free readings online. Let me pull a card for you, let me pull a card for you. That's how my mentor says is the best way to learn. And the feedback that I got was really good and just kind of very validating. And people were people, even from a single card or just a couple of cards, and me telling them sort of what they can consider was really powerful. And I'm like, well, this is, I don't want to hold this just to myself. I want to sort of include this because it's fun for me and a lot of people enjoy it. And at the same time, if it's not something that is, you know, someone who doesn't love it, they can still get lots of other things out of the permission to play the membership. You could ignore the tarot altogether if you wanted to. Um, but it's just not, it's not predictive. I'm not gonna tell you to buy a lottery ticket or you're gonna find the love of your life or something like that, which it's just not that kind of tarot. Yeah. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 45:25

No, that's great. So the membership then is something um that are there, is there a group, a group or a community chat piece of it? Like what does that, what does the membership entail at what?

SPEAKER_01 45:36

So I so it's yeah, absolutely. So um, so it's all online. There is a community, it's called the playground. I will say um my my main thing was I didn't want it to feel like one more thing to do, or like a course that you had to finish, a deadline, another deadline, another thing on your to-do list. So I really wanted to make the things be like they take 10 to 15 minutes, they're light, they're on demand. It's like sometimes I don't know if you do this, but it's evening time, you're kind of tired, you start scrolling on your phone, but like you wish you were doing something else. This is that. This this space can be that because it's you um reconnecting with yourself, really is aimed at women, you know, 40-ish who have been taking care of everyone else for a really long time and are kind of like, I don't even know what I like to do anymore. Well, let's start here. So there is the tarot aspect, there is a watercolor and just playing with watercolor. We're not painting a picture, not yet, unless members decide that they want to, but it's more of a process art. Um, there is uh one thing that people always talk about is um exercise, movement, like wanting to do it more, that sort of thing. So I call it funspiration. So it's something to make movement more fun, easier to do. Um, this month is like uh a digital bingo card to get some different walking in and uh a self-coaching tool. And it's a should detox, is what it is this month in March. And then there's some bonuses, one of which being the Neurographica drawing on uh releasing perfectionism. And then next month, I call them goodie bags. So those activities are your goodie bag for the month. And then in April, it's our theme is uh dreaming in full color. And so there's going to be a new goodie bag that's going to arrive. Um, but merches will still be there if you were to join later on. Then there's just this stash of goodie bags for you to pull from. So I see it as like this lovely little space where you can kind of pick and choose, um, have a little bit of fun or think about something in a different way that maybe you you haven't thought of before.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

That is that is beautiful because I you are, I am imagining that you are bringing so much joy into other people's lives. And I love the fact that it's about, it's not about another thing to do, but it is a space where uh women can release, they can be themselves, they can regulate their nervous system, that they can do some things and and learn and learn some new techniques that they might then be able to carry on into their into their lives and make them have it. So I love it. I love it. Exactly. So permission. Thank you for letting me share that. I appreciate that. Yeah, no, it's great. And I think whatever, I mean, I won, I can tell you're passionate about it. So I think that's great. And that's part of part of what I want to be able to do is to be able to share other people's joy. But that's another then outlet for for women if they're interested in joining. So getting to that piece of it, um, unless is there anything else because I do want to leave your contact information as well, but is there anything that you think, Rachel? I wish we would have talked about X or anything that you want to leave people with today.

SPEAKER_01 48:46

Um, the only other thing is whenever I was feeling burned out, the missing piece, and I think why resonated with your title, that joy um component, it was joy. And it was overworking and neglecting how the simplest little things can make the biggest difference. And and putting myself into a different situation is like, but I have this to do, like I have these report cards to do, or I have it like that's fine for you, but I have to do this. Like I wasn't different, and that missing piece was finding something that really does bring you that joy, lights you up. And I've talked to enough people to know that some people feel like they don't know what that is, and which is kind of sad, um, but it's okay. My one thing would be if you really don't know what that is for you, I would always suggest to go back to when you were eight years old. What did eight-year-old you love to do? Because if you love to draw, guess what? You still do. If you love playing out in the woods, guess what? You still do. So if you don't think you even know what you will like to do anymore because you've been putting other people first, you do. You just need to get back to the place when you were young enough in your life where you were just like playing and everything was joys joyful and like reconnect with reconnect with her.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

I love that. And what a beautiful way to say that, because you're right. We we do know, we do know. We just have to refine that or rediscover that. And you know, perhaps you don't like that anymore, but that's okay. And then it also sounds like in this permission to play that if you don't really like that anymore, although you probably do there are some other options, right? There are plenty of other options of ways in which you can access that, access that joint. It doesn't need to be big, massive things, it just needs to be maybe it only takes you 10 minutes, but reconnecting with that, I I love that. And what a great place, what a great kind of sentiment to leave people with. So if people are fascinated with you or with Neuro Graphica or some of the other coaching that you do, how you said it once already, but I just want to make sure that we say it again. How do people get connected? Um, yeah, how do people get connected with you?

SPEAKER_01 51:08

Sure. So the easiest thing is my website, crystalmillscoaching.com and crystal spelled with a K. And at the top, you'll just see membership and you'll just click on membership and you're gonna see an invitation to a slumber party because it's kind of goes back to a retro summer party. We're doing these activities, that sort of thing. Um, and the uh any button in there will will um allow you to join the membership. I will also say um there's a free three-day trial, so you can always test it out for a couple of days and decide if it's not for you, or just to kind of like be nosy and poke around and see what it looks like. Um so yeah, crystal millscoaching.com and the membership is right at the top, or you can click on free and that'll take you to the free mindful drawing challenge. I'm also on Instagram at Crystal Mills Coaching, um, Facebook, Crystal Mills Coaching, and just Crystal Spelled with K, K-R-Y-S-T-A-L.

SPEAKER_00 51:59

Perfect. And I will definitely put all those things in the show notes. I'll put all the links in the show notes as well. So if you didn't, if you're in the car and you can't write it down right now, it will be in the show notes. Um, please connect with Crystal. I am fascinated by this whole neurographica thing. So I will be doing some more exploration with that as well. So I appreciate you being here today for sharing your gifts. And again, reach out to Crystal because I think this stuff is pretty cool and might bring you some joy as well. So thank you again. And to all the listeners, thank you for listening to another episode of Joy Unfiltered. Again, I'm Rachel, and from my heart to yours, I am celebrating you today and every day. So live well, have fun, enjoy.