Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Zydel

Hi Chris, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

I grew up in a family that was loving in many ways but where there was also a deeply seated misogyny and women had very little support to step outside of the marriage and motherhood box. So my journey began when I was 24 years old and I went to my mother and asked her “Is this all there is?” When she said yes, I said “ I want a second opinion.” And left my urban midwestern home and headed out to the wilds of California.

I immediately got involved in all kinds of alternative healing methods from Polarity therapy, to Native American healing rituals, to herbalism, Zen Buddhism and therapeutic massage. I was hungry for it ALL and so excited about the possibilities presented by these new ways of being in the world.

I eventually found a community of folks who were using one of the earliest forms of somatic healing work… primarily Reichian breathwork and Bioenergetics … as well as something called Radical Psychiatry in a group context to facilitate personal growth, psychological healing and spiritual expansion. I also lived and breathed the Enneagram when it was still primarily an oral transmission.

These were heady times and what I learned through these group experiences still informs how I work and practice today.

I became a teacher and facilitator of these body based processes through this community and I eventually left to teach on my own. I also decided around this time to go back to school to not only finish my bachelors degree in sociology but to go on to get a Masters degree in clinical counseling and eventually started my own very successful private practice counseling business.

I was kind of burnt out by academia at this point and needed to get out of my head and do something more experiential which is when I discovered something called The Painting Experience that was an approach to making art that valued intuition and process over content and product. I fell in love with this way of making art and eventually became an intuitive painting facilitator myself.

It was around this time that I started my own business called Creative Juices Arts where I offered weekly Painting From The Wild Heart classes and eventually weekend and week long intuitive painting retreats in some of the most beautiful places in the world such as Hawaii, New Mexico, the High Sierras, the California coast and desert and the California Wine Country.

That was 30 years ago and my intuitive painting business is still going strong. At this point I have facilitated over 100 in- person retreats and developed a teacher training program in 2008 where I train other folks to become intuitive painting teachers, facilitators and guides.

In 2014 my husband Tim left the corporate world and joined me in my business as not only my in- house tech person, graphic designer and webmaster but also as my co-teacher in the work. Together we created an online video class called Painting With Fire: Art As Wild Creative Freedom. Intuition As A Revolutionary Act. Sacred Blazing As A Way of Life that we have offered over 15 times in the past 9 years. In 2020 when the pandemic hit he and I transformed our primarily in-person business to an online entity called Wild Heart Painting Online which has allowed us to continue to grow and reach more people than ever.

In 2001 I followed my passion for astrology by participating in a five year apprenticeship training program with Steven and Jodie Forrest learning about something called Evolutionary Astrology. And I now also have a thriving private practice as an evolutionary astrologer.

And In 2021 I wrote and self published what I hope will be the first of many books, Conversations With The Brush: Wisdom Tales From The Intuitive Painting Heart.

Whew! I have been BUSY! And have loved every minute of it!!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

This journey has been so wonderfully joyful and FUN and has allowed me to express my true essence in so many amazing ways. I really feel like I’ve gotten to do the work I was meant to do in this life and feel deeply grateful for my soul, spirit and intuition that has kept me true to my course for all these years.

And yes… there have been struggles and challenges along the way. When I first started my Creative Juices Arts business it was slow going. There were many times that I would offer a class and only 1 or 2 people would sign up. This was quite disheartening and frustrating and there were times I would cry and want to give up. But I was incredibly fortunate to have my husband Tim by my side supporting me and cheering me on when things were bleak. His faith in me and the work really kept me going in those early days.

Together he and I built a very viable business that supported us both quite well. But the business at a certain point was primarily retreat based. There was one year where we offered 14 retreats in one 12 month period! And right about this time the retreat center that we used for most of our work burned to the ground in one of Californias many raging wildfires. We had to go through the process of grieving the loss of our creative retreat home while scrambling to find a new venue, which was not easy.

One of the many challenges I have had to deal with is that it is hard to find retreat centers that allow painting on the premises. Most places are set up to accommodate things like yoga or writing workshops that are WAY less messy. But we were fortunate to find a place to teach on the Northern California Coast that served us well for 2 years. Which is when the pandemic hit. And we had to turn our primarily in-person creativity business into an online entity. Almost overnight.

We also had our own brick and mortar studio in the San Francisco Bay Area that served as a creative sanctuary for my creative community for 25 years. And we lost that studio early in the pandemic.

Which was completely heartbreaking for not only me but also for my many devoted students who thought of the studio as their creative home.

So part of the challenge I have had to deal with involved working my way through the grief of loss and change that I didn’t want or intend. Over and over again. And deciding to keep going even when my heart was breaking from those losses.

And finally, there’s the challenge of communicating exactly what it is that I do. This intuitive painting process is very different from most approaches to art because it is not product based at all. There is no guarantee that you will end up with a pretty painting. The purpose of this work is to open you to the wisdom of your intuition, to let go of control and to surrender to the experience of true creative flow. Its purpose is to help you trust in your heart, your body and your feelings instead of always letting your mind to run the show. I have spent my entire career writing thousands of words and hundreds of blog posts in an attempt to put into language something that is basically a nonverbal experience. I’ve been pretty successful at that, but there’s actually no way to TRULY describe this process. You have to experience it to really get the power and the magic that it offers.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

Through my work I specialize in teaching people how to create an ongoing relationship with their bountiful inner wise self. To learn to trust in their inner healer to guide them into that magical portal of feeling, emotions, imagination and embodiment that is the source of our greatest liberation and connection to our deepest being. And to do that through the process of creative self expression and intuitive painting . I also specialize in creating sacred circles of healing community where people feel held and seen and safe enough to express their true and authentic spirit through making art in their own unique way.

What sets me apart from other types of approaches to art or creativity is that I am deeply committed to the healing power of art as a sacred creative process as opposed to art as a finished product. I help people learn to value the spiritual wisdom and that profound sense of aliveness that comes from the act of creation instead of always focusing on whether or not their art is visually pleasing to themselves or anyone else.

I am also known as the Wild Heart Queen which means I provide creative leadership and bring creative vision to my far reaching community of beloved students and clients. I am also known for being a creative trailblazer and role model for creative courage, creative edge walking and creative soul work. I am proud of the fact that I have over 45 years of experience as a compassionate creativity guide and an unshakeable faith in the power of creativity to heal hearts and change lives.

I know deep in my bones that everyone is deeply, wonderfully and gloriously creative and I am on a relentlessly love-soaked mission to prove that to the world. I perform this magic by providing nurturing and joy-filled creative sanctuaries overflowing with encouragement, permission and trust in the sacred energy of play and creativity that lives inside of us all.

I utilize the practices of creative mentoring, evolutionary astrology and my Painting From The Wild Heart classes, workshops, retreats and training programs to provide a safe haven where emotionally sensitive, spiritually open, creatively hungry and in love with life people can grow and flourish to become their most liberated, authentic, creative selves.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?

A passionate allegiance to the creative process is my medicine, my spiritual practice, my soul work and how I pray.

I think that a sense of faithful devotion to this work as a sacred calling is the thing that is most responsible for my success in the outer world. I’m very grateful that I get to make a living being a teacher, facilitator and guide. But what matters to me the most is that I am committed to always, always honoring the spirit and integrity of the work itself and I never compromise that in the interest of making money or becoming more popular.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.creativejuicesarts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildheartqueen/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.zydel/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/wildheartqueen