Welcome to ✨The Joy Club Way✨
Playful experiments for midlife women ready to feel more free, more alive, and fully at home in their own lives.
The Goal: For us to experience at least 15% more enjoyment in our current lives, without optimizing anything, just through the practices of curiosity, playful experimentation, listening to what is true for us, and deeper connection.
Experience Increased Freedom • Deeper Connection • Embodied Joy
Most women* who come to me are looking for a way to become more fully alive and more connected to something bigger than the everyday grind of work, family, chores, and health routines.
They want support that helps them transition from just getting by to flourishing in their daily lives without huge drama or major life changes. They just want to be more alive in their current reality.
I help them do that through ✨The Joy Club Way✨, a curated alchemy of psychological insight, playful practice, and communal support.
Michele has created something really special with The Joy Club Way. It’s one >of those rare spaces where you can take a breath and grow at the same time. What I love most is how she brings structure and play together—a gentle, >well-held environment with plenty of room to explore, experiment, and trust >yourself along the way. Michele has a natural ability to create spaces that truly support women—>spaces where you can reconnect, expand, and move forward in ways that feel >real, grounded, and energized. --Nancy C, Emergent 121 Coaching
A Playground for Transformation (Not Improvement)
Improvement gives the impression that we are not ok as we are.
That is not true.
We are all products of our past experiences, genes, and unique personalities. But we are not limited by those factors either.
Like a seed, we contain the potential for so much growth. But it doesn’t happen by hating where one currently is.
Just like an acorn doesn’t hate itself for not being an oak tree (thank you Joe Hudson for that metaphor), we grow by fully accepting where we are and then leaning into—playfully— where we are being called next.
As an educational psychologist who specializes in developmental psychology and personal change, I can attest that growth happens through two mechanisms: organic desire and being challenged (not overwhelmed).
Consider a baby learning to walk—they WANT to walk and will eventually learn to walk if supported in doing so.
Growth, though, can be stunted without support. A plant that is only watered occasionally and doesn’t get enough sun may live, but it won’t thrive the way a plant that gets enough sun, water, and good soil does. The same is true for us.
I’ve had the privilege to attend several events Michele has hosted and every >one has been interactive, engaging, and welcoming. She does an amazing job >creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels comfortable and >valued. Her ability to foster a cohesive connection among the group is >impressive. No two events are ever the same which keeps each experience >meaningful and enjoyable. She consistently encourages us to embrace our >authentic selves and create genuine connections. I always leave her events >feeling inspired and uplifted. —Rachel, M.D.
✨The Joy Club Way✨ exists to provide a playful playground of support and fun challenge to help support human thriving. If this sounds like fun, come join us! Subscribe for free here
Three Doors into the Practice: Heart, Mind, and Body
The Joy Club Way is truly a “way”—a path towards thriving in a complicated, often painful world. Thriving doesn’t mean “optimizing;” it means orienting towards sunlight and nurture so we can grow in the direction of inner blueprints.
The world is often opposed to our thriving (see Pressfield’s The War of Art for an excellent description of how Resistance blocks us whenever we try to bring something beautiful or good into the world).
In this space, I share embodied spiritual practices derived from decades of deep experience and study of contemplative Christianity, world religions, yoga, and the psychology of human development and learning.
The content and experiments revolve around four major themes:
FOUNDATIONS
Foundational principles and activities to wake up more fully to our lives. This is the anchor that provides a conceptual framework of the work and play done in the The Joy Club. Our minds need a framework to be able to make connections, recognize the value of practices, and to rest in trust without having to rethink your motivation every day.
HEAD
The key principle here is Know Yourself. This includes listening to what is true right now for you and identifying mindsets that no longer serve you. This is the anchor for getting curious about your own patterns, understanding why you do what you do, and discovering how to open up to change in ways that enjoyable and playful, not forced or performative (no “checking the box” on habits here!).
HEART
The key principle here is Connect to Something Bigger. We focus on spirituality, contemplative practices that fit us, community, service, and connection. This is the anchor for spiritual practice, meaningful community, loving others, and honest conversations that reminds you that you are not alone, and you are not too much.
GUT
The key principle here is Embodiment and Enjoyment. Here, we focus on health, movement, creativity, and play. This is the anchor for embodiment, for making things with your hands, for moving your body, for doing things with no purpose other than that they bring you joy.
How The Joy Club Way is Different
- It is a playground, not a To Do list
- It’s not about habits or self-improvement, but about tiny experiments
- It is not a one-size-fits all program. All experiments and activities are personalized to you—by you—in line with your own inner knowing. (I’m here to light the spark, curate activities, provide a little nourishment and inspiration, and nurture this community.)
- I’m the camp director and field guide here, not the teacher, so there is no authority in charge telling you what you need to do. I trust your inner wisdom. I am building this as much for me as for the rest of us. I need these reminders too.
The Joy Club came at a very sad and difficult time in my life and has lifted >my spirit in so many ways. It is a light of encouragement. The Joy Club >reminds me that I’m not alone, it’s okay not to be okay but don’t stay there, >and life is full of “possibilities for beauty, kindness, and joy.” I look so >forward to the Joy Club posts and am so thankful for the reminders to love >this life I’m in. –Debbie H.
Next Steps
Subscribe to my newsletter. Subscribe for free here. I email Subscribers when new posts come out, share goodies as I create them, and chat with you in Substack. Subscribers ARE the community. For the rest of 2026, paid subscriptions are free! Paid subscribers get access to the Joy Club Way newsletter where I talk ABOUT becoming more free and fully alive. They also get access to biweekly Field Guide from the Inside posts where I SHOW what it looks like to live this way.
Consider joining the Playground, a community where we practice living the Joy Club Way together.
1:1 Deep Dive — I will occasionally open up my offerings for one-on-one personalized support in exploring the three anchors in your unique life circumstances and desires. If interested in learning more, book a time to chat with me here.
It has been an honor to learn and participate in conversations that Michele >facilitates. Her genuine care and joy provide a supportive and engaging >community in which to share and learn. —Mary L.
I’m really glad you stopped by, and I hope I get to meet you soon. 💖Michele
Note: This Substack is for everyone, of every gender, though my writing skews towards supporting women because they are carrying so much, and it brings me particular joy to help lighten their load. The small community I am creating will be geared toward women and those identifying as women.