Join us on June 9th for Thriving in Leadership
4-8 pm | CFIB Headquarters, 4141 Yonge St, North York, ON M2P 1N6
In order to truly Thrive in life we must explore how we achieve and lead our communities.
Join us for another amazing round Pecha Kucha style of presentations as a follow up to our Thrive Conference. We will enjoy table discussions around each presentation on the important pillar of leadership.
Cost: Early Bird until May 10 (save $15): $40 Non Members | WIBN Members: $25 | Purchase a Women in Biz Network membership now and save
Members use coupon code (valid memberships will be checked if code is used) :
| “WIBNMemberLead“ |
Lacey’s Presentation:
Where Energy Meets Experience: Creative Ways to Make Your Leadership Fun Again with Lacey Lucidity
Biography: Lacey Lucidity took up juggling in 2007 as a way to both pass the time and calm her mind. The business graduate worked seasonally for the Canada Revenue Agency and spent her off-time abroad, where she found she needed something to keep her occupied.
“I was living in London, England and I didn’t have a lot to do – just work and come home – so I started out just trying to learn to juggle three balls,” she said.
From there, she began to hone her skills, and a year later took up contact juggling after seeing it live in a club. Unlike typical juggling, contact juggling sees the juggler keep in contact with the ball, or balls, being juggled, using sleight of hand and an impeccable sense of balance to create illusory effects.
“From the first time I saw it, I just thought it was a beautiful visual effect,” Lucidity said. “You have to have as little contact as possible, sometimes as little as a centimetre of contact with the ball.”
The effect can make it appear as though the heavy ball is levitating or moving about of its own free will. Lucidity loves not only the look of contact juggling but also the fact there are no tricks involved – just skill.
“Even though it seems like magic, it’s all very honest and open,” she said. “If someone can balance a ball on their head, you can see that – they either can or they can’t.”
Referring to contact juggling as “a series of balance tricks,” Lucidity noted there’s more to creating an act than simply balancing a ball. Whether using rubber practice balls or heavy three-pound acrylic balls, she has spent countless hours learning both conventional juggling and contact juggling.
“I still remember some of the most basic parts of contact juggling, being one or two years into learning it and thinking ‘oh man, this is going to take a long time,’ but you get more precision as you develop stronger muscle memory,” she said.
Her training did not come without its share of mistakes, either. Dropping things is a fact of life when learning.
“I’m sure everyone who contact juggles has lost at least one laptop in their life by having a ball fall on it,” she said.
While Lucidity saw juggling as a way to pass the time while living abroad, she noted there were other, more tangible benefits. She had suffered from anxiety and panic attacks and found juggling helped to calm her.
“The essential benefit juggling has in my life is its ability to put me in a mindful state,” she said. “I wasn’t spending a lot of time moving my body and not thinking – or overthinking. (Juggling) helps me get to that place where I’m not overthinking, where there aren’t alarm bells going off and I’m not going to a bad place in my life.”
Having felt the benefits herself, Lucidity has taken to teaching juggling to others. She has set up a website (www.jugglingisawesome.com) where she offers juggling workshops for kids and adults.
While Lucidity teaches the fun aspect of juggling, she notes her workshops can also help lower stress, boost creativity and help with team building. It is also incredibly accessible.
“It’s incredibly cheap and incredibly transportable – you don’t need a full team or a field, you just need yourself and whatever you’re going to juggle,” she said. “And it’s like riding a bike – once you’ve learned to juggle three balls, that’s yours for life.”
