A JoyPath Group · By Invitation
The founding circle forms this September · Enrollment closes Friday, August 28
The Gentle Protector
Journey
A sacred path from fear to joy, one small and gentle step at a time.
A year of Tuesdays. One small circle. Seven gentle skills that change the temperature love grows in, walked slowly enough to become who you are, not just what you know. Joanna's own curriculum, offered for the very first time.
No payment today. Signing up simply begins a conversation with Joanna.
Reserved Seats
A door that opens from the inside
This Journey goes deeper by starting from paths already walked, so every seat is reserved for people who have already done real heart work with Joanna:
Coaching clientscurrent or former
JoyPath 1 graduatesYear One completed, any season
New to JoyPath? Friend, the doors are open right now: JoyPath 1 Groups begin this September, and coaching with Joanna is another beautiful way in. Both are doorways to a future Journey.
From Joanna
The temperature love grows in
I have written about the night I stood at my kitchen sink and quietly cracked. What confused me most about that season is that I was doing everything right. I had the books, the date nights on the calendar, the verses on the mirror. I was measuring out every ingredient of a good marriage and a good Christian life, and what came out of the oven kept failing.
Years later I found the idea that finally explained it. Dr. Jim Wilder, the neurotheologian behind the Life Model, teaches that joy works like the temperature of an oven. You can choose your ingredients with all the care in the world, and the temperature still decides what your careful preparation becomes. Two families can pray the same prayers and keep the same schedule and come out completely different, because one house is warm with joy and the other is braced with fear. My ingredients were never the problem. My temperature was.
Ever since, I have been gathering what actually warms a house: the Life Model and the neuroscience of joy, the relational skills I practice with clients every week, and the Immanuel lifestyle of walking through ordinary days with Jesus. All of it has converged into seven skills, and this fall, for the first time, I am sharing the whole path in one place. Nearly a year of Tuesdays, one small circle, slow enough to change your temperature and not just your ideas.
~Joanna
The fuller story is in my letter, The Temperature Love Grows In.
The Curriculum
Seven skills. One path home.
The Seven Gentle Protector Skills are small on purpose. Some build joy, some keep joy from leaking, and one connects you to a source that never runs dry. Each one turns a fear bond, by degrees, into a joy bond, with yourself, with others, and with God. We walk them in order, four to five weeks with each skill, mostly four.
I
Restore with Soul Renewal
Rest and quiet that keep the pilot light lit, because an empty tank cannot be glad to be with anyone.
II
Release to Empower
Setting down outcomes that were never yours to carry, so warmth can fill the space management leaves behind.
III
Cultivate Honor with Respect
Staying kind and connected while upset, so a hard moment costs twenty minutes instead of a decade.
IV
Transform with Appreciation
Naming and savoring the true and good, out loud, until the path back to joy is worn smooth.
V
Receive with Open Arms
Letting love, help, and kindness actually land, because receiving is half of every joy a relationship produces.
VI
Share Your Heart Authentically
One true sentence, offered kindly and early, so the people you love have the real you to delight in.
VII
Embrace the Immanuel Lifestyle
Practicing God with us in ordinary words about ordinary things, drinking joy at its spring.
You will notice joy and peace are not on the list, and that is on purpose. A skill is something you practice; joy and peace are what grows in a home and sphere where the seven are lived together, the way fruit does.
Why a Circle
Joy is caught, not taught
Wilder's research community found something sobering: highly motivated people offered identical help did not get identical results. The ones who transformed were the ones bathed in relationships with people glad to be with them. Relational joy passes person to person, eye to eye. It does not travel through screens, and it does not travel through paragraphs.
That is why the Journey is a circle and not a course: six people who have already done real heart work, gathering week after week, so the joy can actually show up in the room. The same circuits that went undertrained in a low-joy world retrain beautifully in a high-joy one.
The brain that learned to brace can learn to light up.
A Year Together
The shape of the Journey
The OpeningWe meet the path and each other: the circle, the rhythm, and the fruit we are walking toward.
The SevenFour to five weeks living with each skill, mostly four. Enough time to practice, stumble, laugh, and try again.
The CelebrationAbout a year from where we began, we close with gratitude and commissioning, because finishing this together deserves it.
Every week: Check in Learn Practice Meet with Immanuel
Before each gathering: one short lesson from the Seven Sacred Skills workbook, one to two pages. That is the whole prep, and your copy of the workbook is included; there is nothing to buy. The heart of the work happens in the room, together.
BeginsTuesday, September 22
GathersTuesdays, 9:00 to 10:30 AMweekly, with holiday breaks · about 10 to 11 months
WhereIn person, WaukeshaW229N1680 Westwood Dr Ste B · Zoom only if weather demands
Circle size6 seatsseats confirmed in order
The Investment
Two ways to walk it
Both hold the same year of gatherings; the Plus simply adds six private sessions along the way. Choose whichever pace fits your season.
Option I
The Journey
A year of weekly gatherings · Seven Sacred Skills workbook included
Monthly$120 to begin, then $50/mo × 12
Biannual2 payments of $342save 5%
In full$648save 10%
Option II
The Journey Plus
Everything in Option I, plus 6 Private Integrative Coaching Sessions (50 min each): 6 × $120 with 5% savings.
Monthly$120 to begin, then $107/mo × 12
Biannual2 payments of $684save 5%
In full$1,332save 10%
Sessions are scheduled at your leisure within the Journey year, one added service per week maximum.
Saving your seat costs nothing today. After you sign up, Joanna reaches out personally within 48 hours to confirm your seat and arrange payment: Stripe, Venmo, PayPal, or check, whatever is simplest for you.
Good Questions
Asked with love, answered plainly
Am I eligible?
If you are a current or former coaching client of Joanna's, or you have completed Year One of a JoyPath Group, yes, this invitation is yours, and she will know exactly who you are. If you are close but not quite there, sign up anyway and say so; Joanna will reach out and you can find the right next step together. New to JoyPath entirely? JoyPath 1 Groups are enrolling now for September, and coaching is another open door; both lead toward a future Journey.
How is this different from JoyPath 1?
JoyPath 1 builds the foundation using the Alive & Well Journey Group curriculum. The Gentle Protector Journey provides practical ways to shift fear bonds to joy bonds in relationships and uses Joanna's own curriculum, the Seven Sacred Skills book: the Seven Gentle Protector Skills, drawn from the Life Model, relational skills coaching, and the Immanuel lifestyle. Together the seven cover the whole of joy: how it is built, how it is kept from leaking, and how to stay connected to the source. JoyPath 1 is the group foundation open to everyone, and completing it is the doorway; the Journey is the by-invitation next step for Year One graduates and coaching clients.
How long is the Journey, really?
Weekly gatherings for about a year, ten to eleven months in all. We live with each skill four to five weeks (mostly four), and break for holidays and busy seasons as life asks, finishing about a year from where we began. Becoming is not a sprint, and the calendar here serves the becoming.
What if I have to miss a week?
Life happens, and grace lives here. Each skill gets four to five weeks, so a missed gathering never means a missed skill, and Joanna will help you catch the heart of anything you miss. And if a snowstorm makes travel unwise, we simply gather on Zoom that week rather than lose it.
Can I add coaching sessions later instead of choosing Plus now?
Yes. You can begin with Option I and add sessions anytime during the Journey year; just talk with Joanna. Choosing Plus up front is what carries the 5% savings on the six-session bundle; sessions added along the way are simply at the standard rate.
How much time does it really take each week?
One to two pages of reading before we meet, one gathering of about 90 minutes, and one small practice folded into ordinary life: a phrase to try, a moment to notice, an invitation to Jesus. The Journey is designed for full lives, not empty calendars, and a missed week never means a lost path.
What if I am not sure it is my season?
Then talk with Joanna before you sign up; that conversation is free and unhurried. With only six seats, a yes holds a place someone else is hoping for, so the kindest thing for the circle is a whole-hearted decision either way. There is no shame in a faithful "not yet," and JoyPath 1 and coaching are always open doors.
Is there homework?
The lightest kind, on purpose. Each lesson in the Seven Sacred Skills workbook is one to two pages, read before we gather, and each week sends you home with one small, doable practice: a phrase to try, a moment to notice, an invitation to Jesus. The reading points the way; the walking happens together. Joy is caught, not taught, and the room is where it is caught.
"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."
John 15:11
The night before the cross, in his longest recorded prayer, Jesus prayed about your joy. That is how much the temperature matters to him. It is safe to let it matter to you.
Save My SeatEnrollment closes Friday, August 28 · Seats confirmed in order received