Ocean Emotions...Being With The Ocean I hope you are able to see some of my visions of angels, guides and spirits that I have shared with you in this photographic essay, as well as feel the intense joy of riding a wave or just meditating with the ocean. My path to capturing these images was initially unintentional. "It was 2012 and my heart was breaking continuously on the journey of losing both of my parents. My partner Moire gave me the GoPro(R) for Christmas and I started filming. Initially just thinking about filming rides, my great surprise was finding healing for my aching heart as I began gazing, meditating and occasionally capturing images of angels and spirits, while quietly surrendering my heart and soul to the ocean. After both parents passed, I started looking for them in the GoPro(R) video edits and caught occasional glimpses of them. This and the spectacular colors and energy fields of water in motion keep me filming. It is truly a healing experience and meditation for me."I hope that sharing my work, OceanEmotions, allows a glimpse into possibilities for universal compassion and connection. As I move through the third stage of my life, each sunrise and sunset reminds me how precious and short this earth life is, with each day bringing me closer to the other side and a reunion with those souls who have passed. My prayer is that as humans we can find humility, love and grace, and exercise our innate intelligence to protect our oceans, lands and our people on Earth. Original video footage was viewed and screen shots were captured on Dr. Jo's MacBook Pro. Stills were processed using an iPhone, iPhoto, Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. The image on page 191 is an acrylic painting of Makaha Surfing Beach by Jo C. Stroud.
Dr. Jo has been a Doctor of Chiropractic since 1986, a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) since 1979, and a teacher since 1973. Growing up in the South, near ponds, creeks, rivers and lakes, she was an accomplished swimmer and water skier. In In 1976, something bigger was calling her west, the Pacific Ocean. Jo met Jack O'Neill in Santa Cruz in 1980, at an art opening and the rest is history. She was surfing with Jack on her first wave at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz; this started the stoke of her "endless summer." Dr. Jo has continued on and surfed around the world, including Fiji's Cloudbreak, Restaurants, and Swimming Pools, Tortola, Tahiti, Bali, Australia's Noosa, Byron Bay, Gold coast and Bondi, Mexico's Baja and Mainland, Costa Rica, France's Biarritz, Spain's La Zurriola, the Hawaiian Islands of Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii, and California breaks from San Francisco to San Diego. Her theory for health and happiness includes being passionate about work and play (exercise), sharing time with good people, spending time outside in nature, eating a healthy organic diet, lots of water: fresh water for drinking and salt water for playing and a strong belief in something greater than we are.
