Class Tuesday, February 17th at Ladies Fitness and Wellness

"Our arms start from the back because they were once wings."

** Martha Graham

This week we will continue working on core hooping while incorporating our arms and hands (aka, our birds). Class will be structured with exercises that are useful in gaining balance and strength as we explore are arm movements, while maintaining a solid core rhythm with the hoop. Using your arms and hands can open up your dance to a whole world of possibilities.

If you are just getting started...no worries...there is plenty of fun for you too!! This class is geared for all levels of hoopers. Whether this is your first spin or you're flowing like a soft breeze, there is space for you to learn, grow and have fun.

I'm excited to expand my birds and fly with you all tomorrow!

Thoughts on Being

Guest House

This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

**Rumi

I used this poem last night in class. It is a favorite of mine for many reasons. Mostly though, it reminds me of the importance of acceptance and just being still. Allowing thoughts, feelings, actions to happen without judgement, but instead with a welcoming of the growth and knowledge that can come from fully living each moment.

When hooping, if one adopts this philosophy, it allows for greater learning and less self-criticism. It can allow the hooper to fully open his/herself to the experience and grow exponentially. For example, the hoop begins to fall to the floor and the hooper in this mindset says, "OK, the hoop started falling when I took large steps, let's see if I can take smaller steps and still keep it going." vs. saying, " I just can't do this. I'm always dropping the hoop. This is so frustrating." The first statement allows the hooper to just be in the moment, feel the hoop as it falls, and then start the next moment with the smaller steps. The second statement closes the hooper off to learning and exploring new ways of being in the hoop.

What amazing freedom comes from not suppressing uncomfortable feelings, thoughts etc., but from just observing them, letting them be and realizing that they do not determine who we are. They do not have power over us, but are merely a guest WE have invited in for a visit. Someone to teach us, to guide us, to help us become more fully human.

So you see in my world everything somehow relates back to hooping...or Buffy The Vampire Slayer (but that's another blog) ;-) .

Class Tuesday, February 10Th at Ladies Fitness and Wellness

This week in class we will once again work on Point exercises. Noticing the point of contact the hoop makes with one's body and spending time "listening" and "focusing" on the point. We will use several exercises to help engage with and manipulate the point and see where it takes us in our individual hoop journeys. Finally, the question that has been lingering, "What do I do with my hands?" will be answered!! You surely will not want to miss out on that answer ;-) It will be a great class of exploration, opening up your hoop practice, as well as deeping your practice. So many things at once!

This class is definitely suitable for beginners and advanced students alike. Whether you have never picked up a hoop before or have been spinning for years, you are sure to have fun and fine tune your skills.

I'll see you there!!

The Flow Show

On April 24Th, 2009, in San Francisco, I will be performing in a show with other flow artists with a myriad of talents. This concept was sparked by Khan, my friend and fellow hooper (along with other talents).

How did I get lulled into this show...traveling across the country to perform for free? Well it's all rather serendipitous really. Myself and several other hooping friends had gone to watch the winter dance performance at a local school. This performance is well know in the area as being quite outstanding. In fact, it is so good that we had to go to the dress rehearsal because you generally can not get seats for the actual performance nights. The show was breathtaking. During the brief intermission, we began talking excitedly about the possibility of a group of us doing something similar, with or without hoops. What would it be like to choreograph some dance pieces and then put on a show for whomever came? We all love movement. We all can obviously move. We could do this, it would be beautiful and amazing. I left the event feeling energized and thrilled at the idea of performing dance with my hoop or possibly without.

When I came home that night and checked tribe.net before bed, Khan had written a post. It began by saying: " Have you ever wondered if your performance was not fire and was not glow, if you had a blank stage, dance/theater lighting available, any kind of music you want and the freedom to fully express your inner reality in a dance with your prop, and if you were creating this for an audience that was there specifically to watch you flow — not to party/dance, not for a fashion show, not to benefit anything (except themselves and those performing) and most definitely not to watch a Man burn — what would you do? I suspect it would look different from your usual party/burn performance, but it might not (pushing into a new way seems more fun). I’d love for us to discover which it was (and sometimes why).”

I thought, wow, Khan must have been there with us in spirit, read our minds. After several responses to his blog, he came up with The Flow Show. I felt so drawn and called to be there. I don't know how we (my family and I) worked it out, but we did and I'm going to follow this dream and participate in what should prove to be a phenomenal presentation of the flow arts.
http://flowshow.wordpress.com

For My Subscribers

Hi there faithful subscribers!! I've noticed that when I write a post with a video embedded in it, and it is sent out to email addresses, the video seems to be left out. This is the case with the post yesterday, titled Hoops not Bombs. My blog was actually as response to the video, but those of you who automatically receive the blog via email most likely never saw the video. So in the future I will try to remember to not only embed videos, but also post the link, and my friends you may want to go directly to my site, www.havenhoopdance.com , to read the actual post. This way we are covered on both ends ;-).

Thanks for reading. Much Love to all of you!!

Hoops Not Bombs

I have often thought, and on a few occasions said, that if every person had a hoop then there would be peace. I know this is a naive statement, for surely we would still have conflicts with one another. We are after all human, but I truly believe that we would be happier, more centered and willing to accept those different from ourselves. I've seen this happen time and time again when a person picks a hoop for the first time, or the 1000th time. That look of bliss, the look of "ahhh, so this is what everyone has been talking about", the look of inner peace...even if just for a moment. I've seen the hoop bring joy to my son as an infant and to grandfathers on the Weaver Street Lawn. Hooping has no age limit; no race, gender, or sexual orientation cares, it is only their to be embraced by those fortunate enough to find its magic. Will the world be saved by the hoop? I don't know, but it needs to be saved by something.

"There is a force in the Universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results." Mahatama Gandhi

Class Tuesday, February 3rd at Ladies Fitness and Wellness

This week in class we will be continuing to hone in on our "listening" skills that we began last week. Listening to our bodies, to our hoop, to the music, to the rhythms surrounding us, and hearing the harmony between them. These are skill that are important to come back to time and time again in each person's hoop practice.

As we continue to listen, we will focus in on the body sensations and feeling of the hoop as it moves around our core. Using a HoopPath technique, called Point, we can begin to have a better understanding of the hoop's rhythm and path and learn to gain more control by focusing on the point contact the hoop makes with our body. This technique also allows for more creativity of movement and some off body hooping.

And as always, we will have A LOT of fun!! Hoops are provided. I can't wait to see you there!