What are YOUR november hoop practice goals?

What a powerful question! How do we get "there" if we don't know where we are going?

I realize I have been on a hooping freight train for months with non-stop performances, classes, rehersals and travel -- but my play time has virtually disappeared. This "play" time is the no-agenda hooping that happens when I am just taking "me" time to enjoy myself.

Hooping play time is PASSION time. It is when I hoop with no exact goal except to remember the feeling of gratitude in my body. It is when I let go of the incessant chatter of the mind and sink into the "now", the moment, the breathe. I can just focus on feeling, shaking my whole body and being like a kid. It is a shift for me from riding the freight train to riding the SOUL train!

Interesting... sometimes I walk into a rehersal with an agenda. "I will MASTER this move. I will DISCOVER this move I have never done, " I think to myself. I often leave those sessions feeling a bit let down.

New moves and unusual combinations are like precious gems which present themselves when I make space inside to welcome them. I have to slow down, let go of any need to aquire. First comes the feeling of connection, the gratitude, and then oftentime, a gem or two will roll into my lap! Just like in, "Excuse me, Your Life is Waiting," the feeling good happens of joy and wellbeing, then suddenly like a magnet that draws even more goodness in.

I need this play time. There have been times recently where I have wrestled with emotions which have been difficult. Judgement, competativeness, and impatience. The hardest part about them is that I was pushing these feelings down and judging myself as "bad" that I was even feeling these things! I felt ashamed and angry with myself and it created a cycle of negativity with no way out.

While wrestling with these difficult emotions yesterday, I picked up a copy of, "Start Where You Are" by Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist nun. I opened to the first page. It read, "This book is about awakening the heart." I sighed, closed the book and nodded by head. I opened it and read the first sentence again. The same feeling of "yes, read this!" came over me. I read the second sentence. "If you have ever wondered how to awaken your genuine compassionate heart, this book will serve as a guide." SOLD!

I'm a huge fan of Pema's, having listened to many of her books on audiotape while taking long drives. I hear her share ideas and think, "a-ha! yes, of course"... then months go by, I get caught up in the world, and forget. So I'm going inward for a while. I need to remember that feelings are like dreams which pass through consciousness and then are gone. Spending time judging them holds onto them as if they were real.

While I have my play time every day this month, I will feel into my heart. I'll just feel good, breathe deep and have fun. I'll make appointments with myself that are as important as any appointment I would make - I'll be on time, I'll show up ready to give myself all my love and attention. I'll be patient and generous with myself. I'll provide support with water and sunblock. If I need a break, I'll take one. I'll talk myself through anything that challenges me and remind myself to just enjoy the time. if I have thoughts that are difficult, I will let them pass through me like dreams that are not real. I'll listen to my body and respond with action. I'll let go and loosen up and smile. After all, what do we have to give to others, if we can't give it to ourselves?

Source of all That Is, thank you for sending people and experiences into my life which remind me to have a compassionate heart. I am so glad to live my life and experience lightening up and feeling more peace. Every day which passes, I feel more open minded, easygoing and joyful. Feeling good rushes over my whole being at a level I have never before experienced! I am amazed and in awe of how spectacular life can be! I shower my own precious heart with love and compassion, letting feelings pass through as dreams. I know that I AM beyond any feelings or emotions. I am a being of light and my role is is to shine brightly with the power of feeling good. Thank you for all the wonderful goodness which is coming to me!! Thank you for the gift of being alive and all the gifts of family and friends who surround me!

The greatest part of the teacher training this past weekend was the unstoppable confidence all the women had during the final teaching practicum... wow! Every single one of the 13 women there led the entire group through a condensed class which was easy to follow, fun, and inspired! I am so glad. What I share in classes really is teachable! It is exciting because the work can now be done by thousands of other teachers .. and also a relief in a way too so I can have time to focus on growing the program instead of teaching every single class.

I recently expanded the cirriculum. I tried to identify the more abstract aspects of my classes, including imagery and metaphors used, as well as how to intentionally create an environment of feeling good...I broke it down to an easy to follow step by step process.... and it works!!! After our intensive seated learning with all the technical aspects of teaching covered, there were lots of smiles and laughs during the mock classes, especially as different students assumed the roles of difficult students and newbie teachers had to learn how to handle it on the spot.

I love sharing this class! Everyone has such diverse backgrounds and approaches and we share so much learning with eachother. I've already been super inspired by this group about how to make the material even more clear with some illustrative visuals and will be creating those for the next edition of the manual. next tentative training dates... San Francisco February 2-4 and LA March 16-18! Just waiting for confirmation from space rentals.

Thank you Universe for sending an abundant stream of inspired and talented women my way who want to teach hoopdance for the betterment of themselves and humanity! I am so happy and grateful to keep sharing the love of teaching hoopdance with people from all over the world. I am thankful that so many locations for the teacher training are getting set up effortlessly on an international scale! I am excited to be training select master teachers who have already taken the training to walk alongside me on this journey as we create more and more abundant, successful, radiant and joyous teachers to keep spreading the feel good vibe to millions of students.

Since I first heard of the movie called, "The Secret" in June of this year, it has been on my list of things to see. As the months passed, more and more people mentioned it. (Thanks Cindy! Your comment tipped the scales for me). Finally I ordered my copy and I am sure glad I did (www.thesecret.tv). I watched it last night and already, I want to watch it again tonight!

It is a phenomenal movie about the law of attraction... encapsulates many of the ideas from "excuse me your life is waiting" and "ask and it is given". It is amazing to me that these concepts are becoming so widely known and accepted as fact! So wonderful. If you haven't seen it yet... check it out. It will change your life.

Thanks to the amazing Universe for keeping a divine flow of books, movies, conversations, experiences and people coming my way which each take me further towards a life of radiance, joy and light. I celebrate how easily resources seem to fall into my lap! I am so grateful for the assistance which is provided for me at every turn. Thank you!

I was hooping around with Joy today and discovered a new move for double hooping. While swinging two hoops in weave, allow one arm to go under the front of the shoulder on the same side and into the armpit, flicking and releasing hoop up into air and forward. Catch the hoop with the same arm and continue weave. It was easy with my right hand, but my left gets in a funny angle and can't get up the momentum yet. I'll keep at it. It is neat when you can alternate the tosses from one side to the other. I think you must use the small hoops to do this... I'm infatuated with the 36 inch diameter ones right now in 100psi. So much fun!

Yesterday was intense, but so inspiring. I woke up at 5:30 to drive 2 hours to take the American Aerobics and Fitness Association national exam to certify me as a group fitness instructor. When I originally signed up for the class, I had these idealistic visions of how easy it would probably be...

When the study materials arrived 6 months ago, I remember looking at the practice test, the thick text book and study guide and thinking to myself, "this is a way bigger project than I thought it would be!" I signed up to take the exam in May, but felt completely unprepared... so I put it off... until yesterday.

The class was all day and reviewed material from the study guide for the written test, as well as prepared us for the practical exam. It was so humbling to feel like a total beginner and all the nervousness that goes with being "tested".

I learned SO much! I am totally inspired! So many ideas about how to take this material and integrate it into the classes and HoopGirl Workout to create a more dynamic, safer and more professional environment. EVERYONE who teaches hoopdance should take this class! There is just so much basic material about the science of exercise. The bottom line is that dance is a form of exercise. Hiding behind the idea of being an "artist" while facilitating others in class as an excuse to avoid learning about the body and being a responsible professional teacher. As teachers, we must always be students ourselves, enriching our knowledge base and learning at every opportunity.

For me, hoopdance is all about being in and loving the body... that means knowing all about the heart beating, the muscles working, the breath working, how it responds to sounds and cues, how it communicates through the body's messages....and so much more! if you teach hoopdance, I really encourage you check out www.afaa.com and see if this class feels like a match for you. It will only give you more juiciness to share with others...

Thanks to the beautiful Universe for sending a steady stream of important people, experiences and learning my way to help me evolve to the next level!

Wow! This delicious hunger has been instilled in me to learn, learn, learn! I'm just going to trust that my angels are continually guiding me and go with it.

I've decided to cancel my week long dance retreat at Esalen I had booked for the end of this month. I was craving the rejuevination of the hot springs more than anything... but the Gabrielle Roth dance retreat attracted me as a great way to get there. Then, last night, I watched over the Wave dance videos from Roth. While the work really stirred my soul almost 10 years ago when I first started dancing... I watched the videos feeling that the guidance was too basic, too vague, ungrounded. I was watching images of these dancers flailing their bodies everywhere with no rhyme or reason other than, for example, to embody "chaos" and realized that is not enough for me anymore.

I crave more of the subtleties of dancing from specific organs, understanding the flexion and extension of specific muscles during hoop moves, the synaptic firing of neurons that brightens the whole body up like a Christmas tree during hoopdance which engages the mind and the body. I'm now in this whole other place... Then I remembered that Nia, the movement system which Candice and Jasmine from WhirlyGirlz have trained within, does have all these more scientific and elegant aspects that I crave. AND they have an advanced training in Portland during the exact same dates as the Esalen retreat. Suddenly, it was like, DONE. I'm going to Portland. I haven't had the time to do the 12 week pre-training course, but I don't care. The stars seemed to be aligned! I'm going for it! I have the feeling I am going to learn things from this training that are going to help evolve the HoopGirl Workout cirriculum and teacher training in a fantastic direction. I sense it....

www.nianow.com

Thank you Brilliance of the Universe for the clear communication that is always available to me from within!

A marvelous feeling of completion. A feeling of birthing! Finally! After envisioning a video for years, and after a false start or two, it's done! My first instructional DVD, HoopDance for Beginners is out there in the world and it feels fantastic!

Realizations:

Learning never ends!

If you stay focused on a project it WILL manifest.

You have nothing if you cannot share it with others.

Shameless self promotion is okay if you are passionate about your path.

To reach a wider audience you need to communicate in an accessible way.

There were two things I really wanted to communicate in the DVD which really came through! I am so grateful. The first and most important is skills. I wanted to make the instruction crystal clear and very specific so that ANYONE could learn the moves. I wanted to give a LOT of information so the DVD would be useful to beginners and professional hoopdancers alike. The second was the joy! More than "burning calories", hooping has been about saturating the body with joy and positive energy... I think the performance images really convey this goodness. It looks amazing! I am so proud of it and I feel so behind getting it into the hands of as many people as possible. Thank you!

I want to acknowledge Creator! Thank you for helping me to connect with the infinite flow of wellbeing within in making this project. I am so excited that thousands of people are purchasing this video to become healthier, happier and more joyful! I am so glad that we have such a big distributor and are recieving so many offers for generous buyouts. It feels so good that the media has embraced publicizing this project in such a positive way which is resulting in more and more sales. Thank you for the flood of students in the Teacher Training program who have been inspired by the DVD to create abundant, joyful careers for themseleves. The network of HoopGirl Certified teachers has spread across the globe like wildfire! There are Certified HoopGirl Workout teachers everywhere, spreading the vibrations of love and joy to their students, who are in turn energized to inhabit their higher selves and influence the world in uplifting ways. I can feel the sensations in my body of making television appearences on major talk shows, like Oprah, and it feels fantastic! Thank you for all the amazing opportunities heading my way at light speed because of this project! I am ready for all of them!

Last night I went to see Fast Food Nation with Kramer. Though I knew the content of the movie, watching it in all it's gory detail was horrifying and I left feeling numb and shellshocked.

What do you do with that kind of feeling?

Knowing that we create that which we imagine, how can you shake a funk so deep? In particular, I had one scene from the movie playing over and over again in my head which haunted me.

To shake it, I have been breathing and focusing on the present moment. Inhaling and exhaling. Being grateful for all the gifts in my life. And consciously trying to imagine the migrant workers who work under these conditions experiencing success, liberation, freedom and health. Every time my mind tries to replay the troubling scene, I am shifting it to surround all those living such lives with bright healing light. It is a tough switch at the moment, but I am trying. Star Flower Essences for "Pure Joy" and "Zania" have been helping too... (www.staressence.com)

I am realizing that where my focus goes, my own energy goes! I need to be a deliberate creator by realizing that these sorts of endless replays of "the bad stuff" just rests my focus opon that -- the negative. I got a new meditation cushion to encourage me to take quick breaks, just sitting and breathing. It feels good.

Experiencing the embodied result of the negative thoughts makes me realize I want to choose only good feeling thoughts! Before I thought I would be considered "high maintenance" by being so choosy about whom and what I expose myself to, but I now realize my health requires conscious choices.

My priorities: Feeling joy, sharing love, enjoying time spent with friends and family, passionate creativity, enjoying pleasure and dance, connection to Source, celebration, gratitude for life, growth and transformation to be more flexible, open and light-hearted, unlimited abundance and prosperity in all areas of life, overflowing opportunities for continued learning through joy, vitality and enthusiasm, empowering others to be radiant beacons of light, and being part of an uplifting and inspiring community.

These are the things that really matter to me. So I am breathing in and out and focusing on them, the positive. If I can attract more positive, then I think I will have a more powerful vision to assist those in need.

Creator teaches me how to see when I am influenced by things outside myself, and quickly reset to my own center! I know that I always have instant access to Source because I am always connected. Thank you for showing me how to gracefully come back to a positive vision! I am so grateful for clarity about the value of feeling good. I re-program my DNA to vibrate in response to good feeling things. I am attracted to people, situations, media, resources and experiences which all vibrate at the highest possible frequency of enlightened joy, faith and positive expectation. I surround those in need with a vision of light and imagine only the best possible outcomes for them. I am so glad to be saturated a vibration of positivity!

The preciousness of having that mirror while practicing... WOW! More and more my mind has begun to fantastize about actually paying a morgage on a studio rather than always calling all over town for rentals... the security and dependability of always having a nice, comfy professional space always available for classes and practice seems like such a luxury! We shall see what the universe brings...I envision a large dance studio 2500 square feet in size, with a second ajoining studio about 1500 square feet -- each with spring loaded skid resistant dance floors, ample mirrors, soothing lighting, a fantastic soundsystem and a DVD recorder system built in, a luxuriously appointed a reception area and boutique, secure storage for products, and ajoining offices for administrative work in a safe building with climate control, in a central easy to access location with plenty of parking.

Last night's Advanced class had so many gems...
~"Conjuring" the hoop while spinning it on it's axis on the floor
~ watching Amanda's swooping liquid with a tilted head while doing FLIP OFFs and the DISCO.
~Nanette's slow poise, conscious stepping, mezmerizing eye contact with her hoop and deliberate movement while demostrating double hoop with under shoulder toss
~Satise's lighthearted dancing while smiling and how quicjly she got all the new moves
~Annie's sassy butt wiggle before her performance

As usual, seeing the mirror deepened the realization that it is crucial for practice!!! It trains you to be so aware of posture and body positioning and integrating dance into hooping. By practicing the same series of transitions again and again, more and more dance can be added. We are creating clusters of moves for our binders so we build a common vocabulary of movement.

I envision The HoopGirl Allstars practicing more and more! I see us each deepening our own practice, watching as many videos as we can see for ideas, supported and inspired by eachother to push our dance to new levels. I see us performing for larger commercial events which empower women, such as Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. I see us having fun and enjoying life together as we each step into our full power as skilled, theatrical, sassy performers. Thank you Creator for all the growth and realizations!!!

I am at an intensive 8 day somatic awareness and dance training which is blowing my mind and opening my body in so many ways... SO many ideas of enriching the teacher training with this education.. so many evolutions happening! I'll write more when things slow down.. need to catch some sleep.. as we are at it every day from 8am to 7pm...

love
christabel