It has been a whirlwind week, getting ready for the IDEA Fitness trade show. Tons of last minute details for the booth and training the girls, prepping our performances and seminar. I've been pracicing my presentation with several classes in the city and getting feedback from students. However, last night I had my mind opened at a level that felt sooooo good.

I had the opportunity to work one-on-one with the director of programming for Crunch in San Francisco and it was mind-blowing. (I will be teaching hoopdance at Crunch starting in the fall and am quite excited. I feel like I am challenged to bring hooping a whole new level, while still keeping the juicey art and creativity there).

I used to think I knew how to teach dance and how to be in the rhythm, but the more I immerse myself among experts in the fitness and dance industry, the less I realize I really know. I know how to "feel" it and how to "do" it myself and how to convey sensations and emotions and ideas and concepts through very specific languaging in class. But... there are standardized "rules" about the way things are done in the fitness industry. This new training I am getting now is a whole new level of awareness about how to guide people through movement. A language of numbers and counting and knowledge about vocal quality, connecting with students and how to push them to the next level faster. The ability to convey the rush of being locked into the rhythm more clearly... to sweat and rock out! Whoooo! I feel the intensity brings even more out of the hoop.

Not many friends seem to relate to what I am experiencing... the hoopers I play with are called on their own paths of transformation. I am obviously on my own quest to wholeness through this exploration. I feel so darned led right now I can't help it. It is like this quest is totally out of my control... I have to walk it.

I'll keep training with the Crunch crew and plan on taking the upcoming NIA FAB gathering on the topic of choreography. I feel like some information wants to come through me and I simply need the tools to let it flow. Also, dear readers, I feel like I need to say, I don't want to merge into the fitness industry. I just want to glean the most knowledge I can from it's "sciences" and take it on my own journey.

So I realize it was a totally crazy manuever, to not only go to IDEA for the first time, but also plan on having a booth, teaching a seminar, performing each day and attending conference sessions. But what the heck, I guess that is how I do things. The girls fly there tomarrow. Meanwhile I just landed in Ottowa, Canada, for an appearance tomarrow on a tv show called, "The Mom Show". I am here overnight , we shoot for 6 minutes in the morning, and then I leave before noon tomarrow to come back to the US straight to the trade show in San Diego.

Next time you are waiting for a plane seat assignment, remember to say this line in a playful way: "I guess I would be okay with it if you need to upgrade me to first class." It worked. It was a sweet ride from San Francisco to Toronto and I couldn't believe it actually happened. "The Last Mimsy" was playing onboard... a movie I really enjoy watching because it is so positive. A limo picked me up with a chatty Lebanese man who mentioned how he travelled the world doing trade shows, and now he owns the limo company. We passed some trees and he said, "look at those trees. I planted them." He told me that every years he plants a lot of trees along the corridors where he drives his car so he can watch them grow over the years. I thought it was so cool.

Everyone I have met between the airport and the hotel has been super friendly. Canada is so great. And so here I am, at the Hampton Inn with my laptop on my lap. I'm going to pull out my interview questions and practice my choreography for tomarrow. I should probably be nervous but I feel pretty relaxed, even though I haven't prepared much. I'm going with it... Probably has something to do with my inflight read, Swami Beyondananda's, "Driving Your Own Karma: A Guide to Enlightenment". I love Swami. He is absoluetly hilarious. I was bursting out in laughter throughout the flight and it just felt so good. My latest medicine has been laughter. I had promised myself this past New Years I would laugh more this year than in any other year of my lifetime... so I have been watching lots of comedies, stand up comedy, etc. It feels so healing to laugh.

on to the most important part of the blog! thanksgiving!

Thank you! Thank you for all the kind, generous mentors which given me so much guidance. It feels so wonderful to be supported and helped by such remarkable people.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to speak to millions of viewers in a whole new country about my passion. I am so grateful to have been so well taken care of during my journey! Thank you for surrounding me with so many smiling, nice people. Thank you for letting everything flow for tomarrow's appearence with joy, clarity and presence.

I am so grateful to live this life! I trust that everything is unfolding in the perfect way to fulfil the highest possible vision for my life. Thank you!

Just back from a whirlwind experience! The Canadian TV show was so much fun. Of course none of the questions I prepared for were asked. That just seems to be the way it usually works out. I prep how I think I will respond and then end up adapting to the moment while it is happening. This edition of the "Mom Show" was filmed in the middle of a shopping mall, with an entire stage and seated audience there, complete with lots of mommies holding babies which were screaming their heads off. Some doctor was on before I was answering questions from the audience about diaper rashes and weaning, then I went on as the fitness trend segment.

Beforehand, I went into the green room with three moms and had the chance to give them a few pointers on hooping before they were actually on stage. They were so happy and enthusiastic to be on the tv show! They got the basic pump move, limbo and warrior for the show. The makeup artist enhanced my hair and face a bit more and then viola, we were poised by the side of the stage ready to go on when cued.

As with some other shows, they wanted me to perform first as a teaser and then go right into an interview. I have explained before that it is hard to catch my breathe enough to really answer questions well under these circiumstances, but they thought it would really work well so I went for it. They used the music that Kramer and I put together for the HOOP movie.

The moment I stood on stage and simply pushed the hoop around my waist all the mommies in the audience already started cheering. It was so cute! I wasn't even doing anything. I decided to keep the show super simple, even though it was a taping and not live. Honestly, I I wanted to conserve my energy somewhat with the whole IDEA conference coming up. I let myself shine but not stress myself out to take new risks by doing tricked out moves with the potential for issues.

What I liked particularly about this taping was that it was a show designed expressly for women. I also liked that the hosts loved being sassy and provocative and encouraged me to use playful, sexy languaging while talking. That was a welcome change from the more conservative shows I have been on in the past!

They asked me about hooping briefly after the demo and then quickly moved into a short teaching segment where I showed the ladies the moves I briefed them on. Thank goodness they gave me some time with them before the show! I had to really push for that and they all were so much more confident and not one dropped a hoop the whole time. So that was a fun experience. I spoke to a lot of mommies afterwards about coming up to do a teacher training, which they were asking about. What fun!

Then on to San Diego, back across 2 countries in less than 24 hours for IDEA. All I can say is WOW! I am completly and utterly hooked. Lots of inspiring presenters, wonderful connections made, my HoopGirl Workout presentation was *packed*, and I had lots of fun performing on stage with my sweet crew of HoopGirls. The women who came with me were wonderful -- Jasmine, Natasha, Ember and Satise. I have so much more to share, but I am a bit tired after all this goodness. I am so grateful for the wonderful opportunities which continue to flow my way! Thank you!

p.s. I decided I am getting a personal trainer. I'm ready to push my body to the next level of rockstar readiness!

Wow, I just went on this journey watching YouTube videos this morning and felt completely inspired by all the amazing talent that is out there! It's funny how as a hoopdancer I can get to a certain level and think I have progressed so much, and then to witness miracuous blossoming in others which demonstrates the next level... really, all I can say is wow! I am inspired to push the boundaries even further.

One thing I see is that i have been waiting to put "real" footage of myself on YouTube, waiting for "the perfect" situation. This "real" footage for me is non-edited, non project/work related hoop footage of me just workin it out, like everyone else. The "perfect" posting situation is basically when someone else films me in a nice environment and puts it online for me. Hah! This "perfect" environment would not be my living room squished between the couch and the dj console in my opinion. Yet a part of me really wants to contribute to the visual conversation going on! The footage which exists of me doesn't show what I've been vibin lateley. I guess I got to step it up! Let's see what the next week holds.

Heading down to Kezar Stadium to hoop today since it's a bit busy here...

Although I am actually a Certified Laughter Leader from way back, I have not developed my personal practice in a long time. Spending so much time on my hoop practice and dealing with the stresses of running a growing business has really inspired me to develop my daily laughing practice. It's been 3 days now that I have consciously created more laughter in every day with Laughter Yoga. All I can say is that it feels SO GOOD! Laughter makes my whole body vibrate and releases so much energy. Laughter heals. Even after only a few days, I find that I spontaneously erupt in laughter more while not practicing than I did before. When I am laughing I feel free. I feel at peace and connected and happy.

Laughter releases endorphins in the brain. It relieves stress by removing tension and helps all the body's functions improve. To help cultivate my laughter practice, I have been reading funny books by Swami Beyondananda and also watching YouTube videos about laughter yoga.

Here are 3 of my favorites:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fp-oJhBxn6o
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2bFHjH-eAb0
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DafV2zVZY8Y

Consciously laughing every day is the highest form of natural medicine. It also really gives your lungs and torso a ridiculous workout when you do it non stop for 30 minutes. An interesting fact is that your body doesn't know the difference between laughter which is "fake" or "real"... which is where the laughter exercises come in. You start out a bit "fake" but then suddenly you are rolling in unending torrents of real laughter. It is like getting hit by a tidal wave of bliss. So nice!

I've decided to sign up for a week long Laughter retreat and conference in September in Florida to really push my laughing to the next level. If anyone is interested in more information, check out www.laughteryoga.org

Laugh on! Thank you for the gift of laughter!

It has been so wonderful to make laughing a daily intentional practice... last night Candice and I were watching Ellen Degeneres do stand up comedy on youtube and just laughing and laughing and laughing. What is so amazing is that I am starting to laugh much easier now and in these long flowing, yummy feeling currents. I am also randomly gigling more throughout the day. It makes my spirits so light and relaxes my whole body. Also, it feels so nice to be breathing so deeply. Yesterday in the training, my mom Athena who was attending was asking about integrating laughter into the HoopGirl Workout... I am still happy just exploring this as a personal practice at the moment. I don't feel I need to make everything about hooping ... it feels just fundamental to being human to let those peals of laughter roll.

The last couple days before the training began, I started taking my personal practice outside for the first time in a *long* time since it was finally in the 70's or high 60's here. I went down to Kezar, where the joggers and skateboarders do their thing, bring my i-pod fusion speakers and set my wristwatch for one hour. There is such a diffrent quality of hooping that emerges from me outside. First of all, I can do tosses (even if the wind blow them) which is fun. But overall, I just feel a bit more amped. Something about being in the open air makes me concentrate and focus inward more, so I find myself doing lots of drill based repititions which unlocks some great mysterious places in my body.

Of particular breakthrough quality for me were two things... I noticed my shadow while the sun was setting and as I hit a break, I would lift the opposite leg up in the air, until it just became this repititious dance of break and lift, break and lift, break and lift, over and over again. I liked how it felt. It had a cross crawl quality... brain stimulating and also just plain cool.

I was also was hooping in my outflow direction in barrell roll and doing vertical floats. Also variations like vertical float to a moment of vertical isolation and back on the body. I had to keep breaking directions because there was something about my left wrist that wasn't working to be able to float off vertically, but consistantly doing it with my right hand entrained my mind about how I could apply it to the left. Also quite fun was trying a move a saw in one of Ann's videos... upon doing a vertical float from an outflow barrell roll, creating more of a backbend and keeping direct eye contact through the hoop so if someone was standing on the other side, they could completely see my face. What a twisty, loopy sensation! But lots of fun.

So yesterday was the first day of the San Francisco level one teacher training. Somehow, each one one of these events always feels liek an epiphany.... there are always so many people with inspiring unique backgrounds who bring so much to the table! Unique alchemy every time.

One fascinating I realize about this time is that so many of the attendees are in the fitness world! Very interesting that since my own interests have moved in that direction, more students with those interests have gravitated towards the training. It feels affirming. Yet at the same time, the empowerment and transformative aspects are still rich. I love that both can be there.. it can be physical, emotional, mental and spiritual at the same time. Fully integrative!

So who is here?

LJ is a spinning instructor and group fitness instructor from CRUNCH in San Francisco
Melanie works with mentally challenged adults on a group farm in North Carolina
Brenda is a personal trainer in Redwood City
Lisa works with preschoolers in San Francisco
Slyie is a hospice nurse and yoga teacher in San Francisco
Athena is my mom! she lives here in san francisco and is taking the training so she can learn more about what I do
Claudia is a writer here in San Francisco
Kecia is doing work with sexual psychology
Heidi is a personal trainer in Campbell (I think that is where she lives)
Rosie is a personal trainer at CRUNCH in San Francisco
and Candice of course! Holding space with me as a master trainer, with her Shine coaching practice and Nia expertise

Everyone had lots of energy and stories to share about how their backgrounds have involved hooping. As usual, much of the foruming has been on issues of personal empowerment and how to hold space as a teacher in a confident way. It is beautiful to see some students who expressed being nervous about being there in the beginning settle right in and be at ease and relaxed. Funny how many seem to wonder if "they have enough expereince hooping" to hold space for hoopers. The reality is that anyone can hold a valuable space for another person, as long as they move from their center and share their own unique insights in a sincere way. The structure we give in the training definately helps organize delivery of that information!

The introduction of the newer concepts of "inflow" and "outflow" continue to be enthusiastically embraced. It is a languaging of experience which has been a long time coming! Thank you Baxter for inspiring this! It really is shifting the entire flow of our clases to have a continual emphasis on both directions for everything. It is such a pleasure to teach with Candice and feel how we mesh together to hold space in a seamless way. So inspiring to co-teach! I cherish every opportunity to facilitate to with her.

Well, I have to go get ready for today. This is when lots of the hands-on fun begins when students are leading mock teaching sessions.

Yea for the gift of my wondeful life! I feel so blessed to be able to work with such amazing, talented people who share the same passion for hooping and wellbeing. Thank you for the gift of wonderful students who really are my teachers. I trust that the evolution of this program is on track with a divine plan! I see the HoopGirl teacher certification program being shared with more and more people in a powerful, concise way.

I am excited to have a wonderful, insightful day of training. :) Thank you!

Thank you!
Yes!
I love this moment
I love my life
I love my body
I love my husband
I love my family
I love trusting
I love giving
I love learning
I love growing
I love my friends
I love my staff
I love speaking my truth
I love my bathrobe
I love eating raw foods
I love getting stronger
I love being lean
I love my clothes
I love being agile
I love feeling sexy
I love dancing!
I love responding
I love being open
I love having fun
I love laughing
I love self nurturing
I love my car
I love my wonderful apartment
I love my office
I love our dance studio
I love my freedom
I love my students/teachers
I love my business
I love hoopdance!
I love tropical vacations
I love smiling
I love empowering
I love love!
Thank you for this wonderful life!
Thank you for abundant opportunities!

This is what one student kept repeating over and over again today as she led her HoopGirl Teacher Training practicum, leading us through a closure event to bring a sense of community to her class. We all felt it seep into us as her metaphor of standing in a pool of our own gifts, washed over us. I'm wiped out after holding space for 24 hours over three days with Candice for this amazing crew, but blissed out. What a marathon it has been... preparing for IDEA, going to Canada for 24 hours for a tv show, racing back to IDEA in San Diego to present, run and booth and perform and now just finishing the teacher training. Obviously it was not my own strength which carried me through. I feel like I tapped into a higher source and just surrendered myself to each day because that was the most I could face at one time. One day at a time.

Anyways, back to the training. While teaching teachers I feel as if I am called to identify and articulate the subtle energies of interaction which can happen in a class. It calls a level of witnessing out of me which normally lies a bit dormant. Having to verbalize and train teachers to be aware of all of these possibilities brings about a body rush of realization which feels very exicting. Really, embracing your greatness is really what this whole weekend has been about.

I feel so honored to watch the process of unfolding that happens with each student as they practice teaching in the program. I love that they all trust eachother and us enough to just jump into it and fully recieve all the observations and insights we have to share. Honestly, I learn as much as I share in the training. Each participant has a radiance and genius within which is truely unique. Co-teaching with Candice always deepens my awareness of what is possible as well, and inspires me to deepen my own Nia training and practice.

While leading this group, I had a real sense that "this is what matters! this is the inside work." So much was revealed to all of us on so many levels about being an aware, responsive and present simply by experiencing and discussing all the possible scenarios of what can happen during class. Hoopdance is the vehicle, but the destination is another story of being fit, fun and full of vitality. Being connected to oneself and a sense of community. As usual, the breathe was the lubricant which students used to come back to a calm center within themselves in the midst of new situations.

Thank you!

Gosh, this bird was sqeeking at 5:55am and I woke up, unable to go back to sleep. Still reflecting on the sensational weekend and what a deep, beautiful experience it was. The question for me is how can I bring about that level of presence, awareness and especially *clear communication* about in my own life as a daily practice. As I think about it, I realize that the key to being a teacher trainer (aside from presenting the HGW class format, etc) is indeed the power of *witnessing* and *communicating* in a way which feels like a complete mirror. That way I can provide information to future teachers about certain qualities of their teaching which can be radically improved in a very short amount of time ... and also communicate this in a way which can be easily absorbed without any personalization. Then new teachers can model the process with their own students and provide witnessesing and clear communication in a way which delivers more awareness and mastery.

In this way, holding space as a teacher trainer is calling me to inhabit my own power of observation and speech on a level never I have never before explored. I think that excitement I mentioned yesterday is the buzz of presence which is ratcheting up another level within me. My awareness uses all my tools of perception (sight, sensation, listening, feeling). My communication uses my throat and body language and eye contact. I seek to clearly communicate truth in a direct way which leaves the listener empowered and refreshed ... with a "ahhhhh!" vibrating in the back of their own throats. This skill is a very subtle and delicate art which I am continuing to perfect. The beauty of this process is that it delivers level of presence which instantly becomes useful in daily life.

Teaching about conscious languaging always inspires me to explore my talking habits. It inspires me to transform my talk into a *conscious daily speaking practice*. Where the power and act of making sound becomes more intentional, less reactive, slower, allowing more space for silences, clearly responsive to the speech of others and delivering my own thoughts and emotions in a super pure way.

On personal note, I noticed that I often fill in space with vague words like "awesome", "cool" and "amazing". I want to avoid those fillers and instead speak to the specific thing being referenced in the conversation. Is it a feeling? A sensation? What is it specifically that is good and why? Another flag for me is something which my sweet friend Jasmine observed within me, which is a tendency to say "I'm sorry" at the drop of a pin! She asked me thoughtfully, "are you really sorry?". After that happened I started watching my words more closely and realized I was constantly saying "I'm sorry" when actually I didn't mean it. Also, I heard a lot of "ums", "likes" and "ahs" holding little spaces in trainers' languaging while leading mock classes and saw how it can detract from the power of speaking clearly and allowing actual silences between coherent thoughts.

The act of speaking into a microphone and hearing students speak into a mic really "amplifies" my awareness of the power of speech. What a powerful tool to hear all the subtlties of a voice so clearly!

The training also inspired me to continue my own word play. I want to enrich my own vocabulary with more words which convey what I want to share in a unique, original way. For this purpose, I am starting a *word bank*, a written collection of inspired words and phrases which I can add to review every now ad then to keep my speech diverse and articulate.

Wow, that was quite a lot to write before 7am! I feel called to begin my morning.

Thank you for the gift of awareness!

I have been *craving* a private dance area which is safe, contained and super close. I know I probably could blindfold myself and hoop at a local park, but some part of me hesitates since there is always some energetic dodging necessary even with open eyes with all the homeless people and others who approach. My livingroom would be too chancey blindfolded, with the tv and electronics so close. Kramer and I looked at a new apartment last week and are applying... I'm keeping my fingers crossed! It has both a small private backyard and a private contained rooftop deck surrounded by 8 foot walls! For me this would be a delicious gift.

My attenion spans for drills has suddenly disappeared over the last two weeks. I have been playing with mastery of shoulder duck outs on either shoulder in both directions. A lot of head bumping has resulted! But it has been fun. Also bringing my feet into the dance more. Also inspired by Beth who does a wicked "up the chest roll" (which I still can't get) but from attempting, I came up with this vertical chest roll to down the back of the spine, to a jump through from behind. Kind of an odd move, but something about it feels satisfying. Having fun with isolations while still dancing with the rest of my body, which is a fun challenge. Still working on barrell rolls with snake to vertical isolations where my head peeks out and looks through (a la Ann). Trying to increase my flexibility with behind the neck passes, which seem fluid in one direction but hiccup in the other. Two songs which I have been playing a LOT during practice are: Namoh Namoh by Daler Mehndi and Stars by Manou Gallo ... they have really been sweeping me into the zone.

I can't wait for BAH today! It has been a few weeks since I have played with the community and it will be fun.

I've been swinging back towards my daily tall green blended drinks, mega salads and lots of water. Kind of astounded how much kale I consume on a daily basis now.. at least 1.5 heads! Am I turning green inside? Obviously something is detoxing. Plouts, nectarines and peaches are so deliciously juicey and abundant right now, with such rich reds, oranges and yellows that I have been having them daily. The ripe strawberries are still hanging on as well, even though the season is passing. Yum!

I've also been trying to get back to long daily walks, where I can be in the trees or along the water while listening to books on tape or Agape CDs.. what a wonderful feeling of connection. Feels like my human spacesuit is changing shape again, as it often does, from more raw foods and movement. Contracting a bit from it's expansion during the last month which had so much seated work at the computer.

Performed at Ruby Skye last night... huge crowds! It was fun. Lots of old friends among the go-go dancers and trapeeze artists upstairs, which was nice. They also ripped out that gross carpet with layers of glitter and muck from the dressing room and replaced it with kitchen style moppable flooring. Nice. The crowds were unusually responsive too... probably had something to do with the fact that they cleared the whole stage for performances and used a spotlight (aside from cramming me in the corner as usual and using more dim light) It is so nice to feel so easily confident about being on stage. Geez, Ruby Skye is old hat now, even with 1200 people. I am grateful that it is so easy to just hop up there and rock out. I just stand by the side, do my dancing to get into the dj's groove and go for it.

I've had to let go of some ego resistance. I can't do all the super tricky stuff I do with my normal hoops since the led hoops I use weigh and perform so differently from mine. I actually am not a fan of having to use them since I have my own unlit favorites, but a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do. I suck in my attitude and give it up for the crowd with what I can muster with them. Instead of tricky tricks I focus on really dropping into the dance (even if the hoop orbits my waist for much of the time), smiling, interacting with and working the crowd and just exuding an aura of fun sensuality. Despite not even beginning to reach the bare minimum of a truely deep and complex hoop experience for me, people were still screaming their heads off with "Oh my God!" resounding again and again from the women pressed against the stage. So it was a good night at work. I am excited to truely rock out today in my own personal practice and then BAH, though.

I also want to take a moment and send some props out to my mom, Athena. She is pictured in today's blog in blue along with Candice in pink. She moved to San Francisco recently and I have been really enjoying having her be in my life in a bigger way. My mom took the HoopGirl Teacher Training this past weekend and it was a remarkable experience to be able to share something that holds so much passion for me, with her. It was an interesting turn-around, to be facilitating for my own mom, but it all was so revealing and wonderful. I feel so blessed that she is so open and willing to try something brand new and take risks. She is so beautiful! Even though her own hoop practice is just birthing, she was so present and open to learning on so many levels. It is really great to have a mom like this. Thank you!

So many things to be thankful for, really. I am so grateful for forward momentum, the gift of friends, the love of hooping and all the blessings which surround me! Thank you thank you thank you for the huge career opportunities which are now unfolding for me which may allow me to directly teach hooping to millions of people! Thank you for the wonderful fitness industry which has so enthusiastically embraced me and my work and sent such wonderful mentors my way who share a sincere love of hoopdance. Also, I am grateful for all the Whirly Girlz, especially Jasmine and Candice who have become close friends, and for Beth and the Hoop Path folks in North Carolina. I am grateful for the huge web of connections which I have been creating with hoopers and aspiring hoopers across the whole globe! I really feel connected to a huge web of remarkable people who are sharing a lot of light and goodness. Yahoo! Life is good.

I needed windshield wipers on my forehead tonight as I taught my Rockstar Hoop Fitness Class at Dance Ground! The room was packed with dancers and we had an even longer waiting list. Kramer came to videotape and off we went, into a new terrian of Hoop Fitness which I have been creating.

It is so interesting to break out of habitual teaching patterns. For the past 6 years, I have had an established way of teaching The HoopGirl Workout which has become quite comfortable over time. I have my set routines, my set stories, my whole rap down pat. I have been lucky enough to share this work with a large number of trainers who are also continuing to share it with thousands. All the class material, formats and cirriculum is all quite sophisticated and tight.

Over the last few years, though, my intuition has been quietly whispering to me about taking some new risks and doing something radically different...studying new forms of movement and gaining mastery in new subjects related to wellbeing and physical fitness. I've been thinking "what if we changed this to be like..." My ego has resisted a bit. Trying out brand new things after developing a whole system of movement?... Well, that's just a big leap into the unknown! Everyone knows me already as a certain type of person and a certain type of hooper. Veering into a new direction... well there is always that lingering fear of "what if people don't like it?"

Tonight, as I led my third Hoop Fitness style class, any fear I had about this was dispelled. Beginners though advanced hoopers were rockin out in class, pouring sweat in rivers and dancing at a level of intensity which felt amazing to behold! I loved looking out at all the beautiful smiling faces and seeing them all really reaching for a whole new level of energy.... I am so excited to see how this continues to unfold!

Thank you for the gift of inspiration and the courage to take risks and try something new. I am excited to continue trying new techniques which can add more depth and creativity to my work! I trust this process of creative unfolding and am open to meeting the perfect people who can help expand my awareness and effectiveness as a teacher on all levels. Thank you!

This morning felt like an eternity, even though it was only 40 minutes. I think part of it was hooping to super slow music which drew out so many of my movements. Amazing how much more energy I can expend hooping slow and extremely articulate then fast at times.

Slow in hooping is a place which is easy for me to overlook. It really takes energy and discipline to slow. I resist saying, "slow down" because what is down about it? Although it grounds me, I feel so "up", connected and light.

My breathe was deep and steady and I had a lot of fun with all kinds of shoulder reversals. I never have focused so specifically on all the different combinations of vertical breaks I can do under and over my arm and on each arm and both directions. It was even more delicious to let my other hand do fun things like dart through the hoop to the other side at lightening speed, even though I was moving slow. There is something magical about contrasts while hooping. It moves me.

I played with body breaks as well, letting the hoop bounce off my thighs, buns, arms and even my chest, angled floats with breaks at my shoulder and reverses, and lots of leg lifting.

I am particularly fascinated now by the *shapes* that can be created while hooping, especially with vertical planes, bringing the legs into the dance more and noticing how straight legs versus kicks or bent knees or sultry slithers effects the mood. I love playing with what I think of as the feminine side of breaks. How can a break or warrior style become a *flowing* warrior style. How can angles and stops be softened into flow, but still retain the energy of hard stops. A fun place to play. Almost like walking a fine line between bellydance and tai chi with a hoop!

Thank you for the patince to *slow* and an endless stream of inspiration which keeps rushing into my life!

Wow I just watched a video of myself teaching the Rockstar Hoop FItness class last night...what a humbling experience! HUGE realizations about things I want to continue to improve.

Most notably:
I realized I want to remember to call more students by name
I need to deepen my languaging of physiology to describe the benefits of exercises
I need to keep students' energy up by encouraging more noise making
For exercises where all students move at once, make sure it is in the same direction
Somehow I need to find a way to energetically suport those with falling hoops while maintaing class flow
I can perfect my cueing between exercises even more
I don't have to cover so much material so fast... delivering mastery is more important
I need to remember to speak from my belly and stay grounded
I need to tone it down.. my classes have a sensual edge which pushes the boundary
I'd like to develop the range and ease of my cool down moves
Need a bigger studio or fewer students in a smaller space

Also, the hard truth. I need to wear a full tank top that covers my abdomen or just loose weight. The reality is that videotaping makes you look 10 pounds heavier than you are. Even though I weigh 135 and technically am in shape, the camera made me look like 145. If I want to keep doing hoop fitness film projects, I need to actually be underweight rather than at my target in order to come across looking my best. This is an intense reality check for me. I advocate total happiness with one's body. Total acceptance. Yet at the same time I am on a mission and honestly my body is part of my passport. Ah, the realities of videotape. I'm breathing deeply. One day at a time.

Wow, well I had a bit of a scuffle with Kramer first thing this morning. He wanted to talk taxes at 7am and I asked him to wait till 10am... and it escalated into some intense back and forth and feelings for me to bring into my morning hoping. I wasn't sure if it would work out, but actually I think it was the best practice time I have had a in a long time. All that emotional energy seemed to transmute into focus and I found a deep flow, linking together moves which previously I had just done as drills.

I continued to play with all the variations of shoulder reversals and realized there is a distinct difference between breaking when your arm is inside the hoop versus outside. I played with front and back with both options on each arm in each direction and also with two hoops.

Inspiration from Ann of Hoop Path led me to try warrior with random breaks and reversal created solely by the strength of my hand mid spin, leading into opposite direction spinning or just isolations. Also from her, I was compelled to try rotating the hoop on my hands in prayer position and continually turning over while keeping the hoop vertical... but I almost broke the glass celing fan lightcover with that one so decided to save that until outside.

Wonderful feeling of flow from continual reverse jump throughs on each side, leading into other traveller-breaks, or traveller kicks, where I stall the hoop and launch a leg through the open space.

Played my whole body drum with breaks to each side on every level, also adding spontaneous horizontal isolations, step and skip breaks and booty bump position with coninual float and breaks to each side. (geez this must sound like morse code! One day soon, an easy video oppotunity is coming into my life).

Continued playing with vertical isolations where I actually turn my whole body around and try to keep the circle spininng straight the whole time, both directions.

When my hands got tired from all the reversals, I started "chi"ing, as Baxter taught us, moving the hoop from the legs to the upper arms only by precise "wiggle-force". Wow, I sure flailed around a lot .. this exercise has a lot of gems to offer me.

Somehow all these moves started seeping together into a flow of combinations which felt really nice. I still feel as if I am developing mastery of most of these, so it was quite thrilling to see my body linking them together in new ways.

Breakthrough opportunities I am looking forward to mastering:
Barrel roll with snake in my outflow/second current with vertical floats clean on and off on a flat plane
Rotating the hoop on my hands in prayer position and continually turning over while keeping the hoop vertical
Continual leg reversals (thanks Ann! you're my hero)
Baxter's behind the neck throw in each direction (not an inside practice move for my livingroom!)

So it was a good hour. I feel much more relaxed and sane.

Still on my mind last night and even now a bit were all the responses posted on Tribe from yesterday's blog. I had also had lunch with Rosie 2 days ago when she asked me something like, "do you really get how much people are inspired by you?" or something to that effect. That coupled with the reponses by Surprise and Chris yesterday, which made it sound like I was letting down "all the women who look up to me" by my being concerned about having a belly roll on video and considering loosing weight to "look good", was causing some confusion in my head. Am I letting down women by wanting to look and feel good? Does that mean I should just do self love rituals and just accept myself with a belly roll for the sake of women's empowerment? So loosing weight means I am betraying women's admiration? What??! My mind has been spinning.

Regarding Rosie's question on realizing I'm inspiration... I DO I realize it, but I do not own it. Owning it in my mind means that it is coming from me, which honestly it is not. "It", my life path, is just happening from a higher source. I do what I do because I feel compeletly and utterly compelled, not because I had a plan from the start.

Though I have heard I'm an inspiration from hundreds of people, I'm always striving not to personalize -- let my ego inflate from the good things or deflate from the bad things people say. I open to connect to their hearts, but avoid letting my head expand. A couple years ago, all the attention I would get after performances almost scared me. So many people wanting to come up and thank me and touch me. It totally freaked me out after a while until I could get to the place of realizing that people are responding to something I was mirroring for them, not *me* neccessarily. That realization was so freeing! Since then I've stayed in that place of just walking my own walk. If I start personalizing all the praise, it feels like I am carrying such a heavy load of everyone's admiration... too big of a responsibility! But when I just smile and recieve their humanity and connection and know that they are excited because they are seeing their own selves, it feels more right. Honestly, when my journey inspires others to see what was already inside of them all along, that is fantastic! That is my mission. That is my true path in some way... simply to reflect. I so appreciate the opportunity to do that and connect with people on a heart level because of it.

But I am not doing what I am doing for fame. I am not consciously deciding, "hey I am going to be an example for women everywhere and lead this pure amazing hoopstar life". My life isn't pure and often times it is hard and lonely. I work so much I seldom spend enough quality time with friends or even my husband. I have times where I have a drink too many or don't work out for weeks. I have times where I basically clean out my entire personal savings to pay everyone on my staff and reinvest in my company and have no clue where the new money will come from to continue. I think to myself, "what the hell am I doing?" And then I just get this deep knowing that what I am doing is vitally important for me and just go back to faith. When I freak out, I do lots of affirmations and listen to lots of Agape sermons or Secret type books on tape and hoop my butt off, and then share the lemonade from my lemons on my blog. And then miracles happen! Consistantly. I am in awe, but when I get vulnerable, open up and ask a Higher Source to step in, they do. The challenge is, a lot of my blog readers think my life is just pure yummy lemonade all the time. But I feel compelled to tell you, a lot of the joy and beauty comes from some pretty intense lemons!

Now don't get me wrong, my life rocks! It rocks hard! I am so grateful and I DO feel completely blessed. I love that people love to see me when I show up to share hooping. I love that I get to see so many smiles and be around people who are having such wonderful experiences with their bodies and psyches. I love all the enthusiasm and good energy. I love being around so much love! I love it when people come up and want to connect with me and share their experiences. It feels so important to me to connect. That is what matters most to me. I am so appreciative that I can! I have so many opportunities and am able to do what I am passionate about and be creative. I enjoy most of the wonderful things that I could possibly desire. I love my life and I love every one of my students and customers who can help me continue to walk this path with all their passion and support. I am so grateful!

But what I am trying to say is, I am completly and utterly human, just like you. I have good days and bad days. I am not perfect! So I want to ask a favor of all of my readers... please don't let me ever "let you down". Simply let my life and process inspire you to decide what is right for you. Perhaps you will read something in my blog that completely uplifts you, or turns you off... instead of thinking I need to change so you can maintain admiration, just *let yourself be inspired* to make the change you need to in your own life. Please share with me your thoughts, of course... but realize that my decisions, wether "good" or "bad" in your opinion, can still inspire you to be what you believe in. Inspiration doesn't just come from the good. That is how so many of my own challenges become blessings... the harder stuff has hidden gems.

Anyways, I am really grateful for everyone's comments and thank you for reading this as I continue to find my place in all of it.

xo
Christabel

Thank you everyone! Your votes got me the San Francisco Best of the Bay Award for "Best Personal Trainer" 2007! (see page 43 of this week's issue). This is the second year in a row I have been given this award! I am so grateful for your love and support. Please come celebrate with me at the party Friday, August 3.

The paper reads, "BEST PERSONAL TRAINER. Our readers love HoopGirl. She has big baby-doll eyes, wears tight-fitting, midriff-bearing shirts, and teaches an erotic exercise program using a modified child's toy (the hula hoop) as her sole piece of equipment. What's not to love? www.hoopgirl.com"

Thank you!!!!!

My friend Rosie turned me on to an uplifting book and it is so amazing I had to share it with you immediately. It is called "PRONOIA: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You With Blessings", by Rob Brezsny. Here is a quote from the introduction, entitled "This is a perfect moment".

"Life is crazily in love with us -- wild and innocently in love with us. The universe always gives us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it. Pronoia is our word of power, the spell we cast to shake ourselves awake again and again. It's the antidote for paranoia. It's the brazen perception that all of creation is conspiring to shower us with blessings. Pronoia means that even if we can't see and don't know, primal benefactors are plotting to emancipate us. The winds and tides are sceheming to steal our pain. The sun and the moon know our real names and the animals pray for us while we're dreaming. Do you believe in guardian angels and divine helpers? Whether you do or not, theyre always wrangling to give you the gifts you don't even realize you want. Can you guess how many humble humans are busy making things for you to use and enjoy?....'Earth's crammerd with heaven'."

By the time I read this part, I was hooked and immediately bought the book. It is such a delightful concept... and so against our mainstream media messages which perpetuate beliefs of negativity, fear and war. The Universe is wildly and passionatly in love with us! Duh. Check it out!

There are certain moments in my life where I *feel* deep within my body that I am divinely placed in the perfect place at the perfect time. It is not an idea or affirmation, but this shimmering sensation that almost gives me shivers and makes all my senses a bit more alert. This has been one of those weekends!

I am in San Jose studying with a dance hero of mine, Beto Perez, the founder of Zumba, getting certified as a Zumba instructor. As part of the process, I am mastering several forms of dance which I can't wait to integrate into my hooping! Salsa, Cumbia, Merengue, Regaeton and more. I first became aware of Beto's work while at IDEA and was totally inspired in every way. His personal story of devotion to his dance is so inspiring, with his humble beginnings making $1 per class in his native country of Columbia. He tried to come to America four times to teach dance and it took 4 years to even do that and be accepted here. His story of lugging his videotape demos back and forth on the plane to show gyms was so moving, and when he finally got a one month teaching engagement, he had to go back home and sell all his worldly possessions to have enough money to pay for expenses while teaching in Miami. To be in such close proximity to someone so completely driven by passion to follow his dream, who is such an epic teacher, playful, sexy, insightful, yet also so humble and empowering, is amazing.

As usual, while taking this training I am also learning lots about how my own program can be made more useful to my licensed instructors. I know this is a great program because I am hooked! Honestly if I didn't have a whole hoop project going on in my life, I would probably jump on the Zumba bandwagon. Just like I wanted to jump on the Nia and Laughter Yoga bandwagons as well! So many opportunities in life! I will keep these all as inspiring hobbies, but feel so enriched from reaching out of my busy shedule to expose myself to things which really move me.

I honestly feel so flooded with thankfulness to be here. Not only is this an outstanding program with sincerely inspirational leadership, but it is a solid fitness program which is also fueled by the same energy which motivates my hoop classes -- JOY! Classes are full of party energy, hot sexy dance moves and exotic Latin music which really gets my blood moving. Those who have attended this training are also completely great. You know, the world of fitness is not what it used to be. Over the past year all my preconcieved notions have been blown out of the water and I feel honored to be a part of this industry. I really admire a lot of things about the "new" mainstream fitness world, especially those visionaries who are pushing the envelope to expand. There are strong empowered, beautiful women here of all body sizes and backgrounds, with great stories and lives. From flight attendants, retirees, a super pregnant housewife and massage therapist to dozens of people actually working in the fitness industry as teachers who already teach classics but also things like cardio striptease and more! (Another class I want to check out soon!). I love the energy, sweat, smiles, yells of enthusiasm, the enthusiastic and talented Latin fly girls who sometimes come up to demonstrate on each side of Beto, the Brazillian vibe of celebration, (even if it superficial) the hot sexy Brazillian clothes and all the detailed instruction which I feel is going to help my own teaching of hoopdance to improve as well.

Yesterday morning, before I made the 1 hour drive here from SF, I took 5 minutes to find a hotel on hotels.com. I thought I would benefit from staying overnigt to integrate all that has been presented before day 2, and just have a nice evening to myself. I quickly chose a hotel which was more boutique-y and cheaper than their recommended one. It was a 10 minute drive away, in a place called Mountain View (home of google). I had never been here, but it sounded and looked way nicer than what they suggested. So I came here after class last night, it was super hip and modern which I like, got a recommendation of sushi joint and ended up in the center of a fun main drag here. I quickly forgot all about the sushi place as I walked up and down the street and was caught up with people watching. I felt like I was walking down the street surrounded by the quirky, well to do, madly multicultural mix of who works right at google! Almost like on a posh google shopping campus. It was like an upscale, yet funky, San Francisco out here in the middle of Silicon Valley. Fascinating! I ate at Temptations, an IndianChinese Fusion hipster resturant with dim colored lights and sleek modern wood and metal fixtures that loooked right out of Dwell magazine, packed with well dressed multigenerational Indian families. I loved watching the really old grandmothers with braided grey hair down their backs in beautiful saris chatting with their urban chic progressive families, with babies in town in those super dailed-out baby strollers I see all around the city. It was just a whole window of culture I have never even seen... and... the food was out of control delicious with rich aromatic herbs and delicate flavors. I sat in a window seat and was torn between watching all the amazing people walking by outside and all the interesting families inside, my Zumba reading lay forgotten by my side the whole meal.

Afterwards, I walked up the street and found the singlemost AMAZING book/gift store I have seen since moving to Northern California. I feel like I will be making the drive from Sf to come here in the future when I just want to "get away" from the city and immerse in inspiration once in a while as a day trip. It is called East-West Bookstore and it was packed with amazing, inspiring books, art, gems, statues, etc. There was an entire wall devoted to "The Secret" which had all the books all the visionaries featured in the movie had written! Being a Secret junkie, I was immediatly captivated. I went from section to section, picking up random books and reading for a while, then moving on to a new section. My hand would just reach out and grab a random book and the words inside seemed to really relate to what I am up to right now. So much fun! I talked to an employee for a while about the new book I am reading, Pronoia, and we discussed that bookstores really need a whole separate section on gratitude! It is such a powerful force. To truely shift your mind to percieve the world and everyone in it are always plotting for your greater good is a total shift of mind which brings so much happiness!

So here I am back at my hotel, up early and revving up for day 2 with Beto. It has been a delightful mini vacation full of unexpected surprises and I am sure today will unfold beautifully and with lots more sweat and dance learning. I was completely worked after yesterday and I am sure by the time today is done I will be ready for some sweet rest at home. And to think I was having second thoughts yesterday morning in SF about doing this at all!

Thank you! Life is fantastic! I am so blessed in so many ways. I am continually in awe at the gifts which pour into my life. I trust my intuition to lead me in the perfect direction at all times towards positive expansion and growth. This feels so good!

What a surprise to see Chris, who also wrote about us in Prevention Magazine online, on tv this morning spreading the love of hoopdance! I got to hoop it up with her recently and she is now teaching with our hoops at the Mayo clinic. Thanks for the shout out, Chris!

Watch the video here:
http://www.kare11.com/news/local/mornings/sunrise_article.aspx?storyid=260902

What a gift and confirmation!

Short report before I get to work... had gotten distracted by the TV thing!

Before I started my hooping this morning I watched Baxter's grace video and felt so calmed and centered just from watching it! It was a great reminder that hooping is a practice and life path before it is a business for me. Hearing the slow music and watching his careful movements was a powerful visual reminder of what really matters.

During my hour long morning hooping practice which followed, I used only my left arm since my right tricep is pulled. I put on an ambient CD called "Yogitar". At first, I started in slow motion, using the hoop as a balanced prop to weave my body into and out of with deep breathe. I tried some of Baxter's "warrior" methods with it and found the response time lagging a bit, but just stayed with the process. Then I moved on to my outflow and using my left hand for floats and skips and steps, etc. Also, floats with left hand in outflow from limbo and booty bump were fun adventures.

Wow! I hadn't realized how much my I favor my right hand until I didn't allow myself to use it. As the hoop rotated around, I found all these small ways in which I didn't fully articulate or push as much as I do with my other hand. So in my breathe, in the soothing music, in slow movements and building of strength and balance I was. It was a great journey with the sunshine streaming through the plants and some wonderful sensations in my body.

It's funny how an injury can be a whole new window into what is possible. I intend to specifically do complete a left hand practice at least once a week from now on.

:)