Check out this fabulous article on the front cover of the Style section of the San Francisco Chronicle today! Check it out!

Paste the below link into your browser:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/03/LV28UOA2F.DTL

First, gratitude for being alive! No matter what is ever happening, I feel so happy for the gift of life and wellbeing! So many gifts surround me.

The highlight of my day was teaching. I got to leave my computer behind and just immerse myself in a whole new atmosphere of students at intermediate level. There is a sweetness of inspiration that emerges from working with intermediates. Quite simply, I love it. I love how eager they are to learn. I love how readily they absorb information and personalize it with their own creativity. I love their energy level and how much they push themselves. I can push my own edge while helping them to do the same. I can give them sneek peeks of moves and combinations which are fascinating me too. Its like a community of hoop geeks which get my crazy lingo. Truely, my students are one of my greatest blessings. I wish I taught intermediate and advanced students every day. I think it would be good for me! Bring it on, Universe!

Hello hoopers in North Bay, Berkeley, Palo Alto/Mountain View/San Jose and Southern San Francisco!

We are finally bringing the original HoopGirl Workout classes out to the entire Bay area! We would love to work with you on this.... and offer a gift of thanks!

The person who finds us a perfect location for each course, which results in a signed contract and a course happening, will get a FREE 6 week HoopGirl Workout Class series of your choice: Beginner I, Beginner II, Intermediate I or Intermediate II. That's 9 hours of hot hoop moves, sweat drenching dance and performance training by a Licensed HoopGirl Workout instructor, valued at $180!

What we seek: A studio which is at least which is at least 1500 square feet. This would have a sound system we can plug our microphone and I-pod into. This space would preferably have mirrors and be available for 1.5 hours on a weeknight between the hours of 630-10pm.

Learn all about our superfun programs at www.HoopGirl.com.

Questions? Want to express interest and let us know you want to work with us? Call HoopGirl Headquarters at 1-877-HOOP!

Thank you and keep on hooping!

xo
Christabel

HoopGirl Special Edition Sassy Pants now available in Turqouise in our online store! Enjoy!

Photo by Sheri Gilblin. Thank you!

Hello hooping fans~ our newly rebranded HoopStar™ Workout Classes are starting up on March 19 in East Bay on Wednesday nights! Join Natasha in Berkeley from 6-7:30pm at the Works and/or Satise in Oakland at Pepa Sports from 8:30-10pm for our Beginner I series. Our fabulous Licensed HoopGirl instructors will show you all the basics of hooping in a fun-filled class. You will rock out while learning grace, poise and precision. Sign up in the HoopGirl.com online store.

Have fun!

Today was the first day of the first Level 2 HoopGirl Certified Instructor Training.. what an amazing gathering of hoop leaders! I feel so honored and excited that every single one of these women came all the way to San Francisco to study with me and share their brilliance.

Everything flowed as if I had done it dozens of times before and it was quite remarkable to watch each teacher refine their skills and absorb so effortlessly. I am so glad.

Today was a gift. A day that showed me I am on the right path! Just watching the radiance and excitement of every teacher move to the next level was such a joy. I love teaching and I specifically LOVE teaching teachers! With attendees from Utah, Washington, Canada, Oregon, and all over California, I really see how our community is growing. Thank you!

It's monday morning and I still feel caught up in the training which took place over this past weekend. Wow! It feels amazing to have an inspiration to do something, and then to take a risk by going out on a limb to see it through.... and have it succeed! Thank you!

What I really loved about the training was that each person who attended was so committed to amping their skills as hoopers and teachers to the next level. It was phenomenal to hold space where the students, themselves, self-corrected and coached each other so powerfully. I was so pleased that they grasped the teaching material so deeply and taught it with such clarity. I am blessed to be surrounded by such mastery! A success on all levels. I can't wait for more.

Meanwhile... after so much non-stop prep time and anticipation, today on the day after, I feel a bit uncertain of what to do with myself. Ever have that feeling?After working so hard and for so long, how do you stop, rest and come back home?

I forced myself to go to the spa last night.... Even though the training was amazing, my mind was buzzing with, "what could have made it even better?" and other self-evaluative thoughts, and the blazing hot water, then cold plunge, again and again, stilled my brain. I sat in the sauna and breathed and imagined my thoughts becoming filled with radiant silver light and I felt a nice release.. a letting go... as visualizations of light relaxed my mind. Every time a though surged up, I imagined it was a matrix of light... I watched it rise on the horizon, and allowed anything which was not radiant to release out the bottom so that the energy peak could rise higher and surrounded by more sparkling energy. Soon, all I saw was light, all I felt was breathe and water, hot and cold. A massage to top it off and then home to rest ... what a sweet close.

More dreams of whales. I am asking myself what the whales are visiting me for .. these fantastical and mystical record keepers of the past keep coming into my thoughts and sleep time. Their resonance and songs ease my insides. They keep telling me to open my mind to something bigger, bigger, bigger... meanwhile I'll just keep breathing and being.

This afternoon I had a two hour private lesson with one of the most angelically pure beings I have ever met on the planet. She arrived with beautiful flowers for me and a 3 page handwritten letter of thanks for the level 2 teacher training.

Her soul radiated love and she was so determined to learn! She was so observant of my dance and tried with every ounce of her being to create the same movements in her body. I was so touched! As a teacher, having a student so eager to learn and absorb from me in every way was a complete honor! I poured out everything to her. She was asking me about nuances in my dancing style that no one has ever asked to specifically learn.. so it was sweet to also realize that I can actually teach something which is my signature.

While I drove her to her next destination afterwards, she shared that my training has helped her hooping, but also helped her become a better person. She said when she is a bad mood and wants to act mean, she stops and asks herself, "what would Christabel do?" I felt like I was going to cry all over the place! I am just so darned human with all the same angers and hopes and fears and bad days and good days as everyone else, but her belief in my innate goodness as a human being made me want to become that person even more!

After dropping her off, she smiled broadly and waved as I was walking away. I had one of those tingley sensations that told me I would remember this day always. Her absolute purity and genuine sense of wonder has restored something within me. What a gift!

Hello gorgeous hoopers!! I hope you can join Heather and I this friday for a fabulous hoop adventure!!! See details below...

Smiles,
Christabel

WHAT: A guided hoop journey exploring the idea of sexy while dancing! Explore your own freeform practice to fabulous guided imagery in a large space with wonderful wooden floors, twinkling lights, berries and chocolate!
WHEN: This Friday night, 7:30-9:30 pm.
WHO: YOU! Men, women, boys, girls, all sizes, all experience levels!
WHERE: The Woman's Building, 3543 18th St, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110.
HOW MUCH: $15 suggested donation.
BONUS: Trunk sale on site of HoopGirl Sassy Pants and tank tops!!!!

Join Christabel and Heather to PLAY!

At HoopGirl®, we reclaim and redefine "sexy" ~ Anybody can claim this energy, regardless of age or looks. We believe "sexy" is a energetic radiance which arises from total power, presence and passion in the now. HoopSexy is a place where you can consciously create a quickening in your body through focused hoopdance. More than just a "jam", it is focused personal practice time. No formal instruction is provided. Follow your intuition while the Christabel and Heather provide evocative music and light facilitation which you can play with as you explore your own creative dance. We welcome you to arrive adorned to celebrate yourself. Bring water. Bring friends! Hoops provided for use and available on site for sale, as well as DVDs, water bottles and more...

Image by www.pixievisionproductions.com

All I've had for the last week has been excuses about why I haven't put in the private time, so this morning's 40 minutes were sweet! I had fun freestyling to the music, exploring Dolphin variations, all kinds of vertical twirls through the hoop in all directions, lots of outflow, some Swans. My buff was on my head and I impulsivly pulled it down over my eyes -- I never hoop in the buff at home since my practice space is about 4x5 with a big tv and other breakables on all sides... but suddenly I backed against the couch and realized that if I can just keep one leg against the couch at all times, there is no way I can bump into anything else breakable in the room! It was a huge revelation for me because I usually reserve sightless hooping for the studio... which takes away a lot of spontaneity around it. It felt really nice to get into a rhythm of playing the hoop back and forth and combining that with the sensation of stroking my pant leg in rhythm with the music between swings... almost a 3 dimensional sort of hoop experience.. those precious moments of feeling, breathing, connecting feed me so much now! The edge of "performing" has softened and now it is a sweet letting go to breathing and touching and all the happy potted plants surrounding me with green leaves.

Woke up at 5:15 and my mind was racing. An aftereffect of overwork... sometimes this happens when I haven't taken a day off in too long. Decided today to break the cycle, so I picked up my hoop and began quietly hooping the livingroom to silence. My long flannel jammies started to get quite hot after a bit... since my husband was asleep in the bedroom where most of my movement clothing was, grabbed some burning man bootie shorts and stuff from the hall closet. Fun! As the sky has been getting lighter and lighter, I've just going back to basics for an hour. Lots of Plays, leg lifts, balancing, slo motion Dolphins so my landings were quiet, and basically just dancing. When Kramer woke for the gym, I turned on some music and it carried me through the last 20 minutes. My ankle has been feeling tender, so I've been lessening the impact on that foot and holding off on pivoting for the moment.... Enjoying sensation! I am so grateful to have a body!

Wow what an adventure! Tonight we held HoopSexy at the Women's Building in the Mission District. Twinkling lights, chocolate, berries.. and fun! I had been stuck in the house all day on business calls so it felt so freeing to dress up, put on a sparkling wig and cruise out to play. A whole crew came from Santa Cruz to support and participate which was sweet. Allison came all the way from Davis and met her mom there from Sacramento! And lots of lovely locals... Karen, Amanda, Julie, Paige, Adriana, Piper and many more. It was a flowing journey through practice and play... lots of metaphors.. a dancing journey. An a real experiment in co-facilitation! I co-led with Heather from MoveHoops and we learned together what works and what can be improved. I am so grateful for all the dance lab participants who came and allowed themselves to get swept away in our tide of music and exercises. HoopSexy is so freeing and unleashing for me as a teacher. It is wonderful to have structured classes, but also sweet and so very poetic to lead a journey of flowing awakening. I am so glad that it feeds those who come, because it also heals something within myself too. Thank you!