Our most recent HoopGirl Teacher Training weekend was a brilliant whirlwind! Talented hoopers from all over the country (and Canada!), focused presence and fun! We had an amazing crew of women...
Jessica: A Marin resident from over the Golden Gate Bridge who started hooping 6 month ago and is excited to be a part of the growing movement! Jessica also assists us in the HoopGirl office part time.
Marcy: From British Columbia, a trainer and gym owner who is passionate about healing and women's fitness!
Julie G.: A firecracker! A local Bay Area student who lives in Palo Alto who has been a runner for the past 17 years and loves hooping because it keeps her in one place while keeping her fit and helping her have fun.
Courtney: An artistic and witty experienced hooper from Squamish British Columbia, who has been whirling in the ring since 2006.
Gina: A young woman with a radiant smile from Mono Bay who knows how to rock the short shorts and tube socks. She loves to hoop!
Julie M.: Another short-short and tube sock rockin' hooper who arrived fresh from Hawaii and now lives in Paso Robles. She loves the hoop and is a close friend of Gina's.
Julie: A stunningly powerful yogini from Santa Fe, New Mexico who loves hooping and finds it beautiful to watch.
Mary: An amazonian hooper from Bend, OR who's confidence and presence was tangible... she will bringing hooping to her new residence which she restarts her life in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Danielle: A gem from Golden, Colorado who was wrapped up in a fashionable silver body string for much of the training! She loves the hoop and started her practice 1 year ago. She has since experienced significant physical and mental benefits.
Carrie: Another experienced yoga instructor from Cerrita, Arizona, yogini who is passionate about hooping.
Marely: A rollerskater from Portland, Oregon who loves the sacred geometry of spinning practices. She is passionate about hooping and inspired that her brother lost 80 pounds from hooping!
JennaLuna continued her apprenticeship as a trainer and co-facilitated with me. It is wonderful to watch her come into her own as a trainer more and more! Her poise, elegant word choices and insightful contributions are lending so much to these events and upleveling the radiance. So excited to continue her training process!
We also had the glowing and generous assistance of Allison Miller, a Licensed HoopGirl Workout instructor from Davis. I LOVE her energy, enthusiasm and mature presence. I sense a future HoopGirl trainer here.... ;)
As usual, the mock teaching practicums were my favorite part! The material just keeps getting better and better! I loved watching how each woman tapped into her own genius while teaching the group, using the HoopGirl class format which have been proven to activate creativity, again and again. I love that the structure allows freedom, but also provides a tangible container to facilitate a group.
One big realization I had is that the teacher training material at EVERY level in the HoopGirl Dance Academy is longing to e-x-p-a-n-d. This is not new news! In every course the #1 feedback we get is that students wish there was more time to play and train and study the material. I've resisted this growth for a long time, having a concern about how students would handle the additional time and financial commitment, but realize that now is the time! The program needs to evolve and grow... and I need to trust the process, as I always have.
I am now making plans to revise our training structure at every level of the HoopGirl teacher training to add an additional pre-training day! These new 4 day trainings will initiate in the fall of 2009 and I can't wait to share more with you about how it evolves. In addition to this, the HoopGirl Annual Teacher's Conference - Vortex, will provide continuing education opportunities for our team to study, learn and play even more together while connecting with the global HoopGirl family! More details soon...I am so grateful!