I have been really enjoying my work with kids over the last several months through hoop, yoga, and art. Fun to see that the first lady agrees that hooping is a fun way to stay in shape!
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/the-first-ladys-hoops/?hp
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Hooping Manifesto!
SaFire, an awesome hooper from Canada who has been getting international attention for her hooping tutorial's, her hooping community HoopCity, and for just being a general badass all the way around, has created a "Hooping Manifesto" which shows her process with the hoop. I think the lessons here are inspiring as life lessons beyond the hoop! I want to share this with all of my fellow hoop enthusiasts and especially my students who roll their eyes at me when I squeek with delight at their successes and act as a pep squad when they are learning telling them to keep practicing and it will come :)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
A VISION and a PURPOSE
I think I have had a bit of a breakthrough tonight about my vision for my business! I have been working on building my hoopdance and yoga business. However, I haven't been able to escape the feeling that teaching hoopdance classes is only a part of the picture of what I want to be doing and I have been having trouble grasping that other piece.
I went to an event tonight about social entreprenuership. The speaker at the event told his story of how he started his nonprofit organization. It always charges me up to meet people who are motivated change makers, but I left the event feeling like I wasn't completely sure that I got what I wanted out of it. I was late to the event, so I didn't get a chance to hear what every individual story in the room, but it seemed like the topic of the discussion was generally just a discussion of nonprofit management and using a fancy newfangled title of "Social Entrepreneurship" to describe it. Those types of endeavors are noble, but in terms of my own work that kind of model just isn't resonating with me.
I realized that what has been inspiring me lately was people starting businesses with an aim toward creating social change. Just yesterday, I was having lunch yesterday with a local entrepreneur who was telling me about how he mentors inner city kids in DC and how his commitment to giving back to the community was part of his business model and it really got me thinking about what I really wanted to do to give back and what that meant to me. Quite honestly answering this question was causing me to draw a HUGE blank. I started thinking about the issues that I really truly care about. The issues historically that interest me are women's choice issues, protection of the environment, work/ economy issues, and self/esteem body issues.
Joel was the one to point out to me the obvious link to self esteem and body issues. I nearly dismissed his thought as it is something that I have thought before. I have said many times that to me, the most interesting part of teaching hoopdance is watching the evolution of my students who come in on the first day of class with all sorts of bad feelings about themselves that get in the way from learning how to do it. They tell me "I'm clumsy" and "I'm not graceful." On one hand these students frustrate me, because I can see so clearly how they way they are thinking about themselves is the only thing getting in their way. But more than anything, I just completely relate to these students, because I have struggled with these feelings about myself nearly every moment of my life.
When someone compliments my hooping or says something like, "You make it look so easy." I laugh because I know what a hard path it was to get even where I am now. I was not a natural hoopdancer or even a dancer! It took a lot of practice to give me the confidence that I have now. I still struggle with these feelings, but every day I feel stronger, and healthier, and more graceful of a dancer!
Relating hoopdance to self esteem issues is not a new business concept! In fact, three of my most pivotal teachers strongly include this type of messaging into their teaching. My first teacher in object manipulation was Isa "Glittergirl" her own story with her struggle with weight issues and how she overcame that through fire dancing has always inspired me. Likewise, my hoop guru Baxter teaches hoopdance as a way to overcome depression and he has been very forthcoming about how hoopdance helped him tackle depression. His retreats are incredibly powerful and healing to me partially because I feel like he is reading my darkest thoughts. Last, but certainly not least, the entire Hoopgirl business is built on a principal of "Feeling Good." I strongly connected with the techniques and discussions we had in my teacher training about how to help people feel good about themselves in my classes and through hoopdance and I have long admired Christabel for her authenticity and willingness to share her own story of going from an out of shape graduate student to a drop dead gorgeous glamazon.
A recent article in TIME magazine: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1925330,00.html highlighted the transformational benefits of hooping. While I was super excited for national spotlight on hooping (I heard about it all weekend long from people I met at my festivals and performances), I was a little unsettled by the focus of the article on weight loss. Weight loss is sexy. Weight loss sells magazines. Weight loss sells hoops. Weight loss can be a very healthy thing for people. Especially people who are very overweight, and positive examples like these can help people reach their goals. But when someone asks me if hoopdance will help them lose weight I stumble a bit when I answer. I stumble because I can't guarentee that. Weight loss occurs when one is burning more calories than they consume. An exercise regime can help, but nutrition has to play a key role as well. I have no doubt that hoopdance can help people achieve their fitness goals. Early on in my hoopdance practice, I also lost some weight (there were other factors as well) but hoopdance certainly played a role.
Beyond the mere fact of not wanting to make false promises, I realize that I am just sensitive to messaging involving weight loss. I have struggled with body and eating issues for nearly my entire life. And I am pretty sure that I am finally free of it, because I find myself weighing more than I ever have in my life, but feeling the best about myself than I ever have! Between hoopdance and yoga, I am getting more exercise than ever. A funny side note to this story is that I was shocked to discover upon finishing my yoga teacher training program that I had gained 5 pounds in that month! In the past this discovery would have devastated me into a spiral of self-loathing and depression that would have lead me into to destructive behaviors. But this time, it has me giggling and wanting to pick up a banana instead of a chocolate bar, and motivates me even more to stay even more active with my yoga, hoop and dance classes. I know that by doing what I love I will easily maintain a healthy weight.
In terms of my business, I am feeling really charged up to integrate this even more fully into my vision for the future. I love teaching people to be amazing hoopers and yogis, but what really excites me is getting people to feel better about themselves. (And the best thing is that as I help others, I also ended up helping myself and making myself stronger as well).
This idea has my mind spinning about all of the possible directions this can go from nonprofit partnerships, book ideas, articles, and curriculum for seminars and youth programs. My mind is whirling with possibilities! And this feels good because it is the first time in a long time that I have felt VISION and perhaps even more importantly a PURPOSE.
I went to an event tonight about social entreprenuership. The speaker at the event told his story of how he started his nonprofit organization. It always charges me up to meet people who are motivated change makers, but I left the event feeling like I wasn't completely sure that I got what I wanted out of it. I was late to the event, so I didn't get a chance to hear what every individual story in the room, but it seemed like the topic of the discussion was generally just a discussion of nonprofit management and using a fancy newfangled title of "Social Entrepreneurship" to describe it. Those types of endeavors are noble, but in terms of my own work that kind of model just isn't resonating with me.
I realized that what has been inspiring me lately was people starting businesses with an aim toward creating social change. Just yesterday, I was having lunch yesterday with a local entrepreneur who was telling me about how he mentors inner city kids in DC and how his commitment to giving back to the community was part of his business model and it really got me thinking about what I really wanted to do to give back and what that meant to me. Quite honestly answering this question was causing me to draw a HUGE blank. I started thinking about the issues that I really truly care about. The issues historically that interest me are women's choice issues, protection of the environment, work/ economy issues, and self/esteem body issues.
Joel was the one to point out to me the obvious link to self esteem and body issues. I nearly dismissed his thought as it is something that I have thought before. I have said many times that to me, the most interesting part of teaching hoopdance is watching the evolution of my students who come in on the first day of class with all sorts of bad feelings about themselves that get in the way from learning how to do it. They tell me "I'm clumsy" and "I'm not graceful." On one hand these students frustrate me, because I can see so clearly how they way they are thinking about themselves is the only thing getting in their way. But more than anything, I just completely relate to these students, because I have struggled with these feelings about myself nearly every moment of my life.
When someone compliments my hooping or says something like, "You make it look so easy." I laugh because I know what a hard path it was to get even where I am now. I was not a natural hoopdancer or even a dancer! It took a lot of practice to give me the confidence that I have now. I still struggle with these feelings, but every day I feel stronger, and healthier, and more graceful of a dancer!
Relating hoopdance to self esteem issues is not a new business concept! In fact, three of my most pivotal teachers strongly include this type of messaging into their teaching. My first teacher in object manipulation was Isa "Glittergirl" her own story with her struggle with weight issues and how she overcame that through fire dancing has always inspired me. Likewise, my hoop guru Baxter teaches hoopdance as a way to overcome depression and he has been very forthcoming about how hoopdance helped him tackle depression. His retreats are incredibly powerful and healing to me partially because I feel like he is reading my darkest thoughts. Last, but certainly not least, the entire Hoopgirl business is built on a principal of "Feeling Good." I strongly connected with the techniques and discussions we had in my teacher training about how to help people feel good about themselves in my classes and through hoopdance and I have long admired Christabel for her authenticity and willingness to share her own story of going from an out of shape graduate student to a drop dead gorgeous glamazon.
A recent article in TIME magazine: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1925330,00.html highlighted the transformational benefits of hooping. While I was super excited for national spotlight on hooping (I heard about it all weekend long from people I met at my festivals and performances), I was a little unsettled by the focus of the article on weight loss. Weight loss is sexy. Weight loss sells magazines. Weight loss sells hoops. Weight loss can be a very healthy thing for people. Especially people who are very overweight, and positive examples like these can help people reach their goals. But when someone asks me if hoopdance will help them lose weight I stumble a bit when I answer. I stumble because I can't guarentee that. Weight loss occurs when one is burning more calories than they consume. An exercise regime can help, but nutrition has to play a key role as well. I have no doubt that hoopdance can help people achieve their fitness goals. Early on in my hoopdance practice, I also lost some weight (there were other factors as well) but hoopdance certainly played a role.
Beyond the mere fact of not wanting to make false promises, I realize that I am just sensitive to messaging involving weight loss. I have struggled with body and eating issues for nearly my entire life. And I am pretty sure that I am finally free of it, because I find myself weighing more than I ever have in my life, but feeling the best about myself than I ever have! Between hoopdance and yoga, I am getting more exercise than ever. A funny side note to this story is that I was shocked to discover upon finishing my yoga teacher training program that I had gained 5 pounds in that month! In the past this discovery would have devastated me into a spiral of self-loathing and depression that would have lead me into to destructive behaviors. But this time, it has me giggling and wanting to pick up a banana instead of a chocolate bar, and motivates me even more to stay even more active with my yoga, hoop and dance classes. I know that by doing what I love I will easily maintain a healthy weight.
In terms of my business, I am feeling really charged up to integrate this even more fully into my vision for the future. I love teaching people to be amazing hoopers and yogis, but what really excites me is getting people to feel better about themselves. (And the best thing is that as I help others, I also ended up helping myself and making myself stronger as well).
This idea has my mind spinning about all of the possible directions this can go from nonprofit partnerships, book ideas, articles, and curriculum for seminars and youth programs. My mind is whirling with possibilities! And this feels good because it is the first time in a long time that I have felt VISION and perhaps even more importantly a PURPOSE.
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