Hoopaholica + Beyond

Spider Dreaming

2010-10-17T00:10:00.026+11:00

And the wheel turns... life goes on... we are all here to heal... and live... the love... that is this life. Greetings from Bali. I've been here for almost two weeks now, with another two to go. Somehow the prospect of leaving feels unfathomable as the power of the now is just so incredibly captivating and strong. The mountainous areas of Bali are a magnetic home for this galactivating spinner of the light as sourced from the dark that is the void and beyond. The 13th year of the 13 year cycle is about to come to a close as I approach my 38th cycle around the sun. Ah Yum, Hunab Ku, Evam Maya E Ma Ho! I came here to create and heal my heart only to discover that the wilderness of the imagination is the only place where the heart truly heals purely by higher navigation. It's an intense journey this one, bridging worlds with serpentine intent and the power of the mirror as a tool for alignment. Where to go from here? I have come to a full stop.

Rewind two nights back lying in a dream circle re-entering the previous night's visions to inquire what else can I discover from the subconscious story? I am in a temple on a clifftop yet again. The walls are red, the light is warm and ambient, Kit is there spinning hoops all over, red ones especially and I am keen to capture her amazing beauty on video so run off to find my camera only become distracted and when i return the light has fallen and she needs to rush off for lunch but somehow i hold her and shoot the video as intended. Nick is there and we are all very happy. It's a blissful dream. As I re-enter I pick up a hoop and throw one to Nick - we all begin to spin and play and laugh having a great time. Then I am cleansed by water running over and through my body all my cells and organs are purified I am ready to lie down where i can feel the coldness of the ground and just relax. As i lie there straining to see further all of the muscles in my body and face surrender to the nothingness that they desire as I drop into the void it is black no more vision no more inquiry no more desire simply nothing. I fall further into the dream and become a snake lying on the ground. I am grounded and it feels good to move as one muscle slowly against the cold ground. I stand up and move within the temple walls to receive a visit from a guide who entered my dreams long ago, he has walked paths with me and given me gifts, a gentle old man who i adore. I am reminded of the serpents and spiders as my dream totems and press forward with the journey as i want to see more. He shows me the dream as The Dream itself as in this vision is precious and not something to inhibit with poor sleeping and waking life practices. I must remain clean to maintain the clarity of the vision which amplifies the creation that is.

Fast forward to that night waking up in bed in extreme pain in my right ankle. I have no idea why, wondering if I had accidentally fallen into a ditch which is easy enough to do where I am although not something that one would forget so easily. I realise this is impossible and try to fall back to sleep, I will deal with it in the morning. I wake up and the pain intensifies as I realise I have been bitten by a spider which has injected poison into me making my ankle swollen and sore. Grandmother Spider, what is it that you wish for me to know from this? Right ankle points to the magnetic tone or spiritual intent. I am initiated into the Unknown through the Moon. I am warned to reconsider my allies. I have been warned similarly before under different circumstances. As I draw toward the magnetic tone I wonder if this requires my relinquishing of Spider as my ally - she is tricky to be sure but powerful and all creative. Perhaps I just need to be paying closer attention to who and what I let in. Thankfully the poison quickly left my body leaving wisdom as its only trace.

As I journey further I slow down the pace and become more like the snake as i tune into the vibration of the land i am on. As the web spans outward my gaze falls inward to the only place that i truly know that which is my soul inhabiting this human experience. I am feeling out the territory, allowing time and space to sit and listen and watch. I am sensing my own inner territory in a completely new way. It wants space and air and liquid goodness. I give so much thanks to my beautiful soul family who visit me in my dreams both sleeping and waking reminding me that no matter how far we travel we are all still connected within this breathtaking web of creation. I bow before Grandmother Spider to show me the way and set my intention before I dream.

Dreaming the Cosmic Hoop Spell

2010-09-04T18:29:00.047+10:00

When a dream is upon us it is difficult to do much else other than be in it. Unless there is an awareness within the dream that it is just that, a dream, in which case we can not only start to engage with it in more dynamic and conscious ways but we can also start to program it. Just like the hoop. When you first get your hoop on there's a whole lot of effort and focus on what you have to do to keep it going. But when you relax and release the mind a symbiotic relationship appears between the hoop and the body where one doesn't necessarily control the other but both show each other the way at which point the body develops the ability to channel. Tantric hooping? Bring it on. Then there's the DreamSpell - a 13 moon Mayan calendar cosmology that traces cycles of time drawing consciousness from the centre into multilayered spirals of perception about the self, life and waves of being. The story of creation becomes cosmic when wheels spin within wheels connecting galactic centres with our own, awakening a consciousness that allows co-creation of a dream which transcends the personal.

This past March at the Sacred Circularities hoop retreat in Bali I discovered a whole new way of life on so many levels. The timing of the retreat fit in well with the end of my first 8 week teaching term of the year offering a space for personal practice. What that practice appeared as was quite different to what I had expected it to be. At the moment there are so many amazing hoop retreats being held around the world that there really is no shortage of divine destinations to beam into where you can seriously get your hoop on and learn as much as possible from a broad selection of rokstar hoopers in a concentrated boiling pot of hot hooping action which feels a lot like a home coming. Such retreats are worth reflecting on for their outstanding good times and pure brilliance - Hoop Camp in Santa Cruz, Harbin Hoop Retreat in Northern California, the ongoing and epic Hoop Path journeys, Hoop Convergence in North Carolina, the UK Hoop Gathering, Spin Matsuri in Japan, Australia's first ever Hoopy Happening coming up in November of this year and a Hoop Dreaming visioned for 2012 in the Australian desert. The global hoop community is stepping up to the dream of expanding our hoop print as far and wide as possible. The Hooping Family Tree Project appeared recently online - WOW. So, leaving Burning Man aside which is a little easier to do when you don't live in California, it makes it quite the challenge to decide on where to sets one's sights when thinking about traveling in the hoop. Sacred Circularities struck me as yet another distinct dreaming of what it is to explore, expand and celebrate the hoop within community - it had a spiritual flavour to it which focused on the sacred using sound, geometry, yoga, energetics and essence as portals of discovery. Switched my galactic buttons on. It was also a little closer to home. I was sold.

It wasn't until I was struck down by the tropical heat and humidity on the very first day of the retreat that I realised why I was there. Head spinning, heart pounding, stomach churning... I realised in shock that I had to stop. Not in a Hoop Camp sit out a workshop to make room for the many more later kinda way. In a sit down, don't move, put your hoops away for a significant moment or two until the space opens to take the hooping beyond the hoop. It was time for a different kind of practice. The journey continued to provide several more amazing demonstrations of Spirit in full force. Not least the news of a dear friend's departure from the third dimension. What it is to grieve outside of a circle of grief. Refreshing actually. A powerful and quick release from one's own deeply imbedded pain and suffering triggered by the passing of others. As we hooped and discussed and stretched and danced and played and rested for several more days a new layer of life's story presented itself to be listened to and heard. Interestingly, this story is about time.

Time is a concept and a tool that we use for what? To make, to create, to express, plan, nurture, worry, wonder... In the Mayan Dreamspell focus is shifted from the 12:60 paradigm of Time is Money to the 13:20 Time is Art. In one system you have the mechanical clocking in and out that supports an economy of finance and mental domination; in the other you have a resonance of numbers that tunes into the harmonics of nature which in turn supports an economy of well-being, encouraging and allowing the mind to expand. The Story of Creation reveals itself for what it is rather than what we insist or resist it to be. We were fortunate enough to be gifted the Dreamspell stories by a Monkey Goddess in the land of those adorable ancestral creatures. As an avid astrologer looking for more always, this new layer of perception has amplified my experience of life. It takes it beyond the planetary influence, surfs along the electromagnetic waves, plugs into the quantum plasma and switches on the Galactic Source centring that we are all being invited to activate as 2012 rolls around the corner. The time is now. What and how do you wish to create?

Speaking of time, I've discovered a wonderful new technique for more vivid and memorable dreaming where I set my alarm 2-3 hours before I intend on getting out of bed so that my head is much lighter when I go back to sleep to watch the subconscious stories. I highly recommend it - it allows you to see what your mind REALLY thinks about life, if you can decode it.

So I returned to Sydney after Sacred Circularities feeling invigorated by an exciting new cosmic system to study but confronted by old ways of being that needed to be released for the full potential of the new level of learning to unfold. Hello transiting Saturn Uranus Jupiter Pluto T square sitting on my natal Moon Pluto Jupiter T square. In a hyper state of awareness of the 13th cosmic year of a 13 year cycle the wheel continued to turn at a speed and intensity that would make the best of us grab the rails in a mild to extreme state state of panic bordering on nauseating despair and full vertigo. It was like riding a tsunami in high heels as a tween that has no idea what it is to balance in such atrocious instruments of fashion but desperately wants to because thats what our culture and conditioning tells us to do. Not my style. Hit the eject button. Time to step outside of the circle as the second term of the year came to a close. The lesson points in a lot of ways to an ability to become less involved to simply observe. When you step on the spiral highway there's just no turning back and when the benchmark is set, well its a step up or step out kind of situation. Sometimes that means fearlessly rejecting it all simply to find out what truly is in a state of complete acceptance and the willingness to allow life to effortlessly be.

Enter Byron Bay - Australia's portal of all things galactic and beyond. The town itself is an odd representation of the rampant unfoldment of culture throughout time and space but the essence of Byron exists beyond the walls of the main drag. For me it's in the hills and the people. I drove far and wide to lands I have lived and danced in before and those that are new to the journey. Meeting friends over fires, dancing to the beat of a drum, sitting in stillness by the full moon, watching the ocean play out its own story, connecting with a community of people interested in conscious community which necessarily means making time for each other in meaningful spaces. Sitting in the temple. Learning, hooping a little, activating a lot, releasing, realising, discovering, watching more and more of the great mystery unfold. When you allow Spirit to guide you decisions are made and delivered with clarity. I blew out of town with a kitty kat in a cage, a new bag of life's tricks and beamed back into the big smoke for another term of the spin.

I've lost track of the weeks, maybe three or four more left, I am in it and enjoying being fully immersed. In October it all changes again as I am guided back to Bali hoops and wheels in tow. This time for longer. If Time is Art then more time must be made to create without distraction. This life we live is precious and must be shape-shifted accordingly. The dream is to live like there is no tomorrow as there truly isn't in the paradigm of the now. The dream is to create something so beautiful that you can't take your eyes from it. It captivates and enthralls, leaving you little else to do but be of service and allow it to lead you where you must be. It is divinely inspired and crafted. Resistance is futile.

As potentially tormenting as it was not to do the Californian hoop camp circuit, not to mention Spin Matsuri in Japan this year the decision feels like it was made for me by an overriding need to do something different or to have the difference done to and through me by forces beyond my control. When you clear and create space for something fresh and new the breeze blows in and there it is - right in front of you staring you in the face. Often in situations like this you have absolutely no idea of what lies ahead as it is an invocation of the void. This is the fun part.

And then... there's Hoopy Time!

More pix AND Watch the video

Create the dream you want to live and discover that you are living the dream.

So where this year leads is anyone's guess... Sacred Circularities is gathering again in Peru in November and South America is calling on many levels. These things seem now to only become apparent in feelings, signs and affirmations rather than thoughts. In the dreaming all will be revealed as it is to be shown and life will continue to be the mirage of reality that it is. Everything feels perfectly right as it is. Even if it does feel WEIRD... but *that* I put down to the planets. Now that's another story!

Energy in Motion

2010-06-15T11:28:00.001+10:00

Heart opening makes way for heart connection plugged into Source where Consciousness DOES YOU. For better or worse this is our ultimate partner in Time Space SOURCE As some might say suck it up or simply bask enjoy allow embrace welcome witness. The space behind our eyes is informative. It speaks of the void where Nothing is the reality. Surrender to stillness, silence, a space to simply be in consciousness guided by breath, the gaze is soft and inward. Beautiful colours emerge from the dark and light frequencies activate a level of absolute truth before and beyond words although ESSENCE describes it well. KALI power insight transformation through creativity and destruction. To be is to watch and listen and love. Sit in the centre and observe. The 13th integral step. Unification awaits. LOVE XO

BUNNYHOOPSTAR HOOPS KISS CLUB DEC 09

2010-02-04T14:26:00.000+11:00

THE HOOP TEACHER JOURNEY - TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM

2010-02-04T11:53:00.002+11:00

MAY 1 + 2, 2010

PROGRAM
Throughout this two-day teacher training course you will learn the fundamentals of Hoop Empire's Hybrid Hooping Instructional Program. The key elements of this course include hooping for fun, fitness, dance, creativity and therapeutic purposes. You will learn to teach a combination of both circus hula and contemporary hoop dance as well as discover your own individual style that will shape your own classes. The course will include daily warmup and hoop practice, designing course content, practical teaching exercises, troubleshooting, problem solving, discussion and question time.

The types of classes that you will learn to teach are:
1. Beginner’s Workshop
2. Beginner’s Course
3. Intermediate Intensive
4. Intermediate Hybrid Hooping Course

You will learn how to navigate your way through teaching absolute beginners through to intermediate hoopers, depending on your own skill level. You will also learn a few of the added extras involved in teaching hoops such as:
• The types of hoops to teach with and to sell
• How to incorporate instruction into performance (i.e interactive entertainment) + vice versa
• Differences in teaching children + adults
• Teaching people with learning difficulties
• Requirements you will need to teach such as insurance, equipment and space
• Costing classes, performances + manufacture of hoops

IDEAL TRAINING FOR:
* Experienced hoopers wanting to share hoop joy!
* Newbie hoopers who are competent and confident in teaching other beginners
* Fitness professionals looking to diversify their training repertoire
* School teachers wanting to add fun and exercise to their curriculum
* Those looking for a fun and exciting career change

PHILOSOPHY
You've probably noticed how hooping, and the teaching of it, has started to spread on the international circuit, particularly in the United States. While we live in a market economy we are too often confronted with competition as a potential threat to our business. I prefer to see humans and in particular, the hooping kind, as a global community who can assist and inspire each other with the intuitive understanding that the more you give, the more you will receive – it’s universal law. So what we are left with is how to create complementary businesses and business practices with confidence, integrity and respect for our own individual natures as teachers and lovers of the hoop. Discover your own personal style and strengths and translate this into your classes. Learn the foundations then teach and develop what you love!

I welcome and congratulate you on taking this exciting step. It will change your life and probably already has. As a teacher you have chosen to pass on your skill and talents to those who need or want it. As a hooper you are sharing your passion for a practice that is all about fun, joy, health and creativity. You are helping to create a different currency in this world – that of happiness or should I say hoopiness.

YOU WILL RECEIVE:

14 hours of on-site teacher training + hoop practice
A comprehensive 100+ page hoop manual to take with you
Lesson plans + rescources
A certificate of completion
A link and promotion on the Hoop Empire website
Access to my library of experience in hooping
Employment opportunities with Hoop Empire
The skills and know-how to set up your own classes!
WHEN: Saturday 1 + Sunday 2 MAY 2010, 9am-5pm (1 hour lunch break)
WHERE: Sydney
TEACHER: Bunny Star
COST: $600 or SPECIAL PRICE $500 if you book and pay in full by MARCH 30, 2010

PREREQUISITES: Minimum 6 months experience hooping

Book Now!

Blog the Yoga

2010-01-20T09:22:00.013+11:00

So yesterday in the throws of hyper-visual cyber saturation I sat transfixed to my computer trawling through Hoopy Award nominations, videos, pics, blogs, astro readings, FaceBook social news and general cyberland happenings. I have reached a rare point in the year where I am pretty much on top of my emails, still avoiding my bookwork, holding a small amount of space to chat online and generally pretty relaxed in week 4 of the annual 6 week sojourn. Life is cruising. Strangely as Yoga O'Clock approached I was hit with an overwhelming urge to blog which essentially requires a clear state of mind, a whole amount of solitary space and good dose of inspiration that had hit my hood. A competing zen bender. I sat in front of my computer tossing up my options noting that after a recent elongated writer's block it may not be the best thing to do to walk away when the flow was calling. On the other hand, I had been on the Yoga train for 5 days running and after a 3 day break it really was TIME to get back on or the momentum would be slowed. A split between the body and the mind - hello the answer should have been obvious. As a Libran I often throw most dilemmas out to the peeps and thank God for the love and support of decisive friends - the collective said DO BOTH and let one filter into the other - i.e "blog the yoga" ... thanks Ms Linguini :) So here I am post yoga mid blog fusing body and mind into one. The integrated whole.

Yoga entered my life when I moved to Sydney 14 years ago. Like writing it had for a long time been sporadic but always invigorating and ultimately soul food that I kept coming back to for more. My dedication and commitment to regular practice reached a turning point when I connected with a wonderful teacher about four years ago. It's an interesting dynamic that between teacher and student and one that deserves some contemplation. What was it about that teacher? It was about an essence. He would say, don't come to class because you think you should, come because you want to. Or, there's no point in giving up your vices in life if you're going to be schizophrenic about it - if you want whatever it is that you reach out for, go for it, until you no longer truly and authentically want it. This dude is a dude, for real. He beamed love and light, he oozed a chill that everyone wanted, he demonstrated an astonishing level of strength, flexibility and balance that one could only dream of and he was simply absolute beauty personified. We all fell in love and then he left the country. Like most things in life you don't gain a full appreciation of what you have right in front of you until it's gone. Aside from his stunning person and that wonderful exotic accent that somehow got me through the stretched out counts of leg-crushing warriors and reality defying twists and balances, he set me and my fellow students up with a solid foundation that catapulted us all I'm sure into a zone of what feels like a regular lifetime practice. He also challenged my attachment to The Teacher and what it is to find self-directed practice.

So I moped around town in search of another pining for the loss and wondering how one can replace such an experience. The reality is I couldn't as it was unique. This has happened before actually. With hooping. Once I had made the decision to dedicate myself to the practice 6 years ago my teacher had already left town. I mentioned this to my beloved yogi once over tea to which he smiled and suggested that perhaps it is simply part of my karma. Oh the simplicity. So as a teacher I am intrigued by what it is that we represent to our students and how we connect or not. He would say, students don't just come for the teaching they come to connect with your energy and your emotional self. He drew my attention to a responsibility that I now hold with a sense of sacredness and grace - as teachers we attract students who want to know more than just the skill set, whether we (and they) choose to acknowledge it or not. Together we create an experience that seems to exceed reason and words - it's a feeling that often effects us at a very profound level. After he left, as a teacher, I accepted the challenge of becoming my own teacher and took on a solitary practice down at StarLand last Summer. But when I returned to the city the physical space to practice in my own home was reduced and all the urban distractions thundered in, leaving me with a very strong desire to get back to class. Lucky my new yoga studio is less than 100 metres away from my home!

In honour of the class, I have to acknowledge its attributes - it's about synergy, a collective raising of energy, inspiration from others, the guidance of a teacher outside of the self, a structured format to follow that locks me into a disciplined time and a beautiful big sacred space that has been shape-shifted specifically for worship. I also experience the luxury of having someone else tell me what to do and when to do it knowing that the end result is a happy and healthy body/mind/spirit. When I'm in a class I don't have the cat running around my feet protesting that I'm pretending to be a dog! I don't have the distraction of phones and computers and fridges and all else that tempts one in the work from home zone. In class I am anonymous, I am silent, I am directed, I am safe, I am one of many, I am reminded that I am a small part of the whole, i am that I am. In class I sing and chant and stand on my head and hands and stretch out and go beyond my limitations just a little bit each time to progress with someone on guard watching, guiding and adjusting my development. I can almost do the splits! It's taken years... maybe this Christmas coming. I can feel this is the year. In class I am allowed to just be. I don't have to think. I don't want to think. I dream in colours and see shooting stars and at times am flooded with light as I feel prana coursing through my entire being. In class I feel alive and so relaxed and strong and balanced. In class I can practice breathing like the ocean and then barely breathe at all. In class I understand the power of the breath.

Beyond the spiritual and sacred nature of yoga, which I admit is its strongest drawcard for me, I am given the opportunity to shape and strengthen my body in a way that no other exercise has ever offered. Often I am amazed at how I need not practice something like the splits in each class but by practicing all the other poses that loosen up my hips I can return to Hanamanasana over time and it magically seems to have come along. It's an integrated form of exercise. Then there's the abs - everyone wants killer abs right so the belief is just bust out those thousand or so situps and get the Pilates classes going on for full effect and it's true such focus is sure to be met with success but with the moderation and holistic foundation that Yoga provides, abs are constantly working in all kinds of poses that at the same time strengthens and tones your back, legs, arms, butt and so on. The integrated whole. On a very personal level, in part I use yoga as an experiment on myself to defy genetics. Both of my parents and some of my siblings experience the pain of arthritis. History and science says I should expect to experience this pain myself. Interestingly I feel like I have defeated an ongoing shoulder / neck issue that plagued me for many years during which time I worked in front of a computer for most of the day and practiced yoga irregularly. As a full time HoopStar I cannot do this job without the support of regular yoga practice. When my practice falls off I can feel it in my back, my neck, my shoulders, my wrists sometimes just everywhere. Hello Dr NeedleHands! Acupuncture, massage, chiropractic treamtment - all wonderful things and essential top ups but with regular yoga I need them less and less. So the challenge is on. I refuse to become arthritic without taking on the challenge and giving it my all. My intuition says yoga is the key to longevity. It's my mantra actually. So an eternal child of the universe it just becomes more and more fun and never a chore to rock it out in class OHMmm!

So I am brought to the notion of self-directed practice which is something I wish to elaborate more on in a range of creative areas of life. I used to think that if I couldn't be my own task master that I was a pussy ^_^ and that until I had my own home practice sorted I was somehow dependent on the other, The Teacher, the guru to kick a butt that I am personally responsible for. It was interesting to watch my approach to my current yoga school which has a whole bunch of teachers. Initially I made sure I shared the love around to avoid said attachment to beloved yogis. But then there is *the energy* that connects us to an individual Teacher that takes us beyond the beyond. It seems hardly a coincidence that at this point in my life where I am living in an open relationship that I have discovered we receive (and give) many things to many people and that you can't *get* everything from one person. It's holographic. It's emotional maturity. It's wild! So Dharmashala you have hit the spot. I give sincere thanks and deep gratitude for this incredible journey, experience, feeling and love that the practice of yoga has to offer. It has changed my life, supports my work, my hooping, my heart, my head, my body, my relationships. It takes life to another level - that of the Divine.

I dedicate this blog to my beloved Yogi who I adore and miss but feel eternally hovering counting those asanas with a cheeky grin making it go oh so slow to elongate the joy and to all my other teachers past present and future who inspire and guide me throughout my practice, including me.

Namaste

Hoopy Awards 2010

2010-01-19T15:04:00.008+11:00

The Hoopies 2010 are now open for voting. Support the Hoopaholics and our ever expanding community by casting your votes. We have been nominated for two awards - Pic of the Year (shot by Nick Coppins) and Local Hooping Community of the Year... that's you! This is the third year in a row that The Hoopaholics have been nominated. Visit hooping.org to make your mark. Voting closes Friday 22nd Jan 2010.

Wrapping Up 2009

2010-01-08T17:06:00.006+11:00

As the months fly by yet again I am reminded of how fast we tend to live in the land of Hoopaholica where all life spins in line with the hoop. The spiral reaches into realms yet to be explored and those been circled many times before gathering people, momentum, a critical mass and a subculture that just has so many layers to it. The raising of consciousness continues within the paradigm of a progressive civilisation and an ongoing theme of transformation. 2009 - a year of intense creative explosion. 2010 - a year of expanding the multi-layered visions and projects on the boil, releasing and realising them through conscious manifestation, dedication and clarity. The grounding line of flight anchors and bends in ways known and not as the mystery unfolds. Television. Hyper vision. Inner vision. Inter-personal information exchange web. The global hoop community gathers to celebrate the circle. Spaces must be found in which to simply pause, if only for a moment, to shake out all those other limbs of the spiral. Let's not forget that hoopies, apart from being hyper-talented beings, need a whole lot of rest too. It's about balance.

And yet as time flies it also stretches as memory has its say (or not). In our own way we craft stories his and hers of how it happened or how we expect it to be. A spectrum of thoughts shape shift according to the whim of the winds that carry the breeze that expels a vision out into the world making it more than just yours and beyond the now. The personal becomes the collective. Desire becomes service and a shared experience that we participate in or observe as the hologram of life shuffles like a jigsaw of choice. Tales in words and images, moving and still, the resonance of energy as we connect disconnect reconnect learn what those concepts mean to our selves and others and find a place of comfort in the karma that we share. Future and retrospective histories include and highlight herstories which feature another major player sitting by the sidelines watching it all pass by in the meta-story that unfolds as we reflect and project in our obesessions with the microverse - her name is Gaia.

Is it ironic to discover stillness and calm while standing in the eye of the storm or is that just logic? 2009 was a busy year. I believe it was at Hoop Camp, Santa Cruz, at the end of September, possibly one of the funnest hoop events in the world with a jampacked schedule FULL of classes you just don't want to miss, that I stopped. At last. And found stillness. And moments to observe. If you ever feel the need to pull yourself out of a rokn hoopjam to catch a breath or perhaps simply soak it up from outside... i highly recommend having a camera on hand and a blatant stalking technique where you seek them out to let them shine with your own brand of smoke and mirrors.

Hoop Camp Santa Cruz October 2009

The following week saw a return to Harbin Hot Springs, California. What a delight to be back in that magickal part of the world with cold and hot springs to soak up and into with a true sense of release. There is just something about Harbin that galactivates my cells in an extraordinary way. Beyond its geoblissful retreat space the hoop gathering yet again delivers as being the ultimate chill infused expansive space-O-rama post Hoop Camp. Its the let loose and download of all that has been beamed on up during the 3 day Santa Cruz intensive.

Then there was Japan...

The DVD Launch!

Spin Matsuri! The cosmic hoop web expands yet again

The tribe included friends from Sydney, Melbourne, UK, USA and Tokyo. What was so amazing about Spin Matsuri was it drew those who wouldn't ordinarily have found themselves at a Hoop Festival, least of all an international one. But the lure of Planet Japan and the jetsetting hoopies that were onnit was an irresistible combination of bio-cosmic spinning elements. As such the festival had a very interesting flavour to it, what some might call the delicious taste of fresh blood... :) The Spin was held in a stunning little tree filled pocket outside of Tokyo called Chiba - close to the sea and nested in a forest. It was different from the American hoop festivals as it seemed less about obsessed hoopies in an attendance to learn everything and more about the hoop (never a bad thing) but more about friends tuned into a magnetic vibrational spin who were looking to explore something new about themselves in a relatively unknown environment of play. It was my third hoop festival in three weeks so I was ready to shift into a different gear.

The return to Sydney was to land with all systems GO ready for another 8 week teaching term, the launch of the DVD in Sydney and preparation for the XMas / New Year bumper performance season. It rolled so fast there was barely time to document, annotate, centre and celebrate so instead we just kept spinning with the moment and swept up the ideas that sprung from the journey. High levels of productivity and focus were called upon to complete Mission 2009.

And now it is 2010. A blank canvas appears suggestive and glaring. Scripts, book, bookwork, booking, timetabling, visioning, imagineering, mapping, choreographing, organising, synchronising, leaping into the void... I resist for just a few more moments in honour of pause, to be... not even just me... simply to be... on a rock... of a rock... grounded.

Hoop It UP Baby

2010-01-07T11:25:00.010+11:00

Over a decade ago ago I was dancing at a nightclub in Melbourne and came across a circus performer spinning many hoops all over her body. I think it was in that moment that a higher energy beamed down and implanted in my being the obsession to hoop! I was transfixed and very intrigued by the power of the hoop and its ability to captivate not only me as a viewer but obviously the beautiful hoopstress herself. Very soon after this initial siting a friend gifted me a hoop which pretty quickly became my new essential accessory - I took it everywhere. Together we attended many a party and dance floor where I would settle into the corner, tune into the music and bliss out on the circular and rhythmic whole body meditation that hooping dancing essentially is. I felt like I was in an invisible bubble and strangely enough (many people refuse to believe me when I say this) it drew me out of my shyness! It wasn't until well into my performance career which started several years later in Sydney and specifically when I added lights and fire to my hoops that the invisible bubble popped and I began to engage with my audience, my self and life with a new level of awareness and the ability to literally light up people's lives. I have stepped into a comfort zone within that feels good to be me - physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually and energetically.

Hooping has been a channel for so much personal growth and self development. It keeps me fit, pushes me to explore my boundaries, invites me to be playful, sensual and creative, has opened me up to a global community of people who are driven to feel as positive, healthy and happy as possible and has tuned me in to my eternal inner child which is a bubble in itself. It's also radically improved my wardrobe. Life can get way too serious all too often. I love how hooping pretty much overrides this feeling. I see it in my students or in my fellow hoopies when we jam, I see it in videos on the internet, I feel it in my heart - when you spin a ring around your body and start to move your body something magical happens and then keeps on happening as you learn new tricks and ways to play with the hoop.

My greatest wish is to share my love of the hoop with as many people as possible, which in essence is why I made Hooping for Beginners - A Hybrid Hooping Journey. This is my first instructional DVD which focuses on the foundations of a style that incorporates both circus hooping (multiple hoops) and hoop dance (freestyle movement and flow). It is a 90 minute DVD divided into three lessons - on the body, off the body and multiple hoops. We shot it in my favourite place in the world, Central Australia, where the stars shine so bright and the red earth vibrates with a creative dyamism that I'm not quite sure I have experienced before. But of course when you beam three hooping divas out into the Australian desert there is bound to be a touch of Priscilla Queen of the Desert... and beyond. After each lesson you are taken on an Intergalactic Space Babe journey which features hot moves, grooves, costumes and attitude... it gets pretty funky! The soundtrack is a delicious smorgasbord of international beats and melodies that cross world, electronic, classical and indigenous genres. There is also a non-stop 10 minute closing Hoopaholic performance that explores character, costume, lights, fire, visual montage and sound. We wanted to move beyond purely the instructional side and add a visual and auditory feast as an art project as well as a series of lessons that says: get your bling on, get your hoop on, tune into your own personal rhythm and have fun!

Posted on Realize Beauty November 25, 2009

Keep Watching The Stars

2009-11-30T08:55:00.001+11:00

Commencement Address by Paul Hawken to the Class of 2009, 3/5/09.

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple
short talk that was "direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, clean, shivering, startling, and graceful." Boy, no pressure there.

Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mindboggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute
that statement. Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don't poison the water, soil, or air,
and don't let the earth get overcrowded, and don't touch the thermostat have been broken.

Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a
million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in the coach, and really good food, but all that is changing.

There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn't bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING. The earth couldn't afford to send any recruiters to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets,
ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. Forget that this task of planet saving is not possible in the time required. Don't be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same:
If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand data. But if you meet the people who are
working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are
ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world.

The poet Adrienne Rich wrote:
"So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world."

There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts and slums.

You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen.

Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. It works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people. Its clout resides in ideas, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving
Christians, street musicians, President of the USA and as David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.

There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, re-imagine, and
reconsider.

"One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is Mary Oliver's description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.

Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific 18th century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to
defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity.

Conservatives ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, and non governmental organizations, of companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history.

The living world is not "out there" somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. Think about this: we are the only species on this planet without full employment. Brilliant!!! We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time than to renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can't print life to bail out a planet.

At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.

The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it! In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a "little universe formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven."

So I have two questions for you all:
First can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end.
Second question: who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside
you, just as in all of nature. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would become religious overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead the stars come out every night, and we watch television!

This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation.

You are graduating to the most amazing, challenging, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They
didn't stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to
be on her side. You couldn't ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hopefulness only makes sense when it doesn't make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.

Paul Hawken is a renowned visionary environmental activist, author of many books, most recently "Blessed Unrest" http://www.paulhawken.com/

Hoop Teacher Journey August 09

2009-08-30T23:49:00.000+10:00

Hoopn Dentata

2009-08-30T23:18:00.009+10:00

Tonight I walked into my local Quicki-Mart rounding up a few choklat treats for dessert when somebody said from behind - "You're the hulahoop girl aren't you?" It was an interesting moment and there was a pregnant pause for sure. Part of me wanted to really disappear right then and there or at the very least be able to deny it and simply be some anonymous chick buying choklat on a Sunday night looking perhaps a tad wrecked from a hyperactive weekend of no particular description. There was no defense within me, I admitted the truth with a smile, humility and eternal gratitude for this role that I have conjured but which seems to have overtaken my life... and I got out of that Quicki-Mart back to my clifftop cave as quickly as possible! Why? Because the gaps are too few, hooping has fully consumed my all and has taken me to some pretty challenging spaces recently. You wouldn't imagine it with all the love and the light that is THE HOOP. It's fun yeh, always has been always will be. What I find most fascinating in this particular story is the formation of a pattern - this was not the not the first time I have noted the overdose factor and it seems to spin into my awareness around about the time of the teacher training weekends, which at this stage are a biannual occurrence. Is it a seasonal crescendo in the hoop schedule or is it that this is the perfect opportunity to step back and observe? A little bit of this and a whole lotta that... Bring on the witness.

Is a name change of the name change the first step?

Tonight I considered putting on weight. For the shape more than anything.

My paradigms are shifting I can feel it on a cellular level.

On the weekend I ate olives. I will admit it now. And I enjoyed them (kinda). Don't tell The Scorpion!

Change. A self confessed Transformer / Shape Shifter.

Some reflections on the Hoop Teacher Journey:

We questioned - what's with this addiction to the hoop anyway?

It's circular and so reflects life. It's versatile - you can take it anywhere. It's fun and childlike what's not to love about that. It's ability to facilitate movement - physical, emotional and energetic - and release is second to none. Well maybe dancing... but hoopdancing takes dance to another level. It's about circular and spiral dynamics.

Spinning into a four hoop split. Naming it, activating it, feeling it, knowing it as nothing else but microcosmic bliss. Watching Jo, Asha and Julez all go there on the 4 too... just WOW. It's magickal. It's really difficult to describe the feeling of a 4 in spin. It's different to a 4 circus style. Circus hooping is beautiful, it's elegant and graceful and very controlled... but it doesn't take me to the zone I crave to be in which is about full movement, powerful propelling, a wild energy that is both explosive and contained and that allows you to just SPIN in a vortex that seems so connected to all that is. 4 splits are my new favourite. I have had my eye on them to take to the States at the end of September. Consider them packed. Now for the acquisition. WILD Kickups (thank you Blaze for putting me onto those cowboy style lifts!) or bust.

Did I just change my tune?

This is the problem. What happened is this - Deanne dreams I am in a prison and yes I see it and feel it. I am IN THE HOOP. Locked in Love with The Hoop. There is no escape. So, the planning for this year's desert trip started around May. There was very little else but planning for the instructional video, training for the video (which thankfully included a whole lot of yoga - i.e significant respite), a bunch of hoop classes along the way, some gigs, traveling to Central Australia to shoot the video in the desert (my choice), busting some balls to make it happen, returning for a short breath before diving into editing the video ... I guess I'm up to at least 4 months of intense focus and then the final shoot this past Friday night at a seaside clifftop. The final daze were upon us but so were technical difficulties and hormonal interception, burnout, fadeout, wipeout. There was simply no energy left in me. NONE. But wait, there was no time for that because the very next day I had to get up at 5.30am to pack for the teacher training weekend down at the stunning Govinda Valley Spiritual Retreat in the National Park south of Sydney. Hm... putting the pieces together. Add to that the decision to kick a newly acquired coffee addiction (discovered in the epic mission that was the desert) and an oncoming Lady in Red moon cycle... time to download and reboot the system.

This time there were 8 of us. The Power of 8:

"8 is the number of POWER. It teaches us that power, in any form, cannot be maintained without BALANCE, and that balance cannot hold without ACCURATE UNDERSTANDING. 8 is associated with money, business, competition, and the incorporation of anything that is useful to it. It is widely believed that those are the principle means of gaining personal power in the world. The belief that ‘money is power’ sprang from this rather shortsighted point of view." Creative Numerology

Juie, Jo, Lisa, Mark, Satya, Danie, Asha and Me.

It was DIVINE.

As the firestorm that was the end of last week hurtled and hit I kept reminding myself, this weekend is going to be fun. It's going to be relaxing and amazing and beautiful and exactly what we all need. And it was.

The level of information and energy that facilitating such a program requires is usually so overwhelming and exhausting that most times I leave with a headache. So given all previously said conditions it was not surprising that one did in fact threaten to surface for almost a full day or more but... for the first time in as long as I can remember I managed to subdue it without painkillers and simply by going to bed as early as possible, sleeping for as long as possible and waking up for some delicious yoga and meditation on the lawn in honour of the sun and my body that is my temple. Interestingly enough, half of us were also were on the moon and painkillers were being shared around. It was a weekend of movement and release. As I was stretching out my body and sitting in stillness in the morning I felt just how energetically powerful that space is. I intend on returning. There is a level of clarity and dynamism in that valley that must be soaked up and explored further. Not to mention the ampitheatre...

7 women and one man. He anchored us all...

Bless Mark! What an amazing spirit. His energy is just so electric and yet Zen at the same time. Capricorn / Aquarius mix. Wired for sound? Wired for ground control on the hoop. Mark interprets the circle with such a distinctly unique presence. Such a gentle spirit yet solid in his determination and focus. Awesome laugh and beautiful smile. I often find myself watching for the wonderful surprises that this hoopi has to offer. Keep us guessing Mark!

JoJoMo - the triple horned Goddess. So beautiful! Those eyes and another noteworthy smile. I found myself following her around somewhat unconsciously if only to be within her peripheral space. I don't know what it was! Energetic? Pheremonal? Was she doing the same? She harnesses an energy that I truly admire - grounded focus and clarity. Practical and daring. That raised eyebrow, sharp wit and sparkle in the eye. Born to be a star. Thrill seeking hoop moves.

Jewelz - meOW! WOW! Imagine your favourite cat just turned human and realised it could talk! The level of conversation often astounds me. This girl loves to engage and play and intrigue. Those random fiery curls and awesome short shorts. I always take time to admire her considered choice of rokn outfits. And that offering in our closing hoop jam! I don't think i've ever seen anything quite like it. Truly captivating. Possibly the most graceful and explorative hoopdance I have ever seen.

Lisa - one of the three Capricorns in the house. Solid. Hilarious. Powerful teacher. Strong woman. Beautiful energy. So open to it all and then some... she took it beyond my limits, which is something that both bamboozles and yet totally intrigues. Lisa has an incredible sense of innovation with her moves and draws you in with the complexity and the magic. There are some tricks that are best watched rather than learned as I discovered today (nobody mention the Bunny tantrum OK!)

Danie - what an awesome teacher! Total natural. Wit, style, confidence, cuteness, dramatic edge. She has got the full package. I love Danie's directness and her ability to take the challenge on if only to tick off on the elaborate to do list but oh so much more. Stand up comedy? If you are lucky. A fine example of how most Geminis are actually Taureans (sidereal note). But there's so much more beneath that surface. I am loving coming to know more of Danie. Is this a more is more situation? I think it might be.

Asha - the hulahoop slasher? Too sweet for that kinda nastiness... Or is she? Another Capricorn. That lady is stylish. I dig her vibe. Straight to the point, stunning visage, incredible moves (around the body foot pass!), a sprite-filled spirit, hint of Sagitarrian mystique, another stunning laugh and smile, instant rapport with that girl. The connection with the 80s and museums and academia and kids. People who love teaching children win a place in my heart. It says to me their inner child is alive and happy and their outer adult is happy to guide the inner children of children themselves with the power of the hoop. But don't step on her toes OK! Shhhh!!

Satya - another WOW. What an energy. Beautiful ink on her skin. Big heart. HOT dance moves. Lyrical body movements. Gypsy lady of the South. Aquarius / Pisces energy. Mystical. Poetic. Eyes as deep as the ocean. It's been a long time coming this connection I can feel it already but finally we have hit the page of pages in the Open Book of Opening Your Heart to the Hoop. Reveal what you care to with the knowledge that you will be heard and received with unconditional love and absolute awe of your beauty. A channelled message.

Bunny Star - I am graceful, spicy, juicy, vibrant, intense and multidimensional.

I am surrounded by so many incredible beings who share the same light filled passion and want to connect at that centre. In doing so we choose to overcome our sorrows and shift focus to feelings of joy. We love to dance, spin our hoops, transform energy and perception of life, dress in colourful costumes, add major sparkle to life and laugh a lot. We laughed a lot this weekend. We explored our feelings. We shared something really special that went beyond understanding how to teach and execute certain tricks or what makes a hoop business tick... we shared our unique essence and made a collective energetic shape that included circles, stars, triangles and a pear shaped fruit of the Goddess. It was and is an offering to the Greater Being that is Gaia's Harmonic Universe

Depth Perception

2009-08-20T00:11:00.006+10:00

Projection versus Connection, an interesting conundrum. Isn't it amazing how different people view same situations with different eyes. I believe (and hope) we all have the ability to see from many different perspectives. To do this we must set ourselves free from our individual and collective Egos. The Mind - A martyr A master A monkey A slave. The hologram - something to view from the outside within a space of freedom and the ability to see it all ... or as much as we perceive to be the limit.

I can project a certain image situation feeling or thought onto a white wall and it will appear clear but the moment I project it onto a person it will be difficult to see and confusing because there are too many colours and patterns intertwined. I prefer a clear image always.

I can connect with a sentient being but I can't connect with a wall. The choice is obvious.

This leads me to question what this word connection really means or is and why it should mean anything at all. To me it means a touching of energies or spirits which may or may not be exchanged in various forms within the self and with others although often masked as exclusively with others. Ultimately it ignites alchemical sparks which are wondrous mysterious cosmically aligned exceptional to the mundane and the reason why we even exist to ponder ourselves and life. How divine to watch creation on such a micro-energetic level and imagine how that might refract out into the expansive Universe that is. The question is, how magical do you want to make this experience?

The thing that frustrates me about humans is we make everything so complicated when in fact its all very simple.

Do you know how to (be) love?

Where's the mirror?

The Brilliance That is You - a mantra

The Brilliance That is You

Say it to your mirror See it beyond the ego Hear it in your soul

The Brilliance That is You

Until you own it those clouds are gonna keep on blowing over causing all kinds of havoc with the Bling shoot extraordinaire

That is your life

Or is that my life?

I get confused too many mirrors...

Doesn't everyone live in Bling? If they don't they should. There's that word again... should hmmm

The brilliance that is you. Know it. Work it. Own it. It's the only way. Without ego. With self love.

The Essence of Time - a delineation is required between circular and linear paradigms with depth perception as a distinguishing feature as is spiral dynamics. How much time do you have on your hands indeed. What do you carry? Can you put it down? Really put it down. Maybe take a good long look at it, identify it, wrap it up, tie a pretty bow and burn it until it is nothing but ashes to be swept and disposed of. For most people this is their body anchored in the lower chakras and weighed down by the consumption of death energy (meat), an obsession with sex and the heavy density consciousness that comes with being bound in the third dimensional material world and the consensus reality that I think therefore I am. For most people time is about A>Z. Then there are those who actively seek Days out of Time and the moments within moments within moments again that keep amplifying the BLISS that it is to be alive and shedding seasonly allowing wings to spread for some light hearted flight time.

My heart is not heavy and I refuse to eat death. I live in the light and let the dark dissolve as I see it, usually in a pool of tears in the shower where it all gets washed away leaving me feeling refreshed and ready to connect with the Sun energy again. It bathes me back into brilliance and I am free.

Create Your Own Reality

Create Your Own Karma

No one can tell you what you are or are not, what is right or wrong, who you should and shouldn't be... but you. Be careful what you tell yourself.

Create Your Own Reality

Create Your Own Karma

You can keep dragging around those old heavy bags full of photo album memories that you may or may not even fully remember but complexly have a sense of ... or you can get rid of them once and for all. They serve no purpose but to remind you to go forward and don't turn back. Why let them shackle you? Why give that power to the past which is nothing but a chapter that you have already read? Or did you not read it? If it makes you feel safe and familiar then you better change the way you think because time's are changing and it's time to meet your higher self fully truthfully honestly courageously happily in the mirror that is other beings human and otherwise. An 11:11 interception. Now THAT is a beautiful thing.

This is your destiny.

Open your heart and breathe.

Life is yours to enjoy.

Much love and starz

x0x

Post Desert Epiphany # 4

2009-07-28T20:37:00.003+10:00

Beauty simply IS love is not an addiction EVERYTHING is positive BLISS outweighs trauma each and every time inside the CIRCLE we stand ready to activate LIGHT CONSCIOUSNESS

Post Desert Epiphany # 3

2009-07-28T20:29:00.001+10:00

The Rainbow Warrior is within us all

Post Desert Epiphany # 2

2009-07-28T20:20:00.003+10:00

Space babes need SPACE

Post Desert Epiphany # 1

2009-07-28T19:04:00.004+10:00

The desert the des(s)ert the lushness that IS the centre of this country the centre of the circle the intensity the breath THE STARZ that are so abundant out there where few dare to tread the sand and mounds of rock the NRG colour vibrant red yellow white light to dark night skies so beautiful more entrancing than life itself the shooting stars and winding galactic view im inluv with it all even the dark especially as it sets off the light lets the starz shine through winds me up to catapult through space hurtling bracing for bone breaking crash only to safely roll but crash all the same after the jetpacked tumble and twist thankfully after but it had to happen for what are we if not fault lined humans ready to crack at any moment like the earth holding it together until the pressure becomes just too much and surrender is the only option with a realisation that as we gaze upon the shattered mirror slash hologram that we collectively are we are nothing without each other except the illusion of what we wear to conceal universal essence. i choose bling.

Wrapping it UP with LOVE from StarLand

2009-06-16T16:39:00.035+10:00

WINTER is here in Sydney. It's COLD! There was a day when I thought it was going to snow... in Sydney. THAT will be the day when we know the Earth does shake. In the meantime I am driving around bubble wrapping the leaks in the spaceship, trying to find a gap to send it into the intergalactic mechanic, finishing up Term 2 classes, moving out of StarLand, trying not to freak out about impending wisdom tooth extraction (anchoring into the now and warrior-esque fearlessness) and preparing for the desert...

GYPSYDOM - I'm looking for a studio space to work / live in... I mostly work so that's the focus... one just appeared! As in RIGHT NOW. In Darlo. Perfect. It's available tomoro. I want it. The view on the horizon broadens as I notice and acknowledge a stirring in the soul which adjusts the pre-perceived view of the hologram. Never let your head tell you how it IS until you've checked in with your cellular and soul-powered intelligence - it will keep you spinning in circles rather than spiraling through the hologram... Cut to yoga class yesterday - rolling the head from side to side then spiraling it back to centre > now there's an analogy.

YOGA - every day for 14 days ... on day 3 today ... then a week's break for surgery ... then every day for the following 14 days ... then the desert. Yoga just gets better every time. This morning I woke up at 6, had a 15 minute sleep in, slipped into my gear, ran through the rain in the dark along the clifftops and bounced into class. There is something quite incredible about pre-sunrise yoga. As in, really! I have to recommend it. In the past before my being was programmed to WANT it, which you need to get there... all I could think about when waking up at that time was need more sleep. Probably had a food / alcohol hangover too - i.e heavy density. Now that my entire being knows that blissful experience, it craves it - change script to can't wait to experience that feeling. Ditch the hangover, lighten the food, bed earlier to make sure it happens. Life changing. Life affirming. Calming. Bliss.

MEDITATION - Day 6: shooting stars behind my eyes + purple balls of light; Day 7 - purple + yellow balls of light

DIET - mostly raw (probably about 90%). Juices + smoothies + salads. Steamed vegetables. As much brocoli as possible - juiced, steamed, souped bring it on! Any superfoods that come my way are more than welcome... as is seaweed. I'm learning not to be so extreme in most areas of life and food is one of them, so is alcohol. The reality is when you clean up your diet and eat healthily, you can't partake in any more than the body can tolerate right in that moment because the whole bio-energetic system just becomes so sensitive. Having said that, there's nothing quite like a really beautiful glass of good quality rouge on a cold winter's night. I find it weird how alcohol and other drugs are seen as the big baddies in the world of gastronomic / mental badness, which in essence they are... but i'm going to slide another prime villain up the list here - SUGAR! My biggest downfall used to be chocolate - but since discovering Loving Earth chocolate which has Agave Syrup in it instead of sugar and a few other awesome ingredients like raw cacao, goji's, activated almonds and total yumness ... my attitude to the world of chocolate has changed. There really are so many different levels of quality with chocolate and the other delicacies we choose to treat ourselves with in life - some of it in small gourmet portions is really good for you! At an occasional 3 glass limit (that's a wild night these days... more like 1-2)... it feels really under control. I drink maybe once a fortnight, altho with all that is on right now I don't have the time, inclination or energy to really go there unless it seems festively appropriate...

STARLAND - What a magickal place that IS. I went there with the intention to retreat from the city, work creatively and freely, transform my cellular intelligence and simply be in a space to BE. So many beautiful people shared StarLandia and, as Summer passed, the opportunity to explore solitude appeared which I now crave more than ever. It's important to spend time alone, particularly if you are in a relationship or used to being around so many people. When you do, dark caves appear dotted with staligtites of consciousness from which to peer through. They show you life on the inside - reflections of what exists in the outer world... a space that is usually congested with activity and people. I went to StarLand to write, with the initial focus being my book. I left with a script for an instructional DVD... which for the most part was not written on the southerly shores but in North Sydney - a gust of inspiration perhaps? I think in a lot of ways I went to StarLand to let go - I feel like I have accomplished that. What is simply IS and all I can do is shape-shift around this and make my influence felt where appropriate and of compliment to all else.

'"DROPPING YOUR STORY LINE" is, first, a way to notice the suffering that has come with attachment to your story about what has happened and what is going to happen. Then, through what Buddhists call, "skilful means", it is possible to learn how to drop your story line from the past and future, to let go of the constricting identity of yourself as "the sufferer", and to come into the freedom of the present moment. Through dropping the story line you may discover a surprising freedom. As one Buddhist teacher puts it, "We take things very personally. The more tightly we hold self, the more problem. No self, well... no problem! Though Buddhist communities have their problems, because they have contemplative methods for observing and releasing the suffering that comes with certain stories, they have much to teach Christian communities about how to metabolise both personal and communal conflict." Gordon Peerman, 'Blessed Relief'

NUMBER 5 aka The Precise Execution and Successful Completion of Intricate Plans aka THE FIFTH HOOP = SPIRIT... A hoop that came from a medicinal meditation - a creative space in which to loosen up and explore colour, craft, shape, pattern, repetition, creativity, contemplation, newness, calmness, complexity and divine beauty as a result. It has inspired much more than the art of making hoops and the ability to create something of significant size and detail - I am seeing costumes for the desert...

THE DESERT - a breath before proceeding. ALWAYS a drawcard! What is it about deserts? The blank canvas cosmo-sphere... the emptiness and yet fullness... a place where spirits live and dream... for us here in Australia - the centre of our circle. It's my favourite place on this planet - the Australian desert. It's red, it's intense, magickal, powerful and truly breathtaking - it feels like my home.

The World of the Fifth Hoop

2009-06-16T16:01:00.012+10:00

It is believed that we are moving into a new dimension, time, age, reality. Many talk of the 5th Dimension as part of the Earth's Ascension and the raising of human consciousness with 11:11 and 2011 being two prominent elements of the current experience . Then there's the circularity of time, the precession of the equinoxes, the Age of Aquarius, the Sidereal calendar, the option to view life through a non-linear filter and instead understand depth perception right here in the now. Awakened presence. Then there's the 5th Hoop...

The Four Sacred Stone Tablets - Hopi & Tibetan Prophecy
An Address by Larry Merculieff to the Aleut Elders in Alaska
2005 05 02

"They say that moving into this time, of the World of the 5th Hoop, is a time when all the four sacred powers are going to be reconnected. They are the red-white-black-yellow...

The Hopi word for love is the Tibetan word for hate. And the Tibetan word for love is the Hopi word for hate. The same word, but exactly opposite meanings. They say that this is necessary to help keep the balance of Mother Earth...

We will awaken our Spirits again. When that happens, things will be revealed of the old wisdoms. Things that have been forgotten for a long time are going to be brought back – art, music, song, dance, storytelling, spiritual wisdom, knowledge - and the wisdom of how to work with Mother Earth will all be restored...

The signs of this time of healing, that is to start, are: • When the children bring back the Spirit, to the village. • When the young start speaking with the wisdom of the elders. • When the leadership energies start shifting to the feminine side. • When this hoop of the 100 eagle feathers gets completed. And when the White Bison shows up. These are all the signs of the movement - from the Fourth to the Fifth Hoop...

The world, for the last 4,000 or so years, has been stuck in the male energy side. The male energy is thinking from the brain. It is a management from the top down. It is more aggressive. It does not use intuition or feelings from the heart. It is a different kind of energy. It is not a bad energy. It is just different, than the female energy. Female energy is healing, nurturing, loving, caring, touching, sharing and that the world spiritual leaders know, now, that these energies have been male and now have shifted to the female side...

If we have fears, we are projecting them into the future - into a future time, that does not even exist. If we have guilt, we are living in the past, for the past things we did. We are not living now. All the spiritual keepers of all groups in the world - be they Buddhists, be they Islamic, be it part Red Pack, be it medicine pack, you name it - say (that) the only way to find the power that has been given to us from the Creator, is to be here, now - not to escape...

The spiritual keepers also say that the first step towards healing yourself, before you can heal others or help heal others, is to love that which we may hate or who may hate me. We may hate ourselves. We may hate an organization. We may hate the people from outside who have interfered. We may hate somebody. The first step towards this healing is to stop the hate and turn it into love and it will transform everything. This spiritual sickness that we have is going to move now. It is going to change. There are some predictions in the sacred stone tablets, among the wisdom-keepers, about what is going to happen, here in this World of the Fifth Hoop.

Not only are we going to have this healing, but the Earth Mother is going to shake in a way that it has never shook before. It is going to move in a way it has never done before. There is going to be a lot of fear because of this and the wisdom keepers want me to convey that, when this happens, we should not be afraid. Because what is happening is that the Earth Mother is trying to help us remove the stuff that we have stuck in our bodies - inherited from the spiritual sickness of generations and generations out. And one of the ways that we do that is to scare the life out of us. This is why there is going to be time for healers. Healers are being called from all over. Women are now taking their place as the original healers around the world and some of the strongest original healers are starting here in Alaska. Not only (will there be) the shift to the feminine side of leadership, but the women are going to start taking their place as healers. I think this is an exciting time.

What is wrong is we were looking outside, for feeding for a hunger inside - a hunger that we did not understand - and that hunger is the hunger of the Spirit. When we have addictions, it is a hunger, to fill the Spirit. It is like a big stomach, inside you, that wants to feed all of the time and no matter how much we feed it, with these addictions, (it) is never enough. And it just goes down and down and we get so depressed that, we feel we cannot get out of it. At that point, you die either physically or your die spiritually. Hopefully, many people will not have to go through that. So, that is the message that I have brought to you. This is a message of hope - a message of good wisdom. Remember, our cultures are not lost. The wisdom of it is already here, with us. We just do not know it yet, because we are spiritually sleeping."

http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2005/05may/4sacredstonetablets.html

Day 30 Stream

2009-05-10T20:32:00.007+10:00

Love to all living creatures on this planet!
Pluto square Pluto Moon 1st / 2nd houses
Self identity and personal values
Shared values versus different pathways
Direct communication + compassion
Compassion
Self Love

Compassionate Eating
For animals, planet and person
Critical Mass of the Number of Vegetarians Reached

Alignment with like-minded peeps
Lovers of life
HOOP LOVERS
Lovers of love
LOVE!

Playing
Laughing

LIVING
Dreaming
Dancing
Spinning
LIFE

Namaste

Dreamz

2009-04-28T09:04:00.011+10:00

Monday
In Melbourne(ish) at an event where i meet a group of new peeps a funky crew maybe i am in that back alleyway next to my nanna's house that i have visited many times in my dreams. the crew are kinda funky kinda feral in a gypsy free spirit saj way. we are at a swimming carnival where i leap into the water and swim super fast win the race jump out back with the crew. they are wondering where they are going to go to next so i suggest they come and live with me at starland. after suggesting it i realise i have just filled up my house w people i barely know at which point it occurs to me that we are all aligned creatively so its all good. one in particular is very HOT. drawcard...

Tuesday
At hoopcamp hooping it with safire trying to find the right hoops realising that i have given away or sold some of my favourite hoops running around trying to find the right ones as i wanna hoop with her! head upstairs where everyone is staying we are in the desert in a forest on a journey lotsa people. a guy is in the bedroom where my hoops are so i sneak in grab the hoops and run via a rendezvous in the bed with him! he seems confused by my hit and run manner. no time to lose. wake up to email from hoop camp heather... this happened last year. the signs are all there!

Wednesday
In San Francisco with Deanne and Christabel. Christabel is driving Deanne and I around enroute to Hoop Camp. I'm aware of how odd the Australian accent sounds in America. We stop off at a gathering in a park. Pass a diner on the way where people are eating dodgy food. Exit quickly. Walk over to the circle of people in the park where Christabel is filming the event as a favour to a friend and a creative chill space of her own. A tiger crawls up next to me and playfully bites my arm. I shake it off but think it's cute all the same. Christabel mentions that I should be cautious because such "playfulness" usually means it wants to eat me and it will chase me if I don't be careful. I run off to a building and close the door knowing the tiger is after me. I hold the door tight but the tiger is intent on getting in and pushes hard against the door. I wake up.

Hoop Invasion @ Customs House

2009-04-24T19:20:00.002+10:00

Featuring BunnyHoopStar and DD Hoop Love

5 RULES OF LIFE

2009-04-23T14:33:00.001+10:00

1. Take full responsiblity for your own happiness
2. Tame the mind
3. Chase happy + positive thoughts until you walk with them hand in hand
4. Treat others with the love kindness and compassion that you would your own child
5. Enjoy every day in the moment in the now

Streams of Dreams and Storms

2009-04-19T21:36:00.001+10:00

Anticipation is building, a crescendo and a storm. The waves in StarLand are big as the rain continues to blow in and out with random cameos from the sun. It's cleansing and helps inform my dreams of the wildness that hangs out in the subconscious. A skip through time as the slide kicks in with a progressed Sun Mercury on IC (past life) and progressed Moon in preparation to cruise over the Ascendant (new life). Fascinating to watch who blows in and out and with what kinda karma in attendance. Ekhart reminds that the awakening is not in 2012 or any other arbitrary or allocated time but in the realisation that the NOW is the only time that counts. Full presence required. More hoopies keep appearing! I love those moments in class when we complete the standing forward bend in warmup by coming upright and a hoopie appears out of nowhere. Hooping magick blows me away every time. I wonder what will fill my dreams tonight. A nightflight to venus is due! Pre-dream programming required.

Colour Creates Light Love and Joy

2009-04-19T19:56:00.000+10:00

It was a funny old Autumn day last Saturday in Sydney - the skies were grey but the mood was bright and my wardrobe was all about pink. I packed a bag in StarLand the day before in preparation for the Colour Parade with the usual time keeper tapping on one shoulder and the fashion police prodding the other. The intuitive wand said step beyond what's passed before which meant a few favourites and some random bits of yet to be tested bling. Mental note - don't leave home without safety pins ever again! They are essential items that keep such randomness together.

So as I threw on the ensemble of cosmic choice, I battled with the idea of taking Tina out for yet another ride. She had been doing the rounds lately and to be honest, as much as I love Party Tina, we had been spending WAY too much time together already and just the smell of her was making me... twitch. But the Scorpion insisted, despite my protests in favour of the turban (wrong shade of pink apparently) so I succumbed to the pressure with the knowing that Tina did indeed take me to another dimension and dabbed on a little extra essential oil.

The Scorpion and I set out on our pre-parade route - a hoop video driveby to Chatswood, parking mission in the city, stop-in @ the supermarket for safety pins and oops forgot Day 28 equipment - PriceLine to the rescue. Both of us NEEDED those safety pins and we were counting on the Colour Kids to be fashionably late like they are to install the pins into THE LOOK but as we made our way to Town Hall half an hour or more past the designated hour I saw a flash of the Colour moving and then they were gone. We powered faster up George Street with hoops and camera equipment ready to go... we were so on the mission to make it - the outfits would just have to behave! A guy with long hair and big camera ran past us shouting out the lowdown - The Parade had begun and was snaking through the QVB spraying colour and good vibes throughout. My dress needed pinning! but time had slid... into the spiral. Rok ON.

As we broke on into the parade mid QVB I was hit with an awe that doesn't come by all that often in life. The Colour Kids were in full swing and in finer form than ever before. The ability to outdo the self within a collective has been mastered over and over again by the Colour babes. The way they continue to re-invent with character-fuelled outfits, makeup, props, positive vibes and joyful presence all in the name of Colour and the Celebration of Life is such a special experience to witness and be part of. It's pure love and creativity at its best. It's like 1969 distilled and put into a bottle... with a little something special at the bottom. Put that into your Party Tina Survival Kit.

"Evolve Already" sprung out amidst it all on a placard. Casi(O) in his white wedding dress and matching balloon sashaying through the streets. Anto DONE like never before - that makeup! always a masterpiece, video camera firmly in hand. Alex Moonage with her wizard like presence waving the signature giant flower, a bouquet this time. Matt Glowman skating up a storm with a jetpack of balloons attached to his back. The Hare Krishna chinging along and chanting away - a new favourite. The whistles, the whoots, the skipping through Martin place, COLOUR driveby of Myer's makeup department (um turn around Colour Kids you are going the WRONG way!) and a lovely interlude @ the Museum of Contemporary Art for a viewing of Yayoi Kusama. That's when THAT BOY that I keep seeing popped up in all his very own Pinkness... Regrette... there are none.

It was all too much... I had to leave Yayoi for another day as the hoops were calling and my flow was ON so the spin went well into a vortex all of its own while the Colour crew lapped up the art. More awesome pix by Talen

The Scorpion and I were called back to StarLand on ethereal business - we left the Colour Kids to continue their jaunt in the Botanic Gardens feeling blessed to have been part of such beauty. The inspiration and joy that flowed that day I will remember foreva - thank you to the Colour Parade for creating such a living work of art!

The Carnival of Electric Illusions club night, hosted by the Colour Kids, is on this coming Saturday 25th April @ The Abercrombie on Broadway - check it out!

3, 5, 7 ... Take me to Hoop Heaven!

2009-04-14T17:35:00.000+10:00

The 3 beat never fully grabbed me until I recently saw Sharna-Rose rock out Safire's 5 beat extravaganza... now it's become an obsession. Reality hit via the mutha of all mathematical epiphanies ... 5 comes after 3... there aint no way around it! Or is there? Actually now that I am applying myself to the 3 beat with the focus and intensity it deserves I'm almost enjoying it! Aaaaaaaaagh! It's SO frustrating. BUT Guru Sharna is in my mind the whole while: "let go of the ego and enjoy" yeahyeah sharnaji! that lady IS a machine there is no doubt about it. I'm putting the word out to all those in the know - I NEED HELP!!! and I NEEEED the 5 beat like yo momma needs her baby. Check it out for yourself - pure genius.

So it led me down a twins training session that included Chopper Hovers both horizontally above the head and vertically in front of the body (with added Twirly Whirly Behind) + Behind the Back Spins, Thread the Needle, Double Isolations and On the Body Split Reversals. I started downsizing hoops then upsizing again until I reached what felt like the perfect size for such twin play - 85cm (33"). Ideally I want my hoops to be small enough to rock out in the hands without feeling like my wrists are going to snap off and big enough to throw back onto the body with full mobility including split reversal range.

In Chopper Hover I am noticing it is better to keep a lighter grip on the hoops on the way down and up. Also important to keep the body centred evenly inside the hoop, grab from far left with right hand behind the back and keep the arm close to the body (elbow pointed up) as it snakes back up, Elevator style, keeping a smooth momentum and flow. You can wing this one if it's not behaving by staying with the spin - what seems most important is the flow of the lift.

Another amazing and inspiring video of the day came from Beth Lavinder - truly breathtaking in grace, flow and sharpness in those reversals.

breaks and reverses with twins on the core from Beth Lavinder on Vimeo.

The training path is calling me big time. I need it on a daily level. I dream it when I'm asleep. I can feel the portals opening as I jump into my very own unknown to discover what others experience and beyond. I want to experience life as a waking dream - surreal blissful bizarre and unique to my mind's eye. And I want to get that 3 beat in preparation for the five beat before the end of April OR ELSE!

Detox-Intox-Rox

2009-04-08T10:09:00.000+10:00

Day 24 - 080409

Yoga this morning, meditation and juice. Oddly this is the second morning in a row of waking up without an alarm clock at 7.29am. On the dot. It's gradual but I am noticing the reduction in sleep that I need right now. Rest, less running around, less heavy food, less food, less internal baggage and no toxins makes such a difference! More water always.

So its Day 24 and I feel amazing. Let it be known that this is not the usual feeling around such a number. 4 day countdown and my whole system would usually be gearing up for pre-moon freakout!

Day 1/27 - 110409
Dreams of hooping - Working on the chopper and its landing. Astral traveling to Bend, Oregon for the North West Hoop Gathering? In the flow. Hooping hooping hooping. Dreams of cleaning houses and spaces for babies and the building of new projects. Fighting negativity vigilantly and staying away from chat boxes... they have become too limiting and frustrating in terms of genuine communication. Prefer voices on the telephone these daze, even an email or a letter seems to have more depth than the k haha brb lol omg... disintegrated language of the day. Skype on its way jetsetters! Loving quality time in StarLand both solitary and with the Scorpion and the SupaStar GemStar aka GlitterGirl last week. A shift in the vision map. Also a review of yesterday's Colour Parade to come - such fun and high vibe energy that lit up the grey streets of Sydney's city. WOW!

Exploring the Moments

2009-04-07T19:49:00.000+10:00

They say in the world of writing that if you don't make the practice your first priority it will be your last. Well with a sideways glance and a few pupil rolls (6 to the right then 6 to the left) I gotta admit it's been one of my main frustrations and blockages in life. Why do I find it so hard to make time to write! More hours in the day would be nice, I will say, but beyond that there has got to be a more telling reason as to why I avoid one of my major passions. I see it in other areas too such as yoga, personal hoop practice, meditation, sleep and detoxing. Always too busy doing a gazillion other things - important, meaningful, fun-filled hoopy things, but still leaving me with a feeling of not having covered some fairly essential bases that contribute to the experience of maxing out on LIFE. I am guessing it's about organisation and prioritisation. Now is a significant time.

I think I've said it before, when the 8 week term is on it is ON. Living in StarLand is blissful to be sure. It has however added quite an amount of travel into my daily schedule so this is a factor to weigh up in the upcoming transition in June. Term 1 is now complete giving me four weeks to chillout, recapitulate, rest, WRITE, plan, organise, enjoy the paradise that is my home on more of a continuous rather than sporadic level and create a daily schedule that includes all these creative life essentials.

What to do first though? Self preservation. It's more of an undoing process than anything, something that transforms into being. I can feel myself withdrawing more and more into this self-created retreat and sharing it with those who care to join me. It's been quite incredible spending time and life with the hoopies who participated in last weekend's teacher training, with the Scorpion whose presence is always adorable, with GemStar who is soon leaving Australia and with myself in those brief moments that I get to be by myself. I'm not forcing the solitude - it will arrive when it's right. Having said that, I can feel that being the theme of next week. Is it possible? I'm excited! Often I feel like I need to be alone to write, to fully relax, to go deeper into my yogic practice and to sort out my life.

It's Week 2 of a 3 month detox - no social lubricants, sugar, or wheat. Sugar and wheat have been in small doses but my major vices have thus far been eliminated. Such a different feeling! My waking and dreaming minds are so much clearer. Thoughts, feelings and energy flow so much more smoothly. I have been craving this space for a LONG time. It's only now that I have found the desire strong enough for it to overwhelm unconscious patterns of outdated and collective urges. The social factor is a big one and for now I am safely AWAY in my tree house at StarLand but I know that I can't stay away forever nor do I wish to - it's the next big challenge and one that is coming up this weekend. I don't want to be rigid with myself and start creating unachievable rules BUT I do know that I don't want toxins in my body right now and for a substantial period so I need to focus on that intention and healthy craving rather than falling yet again into unconscious and peer driven habits. My new "guideline" is that if I really want it I will have it but I would like to be more fully conscious of whether I really do want it before succumbing just because everyone else is in on the "fun" train - Libra alert!

Practical to do list - Agh... the bookwork - another if it's not the first it's the last. It HAS to be done and WILL be done and brought to a point that can be delegated in an organised and systemised condition rather than dumping my mess onto someone else. I will not hand it over until it has reached this point. My instant instinct right now is to think about something more fun! Hello Mardi Gras!

More pix

More videos to come... Got a pile of files just waiting for the digital nip and tuck. A stunt double I tried in the form of DD Hoop Love but wouldn't you know it! Two versions of a humanoid like me = EVEN more bling life to do than eva! More hoops more gigs more videos more makeup more hair!! We did have fun though... more more more! Stay tuned for the Party Tina 7 minute Hoop Dance Party Workout. Not to mention the freakn amazing video Alex Chomicz shot of us down at Customs House a few weeks back. Tina come home! Party Daniel misses you... X

More AMAZING pix by Talen

Speaking of videos - instructional DVD on its way. The wheels are in motion and the drawing board is ready. What colour pens to use in the mapping I wonder...

The concept of time is transforming along with a lot of perceptions. Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth on audio has been cell shifting to say the least. Depth awareness replaces the linear paradigm which on a practical level is useful but ultimately hits walls beyond the material realm. The dimension of time in its limited human construct can be overwhelming and stressful in a chasing of tails kinda way. Hours of the day, days of the week, weeks of the year, years of our life... age, time, where we need to go and what we have to do before time runs out or the memories fade... don't be late! etc etc What about just enjoying every single millimoment to the utmost? Exploring the moments and using "time" as a framework in which to do it rather than the heavy density A-Z anchor that we are bound to.

Emotional freedom found in identifying triggers to the "pain body" breakthrough experiences and release into transformative thinking response-ability replaces reaction allowing space between thoughts and a sense of Nowness that knows there is no other time other than the present. Which right now means dream time - a personal favourite.

But before I do, I wanna wrap this entry up by coming back to where I began in honour of the circle and then zap it back out into the spiral. There are no regrets and no expectations. The moment is all that counts. I am ready to write. I am ready for yoga. I am ready to detox. I am ready to rest my mind. The exploration will go well beyond the surface. The results will be as they are. All I know is that there are very few days when I don't soak up every single cellular moment and if there are ways to expand that then I'm up for it. Practical organisation of physical, mental and emotional spaces are required. The moments are becoming more intense and less stressful in a way that only makes room for more moments because of intent, clarity, space and an awareness that this is IT - the tunnel of passion leads to a light brighter than the sun rays. And like the butterfly that hovered above on Sunday night I choose to fly freely into and amongst it knowing it supports my every move.

Unified Chakra Meditation

2009-02-08T12:42:00.000+11:00

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Opening my heart
Into a beautiful ball of Light,
Allowing myself to expand.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand,
Encompassing my throat chakra
And my solar plexus chakra
In one unified field of Light
Within, through, and around my body.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand,
Encompassing my brow chakra
And my navel chakra
In one unified field of Light
Within, through, and around my body

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand
Encompassing my crown chakra
And my base chakra
In one unified field of Light
Within, through, and around my body.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand
Encompassing my Alpha chakra
(Eight inches above my head)
And my Omega chakra
(Eight inches below my spine)
In one unified field of Light
Within, through, and around my body.
I allow the Wave of Metatron
To move between these two points.
I AM a unity of Light.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand
Encompassing my eighth chakra
(above my head)
And my upper thighs
In one unified field of Light
Within, through, and around my body.
I allow my emotional body to merge
With my physical body.
I AM a unity of Light.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand
Encompassing my ninth chakra
(Above my head)
And my lower thighs
In one unified field of Light
Within, through, and around my body.
I allow my mental body to merge
With my physical body.
I AM a unity of Light.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand
Encompassing my tenth chakra
(Above my head)
And to my knees
In one unified field of Light
Within, through and around my body.
I allow my spiritual body to merge
With my physical body,
Creating the unified field. I AM a unity of Light.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand
Encompassing my eleventh chakra
(Above my head)
And my upper calves
In one unified field of Light
Within, through and around my body
I allow the Oversoul to merge
With the unified field. I AM a unity of Light.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand
Encompassing my twelfth chakra
(Above my head)
And my lower calves
In one unified field of Light
Within, through and around my body
I allow the Christ Oversoul to merge
With the unified field. I AM a unity of Light.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand
Encompassing my thirteenth chakra
(Above my head)
And my feet
In one unified field of Light
Within, through and around my body
I allow the I AM Oversoul to merge
With the unified field. I AM a unity of Light.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
Allowing the Light to expand
Encompassing my fourteenth chakra
(Above my head)
And to below my feet
In one unified field of Light
Within, through and around my body
I allow the Source's Presence to move
Throughout the unified field.
I AM a unity of Light.

I breathe in Light
Through the center of my heart,
I ask that the highest level of my Spirit
Radiate forth from the center of my heart,
Filling this unified field completely.
I radiate forth throughout this day.
I AM a unity of Spirit.
I AM a unity of Light.

Declare Independence!

2009-01-27T23:04:00.000+11:00

With Australia Day done and dusted I am back in Starland flying solo, doing the catchup thang and reflecting on what has come to pass. It's a strange life this one and often I feel too much goes unnoticed and unsaid. Call me verbose. I guess I'm just interested in having a voice and being heard. I'm not one for patriotism, don't ask me why, it simply doesn't hit my radar. So on Australia Day when we are all called upon to celebrate this 'wonderful' culture we live in, I couldn't help but feel really sad and a tad angry about the whole thing. I think of it more as "Invasion Day" - a day of mourning. It is the anniversary of the day in which a boat full of white men invaded this country, killed hundreds of thousands of indigenous people, took over their land, annihilated their culture and enforced 'civilisation' onto one and all. It makes no sense to celebrate such a day.

Cut to the masses on Bondi Beach regularly boozing it up (only slightly more cautious on Hooray Australia Day now that public drinking has been delegalised), with a countdown until the first fight breaks out, waving their Union Jack-esque flags in the air and carrying soon to be land-fill ugly as, giant green and yellow floatable flip flop / thongs courtesy of Haviannas. This is actually a 'civilisation' that people are proud of. Am I an alien not to get? As an aside, which I find particularly odd and relevant to this discussion, beyond a certain hour you can't actually enter late night Quicki Marts in Bondi, you have to Brooklyn NY style, order through bullet proof glass, have the dude rummage through the store and deliver you your order through the window while you wait outside wondering whose got the gun... I found it odd that this wasn't the case in a less prestigious part of town, i.e way out West where I was in the early hours of the morning. So if we are to use the Eastern Suburbs as a benchmark of esteemed culture - there it is ladies and gentlemen.

Given that I was performing at a sunrise festival in Parramatta, followed by another festival at Dolls Point, then back to Bondi in the afternoon... I traveled from East to West then South and back East in which time I did not see a single Aboriginal flag anywhere. Not one. Many above mentioned 'Australian' flags flying off cars, hanging out of windows, on bikinis and boxer shorts etc etc... but not a single indigenous flag was to be seen. Should I have traveled North? I'm guessing the chances were even less in that direction.

The level of ignorant insensitivity is offensive. It's like celebrating ANZAC Day or 9/11... we just wouldn't do it. So why do we seem so convinced of how right it is to be all Ozzi Ozzi oi oi! on a day that reminds us of the mindless slaughter of the ancestors of this land? Because it allows another day off work in which to get drunk?

Read this article, it says it all. Note the comment: "It's got nothing to do with Aboriginal people." The karma!

It's been interesting trawling through the online media to find differing points of view - a challenge at best! The mainstream are tied to toeing to the line. I found this article, while obviously representing the pot of (white) gold opinion that the conservatives are looking for (note the photo), to actually hold some merit. It shook me off my own high horse in any case. It's true that we need to move on and live in the now and unity beyond anything else is what we aim for in all areas of polarised life BUT, I don't think that necessarily means turning a blind eye, forgetting what has passed, and showing a lack of respect or sensitivity to the original custodians of this land and what they have experienced in the name of progress. Can we at the very least start to fly some Aboriginal flags? That's progress, in fact that's an evolution in consciousness. It would seem like the logical start, especially on Australia Day. The Federation of Intergalactic Space Babes are onto this mission... more about that soon.

Hoopaholic Mardi Gras Float 09

2009-01-15T17:46:00.000+11:00

Dear Hoopaholics and friends,

We are putting together a Hoopaholic Mardi Gras float for the 2009 Mardi gras parade. We would love for you march with us. Please indicate if you would like to be a part of it.

Hulahooping skills not necessary. Bring hulahoops, toys, banners, noisemakers, swan around, hoop it up...

The Hoopaholics and the Colour Parade have been further workshopping the theme for our 2009 MG float entry. We've come up with "Intergalactic Colour". Basically that translates as anything SPACEY in whatever colour you like. The more colourful the better, although of course the silver still applies.

The Hoopaholics and the Colour Parade are known for their eye-catching ensembles and we trust that ya'll are up for making a statement with your fabulous costume slash hairdo slash makeup!

Think intergalactic space babe, rambunctious robot, butch borg, interplanetary messenger, androgynous android, UFO Hunter, Sigourney as Ripley, Darth Gayder, sexy mutant, a falling star, come as your favourite planet, a Klingon from Uranus?... or whatever else you can conjure from OUTERSPACE...

Check out the pix for more inspiration...

CAN'T WAIT to see what you come up with! x

The parade is 7th March 2009.

Love from,
The Hoopaholics and the Colour Parade

2009 - Organise Systemise Realise

2009-01-11T19:07:00.000+11:00

Again its been another hardcore quarter year. At the moment life is divided into four x eight week teaching terms with four week breaks in between and a little longer over the Summer break... which is now - yay! Stop to catch breath, chillax, recap and move forward. The past six months have been even more jampacked given that during break time I have been traveling - to the Australian desert mid year then over to California for Hoop Camp and Harbin Hoop Jam. A thousand thankyous to Tiger Rowly for editing this hot video of Harbin.

The current break has been all about taking time out, moving to the South Coast of New South Wales and really taking stock of what has happened, is happening and will happen in the coming year. The breath has been long as the fast paced Year of the Rat comes to a close making way for the Ox - slow and steady. I dedicate 2009 to more deep, long breaths, taking organisation to a new level and putting systems into place to realise the ongoing success and longevity of what feels like a mammoth life project - hoop evolution... hoopmorphosis!

Feels good to ignite the jamspace here - Joy and I got it going on right after XMas and last weekend GemStar, Phoebe Linguini, TamStar and Wendy blew in for some hoop time. It works and has the potential to rock right out. Starborough energy is clear and ready for manifestation. From the outset it has been quite effortless to create here. Hoop time is a joy and the main cushion room craves the whirl. One of my reasons for moving out of Sydney was to make more space to write and expand consciously and creatively. But there is no rush as this is the space for flow and recently its been downtime which means simply making space to see what happens and rest. Life has been filled with a lot of lovely guests, beautiful food, divine ocean swims, yoga, reading, drawing, hooping and the ever important visioning of what next!

Now it's time to get back onnit! I will admit this is a challenge with an ocean staring me in the face and an office set up on an outside deck amidst the trees and birds and bees... but what's life without a few challenges right. With Mardi Gras around the corner I am devoting some time to creating the show for the Club Kooky Mardi Gras Extravaganza, working on the spaceship for the parade and designing costumes. A Hoopaholic landing is in order so the Intergalactic Space Babe blinglicious thinking cap is well on.

The parade will include the Colour Parade collective and will be loosely themed Intergalactic Colour as will be sketched out in my next post. This is the first year that the Hoopaholics have had their very own float so look out Mardi Gras! That Taylor's Square hot spot might never be the same again... we intend to bust some fairly serious moves.

The vision map includes a lot this year - expanding the business through replication and technology so lots of learning resources in the form of E-Books, Audio Books, Videos... story books. Travel - a mandatory life activity... of the body and mind. More rest than last year - Rat on Rat WOAH Bessy! More Yoga, raw food, vegie garden akshun, fasting, hoop retreats, hoop jams, desert missions, meditation, LURV... and more and more dancing. Performance wise - I'm seeing a blossoming, a padding out, a shape shifting type morph if you will of the repertoire thus far. As ever its gonna be FULL ON and MEGA BLING in the form of light, glitter, shimmer, costume hair makeup extravaganzas and routines that elaborate on the story of BunnyHoopStar and the Hoopaholics - the Intergalactic Space Babe Journey. The Hulian Mission commands full presence.

Deanne arrives in a few weeks so the Wonder Twin Powers will activate... more on that soon!

Many happy hoopy blessings to one and all for 2009. May your dreams be activated and realised with clarity, courage and a style that is distinctly YOU!

Harbin Hoop Jam October 08

2008-10-15T08:44:00.000+11:00

This year’s inaugural Harbin Hoop Jam was a life changing, even cell-shifting, experience. Located in the lush forests of Northern California, just beyond the Napa Valley, it was held at one of the most beautiful natural hot springs retreats in America. After Hoop Camp I was craving Harbin for a variety of reasons. Mostly I was looking for a decent amount of time and space to practice all that I had learnt at Hoop Camp, all that I was working on personally and to go beyond anything that I had experienced or expected in a blank canvas environment. Naturally I wanted to get Intergalactic in oh so many ways.

The beauty of this land exceeded all expectations. As Miss Rosie drove Deanne and I up to the retreat there were several moments where my breath was literally taken away… and then promptly returned with absolute wonder and awe. The land that the retreat sits on, and the retreat itself, is like a magical hideaway from the rest of the world. Add to that completely natural and extremely hot and cold spring pools to soak in, some warm water in between, a steam room or two, healing treatments such as Watsu, massage, yoga in the temple and sleep (!) … well, let’s just say it was hard to leave. We arrived on the Monday directly after Hoop Camp weekend and I left on the following Sunday so a week all up – long enough to get lost / found in the paradise that is Harbin, short enough to eject to complete the rest of the journey.

The Jam was held at the conference centre which had very little left to be desired for a hoop space / home base / disco dance land. Our training area was decked out with a split of floorboards and carpet, cushions everywhere, a DJ booth, ceiling to floor mirror, incredible skylight that bathed us in the sun's beams, hoop shrine, tea and water on tap, snacks, three delicious and healthy (predominantly vegetarian :)) meals a day, magic... hoops of all weights and sizes not to mention lights thanks to psi guru Merlin. I set my bedroom up on the outside decks allowing me to fall asleep to the sound of the flowing stream and dream under the stars in absolute comfort. With all those cushions that deck was like a palace. I woke up to the Harbin “peacocks” (funny looking bush turkeys) and deer wandering around, like everyone else, in an ultra relaxed fashion - a gait that was aptly coined by Lady Hoop Love as the Harbin Slide.

In such a setting it’s amazing that we managed to get anything done other than bask and eat grapes. But we had the vision of our hosts Merlin, Nayeli and Ourobous to fulfil, not to mention missions of our own, which involved a whole lot of hooping, some serious soaking and, an exploration into collective creativity and connectivity. It was the perfect mix – a blissful combination of good sleep, delish food, yogic warm-ups, group directed exercises, freestyle hooping, power dips in the pools, chillout space and party time at night. In a word, it was ideal.

As the first Harbin Hoop Jam the collective vibe was brimming with excitement, anticipation, ideas, a whole lot of energy, the desire to connect and a united and dominant intent to have as much fun as hoopily possible. We dove into the unknown co-creating spontaneously and continuously for the better part of five days. We numbered 18 so the group was large enough to encompass a broad diversity in perspective and style and yet small enough to hold an intimate energy in which we all got to know and enjoy each other’s company.

Having left Australia in super frectic rat mode, landed in San Francisco on a Summer of Love pre-Hoop Camp bling mission then Hoop Camped my little heart out while trying to shake the jetlag, something I really craved from Harbin was the time and space to majorly chillax. As in timeout! I feel like that didn’t fully arrive until the weekend after the Jam was officially over and most of my fellow hoopies had left, leaving a small crew of us to hang out, hoop super casually and play. This need was more a personal requirement than anything I sought from the Jam itself. And how fortunate I was because I can't think of a more chillaxed vibe or venue to watch it appear. It really was a most unique experience of fitting in as much hoop training and play as possible with a lot of space as well to jump onto one's own personal bandwagon if so desired. The chill zone was well and truly under way as the week progressed and the chance to hang at Harbin for a little longer was Divine!

I should not neglect to mention the blissful musical contribution of DJ Sophia. She kept the tunes rokn all the while with lots of eclectic, electric and gypsy style hoopdance tunes that kept our soul train well and truly fuelled. Sophia's beauitful presence as a ball of light human energy and DJ was the cherry on the pie. Much love, adoration and gratitude to Lady Sophia who I could dance to and with infinitely.

The highlights of Harbin for me are numerous. On a hooping level, just being given the opportunity to participate in such a space is an absolute gift. The benefits of working together with a group of like-minded hoopies within an aligned, elongated and intended process is immense. As worked out as I was by the end of the week, I could have happily continued the training for several more weeks. Do not underestimate the regenerating qualities of those hot and cold pools! It's like they reset your energy each and every time.

I also high five the process of blindfolded hooping. WOW! This was one area that I was fully able to access and go beyond the beyond. Like meditation, it frees the mind to just be, intuit, flow, know. The inspiration, and really specific details, for my New York show came from this practice. A story appeared as a standup and spin, using the voice and hoop with Love as the theme. Dee-Lite's Power of Love triggered and shaped then shifted it accordingly. More on that show later, but for now ... can't recommend blindfolded hooping enough and intend on introducing to the hoopies at home.

Tuesday and Thursday nights were Harbin party nights at the conference centre. Local Harbonites poured in and we turned it on hoopstar style. Deanne and I made light work of the Bling Machine and had a wild old time that's for sure :)

My life changed for so many reasons and in so many ways at Harbin. One of the main seeds of change was in giving myself the chance to play without work in my chosen field of work which is about play - an ongoing (if not THE ongoing) conundrum for every professional hoopi I'm sure. The development of my work and personal life requires this free time and space to allow me to grow. It was a major bonus that I was able to share this with fellow hoopies as it amplified the experience.

My cells shifted many times - in the pools, on the dance floor, behind the blindfold, walking the path... Harbin Hoop Jam was an affirmation of the need and desire for hoopies to gather in such a way - i.e for an extended length of time in a magickal paradise - to connect with and inspire our selves and each other. Hoop Camp ignited a flame that was fanned at Harbin. I look forward to the next Harbin Hoop Jam with much hoop love, respect and admiration for those who help create it. Bring it ON!

More pix here

Intergalactic Space Babes in a Trans-Galactic Landing: Hoop Camp 08 - California

2008-10-07T10:45:00.000+11:00

Its hard to know where to begin as the adventure has been just so full and incredibly mind blowing too. It took me 24 hours to reach San Francisco from Sydney (instead of 12) due to a cheap airfare that hit Tai Pei along the way. It wasn't until I found my new beautiful camera in SF that I could truly appreciate the saving as the leg to leg journey became rather trying. Zen bending techniques essential. Upon touchdown I felt that familiar feeling of coming home. It's an interesting sensation as I have felt it only in a few places in the world but always from the very first instant and beyond - Sydney > San Francisco(/Harbin) > New York all do it for me - a golden triangle perhaps. Europe is just gonna have to wait for this Intergalactic Space Babe's trans-galactic landing. Already I am re-plugged into the vibe that is the United States... West Coast style.

So Deanne of Tokyo's Hoop Lovers and I pretty much cruised the town over the few days we had before Hoop Camp started and soaked up a lot of the Summer of Love vibe that is The Haight and camped out at the Red Vic. Needless to say there was extensive bling expansion in already bulging luggage! If ever in need of a little going beyond the beyond of bling, this is definitely the strip of strips. God bless the Haight! I don't think I've ever talked so much as we did during that passage. Deanne had come from Tokyo and I from Sydney so were jetlagged and exhausted from our frectic lives back home but when we met it was immediate and infinite download upload reload of it all really - vegetarianism, love of the hoop, love addiction, love love love, past present future, visions and dreams, the style train, fashion, jetsetting and the all-essential bling-O-rama. In Deanne I have discovered my cosmic twin. Many others saw it too so it was without surprise that we faced an onslaught of questioning as we walked the streets, hooped the forests and flew through dreams - sisters we are! Much love to Deanne x

Time to tune into the local vibe as we were were picked up by JenaLuna, hooned down the 101 and off into the forest to arrive at Hoop Hot Spot #1 : Kennolyn Retreat near Santa Cruz.

It was non-stop from the moment we arrived. The Hoop Path crew were raring to go so after all 90 of us introduced ourselves one by one and filled the prayer hoop with goodness and love we settled in for a journey within - a blindfolded guided meditation through the legend of the Maidan. Baxter is a true master. What a present spirit! As we listened to the story of the orphans who were gathered by the female warriors known as the Maidan we explored the internal space of the hoop as we rocked it in our first and second currents. The hoop became a vortex and our minds shooting stars as we created visions of what it is to rise to the higher self in a space that I found blissful, confronting and Utopic. Ann and Beth co-taught the 90 minute workshop as around 90 of us flowed with the technique and the meditation of the Hoop Path. Together the Hoop Path team initiated a powerful level of intention and consciousness that kept spreading throughout the weekend and well into the Harbin Hoop Jam in the following week. Baxter's blog on the Hoop Camp weekend is worth a read. He is a wonderfully spirited writer and wraps the workshops up ever so eloquently, including a review of yours truly! Blessings to Baxter - such an inspiration and a definite magnet for my hoop journey... those martial art style paddles and breaks and the ethereal yet powerful philosophy of the Maidan really hit a deep spot within me. It literally brought me to tears.

So the next morning I was ON. 90 of us were organised into 3 groups of 30 that rotated around 3 sessions of 50 minute workshops. I taught Multiple Circus hoops so splitting, coiling, controlling and a few hand tricks with twins (two hoops). It was exciting to present this material as a definite shift has occurred in the US hoop scene in that the big mamma cadillac style hoop is no longer the only way. Pathways have diversified and hoops are becoming smaller and smaller right down to the super mini guys of which Christabel, Shakti and several others are embracing in a way that I can only describe as American Indian Hoop Disco. The days of one hoop wonderment have also passed and have been joined by an interest in adding hoops to the ever evolving groove. Put this all together and circus style hooping and hoops have definitely found their place on the American scene right now.

Like Baxter, I felt strangely very comfortable with the large groups of hoopies. I thought I would be more nervous, I don't know why but I guess the Hoop Camp had a pretty rokn line up of teachers so the benchmark was high. I entered the space with a feeling of deep gratitude that I had been invited to teach amongst the bad-ass hoopers in town. It was like (dare I say) my ego simply disappeared the moment I was on and as Hunter (Harbin astrologer) echoed yesterday - it was a case of the message being more important than the personal feeling so everything other than bright light, clear instruction and joyful energy just fell away. The classes were received really well. It's interesting because I didn't really pre-plan my lesson plan too much as I knew I had to actually be there to know what was needed. I had a very general idea of what material would work best for several months and kept letting that shape shift as the time drew nearer and into the now. This is pretty much how I like to prepare for performance as well - loosely and spontaneously allowing for flow in the moment. Given that twins are now a not so new part of the scene I kept hand-hooping as an added extra and focused on splits, particularly getting the downward split (butt and waist) on the hoopdance map. It's one thing to be able to split hoops, it's very much another to dance with it.

I feel grateful that the Australian hoop scene pushed me out of the small pond searching for more as it led me to these incredible people who have a real craving to share and learn as much as they possibly can from each other with positive intention. That's not to say there isn't politics or issues as there always is everywhere but the vibe about the Americans seems to be an acceptance that the more you give the more you receive and a knowing that if they shut down from each other it doesn't work for anyone. What comes out of that is a focus on unique essence - the defining element of my teacher training program and life. Let's complement each other not compete!

Back to the workshop - so as I have come from the more is more circus style of statuesque multiple hoop spinning and the Americans more from one hoop rock the rhythm hoopdance we merge in the middle. Let's get the multiples on and lets shake it and break it and reverse it and work it and funk it right out. Our missions are aligned. I have to admit, I was deeply humbled by the recurring positive feedback on my workshop as I am sure my fellow teachers are in the knowing and acceptance that each of us blew that camp away. We all taught such different styles and from different philosophies, both personally and transpersonally. As Baxter said in his opening words in reference to 'stealing' moves and grooves - "nobody can steal you." And to that I can simply say, WORD. It's about your unique essence - hooping, life, love... find it, work it, own it - its yours and nobody elses. LOVE IT!

After finishing my workshops on the first morning I felt ready to relax into the weekend and play. The afternoon started with Spiral - of whom I could definitely be tempted to remain speechless. Precise and concise description required as this journal could quite well be overtaken by a Neptune style poetic dance of awe and wonder about the incredibly AMAZING beautiful, talented, otherworldly Spiral. One need only utter the name to watch the collective breath be sucked up into the cosmos then exhaled right out in gratitude for the presence of Spiral on this planet and in this community. When she knocked out a demo at the end of the class there wasn't a single person who was not awe-struck and completely captivated. Spiral has an awareness of movement and flow like no other - her workshop was called Rhythm Form and Flow. She drew awareness to rhythm of the body, the hoop and the music; form of the hoop's shape and movement using the hoop as a dance partner; and flow incorporating it all using the masterful energy that comes through when we are completely engaged in blissful presence and awareness. Thank you to the Universe for bringing us Spiral. For those of you who have not seen her dance get your booty over to YouTube right now and be prepared to be amazed

Sharna Rose from England was next with her workshop that focused on Intuition and Play. Such a high vibe! Sharna demanded the inner child in us all to come out and play. Her choice of diverse music, insistence on high energy playfulness and her own ability as a hooper all totally hit the spot. Stop start, jumping around, happy accidents in the hoop, all of it I just loved. I don't think I have ever been worked so hard in a workshop - she is unrelenting and really understands the energy requirements of the child: to be exhausted through wild bursts of exhilirating movement, play and frequently changing diverse mental stimulation. Not only did she inform me on how to get my little hooplings in more of a spin but also the bigger kids too, including myself. Thank you Sharna!

To finish the day was Shredder. What an inspiration she is in so many ways! Another 20/12-oid. My collection is really expanding. Shredder embodies an energy which I have identified in American woman as the full Shakti warrior goddess. On the first night at Hoop Camp there was a performance zone for those who wished to take the stage in a log style auditorium under the stars. Most people who got up on that stage did not hoop - they spoke. Poetry, song, stories. Shredder shredded the stage with her acrobatic super flexi hoop routine in a style like no other and the fairies of the night got their tiny twin hoop akshun on but mostly it was voice. What struck me was how powerful the American female voice is - its strong, direct, clear and often deep. I'm into it. Shredder is no exception. Deanne describes her 'tood perfectly as "get it on bitches". Yes ma'am! Her workshop was on acrobatics and getting flexi with the hoop with some added funky helicopter passes as well. Shredder inspires me with her strength and agility. She also has a presence as a performer and a presenter that is soul-splitting - it's a no shit sherlock here I am love me for who I am because I am HOT! Again - word ya'll.

The night was filled with more bliss. Its worth highlighting that this trip from beginning to end has been anchored in presence and flow inspired by the intense amazingness of each and every experience. It's also been filled with awesome costumes... the heavy slog from portal to portal has been well worth it! So on this night of nights, who came to the party but Bunny Bardot... inspired by the secret rokn disco that Anah got going on in the schoolroom above my cabin and a Barbarella siting amidst the play. She was pretty well behaved I must say that Bunny Bardot, but she did want to dance and dance she did! I have felt that throughout the journey it has been essential to put down my hoop... if only occasionally to let my body express outside of the circle. Some fire hooping went down of which I did not partake as my jetlag had really kicked in and my hair was just too damn big. So I gladly watched my boundaries and floated down to Merlin's PSI hoop heaven and joined the fireflies in their frolicking. Unfortunately I didn't last too long as I had worked it that day on four hours sleep, the tail end of the lag and an early morning yoga class so by the time I reached Ground Zero I was well past my limit. Nonetheless I enjoyed watching and grooving it sans hoop with camera. There is life outside the hoop too!

The next day was spent with Christabel, Anah and Shakti. Christabel aka Hoopgirl honed us right in with some core groovin sexy style. That girl is such an inspiration and wonderful to observe in her teaching essence as she has definitely got it down. What an instructor! Just full of beaming light, juiciness, energy, intention, detail and real connection with each and everyone of her students. Those eyes! And again, what a voice. Hoop Sexy was the name of her workshop and let it be known, no one could have facilitated this better. What a sexy lady! The word "mastress" crossed my reality a few days ago... I think Christabel can try that title on. She is both ferocious and delicate all in one. Hunts like a tiger and plays like a kitten.

Anah aka Hoopalicious - just WoW. Yet again. What always strikes me about Anah is her pixie like features and yet her hard driving dance style. I adore her androgyny and her power, her gift at moving within her hoop with full control and rhythm. Anah is known for initiating much of the hoopdance on the West Coast hoop scene. Much respect and kudos to her for inspiring and birthing such a community! As the hoop size trend is now to go down, Anah has remained in her chunky Cadillac style hoop. It suits her. Watching her rock it is like standing on the side of the road seeing a timeless (yet of a distinct time) piece of beauty glide along the road in all its stylised glory. By this I mean I can see that she is driving it from the 90s and yet there is solid 70s disco there too and a dance of no time as she is so unique in her groove with a range of flexibility and funk that is just 100% nOWness. Awareness was drawn yet again to the core as we learnt to put the dance back into the hoopdance. I identify with Anah's core foundational focus as this is where I also drive from and have been anchored in for a very long time in my own hoop journey - rokn it from the centre. Circling the upper body while locked in the core - now there's a practice I'm gonna be working on. Thank you Anah! Check out this hot video of her rokn it at Hoop Camp.

Finally we collapsed with the beautiful women of Kaivalya Hoops - Shakti SunFire and Ali Cat. We talked business. I was deeply grateful for this discussion as it has been a back burned discussion for many years now. We talked about group dynamics, how to mix hoop biz with friendship, leadership and delegation, ownership and opportunity. To be honest we could have spent a whole day or even weekend nutting out the nuts and bolts of what we do as professional hoopers and I don't think it will be long before we do. We need to. Forum to discuss is essential and when we are working in such bliss states it is no exception. It is essential that we protect our passion and our joy that we find in hoop biz otherwise the downward spiral can be tempting. Having left Australia literally spent and with very little energy left I think it is safe to say that I often over-work myself into a state of complete exhaustion which detracts from the experience of being a hoopi. A yogi wouldn't do it that why so why would a hoopi. This is my greatest lesson and the forum really allowed me to explore this and the wide range of issues that we confront when working in such an unconventional industry. Delegation and acknowledgement of limitation are essential.

I really want to explore this journey in a literary sense to historically document this exciting time in the hoop world. It feels like we are birthing an incredible community of fully embodied light working entities who know how to play and have fun. I think we all are aware of how we elevate the collective and personal vibration in what we do creating an upward spiral of higher consciousness. We aim to inspire and share and gift the world our talents and we are joining forces to spread the joy. It is needed right now, particularly in the USA at this time of intense financial strain. It is needed on this planet as we have gone beyond the collective limit and are exhausting our own resources on a massive scale. I also want to explore this personally and hopefully beam out some insight to others so that we can inspire each other to become more in tune with our inner realities and connect as conscious sentient beings. It will take another entry to follow this latter path and it will be the story of Harbinia - the Goddess of Harbin.

In case it hasn't become apparent already I am totally inlove with my hoopi family. Every single one of them. The presence and high vibrational clarity and light that each of us have found in the hoop sits within the essence of our practice. I felt so many of my Australian friends' spirits come through me throughout this retreat particularly in Harbin. But one particular transmission sits with me - a message from the beautiful Darinka:

"I am inlove with Love and Love is inlove with me. My body is inlove with my soul and my soul is inlove with the body. I open my arms to Love and it embraced me like a Lover." Rumi

This poem instantly filled my breath - it was love at first sight. It blew out into the sky one stunning morning in Harbin after the tempest the night before in the form of a luminous rainbow that arched over the valley. The cellular vibration was intensely blissful and I knew in that moment that all love that ever was is and will be, is so completely universal transpersonal and cosmic that the transferal to the third dimension of human personal reality is but a piece or two or three or more of the holographic way in which we can live life through our own individual perception. The mer-ka-bah comes back into view: mer - meaning spinning light, bidirectional, an energetic force that surrounds our bodies and planet; ka - the unique essence of each individual; bah - the interpretation of our own reality and a space to shift dimensions.

Through hooping we can truly and fully embrace this notion of cosmic movement and flow. We can shift our bodies and our multi-dimensional selves from space to space while sprinkling the cosmic bling that comes with the hoop. We can connect with ourselves, each other and the universe. We can love like never before - infinitely and unconditionally. The hoop represents our integration and completeness as spiritual beings having a human experience.

More HOOP CAMP pix

The Talking Stick

2008-09-22T18:31:00.000+10:00

Carol Locust, Ph.D.
Native American Research and Training Center
Tucson, Arizona
(Tribal affiliation -- Eastern Band Cherokee)

"The talking stick has been used for centuries by many American Indian tribes as a means of just and impartial hearing. The talking stick was commonly used in council circles to designate who had the right to speak. When matters of great concern came before the council, the leading elder would hold the talking stick and begin the discussion. When he finished what he had to say he would hold out the talking stick, and whoever wished to speak after him would take it. In this manner the stick was passed from one individual to another until all who wished to speak had done so. The stick was then passed back to the leading elder for safe keeping.

Some tribes used a talking feather instead of a talking stick. Other tribes might have a peace pipe, a wampum belt, a sacred shell, or some other object by which they designate the right to speak. Whatever the object, it carries respect for free speech and assures the speaker he has the freedom and power to say what is in his heart without fear of reprisal or humiliation.

Whoever holds the talking stick has within his hands the sacred power of words. Only he can speak while he holds the stick; the other council members must remain silent. The eagle feather tied to the talking stick gives him the courage and wisdom to speak truthfully and wisely. The rabbit fur on the end of the stick reminds him that his words must come from his heart and that they must be soft and warm. The blue stone will remind him that the Great Spirit hears the message of his heart as well as the words he speaks. The shell, iridescent and ever changing, reminds him that all creation changes -- the days, the seasons, the years -- and people and situations change, too. The four colors of beads -- yellow for the sunrise (east), red for the sunset (west), white for the snow (north) and green for the earth (south) -- are symbolic of the powers of the universe he has in his hands at the moment to speak what is in his heart. Attached to the stick are strands of hair from the great buffalo. He who speaks may do so with the power and strength of this great animal.

The speaker should not forget that he carries within himself a sacred spark of the Great Spirit, and therefore he is also sacred. If he feels he cannot honor the talking stick with his words, he should refrain from speaking so he will not dishonor himself. When he is again in control of his words, the stick will be returned to him."

http://www.acaciart.com/stories/archive6.html

Unification within the Cosmic Hoop

2008-09-14T22:19:00.000+10:00

"Today there is a movement toward rediscovering the uses of astrology and the importance of the shamanastic viewpoint of the world. There is by some a turning away from the scientist-preists as the purveyors of all knowledge and wisdom. What we are beginning to realize is that left brain knowledge alone is sterile and incomplete. We cannot comprehend the bigger picture until right brain knowledge is also incorporated into the greater worldview. As a result, we have seen an explosion of right brain paths of consciousness exploration over the past three decades. A deeply buried need to experience mystical ways of knowing and perceiving the world is reawakening. In this search for greater self knowledge, many have sought to learn the shaman's path of inner knowing... A new form of whole-brain learning and perceiving the world around us is developing."

Richard Gerber MD, author of "Vibrational Medicine: the #1 Handbook of Subtle Energy Therapies" in Introduction to
Barbara Hand Clow "Liquid Light of Sex"

Recent hoop phenomena: right handers gravitating toward left handed hooping for right brain turbo boost; lasso to waist with turn > "go with the movement of the hoop" (mondo)

Hoop Meditation

Find a space by yourself to hoop in. choose a place in which you will feel comfortable to close your eyes and move around in. this space is either dark or dimly lit with candles and incense. choose a selection of songs that you know will take you on a journey. i usually go for tribal beats, chunky and funky, and/or something eclectic, slow and melodic. It's important to choose music that you personally connect with.

Start by centring your body inside the hoop as you hold it with hands down either side. Close your eyes and breathe as you start to visualise your chakras in full colour detail one by one ascending upward - red at the base root chakra; orange at the 2nd; sun yellow at your core 3rd; green at the heart; blue at the throat; violet at the third eye; white open lotus at the crown. See a stream of light pouring into your head and engulfing all of these colours as it floods down your spinal column into your root chakra weaving and circling the spinning mandala type chakras along the way until it reaches the ground, takes a 180 to return back in an egg shape upward direction until it reaches your crown passing through all chakras along the way weaving and circling as it did coming down until it reaches way beyond the crown chakra and completes the oval. Watch that oval in its fullness and see it expand beyond your hoop's perimetre as far as the mind can see. Then watch it pulsate a vibrant white light as it radiates out into the galaxy then back in again. Hold the vision of the light and notice a space of total stillness. Music is optional for this part of the meditation but I find it often useful to listen to the sounds around you, preferably in nature, and start to hear the hum of existence as your meditation music.

Time to groove it. Bring yourself back into the physical space that you are standing in and start spinning the hoop. We are looking for a free flow dance. Close your eyes as much as possible. Feel your body move and start to observe. Notice how your physical form engages with the hoop and how other parts of the body react to certain movements. Flow is important so rather than thinking about moves you are going to automatically just move and let your body decide how. Turning is key as we begin to discover the rhythm as your body communes with the hoop and music. Keep spinning and moving until you find a place of complete calm and harmonic resonance. As you move deeper into the movement meditation you can start to visualise the chakras again with the powerful white light as your spotlight. You can move the hoop to any part of your body during this time while exploring spontaneous movement and flow.

Don't time any of this. Just pick a playlist of songs that will last anywhere between 5 minutes and 5 hours! It's up to you how long each part will take.

When you are finished drop your hoop and stand in Tadasana. Feel the energy moving around the body. Then lie down on the ground for Sivasana Corpse pose final relaxation. Make sure you are warm and comfortable. Reflect on your movement meditation to find any key insights. Then just let your body and mind relax entirely with meditation and focus on the breath. Try not to force the breath just watch it. Sivasana is recommended for at least 5 minutes preferably 10.

When you have completed Sivasana record any significant revelations.

Elemental meditation to come...

Rainbow Bliss

2008-09-08T09:13:00.000+10:00

i sat inside my rainbow hoop at the beach contemplating meditating threw my rainbow at a little girl who was prancing and posing full acrobatic style - she loved it of course - then i journeyed to the clifftop (enroute... random callout: i thought they should have given you 10!) and so i sat on the edge of the cliff and gazed upon the ocean. the colours constantly changed as sunlight beamed in and out. a sea plane buzzed past calling me to look up and see the rainbow in the sky. breathtaking moment. there was so much love and light going on in that little bubble of mine and i thought: how can i hold onto this bliss? when i realised... this too will pass.

dreamscape: lots of travel and peeps - london bronwyn camping nick packing bags riding a mule enroute... cut to > walking into a room to find a man sitting on a chair. we both realise we are on the astral plane and are both lucidly dreaming. i wonder if we should engage and then we both realise that we don't know each other so it would be futile. fadeout

top 5 dancefloor experience on saturday night @ phoenix - when tim mentioned it i was tempted to ask who would be spinning and thought better to leave it as a surprise. yay! johnny. WOW. couldn't really have asked for anything more. he just does it every time. blissful tunes a mix of the deep dark dirty and the crankn electro kookified lushness that is the signature of this man's supreme style. oh and the incense! bring it ON. mental note - when doing out in catwoman stileto boots... take backup! good for curfews, challenging for hooping, broke through on the dance land front but... such pain! in a pain is beauty, beauty is pain kinda way but REALLY! who is responsible for this kind of footwear? actually. cut to conversation on friday night with jann about Chinese foot binding - the link was made. post-feminist feminist discussion to come... its lengthy.

night spent making rainbows in the land of bliss

"In Astrology We See the State of the Cosmic Mind"

2008-09-07T09:42:00.000+10:00

The Vertex and Anti-Vertex

"The vertex appears as a sensitive point linked to fateful encounters with others, seemingly sudden epiphanies, turning points in life and a destiny over which we have no control. Activated, it can synchronize with an experience of another whose effect registers as some degree of profound or extraordinary.

Meetings with significant people, as seen through synastry and composite charts, may also link strongly to the vertex. (Think of people as constant transits.) When one person's inner planets or asteroids (Sun through to Jupiter), angles, nodes, vertex or certain Arabic parts conjunct the vertex, there can be a feeling of fate, destiny, rightness or wrongness about the encounter. Something in the contact with that person may have the ability to create profound change in the native, over a long or short period of time.

Our location on the planet can awaken the vertex as seen through relocation charts and astro-carto-graphy. When we relocate, the vertex may become more prominent by changing house or aspect to an angle. The relocation vertex can signify places where meaningful encounters of a particular nature seem to happen more consistently."

Sourced from Falcon Astrology

HOROSCOPE ANGLES
"The Ascendant is formed by the intersection of the eastern section of the (rational) horizon with the ecliptic. The Descendant is the intersection of the horizon and ecliptic in the west. The visible intersection of the ecliptic with the Meridian (above the horizon) forms the Midheaven. The IC is the ecliptic-Meridian intersection below the horizon. The intersection of the ecliptic with the Prime Vertical in the east forms the Antivertex; in the west that intersection marks the Vertex. The East Point is the intersection of the ecliptic with the unnamed great circle passing through the east and west points of the horizon and the north and south poles of Earth, and the West Point is its western opposition. The East Point has also been called the Equatorial Ascendant because it is the Ascendant on the Equator at the sidereal time of birth.

Both the East Point and Antivertex can be interpreted as auxiliary Ascendants. That is, they function as additional keys to one’s basic identity, action, energy, drive and self-expression.
They do not seem to be AS important as the actual Ascendant, but do offer useful clues to major themes in the nature of the individual. Either angle requires more attention when a planet falls closely conjunct it. This is almost as significant as having that planet conjunct the Ascendant. The planet(s) involved denote major, keynote principles of that individual’s sense of self, identity, assertion and being in the world...

This potential of “giving away” a part of who we are and unconsciously attracting other people to manifest that missing side contributes to what has been called the “fated” quality of the Vertex. Where other people are involved, we have less control and less power than where we are concerned only with our actions and attitudes as an individual. People who externalize responsibility for their own lives call such interactions “fated.” I prefer to operate within the world view that life is a mirror; we attract people we can learn from. Everyone in our lives is teaching us about a part of our own nature and potentials.

Both axes then (East Point/West Point and Antivertex/Vertex) point to a basic self/other polarity in the life that must be faced. In any opposition, the goal is integration. There is a natural complementarity. Both ends need each other to be fully effective. There are two major dangers with any opposition (polarity) in the horoscope. One danger is swinging from one extreme to the other. It is not uncommon for people to overdo one end of a polarity, then—in reaction—go to the opposite extreme. Some people spend their lives flip-flopping from one end of the seesaw to the other. The second danger is projection. In that case, the individual identifies with one end of the polarity and denies its opposite. So, unconsciously, that individual attracts other people who are expressing that opposite quality. The problem is, they are usually carrying it to an extreme. So, when we see exaggerated behavior, it is a good idea to look into our own psyches at what we may be denying."

Sourced from and interpretation of house positions: CCRS Dodona

Last Night's Dreamscape

2008-09-06T16:01:00.000+10:00

In a crossworld between the Lost Buddhas and Demon Leather - am perusing outfit (flashback to the Fashion Buddha and frilly leather shirt). I'm putting costumes into my car and realise I can't find a new expensive costume. Am wondering where it is when all of a sudden I realise I have a baby... a very small baby. I'm holding it and notice how fragile it is - can't support it's neck, can barely sit in my arms without flopping about. I almost drop it! Because I am so busy I ask a young girl to look after the baby. She takes it away for a bath and I continue packing the car. The young girl appears again without the baby. I run to the bathroom and see the baby sunken beneath the water with its eyes closed. It has stopped breathing and looks dead although not blue so I pull it out of the water and start to rescucitate it by massaging its heart. I call out for someone to help and then find myself in a chemist. I hand over the baby and ask the woman behind the counter to bring the baby back to life. She starts massaging its heart as then and listens closely for breath. She tells me the baby is alive and that it said to her, "Death is boring, I'm not dead." Much to my relief! Fadeout...

TroupEclectico - Aug 22 + 23

2008-09-06T14:20:00.000+10:00

Read Article Online

Hoop Disco Desert Dreaming Part 2

2008-09-02T21:22:00.000+10:00

Again it has happened - LIFE! Not much time for the extra-curricular these daze. Last Friday was my first day off in 19 days... hmmm somebody build me a tetrahedron to fit out my brain! In an attempt to return to blogland to complete the desert review it seems all that has needed to happen in the meantime, has in fact occurred. So where to begin?

A conversation with a man at an art show last week about the desert - we were talking about how wonderful it is to find the opportunity to sit in a beautiful space for a length of time and just BE. To watch the sky, to notice the daily pattern of birds' flight, to check out your own bio-rhythms and to contemplate. We were standing in a gallery in the middle of Sydney that was so jampacked peeps had to hit the walls with their beers and wine just to make room for all the shuffling and perusing and shmoozing that is Sydney... this city is so dense (and yet when compared to other big cities around the world not at all) but it's interesting in its own diverse and eclectic way. I found it fascinating how old friends from way back kept popping out of the time closet almost like a dream - some had changed in appearance, others looked the same but spoke a different story, one had even changed sex. I saw a stunt double of a friend I hadn't seen for a very long time, I could have sworn it was him. It was all very holographic the way we dotted the room randomly and yet, we all still connected through that underlying knowing of who we are and what we are about - creatures intent on harmonically creating bliss states and connecting through art and each other. Epiphany had, I ejected rather quickly and headed to the beach!

When I reflect on our time in the desert, with more than a month having passed in a turbo tail wind of the fast lane variety, an involuntary sigh escapes each and every time. Pining for the past, I know... never a good thing. BUT! When I look up at the sky in the city I feel deprived. Where are all the stars and galactic spiral highway?? When I race from point A>Z filling in each and every hoopy letter several times over with some extended yogic breaths in between I end up feeling exhausted barely remembering what just happened. It feels different to the predictable post holiday come down... I'm not quite sure you would even call what we experienced a "holiday" - the dust storms, the hauling of steel and wood and bling, the organisation, the drama... although... crafternoon on the sandunes, sitting around the fire at night, gazing at the sky, photoshoots and glamour - i think ADVENTURE is a better word to describe the experience. And in every adventure is a mission, with every mission is focused intent - we weren't faffing yo, we were actualising a vision that started with a drawing in the desert of Nevada (i.e Burning Man 06) and just grew with the additional vision and sweat of Nick, Falcon, Gemma and everyone who contributed to making that Mothership Hoop Disco land in the third dimension.

What struck me the most was in the mission to make that big heap of steel and wood and gas and light into the fire breathing, light shifting blingtastic thing that it was... having traveled several days across Australia with I think it's safe to say a pretty precarious transport situation going on and a bus full of people (some with WAY too much blingage but ultimately not)... all this 3Dness seemed to merge with an energetic forcefield of collective consciousness. I would even go as far to say that at times the 3Dness submerged completely beneath a grid of awareness that just kept on expanding and contracting then expanding again - it was amazing to witness and be part of. The massive amount of effort that was put into the project was delivered right back in that wonder twin kinda way - shape of some pretty wicked sacred geometry... form of personal fulfilment, creative realisastion and, in the context of the droll world we live in, an illicit amount of FUN! I don't think a single one of us left the desert without feeling that somehow life had changed. It's a pretty spacious art gallery out there in the middle of Australia.

For me, a shift has occurred at a cellular level that has tuned me in with my truth. It just gets stronger and I feel like I am changing every moment of every day. The information and people and energy that flows toward me, around me and back out again is super charged with cosmic intelligence. At times I feel like (apart from the obvious mundane ratting around) I don't really need to DO anything except watch it ebb and flow and shape it accordingly. And lots of yoga - yum yoga! It leads me to believe, beyond the wanderlust, that everything is absolutely perfect exactly how it is... even the chaotic rat race, especially the chaotic rat race. There is much to be done in a small amount of time with a lot of people... hence the city living. Sometimes it's a little too easy to deflect responsibility in accepting our karmic requests and choices in life. Ultimately it's about perception and so a lot of the DOING is in fact the mind racing. Meditation anyone?

(To watch high quality versions click on video to teleport you to YouTube and then click on said option)

It's odd how so many Australians spend so much of their travel time abroad. I know I have and am about to yet again. I guess my next trip to the forests of California and then onto New York feels almost like a bit of a last hurrah for a while. It's more a feeling than a thought. Burning Man gripped me and blew me away in all the right ways but Earth Dream wrapped me up and sent messages that I don't think I've ever experienced before. The difference between an um and an om perhaps. Anyway, it's all just words at the end of the day... or is it? I'm a bit of a fan of the saying, wherever you go there you are... but then, sometimes being in the right place at the right time really does help - follow your dreams and you can't go wrong.

More beauty:

More dreams. It's what it's about this life - living the dream.

So as August jetted past, wow my dreams - more flying and incredible ethereal experiences... the lucidity is so strong right now. Some highlights of the month gone by...

WORLD HOOP DAY 080808 - Taylors Square, Darlinghurst

AFI AWARDS SCREENING NIGHT - PHOTO: BELINDA ROLLAND © 2008

Blessings to one and all from the Intergalactic Space Babe HQ!

Hoop Disco Desert Dreaming Part 1

2008-08-13T00:17:00.000+10:00

It's hard to believe that more than two months has flown by since last I blogged! Time is flying... and so am I at an incredible speed. The months of June and early July were spent teaching the Autumnal term, performing about town, making hoops for the new Hoop Empire Winter range, Hoop Lovers Tokyo Summer range and preparing for our Hoop Disco Dreaming in the Desert.

The Hoop Disco Desert Dreaming was an incredible experience. A week of creating life on a blank canvas offered the space to go full BLING amidst the flying sparks of the Fire Breathing Falcon's birth onto the planet and the rising of the Hoop Disco mothership. With a fellowship of 9 we drove for 3 days until we reached the Oodnadatta Track near Lake Eyre and threw ourselves into the dunes of South Australia with some pretty serious hoopage. Dust storms and all, we discovered the bliss that is this red land and the possibilities that can be realised by tapping into your dreams. Those skies! A special thanks to all celestial beings who guided and protected us on our first flight of fancy into the extreme wilderness of the Australian outback. Also, thanks to each and every one of our team for contributing uniquely and amazingly with your individual and magical talents. Kudos to Robin Cook for birthing EarthDream and Mutonia Sculpture Park way back when with his mission of elevating consciousness along side his massive sculptures made of recycled materials. A BIG thank you to the Arabunna People and Rainbow Serpents for welcoming us onto their land. And of course, a huge cosmic HIGH 5 to our photographer, Nick and videographer, Gordon. Photos can be found on Flickr and video to come.

On a personal level, I found the desert to be an amazing space for identifying the internal clutter and void. When you place yourself in a zone of emptiness it becomes easier to see what fills the gaps of one's own silence. Each morning I woke to a pastel pink dome signaling the rising sun. I have to admit I did wake freezing cold (despite being wrapped in 40 or more rabbits! two sleeping bags, a doona, blanket and at times the contents of my bling trunk). But there was a sense of urgency that I simply had to be up to greet the sun. Each day was a gift to be embraced. As it peaked over the horizon and then rose to its fullness, it was like the Sun spoke - messages of creative instruction, power, intensity, reassurance, guidance, healing and absolute bliss in the knowing that this is what it is to reach out and realise, to actualise, the highest potential. WOW.

I took so few photos out there, although posed for lots! and am still gathering collections from both Nick and Gemma. I was reminded yet again how much I miss my camera. At times it feels like a limb is missing but the renunciation of such a device is useful too as a lens can be quite distracting when trying to absorb the bigger picture. I found moments of slipping between both sides of the photographic coin through styling and directing the fabulous GemStar, who excelled with each and every Desert Bling shoot. Without complaint she bared the chilling sunsets and shone like the star she is. By the final night that girl had her makeup so down she was truly breathtaking.

Robin spoke at length to me about the Power of 9 with reference to our group. Just now, in writing this, I am taken on a cyber tangent... I can feel some serious hyperlinkia about to begin! If your mind doesn't expand to Esoterica then skip this paragraph as the Spiral Highway might suck you in and steal your logic. WoW ok check out Wikepedia - its one for Dungeons and Dragons Wizard freaks out there. How good is the internet! Blows my mind every time. The Symbolism and Spiritual Significance of the Number 9 is a intense read and packed with a mass of historical information on the number. Of note - a piece on the Sacred Hoop:

"As for the circle, let us hear Black Elk, the celebrated native sage, direct heir of the tradition of the North American plains: I noticed that my people's sacred hoop was one of the many hoops in the form of a circle, wide as the light of day and the shining of the stars. And in the center was a mighty Flowering Tree, which covered all of the children of father and mother. And I observed that it was holy. . . .The power of the universe acts ever by way of circles, and all things tend ever to be round. In ancient days, when we were a happy, strong people, we received our power from the hoop of the nation, which was holy, and while the circle remained complete, the people flourished. . . . The Flowering Tree was the living center of the circle, and it was nourished by the life of the cycle of the four directions. . . . Whatever is done by the power of the universe, it is done in the form of a circle."

Back to the mainframe - rewind to the clifftop for our final meeting before hitting the road - Falcon talks of the tetrahedron design of the Falconator... the sturdiest shape for any structure to be built. Then after Nick and I discuss the logistics of carrying more than a tonne behind our bus which exceeded our towing limit, we returned to the shape of the first Hoop Disco logo, added some extra platforms in cascade and came up with a shape not too dissimilar to the Sri Chakra as identified by JW, which of course was already well embedded in HD mapping unbeknownst to us all. Ultimately we kept returning to the spiral...

To be continued...

A NEW SPIN ON AN OLD TOY – HULAHOOPLA! By Bunny Star

2008-06-04T11:27:00.000+10:00

Hooping is not only a revolution, it’s a way of life. When asked what one word best describes their view of hooping, students most often reply - fun, childhood and circus. Hooping brings a smile to people’s faces. At times it provokes contorted expressions of focus and frustration, not to mention the occasional whack in the head grimace, but predominantly, when it comes to hooping you’ve arrived in play town.

In essence, hooping brings joy to people’s lives. This is by far the best reason I can give as to why it has made a return from its 1950s hey day and why it has been adopted as a lifestyle for many people across the world.

Then there’s the fitness factor. Hoops are no longer lightweight rings that spin and drop. We’ve wizened up in the global hoop community and instead of leaving it to kids toy companies, hoops are now hand-crafted by hoopers themselves at a size and weight that can accommodate anyone who has the urge to give it a whirl and keep it going for as long as desired. Because we can now maintain the spin as adults we are able to access that full body workout that is so craved in this age of physical preservation… and we can laugh while we do it. How many forms of exercise fit that bill? Hooping slips ever so nicely into that funky new buzz phrase of the millennium – ‘pleasure driven fitness’.

‘Hybrid hooping’ is a movement style that I launched in Sydney in 2005 – it combines traditional circus hula with contemporary hoop dance. Notably, it draws a great deal of inspiration from the American hoop dance scene. In Australia, hooping is historically about ‘hula’ – a circus term for hoops, not to be confused with Hawaiian hip swinging! Despite the name being rejected in the United States for the above-mentioned association, it is still very much in use in Australian circus circles. But with the incredible flow of information and instruction that is available through the internet along with some hot desert hoop jamming at the 2006 Burning Man Festival in the Nevada Desert I discovered hooping or hoopdance at its best. At the risk of being labelled a ‘feral hooper’ by my strictly Russian technique circus trainer, I decided to merge the two influences. Together they offer the ultimate hoop dream – multiple hoop extravaganzas all over the body as well as movement with and within the hoop. Circus… Dance… Exercise… Fun!

It always amazes me when sharing the gift of the hoop just how effective it is in breaking through to the inner child. The reference point is obvious and it’s probably the most commonly uttered response in raising the topic or giving someone a hoop – “I haven’t done this since I was a kid.” For some it is a time to bring back the joy, for others a confrontation with their own internal rhythm master that simply did not obey way back when, and then there are those who discover it as a brand new experience that needs to be explored.

Whichever camp you fall into, hooping is an opportunity to come face to face with your physical vehicle - the body - and your ability to take it on a journey through rhythmic and circular movement. Body, mind and spirit are invited to convene for the duration of the practice in conversation, meditation or simple child-like play.

Ultimately, what we are developing is body consciousness. As different parts of the body learn how to control the spinning hoops - the abs, butt, chest, shoulders, neck, legs, knees, back, hands, arms, even the forehead – we are drawn more and more into our physicality while the mind is given an opportunity to rest. Hooping with the eyes closed offers not only greater success for the novice who simply wants to keep it going but also heightens the experience and can take the more adventurous and well-practiced into a space of inner bliss. Connecting with the hoop is like tuning into your heart beat or breath – it seems simple enough but upon closer inspection it actually requires a concerted effort and stillness of mind so that you can feel the sensation and use it consciously to develop your awareness as well as your physical body.

Along with building fitness, core strength, coordination, rhythm and confidence, hooping raises the emotional and spiritual energy of both adults and children. Like drawing a mandala, it contains movement within a circle requiring a continuous and meditative-like repetition enticing the hooper into a state of inner peace and harmony. It also expands the movement beyond the circle as we take the hoop up, down and off the body, guiding it to flow in various patterns and planes through spiral transitions. We become microcosmic, some might even say intergalactic, as we allow the body and the spirit to explore the physical world and beyond. We are given many opportunities within the hoop to expand our own personal boundaries of awareness and self-development as we learn new tricks and moves while immersing ourselves in the discipline of practicing an acquired skill. Commitment is met with reward when initial gradual development transforms into a series of ongoing and rapid ‘hoop-throughs’ once the vastness of the journey is embraced – there is just so much to learn that there is never a dead-end… simply move on to another part of the play and discover the endless array of possibilities.

Having always been a highly active dreamer, I am a strong believer in listening to the subconscious mind, allowing the ‘higher’ self to guide and to listen to feelings rather than being dominated by thoughts. It’s amazing to see how the body and mind can direct the self with varied states of health and dis-ease. As a performer and teacher, this awareness has only become stronger and guides me in all that I do. As I move further into and through my work, I am continually inspired to keep eliminating what is not conducive to the health of my body, mind, emotions and spirit and to increase what is. A big part of that is being present in the current moment – embracing the now as life’s essence. To not judge, criticise or compare but to simply be. I find this space of inner peace when practicing yoga, meditation, dance and hooping. All of these disciplines are portals of self-discovery and growth in which to explore and play. I invite you to try these practices on like a piece of prized clothing, let’s say a bejewelled and magical cape, to value what you have been naturally given as a spiritual being having a human experience with a body that moves and is powered by the beat of your heart and the wind of your breath. If your beautiful magical cape gets dirty simply clean it and be more careful next time not to taint it with the pollution of this world. This is your birthright – to breathe, to feel peace, to move and to grow with joy. This is a blissful dream that can be obtained with intention.

Dedicate some time to the hoop and to dance, find your rhythm and natural beat, smile and acknowledge the breath, forget the elephant-like thoughts that rampage through your mind, allow your self to simply play as you did as a child and feel your body move.

Hooping is a path and an adventure. It is a means to no end as it will show you each and every time that there is always more to practice and learn. It is simple and complex. It is what you want it to be – play toy, exercise tool, dancing partner, professional doorway or ring of meditation. It is your own microcosmic sphere in which to explore who you are and how you wish to be in this world.

As we say in the global hoop circle – HOOP ON!

Article by Bunny Star May 2008 - Published @ www.purecalma.com

For more information visit:
www.hoopempire.com

An Imp's Tale

2008-05-16T11:43:00.000+10:00

A deep sea volcano sat sleeping at the bottom of the Pacific as the imp’s tale started to unravel in ways unforseen yet ripe. The time was long ago and the air moist and warm. Unusually balmy days and nights in a way so consistent that one had to wonder if something was simmering down below. Life seemed so still in the endless void where change came with the wind and the sounds of the sea as a result. And in those days of nothing, those days of simple movement of the tides, warm murmurings of the air and the occasional sea bird that flew by, an urge arose to dive into the submerged if only to discover what gives. Warm water one would expect since everything else was but no, it was strange. The water was like ice. Cold cold water that froze time into space creating sharp memory. But wait, twas just the surface. Way down below far beneath it became warm again and all that could be seen as far as the eye could stretch were bubbles. And on one of those bubbles floated an imp – small in size, cute too. A rather shy imp but not afraid, a creature that knew its territory and knew its time. The imp lazed on the bubble enjoying the warm heat and felt thankful he was free.

A Dance Between Chakras

2008-05-06T23:24:00.001+10:00

Phoenix Bar, Sydney - April 08. Photo by Sue-Ellen Rosenberg

HOOP DISCO DREAMING

2008-05-05T22:12:00.000+10:00

two thousand and eight - the story so far...

It was 2007 and the hoop revolution was really starting to roll. mother hoop planet was signalling the need to begin construction of a satellite hoop platform that could revolve around planet earth spreading the hoop and combining the hoop with the disco in locations where they hadn't been together before. and so the hoopdisco was born - a holographic multi-platform-platform aiding communication with the Mother Hoop when activated - and in 2008 it's being activated out in the Australian desert at the mutonia sculpture park...

the journey // july 10th - 20th 2008

the activation is taking place 10/7 > 20/7 2008. originally it was to be activated in isolation out in the desert with hoopdisco friends + family, but MOther Hoop has re-routed us to the mutonia sculpture park to join in with EaRtHdReaM 2008 - hosted gratefully on the land of the arabunna people. this is out in the middle of the aussie desert. see the maps below.

what

this is a totally radical self-reliance trip - not like burningman where there are toilets / ice / coffee / wifi / firstaid stations etc, and not like a festival with food, water, entertainment etc. we bring everything in, we take everything out, leaving no unintended/disrespectful trace.

when

july 10th - sydney > cobar > broken hill
july 11th - broken hill > mutonia sculpture park, alberrie creek, south australia.
july 12th > july 18th - mutonia sculpture park / hoopdisco dreaming
july 19th - mutonia > broken hill
july 20th - broken hill > sydney / home

maps

go to google maps :
alberri creek or Mutonia Sculpture Park.
Alberrie Creek, SA.
60k north of Maree on the Oodnadatta Track,
overlooking Lake Eyre.

close up

kit

things to think about bringing:

food that doesn't need refrigeration
water (at least 4L / day / person)
shelter (tent / dome / tarp / bivvy)
clothes (warm & cold)
extra fuel / spare tire / tools
toilet stuff

links

earthdream / mutoid waste company

photos (flickr feed) - coming soon...

contact

nick@helveticaending.com or bunny@hoopempire.com

Text by Nick Coppins

Snakes and the Epic Flight Continues

2008-05-05T11:52:00.000+10:00

Friday 2nd May

I'm sweeping leaves up into a pile. Somebody comes along and lifts the lid to find a coiled up black figure - I realise it's a snake and not to be touched. A girl joins me and in disbelief pokes the snake. It bites her on the wrist. The Scorpion appears and holds her leg at the back of the knee to prevent the poison from paralysing her.

I'm in a beauty salon but i'm not sure what I want done - eyelash tint, new hair... a huge moment of indecision and indifference. I walk out of the salon.

Sunday 4 May

At the beach with a bunch of people. Very high seas. We watch as tidal waves come in. Nick, Yamini, Karen and others are there. As the tidal wave comes in we all cling to wooden panels of a building and hold with all of our strength so we don't get washed out to sea. As the wave passes I look around and can't see Nick and hope that he is OK. I see people floating way out in the ocean and life guards saving them - I wonder in a moment of anxiety if it is Nick. Then I realise he and Yamini and Karen are all safely inside a building. I move into this building. It is high up off the ground. I wonder if its foundations will withstand the stormy seas as we continue to watch the massive swell. I see a guy drop off an extremely high cliff with his surfboard. I look in disbelief as he plumets far down into the ocean and figure he must be on drugs. He lands perfectly in the swell of a wave and begins to ride it but the wave is huge so he dissolves into it. I feel the building start to crumble and realise it is collapsing so I start to fly.

An epic flying journey. Flying men chasing me. A new development. Last time I flew I realised he could also. Now he is multiplied and not only flying around me but flying after me. The chase was more an adventure than frightening experience. I fly through small windows into other worlds and down a long pathway in a forest as they fly after me. At one point I float vertically and program myself to jet upwards like a rocket.

Love these flying dreams! Such a blissful way to sleep.

Hoopaholic Review 2005-08: Intergalactic Space Babes Unite

2008-04-28T20:20:00.000+10:00

The evolution of The Hoopaholics has been an incredible process to watch and be part of - a constant journey of change, movement, expansion, contraction and ongoing spontaneity that has encouraged us more than anything to just let it spin. Last night I watched the first video we ever made - all those boys! And so arty... well we always wanted to be.

With an urge to document as much as possible our underlying focus has been to shape the practice of hoops into an art form that speaks of creative expression, theatrical representation, synergetic experimentation, spiritual exploration and simple fun. It was never a pursuit in performance as a career or point of social standing - these things have blipped in and out along the way. When the Hoopaholics emerged as The Barbarellas in 2005 we simply wanted to put the hoopla out there in the best way we knew how - as a bunch of queers who loved to dress up and spin their hoops and dance in public. As artists, we knew that the camera would only make it a thousand times more interesting and fun for all involved.

We spent the first year getting a feel for what it was to be a group of friends performing together. For the most part it was exciting and joyous but was not without its sharp edges and schisms. Live performance, particularly professionally, really tests the power of the ego - does it push you to want to destroy it or to feed it without even thinking? In a sense, groups develop their own unique collective ego and ours was one of uncertainty. We didn't really know where we were taking the troupe as it grew a momentum of its own and we were simply and complexly left to fit in where appropriate. So we just kept on making art out of it and let it unfold as it was destined to. Tim started composing soundtracks, I learnt how to edit video, Nick kept snapping away with his camera and the beat kicked on. I love this video - it's an apt montage of the light and dark we experienced in the early days and has some amazing footage of so many of our talented folk.

The Power of Three has been a strong force throughout our journey. With people coming and going it has always been an interesting question - who are The Hoopaholics? We knew we were a troupe rather than a duo or single affair, we knew it had to be about the collective, and we also had a sense that we could never pin it down. The Hoopaholics have always been like a gang of teenage boys... restless, hot, unpredictable and ready for action at all times. Having said that, I love capturing the brief moments of stability (for want of a better word) - where we know exactly who the troupe members are. It's an amazing thing that we are now a performing group of anywhere between two and ten, depending on the occasion, but the essence of three is sweet... it generates a sense of core and lets that 3 way hoop play become all the more intriguing.

Something I have often grappled with and sought to understand in both hoop world and beyond is how the individual fits in with the collective and vice-versa. The hoop is such a great metaphor for this dilemma that we are invited to confront in life. Unless one is spinning tandem, which mostly we are not (altho recently The Hoopaholics have been more and more... a point to return to) ... the individual is flying solo inside a hoop. You can hang out with others and jam it all up but ultimately it's your sphere and nobody else's. The untouchable personal space is a place to hang out and get to know who you are and what you're about. It allows you to express in a way that nobody else can because, to borrow a Nia term, it's 'your body's way'. I've always found it somewhat strange and a tad frightening how hoop performers in Australia are so disconnected from one another and prefer to live their Divadom in isolation once off the stage rather than collaborate and connect (another blog). When I saw this collectively unconscious pattern hit The Hoopaholics and considered it as an optional route for myself I dipped my foot in to test the water then stepped right back to watch the rippled effect.

As the youngest of 8, I have to admit I always have gravitated to my tribe. The reality is, for me in any case, group energy is more FUN! At a time when it could have gone either way - fly the coop and go solo or hang in there with the gang - the hoop posse reinvented itself again and then again and again and continues to do so. It seems the trick is knowing your own way amongst the flock. We can bounce amongst each other as much as we like - how we will perceive that is a matter of where we stand within our selves.

I feel particularly grateful and amazed and inspired and excited that Sydney has been host to so many HOT amazing hoopers from overseas, predominantly from the States. That American Burner energy is infectious! I knew before I even landed at Burning Man in 06, I sensed it way back in 01 when I almost made it but didn't... that I had to go. Burning Man is like visiting Planet Art AND Planet Hoop all in one. It really is everything and more, to the point that I have to recommend to anyone who has a strong interest in art and / or hooping: YOU MUST ATTEND at least once in your life to experience the scale of synergetic artistic explosion in a surreal environment that promotes positivity, connectivity, creativity, generosity and the religion of FUN. That energy has landed in Sydney with our special hoopstar guests AND it has landed in the land of The Hoopaholics simply because this consciousness is what drives me the most and what informs me on a deep level in making decisions about what the troupe is about and where it is headed. It's organic and it's PHat. To be gifted with such wonderful people from other lands - just WOW.

When we open the troupe up simply to those who want IN and who are willing to train to perform it seems that the flower that is The Hoopaholics blossoms of its own accord. That is our point of certainty. If we just keep the hoop train running and remember to stop at regular intervals to pick up punters, or at least slow down so they can give it a running jump, the dynamic explodes into a spontaneous concoction of what is. It's holographic really - a personal favourite!

Another shift is coming - I have learnt the signs and can feel its approach. The Hoopaholic Sessions of a Sunday is a hub of inspiration and newness. We share and hang out and chill out and push ourselves to places we thought we would never ever reach (forehead hooping OMG!) and while it's another item to add to a rather stretched weekly schedule I can't bring myself to let it go as it feels like a rather special space that will birth the next chapter... whatever that may be. But for now, I just want to thank all the incredible hoop spirits that have come into my world and for sharing the dream of living the dream. Who would have thought that spinning a ring around you could be so profound. Intergalactic Space Babes Unite!

Love Bite

2008-04-23T16:05:00.000+10:00

Friday 19 April

It is the eve of MOVE DAY. The last night that the Scorpion and I will share a bedroom and a home. After six and a half years this is quite a change, one that is both welcomed and embraced by both of us. We are ready for the shift... and as much as we have loved the time we have spent together we both simply reached a point of noticing the danger of familiarity and domesticity. It's difficult to avoid when you live your lives at break neck speed and fall into the flatmate zone of relationship. Why do humans naturally take each other for granted? Often it takes some distance and a considerable amount of awareness not to fall into this pattern with each other.

It's funny how at this time of moving away from others in the pursuit of discovering more about myself, and in an attempt to put my Libran points of relationship reference to one side, if only to reveal what lies beneath that surface, that I am discovering how essential we are all to each other but in a completely different way. I will call it the Old Way and New Way - the old way is about referencing other people as a source of happiness (or sadness) and about leaning on others energetically, emotionally, psycho-spiritually and physically for really selfish reasons... to boost one's sense of being. When we talk about how people "make us feel" we forget that no one can make us feel anything - we create that feeling ourselves. And when we reach out in perception for THAT feeling from someone it's like taking a piece of clothing off another, putting it on yourself and calling it yours. It's completely self-referential and centred around "how I feel". The New Way is about wearing your own thoughts and emotions, identifying them as yours and if engaging with others, appreciating (or not) what they wear and at most, considering how the two of you complement each other or not. What a Libran analogy! Straight from the wardrobe. The New Way is about learning to be supportive of others rather than leaning on them, it's about actively listening rather than waiting to have your turn to speak or impatiently interrupting, it's about caring about everyone as though they are your own child - with compassion, kindness, love, understanding and forgiveness. To live with an open heart.

Cut to a few daze later... Wednesday 23 April

I am now moved. And bed-ridden. For the first time in I can't remember how long! Telling really. The urge to purge... or at least to sit still - ratstyle: i.e. collapse. Drats! Time to blog and hang out in bed with my new feline friend Sasha, so its not all bad but I could really do without the yerky feeling inside my head and stomach. More about the love bite later and mental note on Hoopaholic update + report on last week's show at the Carnival. To be continued...

Line of Flight

2008-04-18T16:09:00.000+10:00

I’m at my beach house and I become aware that the man is about to arrive. He wants to kill both Nick and I. I’m not really scared or panicked by this, in fact I am more relaxed in going through the well known process of strategising our escape. I walk outside and realise that now is the time to fly high into the sky. I’m flying around the neighbourhood quite happily when something happens that has never happened before – he joins me in the sky. He can fly too! I find this kinda hot and in that moment fall in luv with him. We kiss and then I realise how inappropriate it is as this is THE GUY who always wants to GET ME so I break away and fly back down to the beach house.

I call Nick to let him know what’s happening and tell him to come over quickly so that we can fly away together. Nick arrives and I lead the flight. It’s night time so very dark. I am flying on my back with my head pointed toward the ocean and Nick is facing down. I have my hand on his heart chakra supporting his flight. We fly far out over the ocean in a relaxed and effortless way. I suggest to him that we may wish to think about finding land as it probably isn’t the best idea to keep flying out to sea. We look for land and see a town then a city – a big grey steel like metropolis… like City of Lost Children or Gotham City. I wonder if we have flown to New York as I gaze at a bridge that looks not unlike the Brooklyn Bridge. We fly into a theatre.

Cirque de Soleil’s Dralion is playing and I am watching the characters with great interest and notice the detail of their costumes and characters. Nick and I are watching the show then realise that The Guy is here. He too had flown all the way to follow us. We leave the theatre in a kind of a chase which comes to a quick halt in the foyer. The Doolanoid sits in the background. We are all there and The Guy is trapped – lights and cameras on one side and the authorities on the other. He's so busted!

From Light to Dark to Light

2008-04-09T17:13:00.000+10:00

The Hoop Teacher Journey was an amazing success! What a wonderful group of women to share it with. I feel the material has developed seamlessly and is ready to go to another level yet again. Building learning resources and adding to the body of work is a constant mission. It's a tricky one the whole concept of one's imagination being the limit of one's potential when the imagination is so ever-expanding! I could day dream forever and have for a very long time. Now I simply vision then plan then work my ass off to manifest the dream. I know I can create anything and am now taking the time to remap my reality.

Life has been pretty much non-stop. The week after teacher training was filled with finishing off 8 week course classes and preparing for Lisa's birthday bash on Saturday where I launched my new Glitter hoops! To be honest, there weren't many gaps at all yet again reminding me of the illusions I create of there being time out when in fact there is very little or virtually none. Before I reached Lisa's we had the Colour Parade that marched through the streets of Sydney spreading the joy of colour and then the lovely Mondo's birthday drinks. In between those two were a quick bleach and dye making me now an incredible irridescent turquoise! A new colour... needless to say somebody was a little tired before she even arrived at the party of the year.

I think it is fair to say that once the performance was done and I had wrestled with my own inner critic given a slight glitch with my equipment, I pretty much hit one of my infamous walls. Why do I do this to myself?! Couldn't I see it coming? Again over-committing, again surrendering to intense emotions and that restless feeling within and AGAIN beating up on myself... right now! If the Pluto square Pluto square Moon oppose Pluto situation is not going to sink or swim me on this one I will take back every single astrological utterance and throw my ephemeris away. As I hear my father gasp in my head (most recently when I told him I wouldn't mind dying being mawled by a Lion!!) ... Good Lord!! And to think I thought I was Unstuck from Pluto...

An interesting tangent. Monday night I received news that an old friend who I hadn't seen in some time but always rests deep within my heart had died. She was 34 and had a heart disease that promised not a long life... her life ended as she kicked up her heels at a hens night. I can hear her voice now and her laugh. I keep thanking the cosmos for an Aries moon enabling me to process emotions quickly and in the now yet when I reflect right now all I can feel is the pain of losing another friend to the ether. From light to dark right. Tomorrow I will visit her one last time - her body lying still in a coffin. Will her face be pale with a hint of a blue like the goth she always leaned toward? Did I feel her passing on Saturday night while at Lisa's party as my mood plummeted igniting that intense melancholic aura? Is it fair to make another's death an episode of one's own? As her best friend said to me last night - Jabe was a Diva, she would have wanted us to be in hysterics throwing ourselves into fits of grief in disbelief that she has gone. You got it Jabe Babe. How did this blog start about the love and light of hulahooping and end in tears of sorrow?

From Dark to Light
From the Untruth to the Truth

Today Lucia accused me of having no Scorpio in my chart! I contemplated afterwards the choice of filters through which to perceive - Light or Dark, positive or negative, trust or fear... the choice is obvious.

Back on track... cut to the rat having hit the wall lying in exhaustion trying to recover. That's what rats do. Drive so hard and fast and scamper until they can go no longer then crash then pull it together all a little too quickly then do it all over again. Sunday I woke up with an extremely sore shoulder and my back just not right. I blame my excessive need for glitter which destabilised my hoop which unsettled my sense of centre and started the spiral highway into said intensity. I am reminded of a Sabian symbol that came up in a reading about my solar return. Moon at 17 degrees Aquarius - using ALL of one's resources to prevent the destruction of a bushfire. Moon = emotions > 12th house = spirit realm. Dreams of boats and water and the people in my life. It's time to break it all down... rather than breakdown. In a sense it's like not caring but on the other hand it's nothing like that at all. It's having the detachment and willingness to care enough not to take ANYTHING personally and just get on with it. I gotta say, whilst floating through the downward spiral I really craved my fire hoop! Transmutation is a good thing.

When I made the decision not to buy into the viral like negativity about house hunting in the current rental "nightmare" that is Sydney everything fell perfectly into place. The room of one's own is sorted. My guides are with me and all is better than well... it's purrrfect. I feel just so blessed to have the women and men in my life that inspire me to be strong and to live my dream and to look towards the sun and think only beautiful thoughts. This life is SO intense mostly because I am knowingly and willingly stepping outside of so many comfort zones and pushing myself further than ever before to reach my highest potential as a creative human being. I can't settle for anything less because that's not my mission. And it's not about my ego although often it has its say, it's about being willing to raise the consciousness of humanity and the planet by being devoted to doing that within myself... In honour of the Boddhisattva. The words Spiritual Materialism keep popping up lately ... I guess that's what happens when East meets West. In reality, we are all bodhisattvas but not all are aware of it.

It's true that the hoopers are an Intergalactic race. We build energy, raise consciousness and bring happiness that is only known in the innocent and joyous childhood state. On Sunday, when Jabe was dying, I was in the park with a group of 8 year old princesses and JoJoMo hooping it up. I told the following story:

Once upon a time, far far away there was a Planet called Hulia - a planet where all people hulahooped ALL of the time. That's all they did, all day, every day. It was a distant planet, beyond Pluto and had a big ring around it. How many rings do you think existed outside of that planet?

Well. It's like clouds in the sky - some days there are a few clouds, then others a whole lot and yet others where there is only a single cloud in the sky or HoopGods and Goddesses forbid... there were none! On the days of only one cloud, everyone would hoop with just one hoop, on the days there were thousands of clouds people would hoop with thousands of hoops and on the days when there were no clouds in the sky... well... thankfully those days weren't very often!

Anyway, on Planet Hulia, the Hulian race ate the strangest things! Can you imagine what they ate for breakfast? That's right - fruit loops! And, at lunch? Donuts!! And for dinner?? No, not fish and chips... but yes! calimari! And ice-cream for dessert shaped into a ring with a big dollop of chocolate in the middle. Of course.

So one day each year there was a big holiday on Planet Hulia called World Hoop Day. On that day, all the Hulians had to get into hulahoop shaped space ships and jet out into the universe to visit every single planet and deliver hulahoops for the all the children, both small and big, to spin with. Some of the hoops even had incredible lights or glitter that sprayed from them or even fire!

Which is why we are here right now, doing what we are doing - it's been passed on through time and space. Everyone knows, secretly, that there is a place where the idea of as many hoops as possible goes beyond even the collective imagination. And the amount you can hoop with only really equates to your Super Power powers ...

Time for a hoop?

The Power of NOW

2008-03-24T18:31:00.001+11:00

Presence - there comes a point where we have to let go of our memories and expectations and simply feel the NOWness of what we are doing. Hopefully, we can experience this in life as much as possible. In performance, we can find great joy in simply embracing the present moment knowing that we have prepared as much as we possibly can and that what we are presenting is the culmination of all our efforts and talents as well as the energy that we choose to present it with. Try not to criticise it with what we could have done or should have done but to purely and simply celebrate what we are doing RIGHT NOW in the moment and know how grateful your audience and higher self will be. Thought form: EVERYTHING you do is positive. - Notes from 2008 Teacher Training Manual

On the eve of my second Teacher Training Course a sense of great excitement is upon me. I have spent the last week updating, editing and writing even more material than last year's manual. It's a good feeling to be thorough, although it has been a lot of hard work and has reminded me just how grateful I am that this is my job - to be writing about hulahooping, to be teaching hoops, to be performing hoops, to be making hoops. I can't wait to share this immense joy with as many people as possible. We need more hoop teachers on this planet! As many as possible. The women who are coming are all amazing hoop spirits. Their passion is without a doubt strong and they have gravitated to the hoop as I did - effortlessly and with the intention to bring happiness to their own lives and other people's with playful creativity and a hoopy kind of joy. I am looking forward to hearing the diversity of viewpoints and understanding what kind of shapes we will all make in the hologram together.

The past few weeks have been intense. There has been much change and this year really is an important time of transformation for so many people around me. I am aware that without this deep change for myself I am limited in making the leaps of progress and growth that I wish to make. The decision to move out by myself and live alone - to fly solo - seems so huge and yet so right, so easy and just perfect. I will miss the constant companionship of the Scorpion but I will cherish more our special time together. After almost 7 years of life together we both now need to walk our own paths, connecting as we go but evolving as individuals. To do this we need time apart. I am SO grateful that this has all been resolved before this weekend as it has shifted my consciousness deeply, created a clarity in purpose and intent and given me the vision and energy to take this mission even further in my mind's eye and on the Earth plane. I am embracing The Power of NOW and my ability to CREATE. I am ready to rehabit and discover deep joy and inner peace... not sourced from another or external force but from inside in that bright shining spot where my stars are born. I am ready to fly with my Higher Self.

And I want more star tattoos!!

Expanding the Hologram

2008-02-05T07:40:00.000+11:00

I've been trying to figure out why I need yet another websphere for some time now. It started with a craving to simply write more around new year's resolution time and then expanded after connecting with Deanne and discovering what a handy little site Blogspot is. My previous blog on LiveJournal feels like a past life. The name says it all really - StuckOnPluto! The good news is I feel I'm not stuck on anything anymore and that nittygritty Mercury in Scorpio code has dilated into a Uranian style of thought and documentation. I tried streamlining on my Tribe page but as much I adore this part of the hologram it feels too hoop specific. MySpace is too veneer and Facebook doesn't even go to blogland... yet. At the end of the day, I was looking for a space to post video documentation of my trainings + shows plus pix of course and ruminations on the multidimensional reality that IS. Ok, so I'm a cyberjunkie. But I'm also a writer, and like every discipline there needs to be a space for dedicated practice. So here I go with what may be my 10th or so websphere - wow I best start listing them before I lose track.

Dreaming over the past few nights has included traveling under the influence with a car full of peeps followed by a meeting with a past life lover who I identified by smell; last night, hulahooping into a mad angle backbend with a flip and turn AND watching tidal waves break.

UV Hoopaholica - Club Kooky Jan 08

2008-01-26T17:37:00.001+11:00