The Water Broke!

Day 15 was the hardest day. This has been an odd week, as my "normal" hooping time has turned into 3:45am after work. But I'm finally past the hump! Day 16, and as soon as I'm done I'm gonna go rock that circle! In the final half!

The hooping "challenge" has genuinely become a challenge. I know in my head that this is supposed to push myself, but dayam! Some days I *really* just don't want to hoop... and I'm working through them. Two weeks really isn't that long, but I have seen a change in myself and my thoughts. I also did a conference call with (major shout out!)Kandice Korves-Kaus from Holistic Hooping that was focused on Theta Healing. Wanna bring up some self-questioning? Yeah. Like that. Thank you Kandice, it was beautiful.

Yesterday in my circle, I had a keen "aha!" moment that hoopers live for. It was passing the mid-point. It was the actuality that yes, I CAN do this. The only way I can describe it was "the water broke". It was happening (and yes, it's a girl! a wonderful hooping girl!). I'm excited to see where this birth takes me.

On another note- all my love and aloha to the Hokule'a that launched today. She was beautiful, and I even got a tour of her and her sister!

This blog needs more photos.

The End Of Day 13

Soooooo busy. This weekend was the Buffalo Big Board Classic, and my first time on a supsquatch! Biggest wave of my life. And I know this 30/30 Challenge has the word "challenge" in it's name, but daaaayyyyyum it's getting hard. Hooping before work had turned into hooping after night activities turning into hooping after work. Meaning: I hooped at 4:05am last night. As long as I do it before I go to sleep it still counts as the "day", right? And the whole weekend, after coming back from a day in Makaha I've been hooping at 11 or midnight. THIS is dedication. I'm not really making time for it as much as I am completely forcing it into my lifestyle.

I haven't been in my flow. I haven't been really enjoying myself or using the hoop as a meditation or release. I'm mostly using it as a workout and hooping as much as I can as fast as I can in that half hour.

Almost halfway done. Ready for day 14!

One Week!

Today was day 7, meaning one week of the 30/30 challenge DONE!  Rocked the smaller hoop for this go, and it was good!

Oddly enough, had some initial trouble keeping the hoop up. I gave a demo to some bystanders, and-of course- I drop the hoop. Over and over. Maybe my nerves, maybe the electrical tape. Whatever it was, just call me butterhips cuz that hoop was slipping!

I also had one request today- videos. Watch out internetz, It's time to start using this smartphone proper!

Hooping Challenge Goes On

Day 4: Pushed through the workout to get it done.nothing too spectacular, but left me feeling a million miles better than if I hadn't hooped. Feeling deeper in my flow every day.


Day 5: Today was my community day. I went to hoopjam in Kapiolani park. It was not drills or losing myself in flow. Yes I hooped, I made a point to do it, but today was the day I met other hoopers and connected with my hoop sisters ( Allison Rae and Twirling Girlish blowin up the hoop scene in HI!) Sadly, this was a day I have been dreading. I commonly end up lost in my own practice. I need to plug in my headphones and ignore the world. It's where I find my flow and the core of my practice. In the hoop, lost in the spiral I find my mana and my church. This, however, is a double edge sword. For what is a church without a congregation? I can grow in my ability, but not in my style. I admit, as a total body rocker, I can waist hoop and stall forever and be satisfied. But when I see other hoopers, I think to myself "Wait- I want to learn the scorpion! How about some Cat's Eye Isolations?" It's a great big hooping world out there, and I am just one wee hooper!

I'm blessed to be around so many inspirational hoopers who are putting themselves out there on the street and in the news.  I just gotta leave the comfort of my headphones and get out there with them!

Day 6: I'm writing these posts, but falling behind on publishing them. I'm feeling more motivated now, even the drizzle did not stop me from making it to the park. The 45 minutes I alotted before work was not nearly enough time to hoop today. I had an amazing practice today, and I don't know if it was the hoop or the iced coffee toddy, but I was AMPED. And the feeling lasted. Like spinning in circles behind the desk and doing barrel rolls in the air at work kinda amped. I'm sure other people at work appreciate my enthusiasm for life.

But this kind of enthusiasm leaves me feeling trapped at my day job, and I have come to only one conclusion... Mermaids don't work in offices.

The 30/30 Challenge Goes On

Day 3. I am 1/10 of the way there.  While day may seem a wee bit early to start charting success in fractions, I came upon my first dilemma. I woke up super late and made a pretty hefty breakfast. As I settled into my "morning" routine of watching the daily Sex and the City "marathon" on the E! network, my food sat like a rock in my stomach. Even after four episodes and a cup of coffee, it remained undigested. My time was sparse and day three was waaaaaay to early in the game for me to fail in this challenge, so I went fourth with the most ungodly uncomfortable cramping hoop sesh in all of my life. I don't know why my neck was cramping, but I feel it spawned from my stomach.

All in all, a fine day. I did not feel "in flow". I did not feel divine angels springing forth making me one with everything. But I felt like I got something done.

30/30

Soooo, Ive started my own 30/30 challenge! Hooping.org (the hoopers mecca) started it for the new year, and I know I'm running a month late, but I'm gonna give it a shot. As you may have noticed, I haven't really hooped (or blogged, heh heh) since Hoopcamp. I've been super "busy" guys, I swear. And I started yesterday, so I'm even late on the blogging of this event. Poo. I don't know why I put hooping aside, for some reason I am under the impression that things are more pressing, urgent, important or "financially lucrative" then hooping, so I put down the hoop for days, weeks, months- even in an absurd loss of self, years- only to pick it up and realize that it should not be a priority, but THE priority.

Few things make me feel as connected to "self" as hooping. So in an attempt to connect to self, work my sh*t out and be a more spectacular person overall, here it is. The 30/30 self practice.

Day 1: Feb 6th. Hooped in park for about an hour before work. Used my big hoop. Feeling pretty out of shape, but by the end I wonder WHY DO I NOT DO THIS MORE OFTEN????!!! Why, I should do this every day...

Day 2: Feb 7th. A lil easier. Still used my big hoop. Decided to go home and blog. Had a beautiful moment of flow in the park.  Walked home with an extra bounce in my step.

In one month, I intend to find a way to fit hooping into every day of my life. I know this will be a struggle as I am about to enter a big transition in my life (moving to Bend, OR. for the summer), so if I can fit it into the hard days then the rest of my life should be a breeze, right? TTYL, folks and wish me luck!

Last Night I Had a Dream I Was Surfing

Last night I had a dream I was surfing. I rarely dream about the water, and when I do I dream of sharks. It was during that waking phase, where the dream blends into consciousness. It was the last thing I saw before I woke up, and I don't know where it came from. There was no background, no explanation. The dreams before I wake are so extremely vivid and intricate with emotions. They drag me into their story till I wake from adrenaline. No questions are left unasked or unanswered in those dreams. But this was a very simple dream. It was just seconds long, and all I saw were my feet. I was looking down and watched as I stepped back. The wave was rising to my hips. I saw my feet slide the board forward from under me, down the face as the wave was pitching. I watched deliberate steps back. This has never happened to me. It's always a shuffle or a stumble to the tail. All I felt was stoke. I woke up with a memory that didn't belong to me. My day began and the dream vanished.

I paddled out this afternoon. It was a small crowd for Saturday. I paddled up the inside and took the first wave that came. Pop up, go right. It wasn't the steps forward that counted, but the steps back. Blue water  pitched, rising faster. The board slid down the moving face. I moved with it. The wave ended where my paddle began. All I felt was stoke.