All Good...

Aside from crusty dried up eye drop gunk in my eye lashes, I feel awesome! My vision is steadily improving. I can already see really well. My eyes get dry really easily, so I'm applying drops frequently. I'm going back to the Dr. today for my follow up appointment.

I spent the second half of yesterday getting caught up on organizing the hoop class schedule for August, during which wei're offering some great pre-Burn workshops. Looks like the teaching tour is going to have to wait until September. I'm also prepping for next week's teacher training, happening on the 2-3rd. I met with a couple of the registrants on Wed, which stoked my enthusiasm for training new teachers. I love my job.

This photo is from Thursday last week, a milestone for me. I was hired for the VIP premier of the new Batman movie. It was a milestone because it was one of the highest paying gigs I've done so far, and it was really encouraging of me charging what I've been wanting to earn for performance. Part of that equation has been the evolution of me offering performance packages that draw on my diversity of skills. I used to just offer hooping for x minutes for x dollars, which didn't get me very far. Now I schedule a package for 2-3 hours that includes stilting, gogo dancing, fire performance, ambient characters, face painting, and of course hooping. At this event I had 6 costume changes, all in the theme of the event.

Another evolution for me has been in the realm of wellness coaching. I'm working with two clients right now who are providing me with the opportunity to really use diverse skills that I have been learning in Jason McClain's coaching the life coach program. It is SO rewarding to see these clients transforming over a matter of just a few weeks. I"m looking forward to what the following months will bring for them and myself.

I Can See Clearly Now! (Well, Almost...)

I went in for LASIK today at 6:45 a.m. The doctors started testing my eyes at 7 am, and I was on the laser table at 8 and done by 8:15. I then kept my eyes closed until 2:30 p.m. by sleeping. My vision is fuzzy, as expected to be, and I'm applying eyedrops like a drip irrigation system running constantly.

When they had me lay down on the table, it was comfortable. One of the doctors had already applied anesthetic eye drops to both eyes, so my eyes were kind of numb. Then they put a patch over my left eye, and taped open my right eye, applied more numbing drops, used some kind of wire eye speculum to keep my lids open, and then put some kind of heavy circle thing on my eye ball. Yes! On my EYE BALL. It pressed down until my vision went dark. I couldn't feel a thing. Then they used a teeny blade (or so i was told after) to make an incision in the cornea. Ok, here comes the part where I got tense. The whole time I'm supposed to look at the orange target in the center of the laser machine. When the Dr. got ready to applly the laser for 25 seconds, it was crucial for me to follow the orange dot. I thought, "Oh, no! What if I don't follow the dot and my eye gets zapped wrong?" I have never been aware of being as tense as I was. My breathing was fast and shallow, my heart beat rapid. I felt like my dog Romie who gets really intense separation anxiety when I put him in our house and leave. At first I felt like screaming, "Let me up!" And then I just started counting the seconds. I made it to 15, and then the right eye was done. They fiddled around, put a contact on my eye to keep the corneal flap in place, added some more drops, and then an eye patch. Then the left side. I knew what to expect, took deep breaths, and relaxed into it more.

Overall a great experience. I'm anticipating waking up and seeing tomorrow without contacts or glasses for the first time in several decades. Whoa!

If you're interested in seeing if you are a candidate for LASIK or PRK, I saw Dr. Scott Hyver (as advertised on the radio!) for a free consultation. They also offer interest free financing for those who qualify. www.scotthyver.com/

My New Eyes

I'm getting Lasik in a few hours. I need to go to bed, but I am hooked on answering emails, something that hasn't happened in many days. I'm preparing to bid my glasses farewell after 20 years of service. I don't know what I'm going to do with my remaining unopened contacts now either.

I was offline from the computer for a day, as I went with Ken on Tuesday evening down to Pescadero to go camping with his family. We had a super lovely quick trip. The Half Moon Bay area of Hwy 1 is beautiful. We stopped at a small goat dairy and bought fresh goat cheese. It was super yummy. And on the way back we purchased some new dalia plants for our garden. Dalia's are both Ken's and my fav. One of the plants that we purchased has a bloom that is literally larger than my head. Even larger than Ken's head. And that's saying a lot. Ha.

I have so much more to say, and I must focus and get to bed soon.

Love to you all.

Summer Tour Planning

I'm planning my tour route for hoop workshops for this summer. I'm looking at doing a west coast tour from LA to Vancouver in late July. If you're interested in having me come to your town to teach, lemme know, and I'll see about putting it on the agenda. I'll be teaching a lot of intermediate and advanced classes on this tour, as well as some beginner classes.

WooHoolie!

~Miss Rosie

Whips and Fire, OH MY!

Tonight I taught my first intermediate/advanced workshop, called Deep Grooves. It was a really inspiring experience, spending time with great hoopers and being able to contribute to their hoop practices. Hooping is so incredible in its ability to bring people from all walks of life together, to have a great time, and generate more wellness in their lives. The past year has offered such tremendous growth. Back in 2006 I started writing down what I want to manifest in my life, and in only a year, so much of that is coming true. It's stupifying, I must admit.

I only started really hooping in January of '07, and since then, Hooliehoop has been blossoming. Tomorrow I'm going to be on a quick segment of View From The Bay on ABC 7. If you happen to be near a tv at 3p.m. I'll be on some time between 3 and 4pm.

The new Hooliehoop website is about to launch, which has been an experience of at least one major life lesson (around money and paying for services in advance). As I was writing the content for the new site, I really enjoyed explaining a bit about my business philosophy, which is centered around the development of an evolutionary co-operative business paradigm, rooted in a staunch believe in the abundance and potential of hoop business for all those who want it. I definitely believe that the more people there are hooping, the better off the world will be. In that, I have given up on viewing anyone as a competitor, basically because I know that no one can do exactly what I do, just as I can't do exactly what anyone else does. It feels great to operate in sacred commerce from this place of confidence. I found myself at one point last week in a discussion with a business associate, and came to the juncture of deciding to either a) contract and deny this person an opportunity to promote their business, or b) help this new entrepreneur by lending them a hand. I decided on the latter because I want my company to be a company that helps other entrepreneurs come up with it as Hooliehoop experiences ever-greater success. This business model is not about "get as much of the market and as much money as possible." For me it's more about "Get as many people to hoop as possible, so their lives will be better." That feels good.

Another interesting thing that happened this week is that the location that I usually teach at in SF got flooded, and now the carpets have to be replaced! What an usual thing to happen. I'm seeking another location for the Series I that is supposed to begin tomorrow, however, we may have to postpone the start date until next week. Experiences like these definitely keep me on my toes.

Otherwise I've been busy running the operations of the company, including training my mom to take over managing the supply chain for the new online store. She's been rockin' it, and it's been such huge help having her around.

I took my mom to the Fire Drums festival this past weekend down in the Santa Cruz mountains. I fire hooped about 12 times in two nights. It was SO much fun! Being in the center of 6 blazing spokes, fuel burning...ah that sound is amazing. I also purchased a set of fans and danced with them for the first time ever. I ended up giving myself a minor burn on the back of my hand. Wah wah. I also learned how to use a whip, and now I'm aspiring to crack the whip while hooping. I played a bit with that while putting on a show at the How Weird Street Fair (my absolute favorite street fair!). I have plans to buy a fire whip, and then combing fire hooping with stilting and whip cracking. Crazy much?

Super Foods

I started taking some super foods last week that I've never had before, and they are having a tremendous impact on my consciousness and how I feel each day.

Last Wednesday I started drinking Island Fire, which is a Noni juice elixir with ginger, turmeric, and some other things. It's SUPER spicy! For most of the past week I would pinch my nose while I drank it, and immediately chase it with a shot of water. I was drinking about 4 oz. per day. By Friday I was sleeping an hour and a half less than usual. I found myself waking up naturally at 730, which is truly delightful, given that I normally would never wake up at that time. I have more energy and clarity, and so I started giving it to Ken, too. The first day that I gave him a shot in the morning on an empty stomach, he said that he had the most productive day that he can remember.

I got introduced to Island Fire by one of the owners of the company that distributes it, Adam of Elements For Life, whom I met at Cafe Gratitude last week after one of the employees said, "Go talk to that guy, he's giving a way free noni shots and has a really cool company that's giving all of it's profits above costs to evolutionary projects." Sweet! That sounds cool...

Now I'm hooked on the stuff. I strarted drinking it on an empty stomach every morning, and I drink more throughout the day. So that was last Wed. Then on Friday, I recognized this guy at the Digital Be-In at Temple, but I couldn't place him. I asked my friend, who's that? "That's Adam." I thought, "Huh. I know him from somewhere." Then I passed him later in the club and said, "Do I know you?" And he said, "You look really familiar." Yadda yadda...We couldn't place each other at that moment.

Then on Saturday, I'm at the New Living Expo teaching my class at the Conscious Dancer space, and who do I run into? Adam, carrying a box of Island Fire. "Now I know where I know you from! You're the noni guy!..."

I told him about what has been occurring for me, and he said, "You should become a wholesaler if you're drinking that much." So he gave me his card, and then gave me a bottle of Island Fire AND a bottle of Gold Rush. I had bought a bottle of Gold Rush before, but didn't drink it all and it oxidized, so it wasn't edible. Gold Rush is a colloidal gold solution of water that is saturated with gold particles. Elements For Life creates this liquid up at their laboratory in Novato. Adam recommended drinking some with the Noni. So I started that on Monday.

THEN last night, I decided to go to Cafe Gratitude after my late class ended in Berkeley. Instead of going to the location in Berkeley, I decided to go all the way to San Francisco, bypassing my house on YBI, and heading into SF, which would mean that I would have to backtrack. I thought it would be quicker for some reason. It was divine intention.

I walk into the restaurant, am saying some hellos, and who's there? Adam. And Chad, the cofounder of Elements For Life, and Smiley, one of their chemists. They were finishing up a business meeting with a guy who makes concentrated marine phytoplankton superfood.

They were just about done with their meeting, so I joined them, and I got to sample the phytoplankton. After 45 minutes I felt high! I bought a bottle of it, and just had some today, along with Gold Rush, and noni.

I'm flying!

Their website is www.noblelifeelements.com/

If I forget my child in Oakland, does that make me a bad mother?

So yesterday I was picking up hoops from my hoop-crafter, and I was chatting with my mom, mind racing a million miles per minute, thinking about what needed to get done next ("Hurry! Hurry!" my mind exclaimed, as usual...), talking talking, opened the car door, one of the dogs (Romeo the little brown one) jumps out, I *do* notice, continue loading the hoops, thinking, talking, thinking, moving way too quickly, "Good, got the hoops loaded," "Ok! Let's go!" And off we drive.

I make it 20 minutes up the freeway to Berkeley before I exclaim, "MOM! IS ROMEO IN THE BACK?!"

Oops. Mom drove off and left her baby in the streets of Oakland. I called the hoop-maker and she went outside of her house, and called him. Fortunately he came. That'll teach 'im to be jumpin' out and running off.

This little dog is a total stud. A few years ago I entrusted his care to my friend Damon, who, at the time, was living in the city of Richmond. I went off to Hawaii for a week, and it wasn't until I returned and called Damon to collect the dog, that he told me Romie had been missing for 6 days. 6 days! He had jumped out of the kitchen window the second day I was gone. We found him the following day, a week after he'd gone missing, hiding under a minivan. He was *filthy* and emaciated. When we finally found him, he was so excited that he peed himself. I sure love that dog.

So just because I forgot him yesterday doesn't mean I'm a bad mom. I realized it means that I need to S...L...O..W down and appreciate what I have accomplished for the day. Nilam wrote a comment on my last blog post about that, and her words popped into my head as I was heading back to pick up the dog yesterday. Take the time to acknowledge what you have created and accomplished for today.

WooHoolie!

Movement as Medicine

I have had an amazing evening, and such a reminder on how important language is in shaping my experience. I was working with my mom on hoop biz all afternoon, and by the time I drove her back to SF I was feeling "really overwhelmed." It was 5:30 and I wanted to make it to Berkeley in time for Karri Wynn's last NIA class at Studio Rasa, which is closing this week. Had this been a normal class, I would have fore gone it in lieu of staying at home and coping with the "massive amount of work to do at home." But given that this was the last NIA class at Rasa, and that Karri had invited me personally, it was important that I be there in gratitude and support of the space, teachers, and owner. For at the least the past week, I've been in a state of identifying with "overwhelm," and as I began to move and dance in class, I found myself loosening up with an upwelling of emotion. I started to feel really alive and vibrant again. And really sad. "Wow...I didn't realize how much this community means to me," I thought as I felt tears welling up. I danced through circles and patterns with about 25 other people, and had a deep emotional movement that left me uplifted and joyful.

At the end of class, there was a beautiful gratitude ritual. A lovely woman with a sweet voice set up a devotional space in the center of our circle and spoke on gratitude. One of the first things that she said is that gratitude and grief are bedfellows. When she said that, my heart sunk to think that this was my last time at Rasa. Bittersweet tears slipped from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks, as they did for several people, particularly the teachers who were present. She continued in saying that grief is the doorway for gratitude, as we see how much something has meant to us, and how much we have valued it.

After class I said my, "See you later..."s and headed out to my car where I had a call with Jason McClain. I'm taking his program Coaching the Life Coach, which is a profoundly savvy program for improving my business. I am learning so much through it. Tonight we had a short support call for me to basically utilize Jason's skills in whatever way served me best then. I was still emotional from the class, and told Jason that. We spent the remainder of the call doing an exercise that really helped me to put the "overwhelm" into perspective. Jason shared with me that overwhelm is typically not caused by having too many tasks to do, but rather by not making the time to do the things that nourish our souls. Excellent food for thought. After we hung up, I decided that I wouldn't work tonight, that I would go to Gratitude for some dinner, write this blog entry, and spend time with Ken reading before bed time. I also made these commitments to myself: to move more each day through walking our dogs, dancing, or stretching; to take the time to eat and nourish my body with good food; to organize my schedule so that I am not working until 3 a.m., but am rather in bed at a decent hour and up earlier in the morning.

In just 15 minutes, Jason helped me to completely shift my relationship to my life in this moment. I have also agreed to return to my awareness and sensitivity toward negative-association words such as "overwhelm", particularly when I am talking about my own experience. I can now look at the pile of papers on my desk, and say, "Ok, I'm going to spend 45 minutes tomorrow organizing that, as well as 30 minutes walking the dogs." And then suddenly, everything in my life is much more manageable, as I know that there is time enough for everything to *eventually* get done.

Finally! (...and hooping in D.C.)

As a testament to how abundant my business tasks have been lately, and how consumed I've been with Hoolie biz, I've been meaning to write this post since Friday...

Ken and I ventured to Washington D.C. this weekend for a little vacation. The mini vacation was inspired back in December when I heard about a showing of Macbeth that was happening in two locations only, New Jersey (of all places) and D.C. This particular production is special in that the special effects were created and directed by Joe Teller, of the Vegas magic act Penn and Teller. Since I had never been to D.C. or seen a Shakespeare play, we booked a little weekend getaway. We had a fabulous time! Took a red-eye on Thursday night, arrived Friday at 6 a.m. Fortunately our hotel let us check in at 7 a.m. We did some touristy stuff: Fri. visited Capitol Hill, had a tour with a Representative's aide, and that night walked from the Jefferson Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial, via the FDR Memorial. If there are two things D.C. is abundant with, it's memorials and statues.

I found myself very inspired being in the presence of these monumental marble and bronze sculptures of founding fathers and influential presidents and men and women. Being there brought this to the forefront of my mind: Human potential is limitless when we stand in our power. I really got the sense that politicians, founding fathers, presidents, and other notables, are all simply ordinary people living extraordinary lives. There is no doubt in my mind that living an extraordinary life is possible for anyone.

As I walked along the Tidal Basin with Ken, I was reminded of a conversation we had had earlier that week. We had talked about fear, and fearing the situations that people face today. Over the past few years I've had an underlying fear that things are deteriorating, that we are increasingly living in a police state, that our freedoms are being eroded, and that we (in the Bay Area) are going to be attacked by our own despotic leaders in some kind of false flag terrorism. (www.google.com/search This fear has been the result of many influences: current event knowledge, climate change, media, scared friends, sacred public... And it has cultivated in myself what has amounted to a planning of my future so as to attempt to remove myself and my family from whatever violence I imagine happening. Talking with Ken really brought me back to living in the now, and planning our future *intelligently* and out of what we want, rather than what we fear. I realized that living with this underlying fear of some impending doom does not serve me, and it rather detracts from me focusing on all of the positive development and connection, and community building that are indeed occurring.

He shared with me that every generation has lived through an era of dominance by someone. Of violence and cruelty by someone or some group in power. A specific example he shared was about a private security guard and detective agency established in 1850, which was hired by businessmen of that era to destroy unions. He shared with me that this company's guards would pull union organizers out of their homes at night and brutalize or murder them, so as to stop organized labor. It really struck me that the times we live in now are sociologically quite similar to eras prior. What we face now with this current Administration and corporate injustice is similar to what the American colonists faced with King George III when they sought to declare independence. As long as there has been absolute power, there has most likely been corruption and tyranny, akin to what we see today around the world.

On that note (and back to standing in front of statues in D.C.), looking back into history via memorials and museums, I am incredibly inspired to dream of what ordinary people can accomplish when each stand in our power and stand together. We are far from powerless, and I realized while I was in those marble temples that we, people now, people of today, people reading this, could build nations if we empowered and organized ourselves to do so, and implemented that with the utmost dedication and preparation for sacrifice. I've been reminded that anything is possible, and from here I am choosing to build my future on what I want, rather than on fearing what could come. It's a really liberating feeling to allow myself to let go of doomsday scenarios. I'd say that is one major gift that I have come away from D.C. with.

While I was in D.C. I met up with some local hoopers as well as a couple who drove down from Baltimore. The jam was organized by Surprise! (aka Katie), and there were about a dozen women there, some of whom had just started hooping that day.

On this coming Friday I'm flying back to North Carolina for Hoop Convergence (hoopconf.com/), and am SO looking forward to taking classes from other teachers who have different styles and techniques. I'll be seeing some of those D.C. hoopers again next weekend.

WooHoolie!

~Rosie

blooming

Well, as of 1am today (Sat.) I will be turning one year wiser. I have just about officially lived 27 years on this planet. wooHoolie! I had my very first astrology reading today. Very "woo-woo", as my friend Susan would say, referring to anything new-agey and metaphysical. It was really fun! I had my birth chart charted by Verdarluz (verdarluz@gmail.com), and discovered that, for me, this is a year for heightened learning, including education through travel and expanding my consciousness through deep self-exploration. All of what Verdarluz read for me affirmed what is currently occurring for me, and what I am planning on manifesting. I plan on doing more readings with him to learn how to work with my chart and the language that is astrology, so as to create an even greater experience in this lifetime.

I just finished setting up most of our home for the party tomorrow night. I feel super "on the ball", and am prepared for a relaxing pre-party day, for once. How delightful! especially considering that I am normally rushing until the guests get here. For friends, if you'd like to join us tomorrow night around sunset, send me a message and I'll provide you with directions.

So I drove up to Willits yesterday to check out the site for Movement Play, and am SO excited. The space is so wonderful. So far on the bill we'll have Acroyoga with Tyler Blank and Hitch McDermid, NIA with Karri Wynn, Hoopdance with Hooliehoop & Hoopnotica, Biodanza with Virginie Corazon, yoga, sacred healing, body work, and ecstatic dancing with Mancub (Spacecowboys) and Alxndr (Transported/FalseProfit). There will be a dome for some classes, and a dance floor by the djs. I'm super excited about the dance floor! And did I mention the hot tubs? They are hand-crafted iron tubs with wood benches and are *wood-fired*...they are heated by actual fires beneath the tubs. Very cool. I sketched out plans for sacred spaces, devotional altars, and ideas for decor. If you are interested in attending and helping out, there will be some discounted tix for those who would like to do work trade. The trade jobs are mainly helping out in the kitchen, greeting, set-up, and strike. Send me a message if you're interested.

Back to creating now...over and out.

R.