A special holiday gift for an awesome lady! (and a HUGE picture!)

“Having a blast with my hoop!  My girlfriends love them too, one is using hers in her garden in beautiful Vermont to inspire the veggies to grow before the winter sets in….Wish I could use one of these as my new headshot!!  I brought them into my weekly work session and hooped while doing a monologue-great fun and a fab new exercise.  I have been doing at home, much to the delight of my neighbors.”

Thanks Susan!  It was great hiking with you and we will hoop again next year on the trails!

First, Africa. I met a woman named Patricia at the airport in Winnipeg when I was leaving on a hoop trip shortly before Peru.  She was on her way to Africa with World Vision and I offered to donate a couple hoops for her to bring there and donate.  She was super sweet, and sent me these photos to share with you.  She writes:

“My trip to Zambia was great. We were able to meet so many people, including numerous sponsor children. It was so great to hear their stories and learn more about them. I gave the hoops to my sponsor child Idah, and my friends Anna’s sponsor child Maggie.  I have attached a few (photos) of Idah receiving her hoop and me demonstrating how to use it. I think it was the first time she had ever seen one, but I have a feeling it won’t take her long to catch on!  Thanks again for sharing you wonderful talent with me, and these two beautiful girls in Kalomo, Zambia. I know they will bring many moments of happiness and joy ” 

Now, we go to Peru.

Ed, an inspiring awesome man from Calgary, and a big supporter of HoopInfinite Hoops, recently visited Peru with his brother and daugthers. He also hooped at Machu Picchu and donated HoopInfinite hoops there.  I think that is awesome! Apparently his sacred site hooping caused quite a stir and the people were loving it.   The pictures above are ones that he sent me of him hooping at Machu Picchu and at a small town just outside of Chinchera called Usabamba where one of the hoops found a new home.  Hooray!

To open:  Click here for a video!

1)      Locate the 2 ‘connectors’ on your hoop.  (These are 2 grey pieces that connect the tubing together.)  There is no tape on the connectors.

2)      With one hand, keep the connectors touching each other.  Use your other hand to open the smaller hoops into a figure 8, or infinity shape. ( ∞ )  The connectors sit one on top of another in the center of the shape.  Lay the hoop on the floor.

3)      Place one foot on either side of the connector that is closest to the floor and gently press down with your foot.  With your hands, pull up on the hoop.  The hoop will look wobbly and uneven.  You can try hooping with it if you would like.

4)      Or, to form your hoop into a circle, keep a connector on the floor, holding it down with your foot.  With you hands, twist (or rotate) your hoop to straighten it into a circle.

5)      Flip your hoop around, putting the connector that was up by your hands now onto the floor and repeat step 4).  Repeat if necessary.

To close:  Click here for a video!

1)      Place one connector on the floor.  With one foot on either side of the connector that is closest to the floor, gently press down with your foot.

2)      Press down on the top of the hoop with your hands, pressing the connectors together on the floor.  Be sure the tubing rotates as you press down on the hoop.  The hoop will make a figure 8, or infinity shape. ( ∞ )

3)      Holding the connectors together with one hand, flip the hoop over, and place the hoop back on the floor.

4)      Keeping the connectors together, fold the opposite ends of the hoop together to touch and press one end under the other end. 

5)      Adjust the tubing a bit so that one end of the hoop will lock underneath the other.  Re-adjust if necessary.  The 2 smaller hoops should stay ‘locked’ together for easy transport.

6)      You can always tie a string, piece of Velcro, yoga strap, tie, scarf, or sock around it so it is extra secure.

 Caring for your hoop:

To keep your hoop looking and feeling its best: 

• Give it a name.  The hoops enjoy that.
• Try listening to music while hooping.  The hoops enjoy that too.
• Store it in room temperature.
• Store it open as one larger hoop (especially if you have sparkly, mirror, or glow tape – as the tape can crack with excessive twisting).
• To maximize charge on glow-in-the-dark hoops, do not regularly leave them to bake in the sun.  Don’t store it outside all summer in direct sunlight.  Over time, excessive sunlight can actually suck the charge from the tape.  They don’t require a long charge to glow almost all night.  They can be charged indoors or outside. 

My dog Otto – for his patience and love during my busy schedule, and frequently having to sleep in a room filled with hoops and materials

Noah Krol and Peg City Yoga – for letting me make and store hoops at the studio, and for being so awesome!

Scott and Stacy Wilson – for letting and helping me make and store hoops at their house, feeding me, and tons and tons more

Heather and Holly – for letting me store hoops in the house and tape hoops until the wee hours of the night

Dr. Bill Cooke at Osborne Dental - for donating a bunch of toothbrushes

Griff Hirayama and Jenny Kucheran – for letting me use their cars to deliver hoops after my car was smashed up

Milagros Casaverde – for organizing logistics in Peru and for all of the work she is doing here

Chris Werstiuk – for creating the hoopinfinite website

FreshCafe – for feeding me such beautiful love filled food

Lululemon Polo Park – for helping to promote hoopinfinite and hosting some fun hoopyoga classes

Kristen Stuart – for all of her promoting and love in Canmore

…and there are more hooping plans in the works for the next couple months and also when I return from Peru in August.  More hoop making and a new initiative that we will be supporting in Peru.  This time are thinking jungle hoops….stay tuned for details.

Here is a picture of the hoops, and hoop names and creators (from top hoop to bottom hoop):

Jewelianne – Cori (Calgary)  Cori and I did yoga teacher training together.  She has a few hoops that she rotates between, one of which got to go to Costa Rica with her!

Power – Ale (Pisac)  Ale and I met a couple years ago in Peru.  My medicine sister!  She bought a hoop about a year ago and was the first one to have one in Pisac.

Halo – Stacy (Winnipeg)  I teach yoga to Stacy and her husband Scott.  They offered up their house for hoopmaking, sleeping, and sharing great food and wine with us.  Stacy helped me tape a few of the hoops.

Sandra Dee – Jenny (Winnipeg)  My sister, who has a couple hoops and bought one to donate to the Winnipeg Police Service.  Yay for police hooping.  I love the white/pink camo hoop!

Dance Like Nobody’s Watching (Glow Hoop) – Rebecca (Winnipeg)  Rebecca bought the first glow hoop I ever made last year.  She is wicked cool and loves hooping.

Luna – Nat (Canmore)  Nat has the ‘Mermaid’ hoop that she designed last year when I was living in Canmore.  She gave me a massage once and we got to listen to Lenny Kravitz.  It was cool.  It is the mermaid hoop that has led to these 10 hoops really… that is how I met Ed!

Earth – Ale (Pisac)  She came up to visit from Peru, so she got to design 2 hoops.

Luna – Chelsey (Winnipeg)  I met Chelsey last year at a retreat in Winnipeg.  She has a couple hoops and comes up with wicked funky cool designs.  She also loves Peru.

Radiance – Kristen (Canmore)  Kristen and I met through yoga teacher training as well.  She is my ‘Didi’!  Big sister.  She is a radiant goddess that has supported my hoopmaking from the get-go.  We’ve hooped in Canmore and Mexico together.

Sterling – Scott (Winnipeg)  Scott is Stacy’s husband and has blessed us with being the only guy designing a hoop.  ‘Sterling’ is based on one of his ties.  He is a really amazing cook and created some amazing nourishing food while we stayed with them.

April, Friday 9th

 In the Andes there is a life – principle people respect and live along with: AYNI. Meaning : giving back; retribution of some kind; exchange. It comes from the times of the incas, and the meaning is much more of what I can say here but basically it can be translated into “reciprocity”. Yesterday Jennifer and I had the opportunity to experience the AYNI people of Kallarayan wanted to give us.

Our friend Jusef was not available so we could only get to the community by taxi and with some clothes for the women. Since we had more time to visit, they took us to the community (not only the tents where they are now) and showed and explained more of their situation.

 This is a community where all the people gather once a month to make decisions. They have just decided that the whole community will move to where the tents are. They have this year to build so that next rainy season will get them in a safer area. They showed us the small flow of water that turned into a big river in March and jeopardized the whole community. They told us about the water filtrations, the damaged fields, the sport center they were building and was cracked in the middle because of the water……., and their plans for the future. They are going to undo their houses and recover the tiles for the roof. Bricks of mud (adobe) they can build again. Here they are at 14,900 feet of altitude so they will have to build quick. Even though they are used to this altitude, winter is coming and the temperature will drop (and they are in tents!)

They prepared us a meal. The AYNI, our gratitude they say, “nuestro cariño”. And we left till next week.

Easter – April, Friday 2nd (Kallarayan)

 It has passed one month since the flood in Taray and the heavy rains that affected Taray, its communities, and other towns in the Sacred Valley. It has rained again but nothing compared to last month. Maybe the rainy season is coming to an end and now some long-term decisions must be taken.

Yesterday we went with Jennifer and Jusef to Cusco to buy shovels, picks and some food supplies for Kallarayan. Since our last visit they have found a water source and have started using it. They are planning to move permanently to the place where the tents have been located which is ten minutes from the actual community and still is community land.

Here in Cusco most of the land belongs to communities and not to individuals. The community decides who is going to work in a specific piece of land but the owner is the community as a whole. So many decisions are taken in assemblies by all of them. And now they have to decide where the people that have been affected by the rains –and are living in tents – are going to be located.

  These people live basically from farming and use to stay in the community daily. They go to Pisaq market (or other markets) once in a while to sell their products and go back to the community. But yesterday there where no men there. The women and the children greet us, always with a smile and gratitude. They told us most of the men had gone to work in the fields or at the community. Others were playing soccer in a nearby town. Life goes on.

  We bought 47 picks and shovels to help with the reconstruction. These people do not manage to much cash so it is difficult for them to access some basic supplies that are kind of expensive here and really necessary on a rebuilding plan. Again we bought food supplies that always welcome and make an intention of coming back next week with things for the children. The first time we came here there were 47 tents on site. Now there are 53. Almost 100 children altogether.

Dr.Bruce was kind enough to forward some pictures of the experience and the kids playing with the hoops.  When I look at these pictures I can feel the innocence and playfulness in their hearts.  Enjoy!

Now, a short story still from the wellness expo.  I went to a kirtan concert after the expo and had about 10 hoops slung around my shoulder.  After the concert, I got into a cab and within about 5 seconds my cab driver said…is that a hula hoop?  I want that big one.  Can I buy that big one?  It will stay up, yes?  I answered, of course it will!  Do you want to try it out?  We both got out of the cab, before leaving, and hooped.  It was cool. She was from Russia and used to have a hoop there but couldn’t pack it with her and tried to replace it with a plastic wal-marty one that didn’t work. She bought a beautiful funky blue tone solid chunky hoop. Black and blue and teal and glittery.   Yay.

Lots of hoop love spreading across the land!  Some new hoops out to Alberta, some to Winnipeg, some at PegCity and 2 donated to a Habitat For Humanity auction.  Oceany ones, bright and fun ones, kids ones, and surprise creations for amazing mom goddesses.  A few saying farewell to me and moving on to their new owners after classes at Lululemon.  All blessed my me and some blessed by divine beings in hoopasana classes at Lulu and PegCity as well.

There is a small school project that was working in Taray, Wiñaypaq . This school gives free education to many children of communities and has a clear orientation towards the respect of mother earth and living in communion with it. Their official web site is not updated but here we give you a link of the permaculture association that works with them and shows more photos of what the school was like before March 1st when the river washed the complete school away.

http://permacultura-peru.blogspot.com/2010/03/proyecto-educativo-winaypaq-necesita-tu.html

Now they are in the process of putting together a place where they can continue the school in the community of Huandar because it is not safe to rebuild in Taray.

Before the flooding

After the flooding

We went today with Marcos to give them a small contribution for the process of rebuilding the school in Huandar. Next week they are going to start the building and we will be able to take some pictures and share them with you.