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I can’t speak for anyone’s experience and even though we are more connected to the elements of nature than one who lives in a city, are we really experiencing the oneness that comes from sitting and listening. Listening not to our thoughts but to the sounds of the wind through the leaves. The sound changes when the leaves are alive in the spring and drying out ready to die in the fall. Are our ears tuned to the roaring water from the snowmelt as it cuts through the mountains and runs down through the town. And do we take for granted the periwinkle and pink alpine glow beaming off the snowcapped mountains? And how does a person not able to experience this find connection to things that make them feel stable, calm, inspired and more alive?

My time living in a beautiful Ashram off the grid, near San Diego taught me how. Through Buddhist meditation, breathwork and very slow and intentional movements, we develop this feeling of grounding/connection to Earth. My Hoop Warrior, formerly Hoop Core, program is rooted in connecting to these 4 healing rhythms. Since 1999, I have witnessed thousands of people transform into having more confidence, fluidity to deal with challenging things and of course strengthening the mind, body and spirit to really glow, from the inside out. The 2 children’s books I am writing are about just this. Finding your power and playfulness through the magic of the mountains and the hoop. 

Whether you own a hoop or not, here is a brief guide to grounding. 

Find a safe place to do this barefoot. If you go to a park, watch out for dog poop. Nothing ruins the peaceful vibes than trying to clean steamy poop from between your toes. (speaking from experience)

Setting Intention: Exhale and feel the souls of your feet sink down into the Earth. Notice if the temperature is cold or hot. If the surface is pokey, smooth, soft or hard. Allow your mind, body and breath to relax as if you were asleep and just woke up.

Earth: Press your feet deeper into the ground and feel your legs become heavy. You are now turning into a warrior or a bear or a giant. You feel big and strong. Your legs are so strong, they can carry you through the weight of life’s problems. Start to stomp your feet and walk around. With your palms facing downward, push out any excess energy (excitement, anxiety, pain, thoughts.) As your intention pushes down into the Earth, know that you are building your personal space. This is yours to grow, heal, rest and play in. 

Water: Now become more light and fluid in your body. Slide your feet on the ground. Stretch your arms out and up toward the sky and reach all around you like you are swimming. Start to feel the weight of the world melt off as you become weightless in your space. You are now more flexible to adapt through the day. Your digestion, blood and oxygen are circulating better. You can start to feel …. playful.

Fire: Passion! Purpose! Intention! Let’s burn through it all, amplifying the body that you own, for this life. Continue to move and breathe with a bit more energy and speed. Harness all of your energy from inside and out. Anger, fear, joy, doubt, angst, sadness, hope. Does’t matter, it is all the same when we look at it in the energy field. Hold all of this power in your hands. Make a fist and when you are ready, with one big exhale, jump up and throw it out of your hands. Burst like fireworks. Let your message be heard in the universe. Let your body release everything. Do this a few times until you feel like you can come back to a calmer state of neutrality. 

Air: And now we fly. Extend your arms out like wings, and use the back of your heart, the space between your shoulders, to flex. Lift up onto your toes and walk around with a lightness and slower pace than before. Use your third eye, your Pineal gland, the ‘seat of the soul’ to see above your life. Beyond your physical, financial and mental states. Go beyond. Even farther. Up into the cosmos and other dimensions. Into the space of – anything is possible  – everything is alright as it – I am complete – I am free. 

Centering – After you have instilled the 4 rhythms into your being, you can now access your life force center more. Take a minute to connect. Place one hand on your hard and one hand on your belly. Feel the difference of your breath as it flows through your organs. Feel a difference in your skin, it might be tingly or clammy or warm. Notice a difference in your thoughts. Perhaps they are calmer or more excited. Everything is ok. You are just practicing using all of your senses to reconnect. Thank yourself for this practice. You are the only one who can truly heal and shift things. And you have the power and path. 

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    For example, You would not say that because you are an expert in walking, since you have been walking all your life, that now you will be able to ‘advance’ to a smaller or larger or lighter or heavier pair of shoes. The marketing of hoops for different abilities has been proven incorrect. 

Please see: Hoop Sizing 

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That same year, I had a brain injury in my right frontal lobe. I slammed my head into a steel beam while jumping onto stage, for a dress rehearsal, at the old Limelight nightclub in NYC. This was the worst injury out of my 4 head injuries. The other 3 were all concussions from hitting the ground with my head, while snowboarding without a helmet. I lost consciousness and broke my ankles all 3 times. This last injury was more like a stroke. I had slurred speech and impaired motor skills. I had NO short term memory, lost a lot of long term memories and couldn’t problem solve. I lost my facial expressions and humor. I could feel my brain swelling every time I had more than one thought at the same time. To this day, when my nervous system gets too stressed, which is most of the time, I experience a bit more issues with coping and calming myself down than prior to this injury.
My doctor from Rusk Institute in NYC said that, had I not been using my Hoop Core program for the past few years, my proprioception, motor skills, balance and speech would be significantly worse than it was. They suggested that I spend
the night in the hospital and start neurolinguistic reprogramming for my speech and memory. I didn’t have the money for this.
Cats are Angels
My brain had a significant amount of swelling. It would have been easier if I had a family member or a friend close by. My entire family had already died and I didn’t have any friends who still lived in that area. I forgot what the doctor said, except to rest and try not to think, as any mental activity would increase inflammation and pressure in the brain. This was very hard. He also said that I needed someone to wake me up every hour or so. None of my housemates wanted to do this but thankfully, Spock, the cat owned by one of them, came through. He would press his paws into my head every night. When I didn’t wake up, he’d sit on my head. He was truly an angel.
CT Scan
My cognition and motor skills were significantly impaired for one or two months. Most of this time was foggy but I do remember how I used mind over matter to reduce brain swelling and anxiety from mental confusion. (I wish I can do that with limiting my brownie intake or that third drink of whisky..)
I lost all short term memory. The first week of the injury, I tried to find a doctor in the phone book. I’d forget what I was looking for and get confused as to how to write in down. I’d get up to find a pen and wander around for an hour, forgetting what I needed. Eventually I’d have the pen and phonebook. That took another hour or so to remember who I was looking for. My speech was slurred. My neck/head coordination was disconnected and shaky at best. My tongue felt too big for my mouth and many times, I’d forget to swallow. My legs felt weak yet heavy. I would drag them when walking and to get up to the third floor attic room that I rented. I remember sitting on the staircase for an hour or so. My body couldn’t figure out how to lift my legs. The only things I could do
without thought, were to sleep, go to the bathroom, breathe and sometimes eat. My brain and motor skills were ‘offline’. My only sense of safety and physical space, was to feel my breath. So that’s what I focused on.

One Breath, One Thought, One Movement
In 1999 – 2001, I lived in an Ashram outside of San Diego. I had already been teaching my Hoop Core program for two years as well as getting certified and teaching Anusara Yoga. I still call the community and land my home. We had week long intensives for Kundalini, Tibetan and Hatha Yoga. This included chanting, meditation, breathwork, reading from scriptures, music education, nutritional cooking, hot/cold therapy and Whirling Dervish Ceremony (my favorite!) Aside from years of rock climbing, it was in these yogic practices that I developed my skill for ‘one pointed focus’. This proved to be the single most important factor in limiting brain swelling and carving a path back to having clear cognition.
It was a constant effort to keep my brain from swelling. So much pressure was in my head at times it felt like it could explode. If I had friends or family around, I’m certain they would have taken me back to the hospital. I’d lay in bed and have thoughts. Most were fear based; that of being alone and confused. Some were the usual fleeting useless thoughts. I became highly aware that even one thought, on repeat, would cause my brain to swell. The thought would create a counter thought and then my body would react. Sending hormones and signals to parts of my brain and body. I had to figure out how to get out of a reactive state altogether. This seemed near impossible as my brain/body was still used to firing on all cylinders. My mental training at the Ashram was an amazing foundation for this. But I was still lost. I knew I’d stay in ‘conflict’ (active mind) if I tried to make my mind or body do anything. This uses the energy of attachment and control. So I started with my breath and with The Great Prajnaparamita, Heart Sutra.

“Form is emptiness and emptiness is form.”

“There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind. No form, sound, smell, taste, touch or attachment. No hindrance of the mind, no hindrance and therefore no fear….”
I would recite the long prayer dozens of times while laying in bed. As soon as I felt ‘cellular excitement’ as I call it, my brain would swell. I’d feel tons of pressure in my head like I was scuba diving without an oxygen tank.
I didn’t sleep much. I guess you could say that for those long days and nights which turned into the longest, forced meditation ever, I became proficient at stopping thought, and in turn, stop brain swelling. I also had to stop the emotion of fear that followed. I did this by my own very basic guided breathwork. I’d say ‘“breathe in” and my breath would follow. I’d say “breathe out” and I’d exhale. Only challenge was that I’d do this for hours without interruption. Then I’d direct the breath to go to my feet. Then my legs. Then my fingers and so on. I became aware and connected to my physical form and how it felt in space and gravity. This increased my proprioception (my body’s awareness of it’s position and movement in space) I pictured my tendons and bones and cells and skin, all connected and in gravity.

A.B.C. Chiropractic
My dad was an amazing chiropractor and I’d often learn how to correct structural misalignment on his patients, who were in the home office. One night, maybe a week or so after my concussion, I went for a drive. I don’t remember if I was looking for a chiropractor or not. Magically, I saw a lighted sign that said Chiropractic! Scott was about to close. I explained to him, with very slurred speech, about my accident. When I left his office, my brain had quite a bit less pressure. I felt grounded and a bit more balanced in my lower body than I had felt since my injury. I think I saw him weekly. Without him, I doubt I would have healed so well. His style is Advanced Biostructural Chiropractic.

Sharing the Force of Nature with Others

Moving back to NY to Aspen, CO 1992 gave me a deep connection and respect for imparting the earthly elements into my everyday life and into my classes, so that everyone could experience the power and peacefulness that nature offers. My connection to the elements, has been what’s healed me through abuse, Bulimia, family illness, lots of deaths, as well as personal injuries like broken ankles, ribs, concussions, sever nerve damage, partial paralysis, ruptured discs and bursa sacs.

Hoop Warrior Wellness

This is a high energy program which combines guided and freestyle movements through Earth, Water, Fire and Air. Styled with specific music, this imparts; strength, flexibility, playfulness and calmness in the mind and body. It connects us to a larger force that sometimes, is unforgiving and sometimes has grace. The first time I got into the hoop since my accident, was very odd. My balance and spatial awareness were horrible. I remember standing outside with my bare feet on the grass, and simulating movements in my core and hips first. I practiced moving slowly through all the 4 Rhythms. The hoop continued to fall, which it rarely ever did. It took about a week or so to spin it just a few times. I knew that this would help me with activating certain muscles to fire and strengthen my balance. This worked! It took about four months of working in the hoop, for my brain and muscles to start reconnecting, while in motion and in stillness. This was my form of cognitive behavior training, physical therapy, increasing neuroplasticity and realigning with source.

The post My Brain Trauma & Hoop Healing appeared first on BettyHoops.com.

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I can’t speak for anyone’s experience and even though we are more connected to the elements of nature than one who lives in a city, are we really experiencing the oneness that comes from sitting and listening. Listening not to our thoughts but to the sounds of the wind through the leaves. The sound changes when the leaves are alive in the spring and drying out ready to die in the fall. Are our ears tuned to the roaring water from the snowmelt as it cuts through the mountains and runs down through the town. And do we take for granted the periwinkle and pink alpine glow beaming off the snowcapped mountains? And how does a person not able to experience this find connection to things that make them feel stable, calm, inspired and more alive?

My time living in a beautiful Ashram off the grid, near San Diego taught me how. Through Buddhist meditation, breathwork and very slow and intentional movements, we develop this feeling of grounding/connection to Earth. My Hoop Warrior, formerly Hoop Core, program is rooted in connecting to these 4 healing rhythms. Since 1999, I have witnessed thousands of people transform into having more confidence, fluidity to deal with challenging things and of course strengthening the mind, body and spirit to really glow, from the inside out. The 2 children’s books I am writing are about just this. Finding your power and playfulness through the magic of the mountains and the hoop. 

Whether you own a hoop or not, here is a brief guide to grounding. 

Find a safe place to do this barefoot. If you go to a park, watch out for dog poop. Nothing ruins the peaceful vibes than trying to clean steamy poop from between your toes. (speaking from experience)

Setting Intention: Exhale and feel the souls of your feet sink down into the Earth. Notice if the temperature is cold or hot. If the surface is pokey, smooth, soft or hard. Allow your mind, body and breath to relax as if you were asleep and just woke up.

Earth: Press your feet deeper into the ground and feel your legs become heavy. You are now turning into a warrior or a bear or a giant. You feel big and strong. Your legs are so strong, they can carry you through the weight of life’s problems. Start to stomp your feet and walk around. With your palms facing downward, push out any excess energy (excitement, anxiety, pain, thoughts.) As your intention pushes down into the Earth, know that you are building your personal space. This is yours to grow, heal, rest and play in. 

Water: Now become more light and fluid in your body. Slide your feet on the ground. Stretch your arms out and up toward the sky and reach all around you like you are swimming. Start to feel the weight of the world melt off as you become weightless in your space. You are now more flexible to adapt through the day. Your digestion, blood and oxygen are circulating better. You can start to feel …. playful.

Fire: Passion! Purpose! Intention! Let’s burn through it all, amplifying the body that you own, for this life. Continue to move and breathe with a bit more energy and speed. Harness all of your energy from inside and out. Anger, fear, joy, doubt, angst, sadness, hope. Does’t matter, it is all the same when we look at it in the energy field. Hold all of this power in your hands. Make a fist and when you are ready, with one big exhale, jump up and throw it out of your hands. Burst like fireworks. Let your message be heard in the universe. Let your body release everything. Do this a few times until you feel like you can come back to a calmer state of neutrality. 

Air: And now we fly. Extend your arms out like wings, and use the back of your heart, the space between your shoulders, to flex. Lift up onto your toes and walk around with a lightness and slower pace than before. Use your third eye, your Pineal gland, the ‘seat of the soul’ to see above your life. Beyond your physical, financial and mental states. Go beyond. Even farther. Up into the cosmos and other dimensions. Into the space of – anything is possible  – everything is alright as it – I am complete – I am free. 

Centering – After you have instilled the 4 rhythms into your being, you can now access your life force center more. Take a minute to connect. Place one hand on your hard and one hand on your belly. Feel the difference of your breath as it flows through your organs. Feel a difference in your skin, it might be tingly or clammy or warm. Notice a difference in your thoughts. Perhaps they are calmer or more excited. Everything is ok. You are just practicing using all of your senses to reconnect. Thank yourself for this practice. You are the only one who can truly heal and shift things. And you have the power and path. 

The post Easy Ways to Ground Yourself appeared first on BettyHoops.com.

I didn’t even own running shoes! I had a beat up pair of Teva sandals to train in. I went out on one of the bike paths with my hoop and became skilled in ‘penguin walking’. This is where the lower body waddles from side to side and the upper body and neck make weird and quick extensions and contractions. I sucked! I still got blisters and bruises on my hip. So I dialed in my gear and my body mechanics. Fleet Feet gave me an amazing pair of red sneakers. I made a smaller hoop so that it could spin faster to match the faster speed I was developing. I practiced my Belly Pump Method, which to this day, helps runners, golfers, skiers and new moms, lose belly weight and develop insane core strength and awareness in sports performance.  

My rules for all three 10ks and one half marathon were; no touching the hoop, dropping or stopping the hoop. And.. having an incredible journey with my teammates. The Bolder Boulder is the third largest road race in America, with about 36,000 racers. I knew that I’d be passing racers but also, that most would be passing me. I developed a strategy for protecting them from knocking into my hoop. 

Team Hoop consisted of 6 people. A back runner, front runner, 2 side runners, a videographer to film proof for the Guinness Book and sometimes we had an extra who would take pictures while running and blocking. Some blockers were nervous that they’d knock the hoop over since they posed the most threat as they were the closest to my hoop. Some had never even ran. I made sure to set a focused and fun tone for each of my 5 races. We all had a personal journey that was supported. It was not just about me setting another World Record. The intention was to move as one organism in mind, body and heart!

For 4 years, I broke my speed record in the Bolder Boulder 10k, proving that this was not just luck. My first year I finished at 1hr 43min. My last and best time I finished was 1hr 14min. In 2012 I broke my distance record in the Hollywood Half Marathon, finishing in 3hr 3min. I could have cut that time by about 20min but I paced myself too slowly. It was much easier to run at low altitude than the 10ks is 5,430 feet high.

Some of the most exciting and challenging moments were at the water stations. Dixie cups from sugary gatorade were always stuck to the pavement and spilled water created a slippery surface. Sometimes my feet got stuck from all the half dried gatorade, making it a bit harder to cruise through. It was here that racers would take breaks and meander across the course, cutting right in front of us. Every race there was at least one unassuming runner who would somehow get stuck in our circle. That was so interesting to witness. My teammates were amazing at respectfully explaining what was going on to them and within seconds, moving them out of the bubble. It was like watching a fly trying to get unstuck from a sticky fly strip. No one expects to see someone running with a hula hoop, along with a team of runners shouting out commands to each other. “LEFT! GO LEFT”,  “PICK UP THE PACE”, “HOLD BACK” I knew that my finish times would have been much shorter if there weren’t racers to wait to pass but that was part of the fun. 

Getting to the finish line was also most challenging. In both the Bolder Boulder and The Hollywood Half, the ‘runners high’ kicked in. Everyone gets intensely focused on the gates and whatever marked that finish line. Like a horse with blinders, we kind of all ran toward it. This slowed us down as we did not want to get in anyone’s way, ever. Although, there were 2 years where my front runner was able to kindly break the crowd up and guide us to sprint through CU Stadium, quickly to the finish. 

Each year I worked doubles so that I could pay the entrance fee for my teammates and also fundraise for a different organization. I had no idea that I’d be doing all the marketing to bring awareness to the organization as none of them wanted to cross promote. We raised thousands of dollars over the years. Each blocker had a fanny pack and handed out business cards while helping to protect my hoop and while running and through all the on course communication. To this day I think that my videographer and photographer, Dennis Shaver and Peter Steele, had a way harder job than me. 

Since my first Guinness Book World Record, there have been a few others who have broken my records in Hoop Running. I’m not sure if their rules were the same. One of my certified teachers, Skye, actually started a Hoop Walking group in Denver, CO. They have been Hoop Walking for over 10 years! I am honored to set not only World Records, but to instill  the belief that anything is possible.

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If you look at the skilled hoopers who perform tricks, watch their alignment. They rarely hoop on the core and when they do, they push their chest and head forward and elbows back. This compresses the whole spine and back of the ribcage, which limits flexibility and range of motion and creates chronic compression and pain in the L4, L5 region, as well as pinches nerves and discs.

They also tend to fold at the hips, tipping their torso forward. They do this because they are trying to control the speed and angle of the hoop but don’t know how to use their core muscles. This happens if the hoop is too small or too light.

There are many hoops and workouts on the market. Some use key words such as yoga, core and fitness, to market their brand. Some even have certifications from other companies and from ACE, a state certified program. People who are skilled in exercise physiology, basic body mechanics and alignment, can instantly see that the hoops and movements that the teachers use, are incorrect and will put people in danger.

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The mountains provide a strength and really put life into perspective when standing 14,000 feet on top of a summit. The rivers, flowing through each season, remind us that things are always flowing. And to jump into a crystal clear, 42 degree high mountain lake, reflecting the mountains that feed it, is the ultimate wake up call.  The alpen glow, if you’ve never seen it or been in it’s radiance, is magical. And the air, clean and crisp, imparts a pureness into the heart and mind that is unmatched. This is the force of nature. And the more we connect to these elements, the more we discover our true nature. Pick up a Betty Hoop and the 4 Rhythm DVD and may the force be with you.                                                                       

• National Geographic Article Below

This is your Brain on Nature

Nature nurtures us. It boosts our mood too. According to the attention restoration theory, spending time in nature relieves the stress and mental fatigue caused by the “directed attention” that work and city life require.

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In my early years of hooping, I’d hoop for a few hours straight at music festivals. In 1998 while hooping to Widespread Panic, I had a series of experiences which created awareness of my tension and the release of tension.

while spinning in the same direction and speed as my hoop, I could see everyone everything blur, on the outskirts of my hoop. Much different from visual suspension creating dizziness, this group became a whirling mass. The mass then became one breath. One pulse. The pulse jumped from inside to outside the hoop, expanding and contracting. When I used the hoop as either my vortex or centrifuge, I was able to shift energy. I could feel pressure release from inside my space. I could also feel energy, flow, intelligence, love, connectedness flow into my space. I was, in that moment, fully present. In my center, on my axis, spinning my prayers. I had entered some time warp in quantum physics. Later, I came to find out that what was happening, due to my focused work, was very similar to Lorentz’ Theory of Transformation. I started reading and understanding the time-space continuum, particle physics and sacred geometry.

Yes, I am talking about a hula hoop. Your basic toy that now, takes up space at festivals, where people throw their improperly sized hoop around trying to copy the next coolest trick they see someone doing.

Aside from this experience I had others while hooping.  Sometimes I’d feel a huge pressure and fear in certain areas, of my body, followed by a huge release of energy. Emotions always came along with that. I’d be having fun at an outdoor music festival and all of a sudden find myself in tears. I could watch my brain try to swoop in and analyze why and what I was feeling. But because I was in my body, I chose not to allow myself to go to the lower aspect of the mind and judge/control my experience. This gave birth to a series of events over the course of one month. I wasn’t aware at the time, but my hoop and focus were cleansing all my chakras, power centers. (Not anyone can just start hooping and receive this. Their hoops size and weight as well as focus, needs to be specific.)This of course is taught in my program. Each chakra would open, during each hoop session. It would happen after the first hour or two.  Once I thought I was having a heart attack. My chest got tight, I felt a sharp pain around the muscle. My heart started racing. I made sure that this was not due to a pinched nerve in my neck, over aerobic activity or compression in my upper ribs. After I factored out what it could be, in the physical, I determined that it must be energy. Stuck emotion. As it built up, so did my awareness of how much I hold on to things that get trapped in my body. And as I breathed and hooped, I gave it a path to be released. I started using my body as a conduit, just like I’d always used my hoop. I began to hoop with the awareness and intention to set my emotions into motion, using the hoop as a vehicle for transformation. I always tell people, that the most benefits happen, whether in yoga or hooping, when one moves from the inside out.

The hoop can be your prayer wheel, vortex, centrifuge and dance partner. All representing, in the laws of physics, portals that can open and transform matter. And what is really the matter? We are matter. We believe that in our lives, things are the matter. All we have to do is learn how to shift matter and things will shift.

Hoop Core is a 7 step process which teaches you how to awaken to your true core power and become your own healer. It offers all ages, sizes and abilities easy steps to release emotion and physical pain.  You will learn how to drop the follower mentality and move your body from the inside out. Using the Idiot Proof Betty Hoop as a biofeedback tool, you will dance and connect with natures 4 powerful elements. The force that can keep you fluid through the tough times, calm during chaotic times and in rhythm with your highest vibration, radiating vitality and your true nature. You will find that it’s not really about the using hoop anymore but about reawakening your warrior spirit.

This is healing beyond hooping!!

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