Importance of Motherhood

I wear a lot of hats.  Business Owner, Dance Teacher, Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer, Board President, Meetup Organizer, Women's Club member, Doula, Wife, Friend, Mom.  It's that last one that is most important and that seeps into everything I do.

I've wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember.  Once I learned that moms were where babies come from I was ready.  Really!  I'm not exactly sure where the strong pull came from, but it was a part of my consciousness all through my growing-up years.

When I found myself pregnant for the first time I threw myself into the roll, reading EVERY book I could get my hands on (I worked at a bookstore at the time - can you imagine?) to get ready for the baby.  I didn't focus so much on prepping for labor, but more-so for the task of parenting.  I was so excited about finally (finally, at the age of 21) getting to be a mom!

When Forest arrived I was hooked.  In love.  And 100% a Mom.  She was my everything, and my biggest concern was with keeping her safe and well.  We had bumps in the road along the way for sure, but I loved being a mom.  I worked full-time, juggled my way into a career, and navigated relationship ups and downs, all while being 100% a mom.

When we had Quinn four years later, I felt like I had a good grounding in the basics of motherhood, but he had new things for me to learn and practice.  I was able to improve on some things from the first time around (breastfeeding - 2nd time's a charm!) and had an interesting time juggling two kids having zero sibling experience.  I don't remember doing much more than working and moming when Quinn was small, but that was plenty.

Grey arrived as our third and final family addition three years later.  Being mom to three kids was QUITE a challenge, but we worked out the kinks fairly early on and I found my mom-legs again soon enough.  I added the most "other" things to my life after he was born.  When he was 1 I started doing doula support.  When he was 2 I started my own business in earnest.  When he was 3 I found bellydance.

Through all of these additions to my world, mom-ing stayed the most important "job".  I love my kids with all my heart and soul. I am thrilled to say that I like them, too!  Seeing them grow and flourish into solid individuals is awesome in the truest meaning of the word.

So what does it mean to me to be a mom?  I should have all sorts of flowery prose to explain that, right?  I don't.  I can only say that I AM a mom.  My kids come first in my mind.  My absolute most important task is doing what I can to help them grow up healthy, well, and safe.  I make decisions of all kinds with them in mind.

They probably don't realize how important they are to me, and how much I think about them every day.    That's ok.  I think that may be the way things are supposed to be.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hula Hooping - Try it!

Read on for our first guest-authored post!  Cynthia Narcisi, our inaugural Hoop instructor at Hip Circle Studio, shares her love of hooping and gives you a peek into what you can expect in your first Hula Hoop class!

You might’ve noticed that hula hooping is a big trend (again) and no longer just for kids. It’s gotten a ton of media attention lately.  You’ve seen Kelly Osborne hooping, Marissa Tomei hooping, and even Ellen DeGeneres hooping (who knew?).    Good Morning America recently did a segment on it, too.  So all this might be what has inspired you to try hooping. And if it has, then great! But maybe there’s more to it than that. Maybe you want to lose weight. Or spend an hour having fun and connecting with other amazing women. Maybe you want to just move your body in a brand new way.  It could be you just want to prove to your inner child you finally, FINALLY, got that hoop to stay up! As kids, some of us were great at it, but most of us really really struggled, myself included.   I’d wind it up, give it a whirl, and then PLOP!   You can expect you absolutely WILL learn how to waist hoop. And you’ll have a LOT of fun while doing it because we don’t just stand there for an hour with the hoop on our waists. We hoop it like we mean it! 

Aside from waist hooping, we also:

• Hoop on the hips, chest, and shoulders.

• Hoop off-body such as on the hands and above the head.

• Hoop while we move (it’s no fun to just stand still, so we walk, turn in circles, do grapevines, all while hooping!)

What else can you expect? You can expect to use a larger sized hoop! They’re adult sized (and hand-made with L-O-V-E), meaning they’re much larger than the toy hoops you’re familiar with. Larger sized hoops are excellent for beginners so please don’t feel offended if I suggest you use really big hoop, probably MUCH bigger than what you’ve ever seen before.  A larger hoop will spin more slowly around the body, making it easier to control.  Remember how fast those lightweight, small toy hoops would spin? That’s why you had trouble with them. 

You can expect NOT to use weighted hoops. With hooping being so popular you may have been tempted to buy hoops that weigh anywhere from 3-15lbs. While that might not sound like much, all that weight (plus the additional force of the spin) pulling against your spine can actually cause injury to the lumbar area and bruising on the hips. Our hoops weight less than 2 lbs. and people love them! So we also ask that you don’t bring your weighted hoops to class as we really don’t want you to injure yourself. We provide hoops and you can also purchase them at the studio.

There are a million reasons why I love hula hooping and why I think you will too. Here are a few:

• According to American Council on Exercise, waist hooping burns 400-600 calories per hour

• Hooping strengthens your core and back

• Hand-hooping will give you amazingly toned arms
• It improves your balance and coordination

• Here’s the best part: It reduces stress!  

• Always wanted to try meditation but couldn’t do it? Hooping is literally a moving meditation!

What else can you expect in Hula Hoop class? You can expect lots of individual attention since we keep this particular class size small (max of 6) due to space requirements. It’s like a semi-private lesson every time! You can expect me to cheer you on like crazy because I really REALLY want everyone to walk out of class feeling accomplished!  Expect a variety of ages, sizes, and backgrounds which means, you guessed, you will fit right in!

When you come to class please wear:

• Cotton everything! The hoop will slide on anything shiny or synthetic.

• Fitted tops (or at least nothing baggy). The hoop will get tangled in loose-fitting shirts. Bottoms can generally be as loose fitting as you feel comfy with.  Yoga pants are great for hooping too.

•  Footwear? You can go barefoot or wear an aerobics shoe or a Zumba shoe if you have them.   Running shoes are nice too because they’re lightweight.  

Here’s the last thing you can expect: You can expect to become addicted to hula hooping! 

I hope to hoop with you soon! 

  

Getting Girls Hooked on Fitness

I haven't always been active.  In fact, if you'd told me in my twenties that I'd be making a living as a dance and fitness instructor I'd have laughed (and that would have been my workout for the day).  In my teens my activity was limited to whatever they had me doing in gym.  In my youth I did the requisite dance classes, and spent a fair number of years taking skating lessons, but I was never active outside of these organized classes.  What were the adults in my life doing?  A lot of sitting and driving. Even the teachers of the active classes I took did more directing than demonstrating.  Did this set me up for being a sedentary, unhealthily overweight adult?  Maybe...

One of the things that pushed me to open the studio was the desire to have a space where women could bring their girls to share workouts and dance classes.  Let girls stand, dance, and sweat next to women of all ages, shapes, and sizes to encourage an active lifestyle and positive self-esteem.

We have to do something to change how the next generation looks at fitness.

How many of us struggle with keeping our own health and wellness at the top of our to-do lists each week?  I have to believe that giving our daughters regular practice working out - in the company of our generation - will carry over into adulthood.  Think of it: if going to workout is a treat you get after completing that day's homework, how does that change your relationship with fitness?  How about the benefits of being able to get your workout in while spending quality time with your daughter?  This is a win-win scenario that has the power to change the world!

Will it work?  I think it already is...

Feeling...beautiful

A few days ago my daughter shared this Dove video on my timeline.  You've probably already seen it since it's making the rounds on the internet this week.  I watched it, I liked it, and I've been thinking about it ever since.

Today, after having seen it posted by friends and friends-of-friends since Monday, I started seeing links to blog posts like this one, speaking out against the video.  I couldn't quite see what people saw in the video that made them so upset (I hadn't read the anti-posts, just saw that they were linked).

Now that I've read one of the posts I'm left with the feeling of confusion.  Why can't we take a "you're beautiful" message at face value?  Yes, I know it's an advertising campaign and that their goal is to sell more of their products.  Yes, I know that the company in question owns another company that has horrible ads that are not meant to make me feel all strong and powerful as a woman.

But, see, I *do* feel all strong and powerful as a woman, and soaps and such aren't going to take that away from me.  What I see when I watch that video is a reminder to cut myself some slack.  I see cause for a celebration if even one of the women highlighted in the video walked away from that experience feeling better about herself than when she walked in.  I see the start of discussions on self-esteem potentially happening in houses across the nation, hopefully many of them with young girls involved.

Speaking of girls, also on my wall this week have been several posts from A Mighty Girl, a recent discovery of mine.  Following this page on Facebook has led to several great discoveries and, in general, a very positive girl-power vibe emanating from my news feed each day.  I know we need to help girls see their self-worth and power in things that have nothing to do with their looks.  I know that we are, as women, so very much more than pretty faces or butts or breasts or whatever the focus might be at any given moment.  I know that we have a serious problem with the decline of girls self-esteem (did you know that self-esteem PEAKS at 9 years of age? ) and feel that the negativity of the adult women they encounter is a significant factor.

It is for all these reasons that I like what this ad campaign is bringing to the table.  We need people and the media to, even for a moment...even riddled with ulterior motives, tell us all that we're beautiful.  I was not bothered by the fact that the majority of the women featured were white (didn't even occur to me).  I didn't pick up on the subtleties implied by the descriptors being used (thin apparently appeared over and over).  I saw women discovering how hard and negative they were towards themselves, and seeing themselves through another's eyes.  I heard them say they were beautiful.

You Are Beautiful.  I Am Beautiful.  YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.

Expectations - Bellydance BaseFusion

We are a cautious people.  We like to read reviews before buying an item or trying out  a recipe.  We like to choose our practitioners based on referrals from friends and family.  We like to see pictures and video of people and places before we meet them or plan a visit.  Having an idea of what is going to happen before it happens seems to make it easier to take that leap into the unknown.

So what can you expect at Hip Circle Studio classes?  I'm going to do my best to give you a peek into the different classes we offer through a series of "Expectations" posts.  Of course, seeing is believing, so I hope this is just enough information to help you give a class a try.  Nothing is a replacement for the live experience.

Bellydance BaseFusion

The Description - Discover the fun inherent in the basics of bellydance in this beginning level class. Each week will include a variety of moves to expose you to the basics of how the body moves in bellydance and the fusion styles used by Malik and Zahara Fusion. Regular practice in using combinations will prepare you for taking on Intermediate Bellydance. You’ll also work your way up to being comfortable with improvisational dancing thanks to the strong foundation presented in this class. Students can be as young as 8 and as old as the sun. Students under 12 must attend with their parent.  

Translation - the focus is on fun, this is a beginning level class (no experience necessary), you'll learn all sorts of moves, you'll practice free dancing, young  girls/teens are welcome, and there's another level class to aim for.

But, what's going  to happen when you walk in for your first class, right?

• You'll encounter women/girls who are different.  Honestly, I don't think we have 2 students that look enough alike to be confused for each other!
• You'll take off your shoes and socks.
• You'll get to choose a coin belt to borrow (unless you bring your own).
• You'll be greeted warmly by me and the other students.
• You'll move!  We do a gentle warm up to prep your heart, muscles, and joints, then get into the content for the week.  Each class ends with a 3-5 minute free dance time before we cool down and stretch.
• You'll chat! We're a friendly bunch and we while away our drills (yay, shimmies!) with light conversation.
• You'll laugh! Nothing is taken too seriously in this level - we're here to have a good time and get to know (maybe even love?) our bodies.  Critiques and such are saved for the intermediate level classes.
• You'll hear a variety of music, from all over the world, while dancing in class.

What don't you have to worry about in our BaseFusion class?

• Baring your belly.  You can be as dressed as you'd like in this class, though it is easiest for me to help you master the moves if you have form-fitting (think yoga style) clothing.  Feel better in a huge t-shirt and baggy sweats?  Go for it.
• Your two left feet.  Heck, bring three if you have them!  Perfection is not the goal in this class and we're not packed in like sardines so there's room for "interpretation" of directions.  Honest - if you've had bad experiences before that have left you with the notion that you "can't dance" this class can help you turn that around.  Everybody can bellydance.
• Competition.  There is no "winning" in our classes (at any level), so there's no need to compete.  I am beyond thrilled with the community of women we've gathered at the studio and how their first instinct is to help and welcome new folks.
• Fat/Skinny/Young/Old bashing.  ALL WOMEN ARE WELCOME!  Let me say that again...ALL WOMEN ARE WELCOME!  However you are, whoever you are, you can walk into the studio and know you'll be accepted.  Every.Body.CAN.Bellydance.

Now it's your turn.  Comment with your experiences from coming to Bellydance BaseFusion.  If you haven't been yet, come give it a try and then add your comments into the mix.  

Determination VS Distraction

While studying with Rachel Brice in Portland we all participated in a ritual she called “One-Word Check-in” where we went around the circle and were asked to sum up how we were feeling at the start of that day in one word.  Harder than you’d think, honestly!  Give it a try now – what one word would you use to sum up today?  I found the practice an interesting one in that the first word that came to mind was rarely the one I shared with the circle.  This was not because the first thought was wrong, exactly, but that when given some time (there were about 35 of us in the circle) other words floated up to the surface and presented themselves as a more correct summation of my feelings.  At any given moment I imagine I’m feeling quite a bit of different things, though it’s not too often that I take the time to identify them all.

Some of us from Initiation have continued this practice in a Facebook group created by Andrea to facilitate our continued dance practice away from the magic of that circle.  Here’s what I posted today:

Today I feel determined...I squeezed in 45 minutes of practice time even though I had to give up my "scheduled" (with myself on my calendar) time earlier in the day...I did a short DD-Hips followed by 18 minutes of drills (18 simple moves, 1 minute each)...I took the first step towards tackling my nemesis the choo choo shimmy...I forced myself to improv and made a breakthrough...and had a productive work day to-boot. Now I'm recharging before teaching this evening by nibbling on hummus and pea pods.

The thing is, when I was thinking about this blog post this morning I thought my word for today was going to be Distracted.  Distracted is true for today, too.  I’ve done about 2 million things, many of them before 10 am, and felt myself pulled in direction after direction, not feeling like I was being terribly successful at completing things along the way.  Due to my distraction I gave up my morning dance practice as scheduled, putting out several work-fires instead, but Determined wins.  Why?  When I looked back at my day in preparation for making my check in, my successes rose to the top despite the distracted environment I lived in today. 

In the end, isn’t it what floats to the top that matters the most?

Creativity

I've been in a rut.  I didn't realize it before but it's clear as the day is long from where I sit right now.  If I had to put a date on it, I'd say the rut began forming about 8 months ago.  Wow.

What happens on the other side of a rut?  HUGE WAVES OF CREATIVITY!  I had the honor of spending the last week away from home, immersed in bellydance at the hands of Rachel Brice - a dancer who I have long admired for her technique but now have her wonderful personality and integrity to admire as well.  In her 8 Elements: Initiation we were pushed to tap into our creative selves on a daily basis, exploring what our brains and bodies had to offer as well as collaborating with the other dancers in the room.  The result was amazing on so many levels - so very many levels - but one very important outcome for me was that the work pushed me out of my rut.  Look at how happy I am with her!


I've been choreographing combos as I walk around my house.  I've been thinking up new songs to use in a variety of classes.  Even scheduling is benefiting from this shift (stay tuned, ladies, the next few weeks should be a HOOT at the studio), all from this boost of creative brain usage.

Ruts are dangerous.  Looking back at the last several months I can see that a lack of creativity has had a negative impact on several areas of my life well beyond the artistic parts of my world.  Our brains are powerful tools that need to be stretched and pushed and pulled and prodded to keep working at optimal levels, and it feels like mine was running on auto-pilot for a while there.

No more - creativity WILL be a part of my everyday from here on out.  How about yours?  How will you be creative tomorrow?