This is supposed to be our last blog post. Even though I originally made this for my Nature and Society class, I would like to keep posting photos and videos that connect nature and hoop dancing. I would like to thank Dr. Lynne Heasley, my professor for the class. I have truly learned so much about our environment, and I now have a new respect for those who work with our nature. Before Lynne's class, I was uneducated about the real damage that man kind has done to our earth. My eyes have been opened and now my job is to pass on that knowledge to others. Also would like to thank all the awesome students in the class as well. I have met some great people with great minds, and its been a pleasure getting to know everyone.

One last photo before I go... for now :)

Hooping at Asylum Park in Kalamazoo MI. Photo credit to my friend Liberty Mehler

The Five Elements

Recently just read an article on hooping and the five elements. Fire, wind, water, earth, and space. I'm always surprised and inspired by the connections people make with hooping. This particular article was written by Casandra Tanenbaum. She talks about her journey as a hooper, which happens to be very similar to me. Some moves will be easier to learn than others, and everyone will learn those moves at a different pace. Casandra also talks about the meditative side of hooping. I have only been using the hoop for about six months, but I literally lose myself once I pick it up. I have never done serious meditation, but the natural high I get from dancing is one of the best feelings.

But how do these elements specifically relate to hooping...

"FIRE accentuates the passionate side of sensuality. Fire is playful, delightful and creative: moves and styles that evoke spontaneity and charm in the dance show FIRE energy. I find that jumping or stepping through the hoop, rolling the hoop along the body, playing with twins and using the floor or ground to incorporate gymnastic maneuvers in my dance are the ways I express Fire.

WIND: the energy of movement, determined action, and accomplishment. WIND energy feels electric, powerful and athletic: tosses are indicative of wind energy, as is breaking and reversing the hoop in quick patterns.

WATER: clear and precise, organized vision. This energy accentuates the visual stimulation of precise off-body maneuvers, and illusions of isolating the rotating hoop in space, and subtle tricks that require precise timing and placement.

EARTH: rich, abundant, resourceful, hospitable and warm. To me, earth energy hooping involves the core of the body, legs, hips, waist, chest and shoulder, and angles. In my hoop journey, core hooping has always been the foundation for all other moves: it is the ground from which my hooping grows.

SPACE: open, free, ecstatic, transcendent space, exemplified in hooping with sustained spins, and any flipping or folding moves that shift the hoop around an axis, clearly articulating and dancing with three-dimensional shapes made and dismantled in any given moment." - The words of Casandra Tanenbaum

Casandra is really spot on. Hooping is so much like nature, everything working together to make one beautiful earth, or hoop haha.

This article can be found at the link below:

http://www.hooping.org/2012/03/finding-my-element-five-energy-hooping/#more-20091

Spirals for days

I started hooping the beginning of this past summer, and it has been one of the best decisions of my life. I was blessed enough to live on a lake this summer, in a water front cottage. What I loved the most, was the beautiful sunset view I got to see every evening. Normally with a cup of coffee in hand, I would watch, and photograph the scenery. You would think that seeing the same view would get boring, but each night was stunningly more different than the last. Not once did I have a dull moment. Even when it rained, I would be out splashing in the puddles. I took advantage of every second I got to spend at the cottage. Sadly I will never go back, because our cottage was sold. However, the memories are the more valuable than the property itself.

Before picking up a hula hoop, I found it hard to express myself, which made be depressed and frustrated. Hooping has brought me out of my shell, and made me feel comfortable moving my body. I now feel connected with music, myself, and nature. My favorite place to hoop was by the seawall, looking out towards the lake. An inspiring sight, paired with some great music and we have a hoop session! Normally it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to warm up and find my “flow”, or to get in my “zone”. This is when everything is working as one, and I don’t think about what move I will do next, I just do. I lose myself in the music, transitioning between different moves and tricks. It’s like a natural high; constantly spinning and weaving my body through my circle of love. Practice is huge. I’ve learned that nothing amazing happens over night. It’s all about progress, getting a little better every day. Then setting realistic goals, and reaching them.

Recently I found an article about hooping and nature. Lara Eastburn is the author, and she talks about how circles are everywhere! From our finger prints to outer space galaxy’s, a never ending spiral is there. She has put up some great pictures of circles represented through nature, this is the link to her article.

http://www.hooping.org/2011/10/spiraling-out-of-nature-a-visual-essay-2/#more-15774

Carbon Gases

Gases that trap heat in our atmosphere, have the name of greenhouse gases. 

The main gases in our atmosphere:

-Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

-Methane (CH4)

-Nitrous Oxide (N2O)

-Flourinated Gases 

-Ozone- Depleting Substances

The sources of these gases:

-Electricity production - 34 % of 2010 greenhouse gases

-Transportation - 27% of 2010 greenhouse gases

-Industry - 21% of 2010 greenhouse gases

-Commercial and Residential - 11% of 2010 greenhouse gases

-Agriculture - 7% of 2010 greenhouse gases

The EPA website has a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculator, that takes in to account the daily activities we do and how it is affecting our environment. Emissions can come from the gasoline we burn in our cars, the gas we use to heat our homes, and how much we recycle. 

I compared two households

• House of four college girls: we calculated out at 26,589 pounds of CO2 per year

• Parents house (2 people + dog): 31,783 pounds of CO2 per year

I wasn’t very surprised my the results, my parents do a lot of driving and live a more luxurious lifestyle than my friends and me. 

My friend, Liberty, and I recently made a visit to Asylum Lake. Western Michigan University owns the lake, which is very close to their Park view campus for engineering. Waking trails cover the area, great place to experience what Kalamazoo has to offer! 

Hooping is a form of dance, or expression. My obsession started early summer 2011, and I haven't stopped since...

Song by Goldfish, "Get busy living"

Thanks for watching!

Special Thanks goes out to my roommate, Liberty, we just barely made it in time for the sunset!

To learn more about Asylum Lake and it's history, click the link below!

http://www.wmich.edu/~asylum/

The New Eaarth

Eaarth. When I first saw the title of Bill McKibben’s 2010 book, I questioned the reason for the extra “a” within the commonly know word “earth”. I now see his idea behind the title, meaning that the Earth we used to know has changed drastically, the “new” earth. The purpose of this book, is to see what our reality has become. Global warming is our reality and it’s here now, so we need to start finding ways to fix the damage that has been done. It’s not just the U.S., this problem is much bigger than our country. This includes everyone on this planet, we’re one. Choosing to not address this problem is no longer an option. This could result in fighting, for what little natural resources are left. Then once the resources are gone, we still have to come up with another alternative. Bill McKibbens is saying that now is the time to make these changes, so we can still have what is left of this “old” earth.

“A New World”, the first chapter of Bill’s book, explains the earth we used to know in the 1900’, is no longer the same place. “In the four decades since, the earth has changed in profound ways... we’re every day less the oasis and more the desert.” (2). Alarming statistics, such as the amount of arctic ice melted between the years 2007 and 2009, losing about 22 percent sea ice each year. Our leading corporations in this world are fuel providers and vehicle producers, which is the leading cause for global warming. Bill really reaches out to the reader that fossil fuels are doing quite the number on our planet. 

In the second chapter “High Tide”, Bill expresses the changes we must make to see a difference, “New planets require new habits” (48). He pulls politics into this part of the book, explaining the struggles rich and poor countries go through to try and address environmental conditions. Wars are being fought because of this climate change. He also supports Barak Obamas push for spending on energy, education, and health care. Even though the spending would put us more into debt, it would put us on “a path way to growth” and would overall help to reduce deficits. The U.S. was built on the idea of unlimited growth, that the future will look like the past. That is merely a fantasy and the future is already much more different than the past. 

Throughout the last half of the book McKibben’s explains that maybe we should start “backing off”, the title of chapter three. He elaborates that we’re used to hearing the word “growth” and “sustainable”, and that it’s a good thing for our future. Bill states some new key words to represent our future now: Durable, Sturdy, Stable, Hardy, and Robust. These are all “solid” words. We often think that bigger and faster is better, but didn’t the steady slow turtle win the race?

Nature Vs. City

Are we really living a “good, sustainable, and happy” life? After reading Hope, Human, and Wild written by Bill McKibben I'm seeing new light on the development of cities and how to keep pollution levels low. In the second chapter of his book, Bill introduces a city in South America, Brazil called Curitiba. He explains how this city can satisfy the environment and humans.

Curitiba expands its city into it’s surrounding environment without doing harm, it does so through different practices. This is great for the wildlife in the area, instead of destroying the homes of animals that live there, they share, preserve, and interact with it. 

Clean up programs in Curitiba are also spot on. This is because the citizens and the government work together to solve issues. The government provides food to families depending on the amount of trash they collect through the city. Not only does this program help the hungry families, but it also cleans up their city and prevents trash and pollutants from getting deep into the environment.

Transportation also tends to lead to high pollution levels, however Curitiba has very low pollutant levels. They do so by having a well thought out public transportation system, that sufficiently traffics buses and rail cars throughout the city. By having a quick and easy public transport, the rate of privately owned cars goes down. This all in all reduces the amount of exhaust released into the circulating air. 

Bill not only has brought to attention great ideas, but he also seems to be a great writer. He has made me realize that we need to start working with our city environment to make it better for our whole environment, not only man kind.

If you would like to learn more about Hope, Human, and WIld or other books written by Bill, follow the link to his website. http://www.billmckibben.com/hope-human-and-wild.html

First Post!

I have created this blog to show how hula hooping and nature can be intertwined as one. I will be posting videos and pictures of myself and friends hooping and interacting with our environment. This is a photo of me hooping on a bridge by the Kalamazoo River. 

Photo Taken By: Ashlyn Cox