The Hoop Path

April 12th, 2008

Day two out here in Santa Cruz, California, was terrific. I am very encouraged by the response I received from my class of students here on the first day of our two part series. Everyone here has been so nice to Ann and me. I feel so blessed to meet so many wonderful people through the work that I do. Santa Cruz is experiencing what locals here are calling a “heat wave.” Temperatures yesterday reached into the upper 80’s/low 90’s. According to our amazing host, Heather, air conditioning systems are unnecessary up here because temperatures rarely hover for long above 80 degrees. When we arrived at the studio before the workshop began, the temperature inside the studio was in the high seventies. By the time we were into our third or fourth exercise, the temperature was well into the eighties. It was interesting to me that no one complained. Heather explained to us that it is so rarely this hot here, that she and, most likely, the others embraced the heat that they so infrequently experience. I might feel differently later on, but right now I am looking forward to the summer temperatures of my native North Carolina in the upcoming months.

I love the feeling of breaking a good sweat. In truth, sweat is one of my favorite ingredients for making a good hoop (experience.) My body needs this kind of detoxification. I’m not the health nut I should be, but my body isn’t a toxic wasteland, either. However, some of the toxins I think sweat carries out of my body are not just chemical. Old locked up memories, subterranean anxieties, and internal destabilizing insecurities flow like water from me and are carried off into the wind, cooling my whole body and purifying my chemistry. Sweat is part of my stabilizing process. I have hooped so much in climate controlled spaces over the last year that I have not experienced temperatures high enough to create a good sweat Flow. Today, when I woke up, I actually felt lighter. I look forward to more experiences of this kind of cleansing. With temperatures already in the mid-eighties today (4/13), I’m sure to be even lighter tomorrow morning.

I kept true to my intent to “testify” on behalf of the HPT in the workshop yesterday. I don’t know if I referenced my notes once in my opening talk. Everyone stayed engaged with me as best they could and it helped me to stay focused. As my teaching flight time increases, I find that I am able to read and react to moments more subconsciously and accurately. This is a skill I have always wanted to develop in me and it seems as though some growth in this area is occurring. I used to find myself knocked off track when students in Circle would look down at the ground or off into space as I was speaking. These days, however, I realize that my words, like the hoop’s rotation, are intended to carry people away. Indeed, it is not my intent to build cubicles, but to open cages. I see an image of an old man untethering a bird, clapping his hands, and smiling as his pet becomes its own, liberated being: wild and free, again. This image is a powerful motivation for me in my teaching. In essence, I teach hoopers to walk their own path towards the nourishment they need to thrive. If all goes to plan, my role as their teacher becomes de-emphasized over time. My authority over my students is designed to decay. It’s tough to let go, but that is the part of the process of teaching a Practice that is meant to develop sustainable freedom.

After the workshop, we came home and napped, then went to the beach for a dinner and a fire. It was a nice way to end the day. The temperature dropped fairly quickly as the sun set into the Pacific Ocean, and the fire kept us warm and close to each other. So many metaphors are present here, but the one I am feeling most deeply as I write these words now is the idea of building heat sources amidst coldness. Is this not what we do every time we set out with our hoops? Is light not the path out of darkness? If we seek and do not find, then we must create. This is what I have done for myself with the story of the Maidan. In their story, I find a warmth, a light, and a Way. I dream of living in moments now, rather than living in mansions. I am free because I walk the Way of Free Beings.

Blessings to each of you, and to the Spirit of Ascension.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 13th, 2008 at 11:30 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.