HoopPath Ninja Comes to Town

If you've ever watched any hoop dance videos on YouTube, or happened to catch a hoop dancer out in the wild, the hooper you were watching was probably a woman: scantily clad (the hoop sticks better to bare skin) and spiraling around with a sensual, feminine energy. In this female-dominated space stands a lone wolf of hooping. Well, as alone as a guy can be when regularly swarmed by hordes of very adoring women hoopers.

Hooping is growing in popularity and there are a good number of great hoop teachers to follow. Jonathan Livingston Baxter is undoubtedly a hoop ninja. He hoops in an unexpectedly masculine style that looks like martial arts fueled by the beats of hip-hop. Bax came up to NYC last weekend over a rainy Memorial Day holiday and filled up a school gym in Brooklyn with a group of intense hooping fans wanting to practice his signature style and hear his take on the hoop experience.

This was probably my fourth NYC workshop with Baxter. What keeps me coming back is this: to take Baxter's class is to go to church. It is a workout for your body, mind and spirit. This man loves you, at least for the hours you are in his HoopPath space. He loves your creativity, your spirituality, your possibility, your you-ness. He says so, and you totally believe him. When you're in Baxter's class, the hoop is a tool to unlock your individuality. The hoop brings a novel touch to a powerful metaphor used by classical dance teachers all over the world: how you dance, how you express yourself, how you create movement through the cooperation of body, mind and spirit is how you live. 

Baxter's dad is a preacher and he inherited some of his preacher-ability. He can boom his words across a room and bring tears to his students eyes. I can't quite recreate that effect on the pages of a blog but I can share the gist of some of my favorite HoopPath moments below:

You are enough. We start with blindfolds covering our eyes, hooping on the waist. Baxter starts to tell us to dump our baggage. Like we're coming home and leaving all the stuff we don't need on the table by the door. You are not your job. You are not your bank account. You are not how fat you are. You are not how skinny you are. You are not what they said you are. To find your spirituality, creativity and individuality in the hoop, shed your baggage. Release all the things that get in the way of moving freely and expressing your true self, in the hoop and in life. 

Write your own story.  At the beginning of the workshop Bax introduced us to the origins of the Maidan. The Maidan is an elaborate story created by Bax about nature, rhythm, peace, community and a whole mess of other concepts that would be very cool if they are real. But they are. The story is not real. The story is a vehicle, like the hoop itself.  Baxter had requested no beginners in this workshop so most of us had heard his metaphor of the Maidan. Bax invites us to build the story with him, to take on the different characters' perspectives in order to explore different parts of ourselves. He appoints us as his co-creators. Just as in life, we create our stories alongside each other, weaving in and out  of different narratives, simultaneously the star in our own tale and the background in someone else's story.

Trust the practice. Apparently we're not as advanced as we think because at one point, Bax asks us to hoop on our shoulders, in both directions. "Come up! Come up! Come up!" We are squinching up our shoulders, getting frustrated. Hoops fall. Bax stops us. Hoops fall some more. Bax tells us to trust. We know what we are doing and if the hoop falls so what. Pick it up and start again. Focus on the practice and don't be wrapped up in the perfect outcome. If you mess up, pick up and start again, and again and again. Trust that you can pick up again and that each drop will get you closer to your goal. 

There were more stories, more metaphors and more life enriching moments. For now, I'll leave you with these and encourage you to find your own power, rhythm and grace in a giant spinning hoop. 

Pilates and Weight Loss: The One Thing You Need to Know

I already mentioned that Byootifull is about working out the body, mind and spirit. But since I am an experienced pilates instructor, I thought I might as well get this comment out of the way...

You've done your homework, read up on the many celebrity bodies rehaped by pilates and are ready to take the plunge yourself. You walk into your chosen pilates studio and declare: "I heard pilates makes you skinny and I want to lose weight."  As a pilates business person, I feel a brief temptation to say, "Yep, that's right.  Sign up here for a package of a million sessions and let's go!"  But as an informed movement specialist and conscientious individual, I actually tell you "Pilates will make you look slim and trim but it is not just a weight loss program."

​Get off the scale, get into your body

So then what is pilates all about and why is it so good for you? Pilates is a total body conditioning system that increases your strength and flexibility. Pilates may make you look leaner because your muscles will become more toned. However, it is not designed specifically to be an aerobic activity. Aerobic activity - activity that gets the heart rate up and burns calories - is the key to losing weight. 

The Key to Weight Loss

For those of you specifically interested in calorie burn, this is the one easy formula you need to remember:

Calories IN  <  Calories OUT = Weight loss

Whatever activity you choose, you will lose weight if you burn more calories than you take in.  

You could spend all day lolling around on the couch and still lose weight. Think about those days when you've been sick in bed for a few days with a stomach flu. You don't move much but you don't eat much either and when you finally get up you are gaunt and lean looking.

I am not advocating the couch potato approach to fitness. My point is there's no magic to weight loss. Burn more calories than you eat. That's it.

If pilates helps you burn more calories than you take in, then yes, it can be part of an effective weight loss program. If you do it right, pilates will make you will look and feel slimmer even if you do not lose any weight. The key is practicing the precise technique required to do the exercises correctly. 

One of my clients started regular pilates lessons with me, two to three times a week, in October.  By the time she had her family over for Thanksgiving dinner, her relatives were asking if she had lost weight. I promise, if you do pilates the way it was designed, your friends and family will start asking you how long you've been dieting, even if you haven't. Not that you should be aiming for skinny! Aim for powerful, beautiful, graceful, elegant and you will see a leaner you emerge along the way

Welcome to the Practice of Living Byootifully!

It's time. 

For years I've been teaching people how to create power and grace in their bodies through pilates and hoop dance. I have coached clients to attain amazing goals: eliminating back pain just by learning to move differently, preparing for or recovering from a pregnancy, using their 80-year-old body in a way that allows them to continue their beloved hobbies. Because I've seen up close amazing feats of human physical accomplishment, I no longer speak with clients about aesthetic goals: skinnier thighs, a perky butt. We can have a more sophisticated discussion of what total body wellness really means. We train like athletes and dancers: we aim for performance and in the process create a powerful, graceful body. Your body at it's optimum performance is the ultimate goal. 

A strong body and a clear mind are the first requisites for a happy life. They allow you to enjoy the success you have in the other areas of your life: relationships, career, money. When you are strong, you are able to move gracefully through all the moments in life that are important to you. You experience days filled with joy, power and beauty: happiness. So I encourage you to create the body you want. Because your body is the only vessel you get to navigate through this life. Your body, whatever the shape, is not your enemy. Your body is your raw material for the life you want: be an artist and an athlete. Seek to bring out the unique beauty of your body and practice, practice, practice being you at your best.

Here at Byootifull, I will offer information to help you practice the art of living beautifully. You have been offered a unique space in the world. We will learn to move through it with strength, grace and beauty every day.

I am so, so excited you're here. Welcome!