Last blog entry to complete my Sacred Circularities series.  This one is from  4/23/14

Wow, what a week. I’ve wrapped up my time at Sacred Circularities and it’s been a mind blowing experience.

Today I kept it really low key because I fell down (again) and sprained my ankle. I spent a good chunk of the day with ice on my foot. I wondered if energy is flowing through my body since I’ve had so much healing done on me this week or if I’m just a class A klutz and I need some new shoes…

I was super disappointed that I had to miss Tammy Firefly’s aerials class. But I heard Tammy is an amazing teacher from the people who took the class. I hope I can take a class with Tammy someday because she’s an amazing aerialist.

Today was the day that I really connected with people. I sat down at lunch and got to know some of the instructors and the other women in the retreat. I realized that I was so focused on the workshops and writing that I didn’t take the time to connect with anyone because I was working, working, working like the Capricorn that I am. So there was a benefit to spraining my ankle. It made me stop, take a good look at the community I’m part of and feel all the positivity, love and connection that was built throughout the week.

The workshop after lunch was skill share with Nayeli. I couldn’t participate so I observed the class and then caught up with Nayeli later to ask her some questions about her philosophies. Nayeli talked about her journey from being on the fast track to being a scientist to becoming a yoga and hoop instructor. She sees the world as responses that come from perspective. Nayeli uses the state of awareness created by yoga to enter the trance dance state of hooping. She teaches that Spanda, rhythm and pulsation, affects us and helps our brain and heart waves synch together to reach a higher level of awareness through trance.

Nayeli and I had some great conversations about spirituality and awareness and the state of being that left me feeling refreshed. We talked about how everyone here has been going through a lot of the same changes and that we’re taking our emotions as they come, experiencing them and letting them go, something that we’re not permitted to do in the mundane, or ordinary, world.

I also had some time to catch up with Anah Reichenbach (Hoopalicious) and talk to her about her groundbreaking ecohoops. They’re in the testing phase and are made from 100% recycled plastic. She’s preparing to move the project into phase two with hoops made entirely out of post consumer recycled plastic. I asked Anah how she got the idea for Ecohoops and she said that she looked out over grassy field filled with hoopers at hoop camp and thought about how awesome it was that hooping is creating so much consciousness and awareness. But then she realized that the plastic hoops themselves are not good for the environment and she wanted to change that. Her vision is to revolutionize the hoop world with these hoops. Thus far, she has created 2 colors (plum and teal) in 5/8 inch size tubing. More colors and tube sizes are in development. These hoops are still in the testing phase but will be out on the market in the near future. Be on the look out for Anah’s Crowd Funder kick off and be part of the ecohoop revolution.

The final event of the night was the hoop jam. By 9:00, the waitilan was filled with hoopers celebrating our 2nd to last hoop jam before closing ceremony. I was really disappointed I couldn’t dance with everyone but I ended up talking with some of my new friends for the last time. When I first came to Sacred Circularities, I was worried that I wasn’t making connecitoins with people but I came to realize that you can’t force connections to happen, the friends you make just come to you. It was catching up with my new friends and having a chance to say good-bye since I leave tomorrow morning to return to the United States.

Jaguar Mary, Anah, Laurie and I had a great conversation at dinner that really helped me sum up what this week, as a group, has been all about. Jaguar Mary said that it’s like each week was governed by an element and this week’s element was earth. We were grounded and full of potential like Gaia, spreading and sharing our love and abundance with each other. The power of the Goddess walked among us and renewed the Sacred Feminine Divine buried deep within us all. And the Sacred Masculine was not forgotten. The three men that were in the group helped keep the Goddess energy balanced. Now that we’ve all renewed our inner Goddess, it’s time to take her back to our communities and help raise the Goddess in our own corners of the world. As one of our healers said, we are in the middle of the birth of a new age and only through acting as midwives can we bring joy and healing to our own communities. The earth is our mother, may we never forget her.

“Merry ye meet and merry ye part and merry ye meet again.”