Today I bring you a guest post from Amelia Wood... who, like me, has caught on to the hula hooping craze. :)
It’s a Medical Miracle! Hula Hooping is Good For Your Health
A 2011 study by WebMD researchers found that hula hooping with a weighted hoop is just as effective as boot camp and step aerobics. Yes, that's right: Hula hooping is not just for kids, and I couldn’t be happier to hear this news!
The study, which recruited 16 women between the ages of 16 and 59, asked participants to learn a 30-minute aerobic routine using a weighted hula hoop. The routine involved twirling the hoop around the waist, arms and legs.
Wearing portable oxygen analyzers and heart rate monitors, the participants’ exertion rates were recorded as they performed the aerobic routine, and the results were startling. With an average heart rate of 151 beats per minute and an average oxygen consumption amount of 20 milliliters per kilogram per minute, hula hooping was shown to burn about 210 calories every half hour. That’s about the same as my morning jog!
Like me, a lot of adults just don’t have the guts to bust out their hula hooping skills in the middle of a public space. But if we listen to our inner child (and consider the health benefits), it's easier to let go of our egos and try some hooping...
I can see myself now; nonchalantly walking toward the lonely hoop in the corner, waiting for a moment when no one is watching, slowly lifting it over my head before breaking into an all-out hooping frenzy. I’m sure everyone in the gym would turn their heads to see the performance... but really, who cares? It’s like my mom always told me; they’re only staring because they wish they could do the same.
As for hooping; if you can dream it, you can do it. Take for instance Houston, Texas-based Hoopnotica hoopdance instructor, Kristen Tucker. Kristen recently returned from a photography tour of Mongolia, where she was photographed hooping in the Gobi Desert. You can view her photos at HoopyThoughts.com. They’re quite beautiful and moving.
You see; hula hooping is not only good for your body, it’s good for your soul. Have you ever noticed that you just can’t help but smile when you twirl a hoop around your waist? There’s just something about the circular motion that puts you at ease. It’s freeing and natural. You can almost hear your hip joints saying, “Thank you!”
Break free from your hula hooping misconceptions! It’s not just an activity for the young; it’s a fun exercise that will make you young at heart. Namaste.
Amelia Wood is a freelance blogger who enjoys writing about issues related to health care and fitness. In addition to sharing information about personal wellness, Amelia also works to disseminate valuable health care career information for readers interested in working in the medical billing and coding field.
Please direct any questions or comments to Amelia1612 at gmail.com.
Pain courses through the mind, the body. Send me love and light.
When the heart suffers negative energy, it feeds. And I want my light shining bright colors, not black.
I want the next tattoo. I'm going tonight with some friends, to feel something other than this anger. Maybe then I'll paint, meditate, eat food with people I love, and begin to let go.
How do you let go? How do you mourn the loss of one life as it shifts into another? I'm gritting my teeth through all this change. Some days I'm smiling, but today I'm gritting my teeth.
Moving on is hard. Moving is hard too -- carrying all those boxes, the weight of them holding me back and I become like a bird with one wing.
I decorate. I take photos. I dance and smile because I can.
I burn candles and paint and meditate. I doodle the hell out of anything... notebooks, backs of paper scraps, discarded wood, my own skin :)
I sing my own song.
I am learning to let go...of fears and of old hurts. I lam learning how to really love. (It starts here, at your own heart. It starts with an opennness to God's presence and his plans for transforming you.)
Top photo by Max Herman of TimeOut Chicago. Bottom photo by me.
May today bring you peace, light and love!
Wherever you are - whatever walk of life you happen to come from - how ever you happen to be doing... I hope happiness finds you today. :)
Take a moment to breathe. Feel your lungs fill to the top with air. Slow exhale, release. Let your shoulders relax for a second. Let go of the pain you're holding onto.
You're OK. Hey, you're wonderful. Just breathe.
----
Yoga arises from the inspiration to become whole, to participate in the higher energy, awareness and purpose of life. This is the deepest desire of the heart: your feeling or highest wish is the true power behind your alignment, expression or experience of the pose.
North Coast Music Fest has been amazing so far. Yesterday some of my favorites were Gramatik, Beats Antique, Atmosphere and Girl Talk... today is Digitalism, Big Boi and Pretty Lights!
Besides the music, though, the atmosphere at North Coast is fantastic... super laid back, fun and hilarious people everywhere, and tons of artful moments.
Graffiti guys painting. Little green neon lights glowing. Hoopers dancing.
Body paint. New friends to talk to.
My heart goes out to all of you North Coast-ers... you guys rock.
Sweaty Betty is having some awesome sales right now. I love the Theia Dress: wouldn't that be a great cover-up at the beach or fun to wear out after yoga class? :)
When is the last time you took a day just for you? Time to wander... do nothing... sit under the trees or enjoy a cup of coffee with no plans...
Maybe you need time to write the poem you've been putting off. Or roll your mat out again, for the first time in a long time. Your body moving slowly, enjoying every posture. Your mind at rest.
Where can you go to find peace? Whose heart are you listening to?
Lotus Sutra There is the sound of this train traveling by my thigh burns with the beauty of a new tattoo -- he inked into me a symbol - grace, effortless grace, this night echoes on. I feel a stirring in the depths sitting there, more like laying there - reiterating my life to myself in numbers, waves, heat pain in the most pure, simple form... I felt as though we knew each other long before this night. Speaking while creating art. The rhythm of it. The others, unspoken truths, spoken laughter... sarcasm and cigarette smoke hanging in the air like a lotus petal stuck on water.
Sometimes we have nowhere
else to go except back to who we are to begin with. Begin again. Now. He speaks there, writing into me. Now is the right time. Where have I gone to deserve this? Going onward, knowing pain, growth. You touch me, knowing me, won't you be beginning again? Go on, follow me.
After three years of solid yoga practice, I've come to realize a lot of my progress derives from a willingness to play on the mat.
The only way you'll get to a point where you're willing to risk falling on your face in front of a crowded studio... is when you let go of the fear of making a fool of yourself.
Try out the pose.
Experiment.
We're all just playing when we come to class.
When you fall, laugh. Learn how to fall safely so you don't get hurt.
Or maybe you do -- because it's time -- and the moment has passed. But you know you'll be squeezing someone tight again soon. Or have someone holding you.
Even after you've walked away, the resonance of that touch stays.
Hey wonderful readers...I'm going through a hard time right now. For as much positive energy and pure light as I try to bring to this blog space at Alive in the Fire... sometimes, I am sad.
We all go through crazy stuff in life, and we come out the other side stronger. But at the time, obstacles can feel overwhelming. Goals, unattainable. Stress & worry don't serve us, but we turn to them. (Perhaps at the time it's the only way we know how to cope.) I have had my share of anxiety and suffering, that's for sure. :)
Would you do me a favor?
Send some positive love & light my way in the next few weeks.
Better yet, go ahead and share it with your close friends, too. Give more hugs. Smile because you can, not because you have to.
If you've stuck around at Alive in the Fire, hopefully you've noticed that one of my goals here is to make the world a brighter place because we all go through challenges... and we need each other to survive those challenges.
Whether you're a yogi in Chicago or New York City, a dancer in Sacramento, a massage therapist working in Kansas, a friend of a friend from London or Paris or Saudi Arabia...an engineer in South America... a reiki practitioner, a young person, an old person...
I hope you had a weekend filled with love, hope, and happy energy. I've been enjoying some relaxed time with my brother and his friend who are visiting from California.
There's nothing better than being a tourist in your own city. I'm relearning Chicago: hula hooping by Lake Michigan, experiencing my first baseball game (what up SOX?!), taking the El everywhere, Festa Italiana (Peroni, pizza, old guys singing like Frank Sinatra, and sunny walks all over the place), and dancing the night away at the Underground.
And, of course, practicing some yoga and writing some poetry.
Often I hear people say things like: "I want to make time for more yoga" or "I'm not flexible enough to try yoga" or "Someday, I'll be stronger... once I do this, this, and this."
What if you began to manifest what you're hoping for in your life -- right now?
Photos by me.
You already are a yogi.
You already are flexible. And with practice, you will grow more flexible.
You are strong.
You're living your dreams right now -- go ahead and feel into that! :)
Photo by a friend .
Instead of saying, "One day I'll teach yoga," I've begun to say, "I already teach yoga." And I do.
I teach simple poses in the park. Or I smile at strangers on the train simply because I hope to bring them a moment of peace, of joy. I hula hoop and dance around and say hi to people.
I love others even when I might not like some of the things they do.
I ask that light and love pour through me.
And I watch people around me pick up on that bright, bold energy... and it is beautiful :)
Go ahead and live today with your eyes open. You're already there!
Practicing alone has its benefits... and solitude is worth something. Hearing your own calm breath out your mouth, no distractions...
Finding a sense of calm on the mat: sometimes this is challenging; sometimes this is the easiest part of the day.
Quiet, mind, quiet. Be still.
Coming together with other yogis changes the process. It's comforting to know you're surrounded by a group of other humans -- all imperfect, all tired, all seeking -- and that you can be alone together, each of you on your mat.
Hands in prayer: solo. Some energy created.
Hands in prayer: a circle of yoginis by the lake... the energy multiplies.
The world hears the chant of om om om when there are many voices to ring out.
More sound, more power, more love.
I am so grateful for you, yogis of the world. Thank you for coming together in peace to practice.
Together in love ~~ namaste!
Alive in the Fire
Alive in the Fire is a blog inspired by practicing yoga mindfully, teaching from the heart, giving hugs, and living a badass life.
Alive in the Fire is a blog inspired by practicing yoga mindfully, teaching from the heart, giving hugs, and living a badass life.
