The Fusion of Fabric, Color & Chakras

 

The Fusion of Fabric, Color & Chakras

Denise E Williams/Subtle Woman,

Occupational Therapist/Wellness Counselor,

Healing Touch Certified Practitioner &

Psychic/Intuitive Empath & Medium

11.10.2021

 

As the seasons change, so do my fitness and well-being needs. One of the last warm days in November prompted my idea to highlight the seven colors of the chakras through my Hooping videos. Red denotes the color of the Root Chakra and my corresponding costume. The Root Chakra represents safety, security, stability and foundation. Red is the beginning of a seven blog-series which examines my self-regulation and stress reduction techniques via music, movement and prop usage during my Weighted Dance Hooping videos.

Costuming is everything to a performer. It ramps up the Ode to Joy of stage production. As Shaman & an Occupational Therapist, I know the value of weight, texture, color & compression of elements and material. The fabric, leather bottom boots, satin gloves, sateen performance fans, music and weighted Hoop evoked a Parasympathetic Nervous System (calm and relaxed) response and the benefit of grounding through the Tactile, Proprioceptive and Vestibular input. My firm grasp on the fans for the sudden downward flick fed my Spirit each time. Creativity flowed for my choice of the rhythmic and auditory patterns. This afforded the listening ears of the other dancers and me, mini neuro-taps to our Nervous Systems. We yelled, laughed, smiled and connected with the unexpected usage and frivolity of the two fans. I was so happy during a post-video production. Upon viewing and reliving the feedback of the multi-sensory input, I was bemused and amused by the titillation to my visual cortex. My PNS response was organic. The joyful lyrics & vocal stylings by Blossom Dearie, Swing dance tempo and November's unusually warm air added to the elation.

The transition of Summer into Fall/Winter requires my intentional navigation to eschew the adverse imprint of Seasonal Affective Disorder & the social-emotional constraints of Covid-19 on my physical, emotional, mental and Spiritual well-being. Aha—I will now employ a major wellness technique & coping strategy i.e., a daily regimen of Weighted Dance Hooping to various rhythms & musical genres.

Just Sayin’…

H.I.P. & S.I.P.: Hoop in Place & Shelter in Place

Living Out Loud , with Host Louise Cutler A Merry Heart is like Medicin...

HOOPOSOPHY: Intuition Leads. I Follow.

Welcome to, HOOPOSOPHY, my weekly Vlog on the elements, symbolism and experience of Hooping, dancing and musicality. Each week, I expect to tape one of my Hoop sessions and share it on social media.  I will include tenets of Shamanism, intuition, psychic awareness, therapeutic interventions, music, dance and healing. 

I live my life as a Shamanic Medicine Woman in the Cherokee tradition, Healing Touch Certified Practitioner, Certified Intuitive/Psychic, Master Hooptress, Spiritual Eclectic Performance Artist, Classically-trained Vocalist, Jazz singer, Dancer, Dee Jay, Wellness Counselor and Occupational Therapist.  Please enjoy the writings of this multi-sensory scribe.  

HOOPOSOPHY: Intuition Leads.  I Follow.

Denise E. Williams, Subtle Woman/Medicine Woman and Master Hooptress

January 14, 2018

Ella Fitzgerald's vocal rendition of Mack the Knife was my choice this week.  Ella's phrasing, musicality and tonal quality hits me in the right place.  Forgetting the lyrics did not stop her musical stride.

Hooping and dancing to Ella's vocal stylings shifts my rhythm and footwork to syncopated patterns of jazzy, joyful movements.  As I am moving, I garner a sense of confidence, akin to riding a wave.  Ella's vocal strengths bolsters my Hooping savvy. I feel at ease to sustain a one-foot stance.  From that movement, I segue into linear and anterior catches of the beat with my right hip.  Intuitively, I morph into a Basic Balboa rhythm i.e. 1-2-Three-4//5-6-Seven-8.  Albeit, the music creates a slow pulse for the alternating and accented feetwork, the mastery of the Downhold beats, three and seven, makes me smile.  A Lollie with a modification--shoulder-shaking Shimmies is the next transition.  The extended right leg Lead with subtle weight-shifts and crossing over midline pair with the cadence of the music.  

At this point, I attempt a Shorty George.  Ordinarily, the Shorty George starts on the 8th beat of the phrase.  In my haste to include it in the Bal-Lindy demonstration of this Hooping vlog, I, inadvertently, initiated the step on beat three vs. eight.  Oops!  Let me pretend like I meant to do that [so, not true].  Anyway, I muddle the off-beat error with a series of moves, including Ball-changes, lateral weight-shifts, Fall off the Logs, an Uncle Willie (a shuffling of a heel-to-toe pattern that transitions through a grand plié), Charleston place kicks (lands on the floor vs. mid-air), a tap sequence of heel-heel-toe-toe, brush toe-heel, a flap heel-heel, combo of flap heel-heels, Fishtails, Tacky Ann's, chasses, soft jogging, jumping jacks, simulated rope jumping side-to-side and forward-to-backward--resulting in a significant dalliance with gravity, right foot crossing over left with a counter-clockwise turn to a stop-time closing.  

My improvisational Hoop Journeys give me a chance to think on my feet--no pun intended.  Intuition is the Lead and I am the Follow.  This outflow of Internal Guidance surprises me in my later viewing of the Hoop session.  None-the-less, I sustain a soft fluidity to facilitate smooth transitioning.

I surmise that the importance of my Hoop Journey is to reinforce the tenets of Shamanic healing, Psychic-Intuitive guidance, Therapeutic modalities, Dance fitness and Jazz musicality.  Learning and evolving through symbolism, interoceptive awareness and subcortical processing will always be something that I enjoy and seek.           Aho.

For FB muted vlog, please view the following link: https://www.facebook.com/denise.e.williams

HOOPOSOPHY: Intuition Leads. I Follow.

Welcome to, HOOPOSOPHY, my weekly Vlog on the elements, symbolism and experience of Hooping, dancing and musicality. Each week, I expect to tape one of my Hoop sessions and share it on social media.  I will include tenets of Shamanism, intuition, psychic awareness, therapeutic interventions, music, dance and healing. 

I live my life as a Shamanic Medicine Woman in the Cherokee tradition, Healing Touch Certified Practitioner, Certified Intuitive/Psychic, Master Hooptress, Spiritual Eclectic Performance Artist, Classically-trained Vocalist, Jazz singer, Dancer, Dee Jay, Wellness Counselor and Occupational Therapist.  Please enjoy the writings of this multi-sensory scribe.  

HOOPOSOPHY: Intuition Leads.  I Follow.

Denise E. Williams, Subtle Woman/Medicine Woman and Master Hooptress

January 14, 2018

Ella Fitzgerald's vocal rendition of Mack the Knife was my choice this week.  Ella's phrasing, musicality and tonal quality hits me in the right place.  Forgetting the lyrics did not stop her musical stride.

Hooping and dancing to Ella's vocal stylings shifts my rhythm and footwork to syncopated patterns of jazzy, joyful movements.  As I am moving, I garner a sense of confidence, akin to riding a wave.  Ella's vocal strengths bolsters my Hooping savvy. I feel at ease to sustain a one-foot stance.  From that movement, I segue into linear and anterior catches of the beat with my right hip.  Intuitively, I morph into a Basic Balboa rhythm i.e. 1-2-Three-4//5-6-Seven-8.  Albeit, the music creates a slow pulse for the alternating and accented feetwork, the mastery of the Downhold beats, three and seven, makes me smile.  A Lollie with a modification--shoulder-shaking Shimmies is the next transition.  The extended right leg Lead with subtle weight-shifts and crossing over midline pair with the cadence of the music.  

At this point, I attempt a Shorty George.  Ordinarily, the Shorty George starts on the 8th beat of the phrase.  In my haste to include it in the Bal-Lindy demonstration of this Hooping vlog, I, inadvertently, initiated the step on beat three vs. eight.  Oops!  Let me pretend like I meant to do that [so, not true].  Anyway, I muddle the off-beat error with a series of moves, including Ball-changes, lateral weight-shifts, Fall off the Logs, an Uncle Willie (a shuffling of a heel-to-toe pattern that transitions through a grand plié), Charleston place kicks (lands on the floor vs. mid-air), a tap sequence of heel-heel-toe-toe, brush toe-heel, a flap heel-heel, combo of flap heel-heels, Fishtails, Tacky Ann's, chasses, soft jogging, jumping jacks, simulated rope jumping side-to-side and forward-to-backward--resulting in a significant dalliance with gravity, right foot crossing over left with a counter-clockwise turn to a stop-time closing.  

My improvisational Hoop Journeys give me a chance to think on my feet--no pun intended.  Intuition is the Lead and I am the Follow.  This outflow of Internal Guidance surprises me in my later viewing of the Hoop session.  None-the-less, I sustain a soft fluidity to facilitate smooth transitioning.

I surmise that the importance of my Hoop Journey is to reinforce the tenets of Shamanic healing, Psychic-Intuitive guidance, Therapeutic modalities, Dance fitness and Jazz musicality.  Learning and evolving through symbolism, interoceptive awareness and subcortical processing will always be something that I enjoy and seek.           Aho.

For FB muted vlog, please view the following link: https://www.facebook.com/denise.e.williams

HOOPOSOPHY: Intuition Leads. I Follow.

Welcome to, HOOPOSOPHY, my weekly Vlog on the elements, symbolism and experience of Hooping, dancing and musicality. Each week, I expect to tape one of my Hoop sessions and share it on social media.  I will include tenets of Shamanism, intuition, psychic awareness, therapeutic interventions, music, dance and healing. 

I live my life as a Shamanic Medicine Woman in the Cherokee tradition, Healing Touch Certified Practitioner, Certified Intuitive/Psychic, Master Hooptress, Spiritual Eclectic Performance Artist, Classically-trained Vocalist, Jazz singer, Dancer, Dee Jay, Wellness Counselor and Occupational Therapist.  Please enjoy the writings of this multi-sensory scribe.  

HOOPOSOPHY: Intuition Leads.  I Follow.

Denise E. Williams, Subtle Woman/Medicine Woman and Master Hooptress

January 14, 2018

Ella Fitzgerald's vocal rendition of Mack the Knife was my choice this week.  Ella's phrasing, musicality and tonal quality hits me in the right place.  Forgetting the lyrics did not stop her musical stride.

Hooping and dancing to Ella's vocal stylings shifts my rhythm and footwork to syncopated patterns of jazzy, joyful movements.  As I am moving, I garner a sense of confidence, akin to riding a wave.  Ella's vocal strengths bolsters my Hooping savvy. I feel at ease to sustain a one-foot stance.  From that movement, I segue into linear and anterior catches of the beat with my right hip.  Intuitively, I morph into a Basic Balboa rhythm i.e. 1-2-Three-4//5-6-Seven-8.  Albeit, the music creates a slow pulse for the alternating and accented feetwork, the mastery of the Downhold beats, three and seven, makes me smile.  A Lollie with a modification--shoulder-shaking Shimmies is the next transition.  The extended right leg Lead with subtle weight-shifts and crossing over midline pair with the cadence of the music.  

At this point, I attempt a Shorty George.  Ordinarily, the Shorty George starts on the 8th beat of the phrase.  In my haste to include it in the Bal-Lindy demonstration of this Hooping vlog, I, inadvertently, initiated the step on beat three vs. eight.  Oops!  Let me pretend like I meant to do that [so, not true].  Anyway, I muddle the off-beat error with a series of moves, including Ball-changes, lateral weight-shifts, Fall off the Logs, an Uncle Willie (a shuffling of a heel-to-toe pattern that transitions through a grand plié), Charleston place kicks (lands on the floor vs. mid-air), a tap sequence of heel-heel-toe-toe, brush toe-heel, a flap heel-heel, combo of flap heel-heels, Fishtails, Tacky Ann's, chasses, soft jogging, jumping jacks, simulated rope jumping side-to-side and forward-to-backward--resulting in a significant dalliance with gravity, right foot crossing over left with a counter-clockwise turn to a stop-time closing.  

My improvisational Hoop Journeys give me a chance to think on my feet--no pun intended.  Intuition is the Lead and I am the Follow.  This outflow of Internal Guidance surprises me in my later viewing of the Hoop session.  None-the-less, I sustain a soft fluidity to facilitate smooth transitioning.

I surmise that the importance of my Hoop Journey is to reinforce the tenets of Shamanic healing, Psychic-Intuitive guidance, Therapeutic modalities, Dance fitness and Jazz musicality.  Learning and evolving through symbolism, interoceptive awareness and subcortical processing will always be something that I enjoy and seek.           Aho.

For FB muted vlog, please view the following link: https://www.facebook.com/denise.e.williams

HOOPOSOPHY: Choose to Let Go and Allow the results to Evolve with Ease.

Welcome to, HOOPOSOPHY, my weekly Vlog on the elements, symbolism and experience of Hooping, dancing and musicality. Each week, I expect to tape one of my Hoop sessions and share it on social media.  I will include tenets of Shamanism, intuition, psychic awareness, therapeutic interventions, music, dance and healing. 

I live my life as a Shamanic Medicine Woman in the Cherokee tradition, Healing Touch Certified Practitioner, Certified Intuitive/Psychic, Master Hooptress, Spiritual Eclectic Performance Artist, Classically-trained Vocalist, Jazz singer, Dancer, Dee Jay, Wellness Counselor and Occupational Therapist.  Please enjoy the writings of this multi-sensory scribe.  

HOOPOSOPHY: Choose to Let Go and Allow the results to Evolve with Ease.

Denise E. Williams, Subtle Woman/Medicine Woman and Master Hooptress

January 7, 2018

This afternoon, I processed my Hoop improvisation through my terminology of Intuitive Musicality.  Miles Davis’, “It’s Only a Paper Moon” featuring Sonny Rollins musically supported my efforts.  *No Copyright Infringement Intended. *

Again, I created this Dance Hoop segment with the use of two 3lbs. Hoops.  In the back of my mind was the Synchrony of Duo Hoop/Rhythm/Flow without the triad’s faltering and resultant falling of the Hoops.  However, it was unwise for me to project these concerns, because the Energetic Disconnectionwas more prevalent and possible.  Okay, fake it ‘til I make it.

I start with a stirring motion of the Hoop to the left side.  [In the tradition of Shamanic Healing, the left side connotes the emotional/feminine/intuitive/Yin element].  I gave a strong Swoosh with accompanying finger snaps to augment the beat.  What’s done to one side must be done to the contralateral (opposite) side in the Bilateral Experience.  [The right side connotes the intellectual/masculine/logical/Yang element.] 

Visually, I discerned a less impactful Energetic Portrayal.  [What concerned me?]  Well, of course, my issues of control and avoidance of failure wafted up.  That weaker portrayal created an energetic void within the Hoop!  So, what did I do? I stabilized the Friction Brushing of the two Hoops as they rubbed and spun past each other.  I gathered the disorganized and detached energy within the bilateral union and initiated a midline presentation of my feetwork.  I become Still, so that the Hoops could realign.

I resumed a moderately complex footwork pattern until the glisser (the slide and subsequent disengagement of the Hoops) lessened.  However, not for long, because the Hoops began to spin in opposing elliptical patterns.  As this Tent Effect of the Hoops persisted, they finally gave way to gravity and fell.

I quickly assessed the situation and retrieved the fallen pair.  [In Occupational Therapy, the estimation of Force that is required to grasp, hold, manipulate, attach and/or disassemble objects—hand occupations, become another aspect of Hooping].  I was thinking vs. sensing the movement and beat, thereby disallowing adequate connection of my intuition/core/motor control.  In order for me to align the bilateral Hoop experience, I will infuse a Knowing, relaxed state and an Assured Expectation for a successful connection in the Hoop Experience. 

And, so goes the Lesson of Hoop Praxis (motor-planning) i.e. the Dance of Lead and Follow.  The Hooper can choose either role—Leads evoke the change in choreography and Follows respond to the change.  As the Master Hooptress, I frequently choose the role of Lead in my Hooping practice.  In Hooping, the complexity of mastering choreography mirrors the tenets of an Energetic/Shamanic Healing i.e. Grounding, Assessing, Balancing, Clearing and Mindfulness.

When the Hoop falls, pick it up and start again.  A Japanese proverb asserts, Fall down seven times, Stand up eight.


Please view the attached video.  Thank you in advance.

https://www.facebook.com/denise.e.williams/videos/vb.1097291343/10213384230455699/?type=2&theater