Who ya? NO, hula!! Huh? HULAHOOP!

Happy April 27th!

Who loves to hulahoop?! I DO!!!!

When I first heard that Ali was coming to give a presentation on hulahooping, I was very excited! I've seen her hooping before, and I was always amazed at her ability to walk around and act as though she was just standing around without a hoop rotating around her waist. However, I got even more excited when our class was told that we were going to be making our very own hulahoops!!! I had talked to Ali before about her hoops that she's made, but I couldn't believe how easy it truly is to make!

 The only three items that you need to make your own hula hoop are irrigation tubing (3/4 of an inch to an inch), connectors for the tubing, and as much duct tape as you desire for decoration.

Before the class started making our own hula hoops, Ali spoke about her love of hooping and the benefits. Hooping can be a great cardio workout and build your core and back muscles. If you incorporate your hands and arms, it will also tone them too! Ali really focused on the spiritual benefits of hooping and being intuitive to your mind, body, and soul. Although that is not something that I really support, I do believe that hooping can be a relaxing, repetitive action that can calm a person internally and help him or her to clear the mind in order to talk with God.

There are many exercise videos and classes that incorporate or revolve around (no pun intended) hulahooping. Some websites for hooping are Hoopnotica (http://www.hoopnotica.com/), Hooping.org (http://www.hooping.org/) which is a community of and for hooping, Hula Hooping (http://www.hulahooping.com/) has a lot of neat facts, Sports Hula Hoops (http://www.sports-hoop.com/), Body Hoops (http://www.bodyhoops.com/?gclid=CIvisIuovqgCFQbCKgodaFTbrA), and SO many others!

Ali also talked a little bit about HulaDance. I loaded some videos right on the blog that you can look at and see how awesome it really is! AND who said that you can only stand still or walk with a hoop? Check out Betty and what she does! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7oERD0HPPw&NR=1)

Ali said that she had a passion for women and improving self-esteem, so she really would like to work in corrections with women who are coming back from being incarcerated to the community and their children. She also suggested working with veterans and their families. I found a video of a young woman who went to New York City after 9/11 to help children, at-risk-youth, and those with PTSD (also loaded on the page). Hula Hooping can be a very effective therapy and of great use in Therapeutic Recreation. Making the hoops themselves can be a great part of the fun!

~Sarah

Hoop warriors

Jams - Hooping to Imogen

Hula Hoop Dancer - Lisa Lottie (song: Gotam Project - Diferente)

Paper tubes are used for more than just being eaten by gerbils?

Those are paper tubes?

;]

 Need a chair for your doll?

 So pretty..

 This is INSANE!!! (well insanely awesome!)

 Can you name them all?

 Need some Easter fun?

Now that's one cheap trash can

This is pretty awesome! I'm always and constantly surprised to see what people are able to find to create amazing, fun, and useful pieces of art. I love recycling or reusing and this is a perfect way to do so! I love this type of craft because there is nothing harmful or toxic when using and working with paper tubes (unless you get a paper cut!). This is one craft activity that I believe almost all populations can use for self expression, fine motor exercise, laughter therapy, some just plain recreation time, or so many others!

I would love to try this too!!

~Sarah

Toothpicks?

WOW!

WOW! That was my first thought. Who would have thought to create such masterpieces with a silly little thing like a toothpick? This gave me the idea of many different projects that a TRS would be able to do for a creative activity or challenge. It could be done individually or as a group. The activity could be to just be creative like the star and the little cities, or it could be something useful or that has a purpose like the lampshade or boat.
Safety precautions would have to be thought of though when working with small children, those with delicate skin, people within a corrections unit, some people who have cognitive disabilities, and some youth-at-risk. One adaptation could be to use wooden doles, cut the sharp ends off the toothpicks, or maybe even use pretzels instead!

To get some populations more involved or interested, one could use colored toothpicks too!

Just some fun crafty ideas!

~Sarah

Challenge, Drama, and Relaxation

Happy April 21th!

Last class period we had the second half of the group presentations.

Group One: Challenge!

Getting out of our comfort zone?... well we certainly did! The first "ice breaker/name game" was to go up to another person introduce oneself and then go as close as possible without touching to the other persons nose: nose to nose. HAHA! Then we played the partner game of Birdie in a Cradle: running to partner and jumping into arms. After these ice breakers, we were separated into four different groups and given a hullahoop. Our goal was to move the hullahoop all the way around the circle while holding hands and not letting go. My group went pretty fast! Then we were asked to do the same thing but with our eyes closed. We were then grouped together with another group and went through the same process. Finally all groups came together, but the leaders went around and gave random people different jobs or disabilities such encouragement of the group or only being able to stand on one leg. This was a fun activity!

The next activity was one that I had never done before. We were once again separated into smaller groups and each person was given a toothpick. Then we were asked to stand on one side of the room while a soda bottle was placed on the other end. As relay, we had to individually run across the room to the bottle and try to drop our toothpick in without bending our bodies and just standing over the top of the bottle. Once one person got his or her toothpick in, he or she would run back and tag the next person to go!

 

After that, one person from each group was chosen to represent their group and try to get two toothpicks into the bottle before all the other groups.

The last challenge activity was an obstacle course!! AND with a partner one person was blindfolded. The course was pretty long and each partner had to go through the entire course while blindfolded. There were steps to climb, blocks to walk over, bars to walk across, and bars to duck under.

The partners who were able to move the fastest through the course were given a little prize of a candy ring.

• These challenges  have been used for many populations and are effective for almost any group of people as long as adaptions and modifications are made. Any group of people who have a goal of team work, communication, problem solving together, or who just need to get out of their comfort zones will benefit from Challenge activities!

Group Two: DRAMA

Everyone (well most people) have seen the Disney movie The Little Mermaid. Ariel's stash of human "artifacts" is fun, but the best part is the different names and uses given to each everyday utensil. For the first activity, each group was given an object that is well known to all what the purpose is, but we pretended to have found the object from some ancient culture and design a use for the object that the people of that time would had have for it. This was great to see people's creativity. We were also asked to perform the information in a commercial design.

Its a dinglehopper!

• For this activity, we talked about when using it for children to maybe get items that the kids wouldn't actually know what it was. This way the use wouldn't be able to stifle their little imaginations.

 The last activity that the group had time for was a view into wheelchair dancing. I was very excited about this, and my group/ partner tried to swing dance together! :} It was really fun!!

• This dancing opportunity gave the class a real view into the lives and movements of a person who moves around in a wheelchair. It was good to understand the barriers of movement when navigating a room full of chairs and people.

Group Three: relaxation

In one of my recent blogs, I talked about relaxation and the different modes of relaxing like laughter yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, and meditation. Group three took the class through progressive relaxation, breathing exercises, and guided imagery. The progressive relaxation was a great way to begin relaxing and would work well for people who difficulty paying attention or staying focused. We then moved onto a breathing exercise called the 4-4-4-4. I personally didn't like this exercise as well as other breathing exercises that I have done, but it worked by breathing in for four counts, holding for four counts, breathing out for four counts, and then holding again for another four counts. After this the group lead us into guided imagery through the C.A.R.E. channel: (http://www.healinghealth.com/hhs/site/page/care_with_guided_imagery)

Although the sound was little too loud, most people were able to relax into a deep state of almost sleep. I enjoyed creating the pictures in my mind instead of looking at the screen, but the pictures were very beautiful.

• Relaxation training and activities are a great modality for every population!! No matter who you are or where you are in life or status, everyone needs to relax little sometimes.

All groups did a wonderful job leading the class and helping us see the quality uses of each category presented.

over and out  <3

~Sarah