Rayna's Blog

My Birth Journey & Next Chapter

by Rayna on December 3, 2009

Anjali’s birth was a 32 hour labor of love. It was the most challenging experience of my life to date and it taught me a lot about myself and the power I possess deep within me. It truly was a right of passage that nothing could have really prepared me for.

I knew before I even found out I was pregnant that when I had a child, I wanted to have a natural birth, at home, without drugs and interventions. That being said, I was prepared to transfer to the hospital if any complications arose. My hope though was that I could bring my daughter into this world peacefully and that we could stay as connected as possible through the experience.

I was 6 days past my estimated due date when I decided to go walking up and down hills to try and stimulate my labor - I went walking for hours on Saturday with my fiance and his mother along the boardwalk and up and down the streets of Manhattan Beach. Well, it worked. By 7:00pm that night, my labor began. Sammy and I spent the next 12 hours in “early labor” and by 7:00am Sunday morning, I was crying and frustrated because my labor had been very intense all night, but had not reached the pattern that my midwife said it should before calling her. My doula came over and supported me while we waited for my labor to intensify. My midwife came over around 9:00am and checked my cervical dilation, and to my disappointment, I was only 2.5 cm dilated. For the next 15 hours, my labor continued to intensify, but I dilated very slowly. I was in A LOT of pain and along with the unending support of Sammy, used breathing and vocalizing to get through it. At one point I had to go into a meditative state to manage the unbelievable pain and get myself calmed down because the baby’s heart rate was elevated. I was almost hyperventilating before this because of the pain and my midwife encouraged me to shift my perspective on the pain to calm myself and make my labor more productive. This definitely worked, but by hour 28 I was still only 8 cm dilated, with 2 more to go before I could push, so I asked her for some help. We decided to break my amniotic sac as my water hadn’t broken yet, and she felt that this could help move my labor along the last little bit. Well, it sure did! Things got even more painful, but my labor did progress and within 3 hours I was pushing! I pushed for about 30 minutes in a birthing tub and then suddenly, Anjali was in my arms and nothing else mattered. She looked up into our eyes right away and stuck her tongue out at us!She was 100% healthy and we were thrilled.

Sammy cut the cord and snuggled with Anjali, I delivered the placenta, and then got into bed. I was exhausted after being awake for 40 hours, barely eating, and going through this amazing trial. Turns out I also lost a lot of blood - I almost needed to go to the hospital for a transfusion, but luckily I was just on the good side of that line and got to stay home. This of course made my recovery a bit more challenging, but after a few weeks of a blood building diet and supplements, I was feeling human again.

Becoming a mother has been the most incredible experience of my life. I am so grateful for my birth experience, my amazing partner and for my beautiful daughter Anjali Bliss. Her arrival has completely changed my perspective on life - so much so that I have decided to step away from working at Hoopnotica so that I can focus completely on being with my daughter during this important period of her life. Sammy and I have chosen to move up to Santa Rosa in northern California to be with our family here and spend more time with our daughter. We are excited for this new chapter of our lives, and I look forward to exploring hooping as a mom! I’m already only 6.5 lbs. away from my pre-pregnancy weight and I look forward to getting stronger and more fit as I continue to hoop. I feel great - my team of healthcare support people and I all feel that I did so well through pregnancy, birth and postpartum because I was so fit going in to my pregnancy and continued to hoop all the way through my 8th month. Yay for hooping!!

Hoopnotica was my first labor of love. I’m so proud of all that we’ve accomplished over the past 4 years - I’ve worked so hard with my team to create and share with the world our powerfully transformative hooping products and curriculum. Now it is time for me to put all that energy into my second labor of love! I encourage you all to continue enjoying all of the benefits of incorporating Hoopnotica into your lives - I wish you all the best as you prepare to begin your next chapters in 2010. Happy Holidays and Happy Hooping!

If you need any Hoopnotica related support, please contact the ladies at the office: 877 GO HOOPN or info@hoopnotica.com. If you’d like to reach me for any personal communications, you can find me on Facebook

blessings,

Rayna

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My daughter ~ Anjali Bliss Cooper!

by Rayna on August 31, 2009

I am so happy to announce the birth of my beautiful daughter Anjali. She was born at home on Monday, August 17th at 3:07am. That’s right - I gave birth to her at home with no drugs! It was a very challenging 32 hour labor, but we’re both healthy and happy. I will have more to share after my complete recovery, but for now, here are a few cute photos!

sleeping-first-week tie-dye blanket

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My First Video Blog!

August 14, 2009

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Third Trimester Update - finally!

July 29, 2009

Oh goodness it’s been quite a while since I last wrote! It has been rather challenging managing my workload, my life and my pregnancy, so please forgive the long absence I promise this post will be chock full of info and photos to make up for the delay!

I’m 9.5 months pregnant now! Yes, that’s right, 9.5 months. They don’t tell you this, but pregnancy is not just 9 months, it is actually 10! There are 40 counted weeks of pregnancy, and I am at 38 weeks. I feel fantastic - it’s really quite amazing how great I have felt throughout this journey. I attribute it of course to hooping! My healthcare providers have all told me that the fact that I came into this pregnancy very strong and fit and have maintained a healthy activity level has played a major role in how well I am doing. They also agree that these factors should make my labor shorter and easier. I’ll have to report back on that one!

Since it has been a while, I’d like to catch you all up with some pictures of my belly! The last time I wrote, I was 6 months pregnant. Here is a picture of me at 6.5 months:

26weeks

Next up is a picture of me at 7.5 months while on my last vacation (for a while!) with my fiance and his family:

6.5 months

Here’s a picture of me at 8 months:

32weeks

And finally, here’s a picture of me at 9 months from my baby shower:

babyparty1

I’m looking forward to being able to share with you all a new prenatal hooping video of me that was shot while I was 8 months pregnant! Our dear friends at Cirque Berzerk, one of the most amazing shows you will ever see, were kind enough to let us shoot some prenatal hooping footage in their gorgeous circus tent in Downtown LA!! We’re currently editing the footage and I’ll of course let you all know when it’s up for viewing If you are in LA or are planning to visit soon, do yourself a favor and grab some tickets to the show before it closes on August 9th!!

One little test I’ve been performing throughout my pregnancy is how long I can actually keep hooping around my growing waistline. I really wasn’t sure how long that would be, but as it turns out, to this day I still can! It’s not the most graceful place I can hoop right now mind you - it is still comfortable, but the hoop definitely gets a bit wobbly! As I’ve mentioned before, I plan to hoop during early labor ( most likely around my chest and shoulders) to see what kind of impact it has on my experience of labor. I will report back for sure

I wanted to share with you a little bit about my diet during pregnancy, as I am sure some of you out there might be interested in this info. Maintaining a healthy diet during pregnancy is CRUCIAL to your health and that of your baby, so I took nutrition pretty seriously throughout this 9 months. This doesn’t mean I always eat totally healthy food - but I make a conscious effort every day to achieve certain nutritional goals such as eating plenty of fruits and veggies, getting enough fiber to stay regular, getting enough protein (75 grams per day) and enough healthy fat. My snacks, lunch and dinner vary each day, but I give myself a good start by beginning every day with a few things. First, my midwife recommended that I drink a glass of water with a slice of lemon squeezed into it, and follow that with fresh fruit. These two things help prepare your digestive system well for the day. The fruit has been such a treat! I try to eat 4 different kinds of fruit with each morning’s serving. Luckily this is the perfect season in California - I’ve been enjoying organic nectarines, pears, raspberries, cherries, blueberries, cantalope and grapes. The second thing I eat every morning is an incredibly delicious protein and fiber shake of my own creation. This shake provides me with a 3rd of the protein I need each day, along with 14 grams of fiber - which along with the fruits and veggies I eat has kept me totally regular during this pregnancy, which is often a problem for pregnant women. Here’s my recipe:

1 cup Stonyfield Farms Vanilla organic whole milk yogurt
2 Tbsp organic peanut butter
1 organic banana
4 Tbsp Manitoba Harvest Organic Hemp Pro Fiber powder
1 cup organic almond milk

Blend together and enjoy! It is so darn delicious I look forward to it every day. I really do recommend the Hemp protein powder over other options like soy protein or whey protein - it is easier for your body to digest and utilize. I also of course take prenatal vitamins daily, and I take an Omega oil supplement called Omega Mom because research has shown that your baby needs these oils, especially in the 3rd trimester, to grow a healthy brain.

There are many issues and concerns that face women during pregnancy, and I am not talking about the really serious ones, but rather the really annoying ones! So I thought I’d share about the one that has been most important to me - avoiding stretch marks! As the Founder of Hoopnotica, I have a duty to keep my belly looking great, and I was committed that this pregnancy was not going to permanently alter my belly. Along with making sure my abs return to their rock hard state, I wanted my skin to remain beautiful as well. There are a ton of anti stretch mark products out there, so choosing one is not easy, but I feel lucky that I got a little help from some mommy friends of mine. First, one of my friends gifted me with a bottle of Mother’s Special Blend Skin Toning Oil. She used it all through her pregnancy and didn’t get a single stretch mark, so I felt pretty good about using it. Then another friend told me that I MUST use Macadamia Nut Oil. I decided to mix these two products half and half, and I started slathering it on my belly, breasts and thighs twice a day from the very beginning of my pregnancy. I have been completely faithful with this practice and have not gotten one stretch mark! The key is also to continue this practice AFTER the baby is born while your body retracts back to it’s original state. I also feel like my diet has played a role in keeping me stretch mark free, especially getting those Omega oils, which are essential for healthy skin.

One last thing I want to talk about in this post is clothing. I was really disappointed by the maternity clothing options out there. I mean, unless you have thousands of dollars to spend on a new maternity wardrobe from Japanese Weekend or A Pea in the Pod, your choices are pretty lacking in style. Besides, you are only going to be pregnant temporarily, so buying a whole new wardrobe seems like a waste. I decided to just purchase a few basic maternity items and supplement that with non maternity clothes that still fit my body. Let me tell you, the BEST discovery I made was that the Melodia pants we carry at Hoopnotica are AWESOME for pregnancy!! I am still wearing them now at 9.5 months. They are stylish, beautiful, comfy and can be worn casually or dressed up. I love them even more now! The reason they work is because the waistline can just be lowered under your growing belly - and I like the feeling they give my butt, hips and thighs of being supported. They are ON SALE for a limited time at Hoopnotica, so I recommend that you grab some now while they are available at such low prices! I also found some great non maternity fold-down-waisted jeans at Nordstrom by Jolt that have been fantastic. And of course, you can’t beat Target for the basics - I got some great maternity tank tops, and I found some really cute non maternity tops as well - without breaking the bank.

Alright, that concludes this post - I’ll be back soon with that new prenatal video and at least one more pic of the belly before I give birth! I’m due in just 2 short weeks - we’ll see if baby girl decides to be on time or fashionably late

Happy Hooping,

Rayna

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Baby bump hooping!

April 24, 2009

It’s time for a bump update!

I’m six months pregnant now and I feel awesome. They are not kidding when they say the second trimester is the best! Well, I haven’t gotten to the third obviously (almost there), so I will have to get back to you, but so far, the second is the winner.

I’ve been doing lots of hooping. I co-led a Teacher Training weekend and taught an Intermediate workshop in Washington, DC, and I taught several specialty classes here in LA - so much fun! I just got back from leading an Intermediate Workshop and a one day Level 1 Teacher Training in Portland this past weekend and it was incredible. Of course I am using one of our Preg-O Hoops - it really makes hooping more comfy as my belly grows. Here are some pics!

[caption id="attachment_114" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Teaching Intermediate Workshop at the Nia Headquarters in Portland, OR"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_115" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Me and trainee Meg at the Portland Teacher Training"][/caption]

Friends and strangers alike all seem to think that being pregnant equals and end to hooping, and they are always surprised when I say I am not stopping! I’m gonna hoop until I can’t hoop no more! Seriously, I plan to hoop while I’m in labor, if nothing else than to experiment and see if it helps, so I can share it with you all

I also recently recorded a little video of me doing some prenatal hooping! It was just featured today on Hooping.org I hope it inspires other mommies to be to get in their hoops! Here it is:

And of course this post would not be complete without some ultrasound images of my little peanut! It’s a girl by the way!!

[caption id="attachment_116" align="alignnone" width="386" caption="at 4 months"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_117" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="at 5 months"][/caption]

Next I’m off to the DCAC Fitness Convention in Houston, TX (5/1 - 5/3) with my team where we’ll have (I’m sure) the most FUN booth there! I’ll be sharing prenatal hooping fitness with fitness professionals galore! If you happen to be in the Houston (or surrounding areas), come on by and say hello! The convention is FREE and open to the public.

Lots of hoopy luv

Rayna

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I’ve got a bun in the oven!!

March 1, 2009

By now you may have read our March HoopScoop and found the answer to the question of who at Hoopnotica is expecting, but if not, now you know it’s ME!!

That’s right, I’m 17 weeks along on this amazing journey. That’s a little over 4 months. The nausea is finally gone and I’m feeling great! I have been hooping throughout my pregnancy and plan to continue. I even lead a Teacher Training while pregnant! Hooping actually helped with my nausea - amazing!

We’ve launched our new prenatal hoop, the Preg-O, and I’ve written an E-Booklet that comes along with it to help pregnant women modify our Curriculum during their three trimesters called The Hoopnotica Guide to Hoopdance During & After Pregnancy, Part 1: Prenatal Hoopdance. Yes, hooping can be a safe, effective way to stay active while you’re pregnant!

I’ll be blogging all through my pregnancy about my experience, offering insights into prenatal hooping and pregnancy in general, so stay tuned for all the fun, and please share your stories, comments, and questions along the way! Plus, you won’t want to miss the pictures

Happy Hooping,

Rayna

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Get in your hoop!

January 27, 2009

What’s up everyone!

Wow, it’s been several months since my last post! The holiday season at the end of 2008 was happily very busy for us here at Hoopnotica, and that has kept me from my blog! Okay, no more excuses…I’m back and ready to inspire you to get off your a$$!

It’s almost the end of January 2009 - do you know where your resolutions are?? Here are some tips on how you can get back on track and experience the benefits of hooping ASAP. That’s right – I’m talking about a fast track to a healthy hooping body!

Hooping is like other forms of exercise in that to fully enjoy the benefits of it, you need to do it regularly. The great thing about hooping though is that it is one of the easiest forms of exercise to do regularly because it’s fun and portable! You won’t have to talk yourself into this one as much as other forms of exercise. That being said, you may still have to fight the urge to skip it when your life gets busy and your schedule is full. Here are some tips for integrating some power hooping into your tight schedule so that you can enjoy the benefits and keep yourself healthy!

1.) Make sure you have your hoop with you whenever you can, so when you have an opening in your schedule, you can take advantage and go hoop it out for a few. We recommend our Fitness TravelHoop because it’s easily disassembled for storage and transport.

2.) Seize those small breaks in your day and hoop! This can be part of your lunch break (before you eat) at work (hit the parking lot), a 5 minute break when your coworkers are taking their smoking breaks, a few minutes in the morning before you head out for your day, between grocery shopping and picking up the kids from school or sports practice, while watching the kids at practice – pretty much any small amount of time you can carve out in your day. Many people don’t get to their daily exercise because they don’t have an hour or two to dedicate to an exercise routine. With hooping, if you can get to it a few times a day for short periods of time, you’ll keep your energy up all day and start to enjoy its benefits.

3.) Make the most of those small breaks. Add some power hooping moves into your mini hoop routine and you’ll kick up your metabolism while burning calories and toning muscles. These moves include easy to do exercises like: a.) hooping pliés - when hooping in Side Stance, open up your leg stance a bit wider and then start to bend your knees, lowering yourself down as you hoop from side to side, making sure to press your knees back, then come back up while hooping side to side; b.) hooping lunges - when hooping in Forward Stance, put your forward leg out a bit further, then lower yourself down, bending both knees and keeping your pelvis tucked in as you hoop forward and backward; come back up while continuing to hoop; and c.) speed hooping - crank up the speed on your Waist Hooping by doing your pushes faster. Remember, Chest and Shoulder Hooping (DVD 2) are some of the most intense cardiovascular moves you can do, and they’re also some of the most core toning, so if you only have a few minutes, focus on more intense moves like these.

Don’t let the busy bug stop you! Start to incorporate some power hooping into your weekly routine and you’ll be amazed how easy it is to stay on track with your 2009 fitness goals. You’ll also be happier, more energized and less stressed out!

~Rayna

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I’m on a roll!

October 17, 2008

Thank you for all your support!! I just recorded another track with Elad! We’ve started meeting regularly to work on music, which is just awesome - I can’t even tell you how good it feels. This is a submission for a new video game trailer - totally different feel than the philly song. Wish me luck!

Surrender

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My first ever recorded song…holds breath

October 13, 2008

Well, here it is people, my very first entry in my “coming out of the (singing) closet” category. Let’s start with a little background to how this song actually got recorded…

My dad was the lead singer of a rock n roll band for about a decade - nobody you’d know, but that’s not really the point. Music was a part of my life from the moment I came into this world. I loved classic rock from an early age, as well as many other styles of music. I had my first vocal solo at age 10 in our 4th grade staged production of the ever popular Oklahoma. I joined the choir in High School and sang lots of fun stuff - everything from Ave Maria to songs from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I had my second vocal solo at age 18 in my high school Pops Concert - Sugar Daddy by Fleetwood Mac. Classic!

As much as I loved singing, I did not get a ton of support from my family with it - academia was what they were pushing. I kept at it though, jumping into vocal classes in college to nurture my passion for singing while I studied more “important” things. Somewhere between age 20 and 21, a boy took up much of my time and I sort of lost my way. I stopped singing all together - and that was it - for many years. I was blocked.

The more time that went by, the harder it was to get back on that horse. Pretty soon nobody in my inner circle even knew I could sing. I had shoved my voice into the closet. Then . . . I discovered hoopdance! I am sure that some of you can relate to this - hoopdance totally cracked me open creatively - I became more creative in many areas of my life, as my expression as a hoopdancer continued to develop and grow. What an awesome side benefit! I let a few friends here and there hear my voice, and they were always encouraging, but I was still feeling kind of stuck. My wonderful man Sammy Bliss continued to encourage me, as did my dear friend Elad - singer, songwriter, music producer - the producer of the music on our DVD’s and HoopMix CD’s. Keaton supported me too, encouraging me to sing with her a very special birthday song for our friends at each of their birthdays. Keaton can, um, sing opera, so it was a little intimidating, but she made me feel comfortable enough to sing it with her, time and again. I even had to sing it by myself at one birthday party that she could not attend, and I felt like I made her proud!

After many years of me telling Elad that someday I’d like to get back to singing, he called and told me about a project he wanted my help with. He was producing a song for a submission for a Philly Cream Cheese commercial and he needed some female vocals. He asked if I wanted to come over and record some. Wow, uh . . . “sure!” I said. What, am I crazy? (That is what I thought to myself as the date approached). “Yeah, um, I’m going over to Elad’s to record some vocals” - it sounded so…real.

Elad spent the day actually making the music with all of his crazy technology and skill. I arrived at his studio in the evening and he said, “I have good news, and I have bad news, and, well, they’re the same thing. This track depends completely on the vocals.” Yikes. No pressure! Luckily, I had worked extensively with Elad on recording the voice over for our DVD’s, so we had a good working relationship for this kind of thing. Plus, we’ve been friends for years and I really trusted him. There was nothing to do but plunge right in. Kind of my M.O. in life.

A short 2 hours later, we had laid down the main vocal tracks along with the harmonies! (Look how official I sound!) It was an AMAZING experience. I could not believe what came out of my mouth. I left there completely elated, and I couldn’t wait to hear the final cut the next day.

Elad sent me the completed track (yep, he did all the editing and final production on it as well) the next day and it totally blew my mind. I was in shock. I could not believe that the song I was hearing was my voice! I am telling you honestly that there is NOBODY else on earth that could have gotten me to do that but Elad. Nobody else could have brought that out of me but him, and I am eternally grateful.

I am completely clear that if I had not spent years opening myself up and honing myself as an artist through hoopdance, I would NEVER have been able to find my voice again. I am so grateful for hoopdance and for my friends who have supported me in following my heart both in my expression as a hoopdancer and in my expression as a singer.

And now, without further adieu, I give you the philly song. It’s for a Philly Cream Cheese commercial people, so feel free to laugh at the lyrics. If you have a dream, don’t EVER give up on it. In fact, tell somebody about it - don’t keep that dream to yourself, instead, share it - you’ll find more support than you can possibly imagine.

the philly song

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Hoopnotica Hearts Tokyo - our new video!

September 29, 2008

I have to keep this post brief because I am out of town at the moment, but I am so excited that our Tokyo video is finally complete and I wanted to share it with you all! This video is from our whirlwind tour of Tokyo this past summer when we went for a promotional tour. Follow along on our adventure!