Your Happiness Factor

The hoop is a important symbol to many Native American tribes and for some the hoop dance is a healing dance.  The hoop can be used to represent many things but essentially the  hoop symbolizes the never-ending circle of life. It is a dance that can amaze and delight you as in Brian Hammill's performance below. Dancers incorporate between one and 30 or more hoops in the dance, which are used to create both static and dynamic shapes, or formations, representing various animals, symbols, and storytelling elements. The solo dancers use their numerous hoops to represent eagles, butterflies, snakes, etc. Hands are used far more than hips; hoops do not swing around bodies but are moved carefully from formation to formation. Native American hoop dancers live throughout North America. A few even live elsewhere. Hoop dancers vary in the way they see their hoops and their dances.  Some might think of hoops as sacred.  Others might see them simply as dancing accessories.  Dancers (

The Medicine Wheel Explaining the Lakota (Sioux) Medicine Wheel according to Don Warne. Wendy Mason is a career coach.  She helps people reach their goals and aspirations, without sacrificing their home and personal life.  Before working as a coach, Wendy had a long career in both the public and private sectors in general management and consultancy as well as spells in HR.  She now divides her time between coaching and writing. You can contact Wendy at  wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com  and find out more at  http://wisewolfcoaching.com

A Lakota Peyote Healing Song by Robbie Robertson YouTube is full of music that claims to be Native American from North America and usually it isn't. It may be quite beautiful music but it is not what it claims to be. And in my view it does not have the same power.  This is authentic, beautiful and powerful Singer, song writer and guitarist Robbie Robertson was born Jaime Robert Klegerman in 1943, in Toronto, Ontario. He was born to a Jewish father and a Mohawk mother and took his stepfather's last name after his mother remarried. He had his earliest exposure to music at Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation , Ontario where he spent summers with his mother's family. He is best known for his membership in The Band. Here is a translation of the words

For me, like most of us, happiness (and health) comes from keeping a balance between body, mind and spirit! I tend to be obsessive!   Again, like all of us, there are times when I have focussed on one part of the triangle at the expense of the others. Unfortunately I go to extremes. In my time I have;       Been so focussed on work that I ignored the early signs of quite a serious illness.   Trained in the gym five days a week and weakened my immune system by combining that with an almost completely fat-free diet!   Taken up quite bizarre religions in my search for spiritual fulfilment and ended up disillusioned and depressed! A sad tale and I’m still working on maintaining the balance!  Still I do not eat a balanced diet and get the right amount of exercise – I’m trying hard! I really enjoy my work, but I need to be a bit more disciplined about getting away from it sometimes. As for spirituality, well simplicity has won out! Simple awareness and awe of a cosmos that