Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend! We had a blast up on Whidbey Island and spent part of the weekend teaching family and friends how to use a sling. It was really interesting to see how much easier it was for anyone who had already used a mace or practiced rope flow to pick up the mechanics. It’s all connected. Slinging uses the same circular mill patterns and body rotation to launch an object with a ton of force. We had an apple tree with a bounty of small apples that were perfect for launching, plus a wide-open bay, so it was pretty much the perfect setup for letting people try it out safely. It was a ton of fun, and it even inspired this week’s Drill of the Week, which is now up in the classroom! I’m sharing a short highlight video, along with a longer video showing some of the “teaching” that was going on. And if anyone is interested, maybe we can plan a little group sling lesson one day!

Hello to all! Responding to the intro questions: My favorite way to move is dance. I was drawn to unconventional fitness after witnessing a demonstration at the Star Belly Sacred Arts Festival in Boise. It is another manifestation of dancing. I love the elegance, spirituality, and intentionality of the movements! My favorite place to get this type of movement in is the park where we met after the festival. It was delightful! My back yard will be second best. Something else I do for fun is belly dance. Thank you to those of you who brought this to us!

What time is the gathering tomorrow (Tuesday, June 16th) at Julia Davis Park in Boise? Thank you!

We had such a great time at the festival! Boise is beautiful and the people were amazing. Everyone we met was so friendly, encouraging, and excited to try something new. All the performances were awesome to watch too. I will attach a few pics and videos here but hopefully Erik will post some because I really did a bad job of getting shots 🤣 We got to do a ton of demos with the ropes and maces, and it was so much fun getting people to try our tools. We even got some new members, so welcome to UFF! Erik had an amazing solo music performance and performed Toltec on stage. He really is a man of many talents! Then Erik and I performed some mace and rope on stage together. The first time, the phone playing the audio overheated so we cut the performance short, but the second time everything went off without a hitch. For our first time doing it, I’d say it went pretty well! It was really fun practicing for it, and then getting to do it on stage without messing it up too much felt like a pretty great payoff. Thanks again to everyone who came by, tried something out, cheered us on, or joined the community. It was a great weekend!

@Erik Messal and I are on our way to the Starbelly Sacred Arts Festival! We’ll have a booth set up where we’ll be demoing rope flow and steel mace, selling our UFF ropes, and performing on stage each day. It’s going to be an adventure, and hopefully we’ll get a few more people to come join us in UFF. Here’s a video of some swings along the way! https://www.instagram.com/p/DZd9N6yPiY4/ If you’re joining us from the festival, welcome! We’re excited to have you here!