College Essay Inspiration

     I have many activities I want to share at Camp. Being a student at Rama Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology as a scholar for five years has given me knowledge on many creative ways to deepen our connection with ourselves, each other and Mother Earth. I am very athletic. In high school, I was on the dance team and cheerleading team. I started dance classes at three years old and was a part of dance company in my teens. I enjoy Hawaiian Hula and Native American Jingle dance. I’d love to share Hawaiian sacred seated prayer dance using poetry. It’s a beautiful tradition in Hawaii and allows girls and women to connect with nature through mimicking nature in arm and hand movements. I’d love to share jingle dance with young girls. It’s a simple dance with a lot of unique feet movement in sync with the drumbeat. I can teach children how to make a pinecone necklace. We can make rattles, dream catchers and medicine shields, which is a great way to connect with the wonder of animals and insects.

Other activities I want to contribute to Camp are canoeing, biking, hiking team sports like soccer and nature studies. I have taught meditation and different forms of yoga for many years now. Rama Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology and Three Jewels NYC has trained me well in helping people to balance, energize and strength their connection with self and other. I would love to share Cherokee traditional dances like bear dance. Bear dance is when people move in a counterclockwise circular motion in boy girl order mimicking the bear. We give thanks to the bear for its teeth and claws used for jewelry and tools, skin for warmth and meat for substances. Also, we melt down meat into bear grease combining iron oak, a reoccurring rust, a mineral that can be ground down to powder to make red paint. The buffalo dance moves in a counterclockwise circular motion mimicking the buffalo when at play. The corn dance gives thanks to creator for a great harvest. Corn dance is a counterclockwise circular movement where boys pretend to gather corn and place into girls’ aprons to show working together as a family and village. The quail dance mimics courting quails in the grasses. There are two lines, one for boys and one for girls. Lines move forward and back and then turn outward in circles to return courting each other in a quail fun-loving way. The warrior dance, which is a storytelling dance like fancy and grassdance is a dance of ecstatic movement low to Earth, moving feet in creative patterns in synch with the drum. My favorite dance is friendship dance that moves in a big counterclockwise circular motion holding hands following the leader’s unique pattern. There is a stomp dance that moves around the fire with rain feet, which are canes with pebbles or other small things from nature inside that make rain sound when stomping. There is an ant dance, which recognizes how ants work together and how they look for food. I have many dances, songs and activities for nature studies, for example, sufi dance from the middle east, Mayan fire keeping, Lakota sweat lodge, seven directions and overall, adventures for profound connection with Mother Earth.

I want to offer creative writing, poetry and special activities like theater performance, dance and song as a form of therapy to help children discover their pure wonder and form connections that will help them heal, grow and excel. My intention is to provide a safe and warm environment that allows children to experience joy through horses, birds, trees, swimming and other activities. I have so much energy, enthusiasm and resilience. I hope my rosewater (a name to describe my inner medicine) presence can be helpful at Camp.