Saturday, May 8, 2010

Feng Shui Happiness 101 - Dance!


FENG SHUI HAPPINESS 101: How to Have a Friday Night Latin Party with Your Kids

A very important part of Feng Shui is to impregnate your home with happiness by promoting and creating happy moments.

Because I am Latin but my kids are being raised in the US and are not being exposed much to Latin culture, I make it a point to highlight for them the good things about my original culture.

Here is how to have an impromptu Latin party with your children. No props required except for Latin music and some fruit:

1. Play soft Latin music during dinner to set the mood. Eat a yummy delicious light dinner (so it doesn't affect your dancing). For you to have a Latin party there has to be dancing. If there is no dancing we call that a social gathering and not a party. :-)

2. Have a drink: a tropical fruit smoothie in a small glass or cup (2 to 4 oz.). Instead of "Cheers" say "Salud!"

3. Turn up the Latin music (Zumba music works really well).

4. Break the ice by doing some line dancing or making a choo choo dancing train where everyone participates.

5. Have another drink: a tropical fruit smoothie in a small glass or cup (2 to 4 oz.) This time don't say "Salud!" instead:

6. Yell: "Qué viva la fiesta!" Everyone else replies: "Qué viva!" (at least three times, get louder with each)

7. Now comes the time for free style dancing. Get loose, get wild. Show them that you know how to have a good time and encourage them to explore movement (never make fun of them)

8. Have another drink: a tropical fruit smoothie in a small glass or cup (2 to 4 oz.) Again yell: "Viva la fiesta!" Everyone else replies: "Que viva!" Then yell: "Qué viva ________!" insert everyone's name one at time. Everyone replies "Qué viva!" every time.

9. Make a circle and take turns going in the middle. Do your moves while everybody else cheers and applauds. Again yell: "Que viva _______!"

10. Now comes the time to go crazy. (Have another drink if you want, and include some pop songs if you wish) Let your creativity flow. Dance, jump, laugh. For the little ones you can have a plush animal dance demo.

11. Make some noise. Use your voice or a noise maker of your choice (optional). Our favorite are the flying rocket balloons.

12. End the evening by singing slow songs about happiness and friendship.

13. Go to sleep feeling happy, wake up feeling even happier: You have taught your kids how to get drunk on happiness.

14. For better results repeat every weekend.