Day 261 - The End of Summer

As summer comes to an end I am left reflecting on how amazing the last several months have been for me and for my hooping.  I have made so many new hooping friends and connections this year, but especially over the summer.  Between starting up my classes and hoop jams, and having the opportunity to attend the InFlow Festival, I feel like my hoop circle has increased 200%.  It's no longer just me anymore, I'm no longer just a lonely hooper.

For over a year I walked my hoop journey alone, with no community or friends to share it with.  I felt like somewhere there must be people who were as passionate about plastic circles as I was, and yet I couldn't find any.  I was envious of other cities or towns that seemed to have already established a hoop community. 

When I started out this year I had no idea where my path would lead, how many people it would bring me to.  All I knew is that I loved hooping, and that I wanted to share it with people. 

Looking back I can't believe how much I have accomplished in such a short period of time.  Starting Hoopla Hula Hoops, becoming a Hooplove Coach, attending workshops with Baxter and Hoopalicious, InFlow Festival.....  There is so much to be thankful for.

I would say that I did all of this for others, to share my love of hooping with the world, to reach out and enrich other people's lives through hoopdance.  The honest truth is, I did it for myself.  I wanted others to benefit from hooping the way I had, but what I really wanted was a community.  And since I couldn't find one near me to join, I started one.

There were times when no one was biting.  There were times when I thought I wouldn't succeed, that I wondered what the heck I was doing, why I was bothering trying to spread a love of hoopdance at all.  There were times when I thought I was crazy.  But this little voice inside of me kept saying, "Keep going.... People are going to join you... Just be patient".  So I kept putting myself out there, week after week, going to the same places, promoting my classes over and over again.

And then, it happened.  People started to take an interest.  People started to come out, to come to classes, and hoop jams.  Then I realized it, this was really happening.  I didn't have to twist people's arms to come hoop with me, they were coming because they wanted to hoop.

I had a wonderful moment yesterday when I pulled into the parking lot for the final hoop jam of the summer, and saw my friend and fellow hooper already hooping away.  I didn't have to be there first.  I wasn't the only one out there.

Now I am seeing in them what I saw in myself, a desire to continue on this path, to grow and get better, to move, to spin, to lose yourself in the hoop.  I knew it!  I knew there had to be other people out there like me, I just had to show them what hooping was all about.

I can't honestly say I've ever wanted to be a teacher of anything.  Even teaching hoopdance wasn't always something I wanted to do.  I would have been just as happy if someone in this town already taught it and I could have joined their classes.  But since there was no one, I decided to be that person.  I didn't want others to walk this hoop path alone in the beginning, like I did.  I wanted for others what I felt I didn't have, this hoop community, people to learn from and to motivate and encourage.  If I can be that person for other hoopers, then I will have done my job.

I would have never anticipated that teaching hoopdance would be as rewarding as it has been.  I have always felt like I already had the most rewarding job in the world being a mom.  Now I feel like I have two rewarding jobs.  Seeing my friends and my students love hooping as much as I do, and be as passionate about it, and want to grow and get better, has been the most amazing feeling.

The days are getting shorter and it is getting dark at 8pm again.  I already miss the warm summer evenings where I could just pop outside for a hoop after the kids are in bed.  I'm getting ready to settle for having to hoop in my dining room once again at home, and I already can't wait for next year.  Another summer full of hooping, and laughter, and friends. 

Day 239 - Never Bored

Remember when I was bored?  Well, I am happy to say that I am no longer bored!

I think I was in a bit of a hooping rut.  Ruts happen, whether it is in hooping or in life.  The trick is to remember that it is just a phase.

Every since returning from In Flow I have felt like I have so much new and exciting material to work on, so I never feel bored!  If I get tired of working on one thing, I move to something else.  Sometimes I'll start to feel myself getting bored, and then I'll remember something we learned in one of the workshops and go "Oh Yeah!", and will get lost in it all over again.

Obviously I have been completely loving all the twin flow I've discovered and I've been working on that a lot too, but there has been so much more.  One thing in particular that I've really enjoyed practicing is the balance work I learned in Tessa's workshop.  I have to admit that while I absolutely loved Baxter's workshop in February, I hadn't been particularly inspired to work on balance.  I don't know what is different this time around, but I have really been enjoying it.  I've been trying to incorporate a little bit of balance into my practice for even just a few minutes every day, and you know what?  Tessa was right!  I'm already seeing improvement in just a few weeks!  It's starting to feel more natural to balance the hoop on the back of my hands now. 

I can also see how this type of practice is going to help with other aspects of my hooping as well.  I have been working on body rolls for awhile now, and while I have been getting them, I haven't felt like they've been as clean as they should be.  Now I think I have approaching it in an incomplete manner, and have been using momentum to fling the hoop across my chest/shoulders instead of using balance to guide it across.  Not that what I have been doing is completely wrong, I was just missing the balance portion of it.  I'm hoping to have some cleaner, more fluid body rolls on the go soon.

There are so many things I learned from the workshops that I have been incorporating into my everyday flow and practice.  I find that Tegan's style of moment jives so well with my own that I'm always using moves I learned from her in my dance.  I've also loved many of Beth's moves and flow, especially this break and reverse type of move that involves changing the direction/flow of the hoop behind the back while spiralling up and down.  It's hard to explain, but it's a really lovely movement that has been working really well for me.

I love that my hoop practice has been renewed, and that I'm feeling good about my dance again with all these refreshing new movements.  It's a good feeling.

Day 219 - I got out of bed to hoop

I had a close call. I almost missed a day. I guess if you want to get all technical I did miss a day since it was just after midnight when I got my daily hoop on, but I'm counting it for the day since I did it before going to sleep. It totally counts.

So I'm lying in bed and my head is racing, because life has been busy and continues to be busy and I've got a lot on my mind. You know, that sort of thing. It's midnight, and it hits me: I didn't hoop today. Oh my god I didn't hoop today. What do I do? I'm almost ready to sleep, but I can't - just can't - miss a day of hooping.

I got up and went downstairs and hooped. Obviously.

Because I couldn't handle the disappointment if I missed a day. It's like when I quit smoking and with every day that passed my resolve grew, and I didn't want to ruin the progress I'd made. Ok it's not like that, but kinda is too, you know?

Anyways the reason I may not be making sense is that, I still haven't gone to bed yet. And my head is still racing with things I need to do. But at least I got hooping off my brain, until tomorrow.....