Day 133 - The Hoop Mama Life and my first hoop video

I'm not even sure of my math anymore when trying to figure out what day it is!  But the most important thing is, I'm still hooping every single day!

The shock of being selected as this year's FlowBot has not worn off, but life is so busy that I often forget.  I will be running around and then all of a sudden I will stop and remember that I am going to In Flow and it's like, "OH YEAH!!!!!"  Amazing!  I'm still in awe, and so thankful to the powers that made it happen for me.  I'm already making and connecting with new hooper friends, and it feels so nice so see my hoop community starting to open up a little bit more.

Last Sunday was so amazingly beautiful that I did my hoop class outside.  It's just too hard to resist outdoor hooping, I have been longing for it all winter long!  I've had some really lovely ladies and their daughters in my group, and I am really enjoying seeing them progress and have fun while hooping.

This coming weekend I will be at the Bean2Tween Expo in Collingwood doing a hoop class on Sunday from 2:30-3:30.  I'm really looking forward to that as well.  I love getting out there and connecting with people through my hoops!

I'm also cooking up some great ideas for the summer!

Oh, and you know what else is this weekend?  HOOPALICIOUS!  Once again I have been too busy to really process this fact, but when I do think about it I get so excited (and maybe a little bit nervous!).  It's just going to be a wonderful, hoop filled weekend all around.

The Hoop Mama Life is amazing.  It's crazy, and it's stressful, but I'm really loving it.  Hey, that would make a great name for this blog, maybe I will change it!

One last thing, I am finally figuring out how YouTube works, and am slowly going to upload all my hooping videos there (if nothing else for safe keeping, so at least they will be there in case my computer crashes!).  So, I will share them here as well so you can see my hoop journey.  Even though I technically started hooping in January 2012, I really count my journey as starting from the beginning of 2013.  Here is the first one I made, I think in June or July of last summer.  The song is Dare by the Gorillaz.

You know what one of the things I love most is when I'm watching my hooping videos?  All the 'family/kid' stuff in the background.  The clothesline, the kids toys, even a kid here and there.  These videos sum up my life pretty well.  :)

Day 127 - And the Winner is........... (oh and I figured out how to add my entry video here)

And the recipient of this year's FlowBot Award is.....Yours Truly!  AHHHHHHH!!!

I would say that there are no words to describe how I feel, but the truth is there are lots of words.  Too many words.  So many that I get all jumbled up trying to pin them down.  Yes, I am thrilled, ecstatic, excited, proud, and even a little nervous.  I've never been to an event like In Flow before, and while it has been something I wanted to do since I started hooping, I am still feeling a little intimidated.  But this year has been all about me stepping out of my comfort zone, and accepting new challenges. 

It means so much to me to have this opportunity.  Before I had kids, if I had just wanted to spend money pursuing my hobbies and interests, I could have just done it.  I didn't think twice about spending my entire wages on horseback riding, tattoos, and bellydance clothing and classes (yes those are the things that interested me before kids!), and if at that time I was into hooping and heard about In Flow, I would have gone in a heartbeat.  I would not have batted an eyelash at spending $360 to go on a hoop retreat for the weekend.  Things are so different now, and often in such cases there just isn't the money to be selfish, to want to spend it on me.

I would not trade my family for all the horses, or tattoos, or hip scarves, or even hoops in the worlds, but I would be lying if I didn't sometimes feel sad that I couldn't just be selfish and think of me and do what I want for a change.  I don't know if that makes me sound harsh, but it is the reality of it.  Not once have I ever regretted having my children, but I can tell you that more than once I wished I had even just a sliver of the freedom I had back then returned to me. 

The freedom, time, and money to immerse myself in my passions, to connect with others like me, to learn from them.

Now, through this amazing opportunity, I get the chance to do that. 

Only 3 more months to go!  The In Flow Festival is taking place August 1-3 in Muskoka, Ontario.  You can find out more about it at www.inflowfestival.com.

And, I finally figured out how to upload my entry video on YouTube!  So here it is:

On any given day my mind is racing with thoughts about hooping.  I can't control it.  Hooping I'd like to be doing, hooping I am doing, hoops I plan on making and selling, classes I am teaching, classes I want to be teaching, ideas for events and workshops, building my hoop business, workshops I want to be taking, etc.... The list goes on and on.  It can be overwhelming sometimes, but amazing at the same time.  When I get all caught up in the tangle of hoop webs, I just take a step back and remind myself why I do it, why I love it, and that always puts a smile on my face.

You know what else puts a smile on my face?  Winning the 2014 FlowBot Award.  :)

Day 118 - The FlowBot Award, I'm ok with being a flow hooper and not a trickster

FlowBot Award

I'm on a roll!  I just finished and submitted my video for the FlowBot Award.  The winner would get admission to this year's InFlow Festival, and seeing as how I likely can't afford to go, I figured this was my only shot at getting there.  Otherwise there is always next year. 

Having to create these submissions has been very hard for me.  First of all, just like I was when I was actually in school, I am a procrastinator.  I spent the better part of the month thinking about how I wanted to create my video, but not actually doing anything about it.  I had no idea how to even make a video short of the little ones I take on my camera or phone.  Finally last week I googled free video making software and only then did I realize that I had Windows Live Movie Maker on my computer all along.  Duh!

Then came the task of trying to teach myself rather quickly how to use the software, and following that putting the video together.  I finally decided to go with using some of my favourite clips of myself hooping over the past year to show the progress I have made.  This was really fun for me, to go through and watch all my videos, but also really time consuming as I have a lot of them.  It was also really hard narrowing down the moments I wanted to add to the video, since it was only supposed to be 3 minutes or less.

I chose some clips from about a dozen videos or so, and picked a song for my video.  Dance Dance Dance by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  It seemed fitting.  I figured out how to add all sorts of cool little tricks and animations to my video to make the transitions between scenes look smooth.  And to avoid having to film myself answering the question we needed to answer in our submission, I figured out how to add text at the beginning and end of my video.  Voila!

So the question was, what was the most unexpected thing since discovering the hoop.  I wouldn't say this was a hard question for me to answer, as there have been many surprises for me since I started hooping, but it was hard to say what I wanted to say in just a few words.  Being long winded by nature, I would have loved to have written a short novel about hooping (sort of like I ended up doing for my Hooplove Coaching submission), but that just wasn't going to happen. 

Whenever my brain started to hurt from thinking about my video too much, I just kept telling myself: Keep it simple.  Less is more.  So even though I wanted to say so much, I tried to keep it minimal and let the whole video speak for itself.

In the end I was really happy with how it turned out, not just for the submission, but for myself.  It made me feel really good seeing the progress I had made, laid out in 3 minutes.  To watch it from the start, and see how basic my skills were when I shot that first video, to how far they have come, was a wonderful feeling. 

I'm not sure how much of a chance I have of winning.  I have visions of all these other entries where people are pulling out all sorts of crazy tricks.  The truth is, I still can't do very many tricks.  I've been spending a lot more time working on my dancing and flow, than learning tricks.  But you know what?  I'm ok with that.  I'm ok with being a hooper who maybe doesn't rock out the insane moves, but rather (hopefully!) looks good with some simple flow.  One thing I realized when watching my videos, is that I am enjoying the moments inside my hoop.  And that should be all that really matters.

(Note: I would share my video, but I can't figure out how!  Blogger keeps telling me there's errors while uploading, Facebook won't let me due to something about copyrighted material which I'm assuming is the RHCP song, and I can't for the life of me figure out YouTube.  If I figure out how to share it, I will!)

 

Day 114 - Hooplove Coaching Scholarship Submission

Hooplove Coaching Scholarship Submission

Why oh why is this so hard?  Why is it so hard to pin down the thoughts and the feelings I have about my hoop journey?  I have written it, and it didn't sound right.  I have videoed it, and it didn't look right.  And now, with the clock ticking, I am going to try and write again, these fleeting thoughts that makes sense in my head but not outside it.

What has my hooping journey been about?  It has been about me.  It has been about re-discovering myself after losing a part of it for so many years.  When I picked up my first hoop, almost two and a half years ago, I knew from that moment I would love it.  I never could have imagined the path it would take me on.  The twisting, winding, whimsical, ever changing path that I have embraced and loved every second of, from the moment it started.

Once upon a time it was just me.  Then it was me and the love of my life.  And in those days, we were young and carefree, and the freedom was amazing.  When I discovered something I loved, I could immerse myself in it.  I could seek out others who would teach me, I could buy the things I needed to succeed, I could practice to my heart's content.  Life was very different, and I took those freedoms for granted.

I have been a mother now for over 5 and a half glorious years.  It was my biggest dream in life to have a family, and I have the best family a girl could hope for.  An amazing husband, and three gorgeous, funny, awe-inspiring children.  I gave up everything to be a mother to my children - my job, my hobbies, my body, my time, my energy.  I never thought twice about the sacrifices I was making, but over time it does take its toll, and I started to realize somewhere along the way that a piece of me was missing.  The part of me that was passionate about something, anything (other than my family), had picked up and moved away.  There was a void.

Discovering my hoop filled that gaping hole.  It was magical.  I never knew how much I needed it, until it was there. 

The thing is, I started hooping when I was pregnant with my daughter, and so that first year was filled with frustration.  Not just the kind of frustration you encounter when you can't quite get a move or a trick, but the kind I was met with when my family obligations kept me from my hoop.  Here I had finally found something that I wanted to learn so much, and yet the timing was terrible.  With a small baby and two toddlers, and a husband who worked so much, there was just no time, or money, or energy for that matter, to focus on hooping.  So my first year was a write off.  I would watch hoopdance videos and it was almost painful seeing what I wanted to do but not actually being able to do it.  I kept telling myself to be patient.

It was also hard watching videos of people, or meeting people, who were able to dedicate more time and energy to their hooping, progress faster than me.  For the first time since having kids, I missed that freedom to just pursue my interests guilt free and with everything I had.

During my second year of hooping, I started to find more time.  I had a lot of breakthroughs that year, and was finally starting to feel like a real hoop dancer.  But I was lonely.  There were few other hoopers in my town and although I tried so hard to connect with them, it just didn't happen.  I felt like my progress was stunted because I lacked that social aspect of hooping.  I wanted to get out there and join other hoop groups, but there was nothing like that within hours from me.  That's when I started thinking that I should start something, but even at that time it still felt like a far away goal.  My family was still taking priority.

The start of 2014 saw a change for me and my hooping.  I really turned a corner, and all of a sudden my dream didn't seem so distant.  I could actually imagine myself starting a hoop business, and getting out there more with my hooping.  I have coined this year:  The Year of the Hoop.

I went to Hoop Path in Toronto.  This was a momentous occasion for me, not just because it was my first hoop workshop, but also because it was the first time I got to connect with a lot of other hoopers.  I can't describe the feeling when I walked in that room and saw them all there, spinning away.  It was something I had only seen in videos, and it was amazing. 

It was also a very special weekend for me because it was the first time I spent a night away by myself, with no children, in five and a half years.  I had never really known how fully immersed I was in my family, until I realized that I hadn't been away from them.  When I would tell people this they would give me this shocked look, like how could I have survived five and a half years without a single break?  Well, I did!  And it made my time away all that much sweeter, knowing I had earned it.

I finally took the plunge and started making hoops, and now something that once intimidated me has become my passion. I love making hoops, it is my relaxation at the end of my day, something that I look forward to.  After so many years of pretty much being just a mom, it felt so amazing to know I created these pieces of artwork, with my own hands.  My sense of accomplishment felt so exhilarating. 

I am now successfully making and selling my hoops in town, and starting to teach hoop dance as well.  I am tired of being a lonely hooper!  I want to inspire people the way I have been inspired by hooping, and all the hoopers that I have seen and met.  I want to get people moving.  I want to build a hoop community in this town.  After completing Hooplove Coaching, it is my goal to continue with my business selling hoops, and teaching hooping, and also being able to offer other services like performances and birthday parties, as well as whatever other hooping inspired things people would like to see!

Juggling motherhood with my hooping has been a challenge, one that I have fully accepted and embraced.  It has been so empowering, doing this on my own.  For so many years I had forgotten what I was capable of outside of raising children.  Raising my family has and always will be the most important and rewarding job in the world to me, but I am ready for the next step.

I am ready to re-discover the ME in the MOM. 

I am ready for Hooplove Coaching.  From the moment I read about it I knew it was what I needed, what I wanted.  I had already been looking into other courses, but they didn't resonate with me the way this one did.  I will be participating in it next week, whether I win the scholarship or not. I have been saving my money and am ready to go!

Thank you for sharing my journey with me.  I could never fully explain how it feels, in words or in a video, but I hope that you enjoyed it a little bit.

I can't wait to get started in May!

Until then.....

 

A Day in the Life of a Hoop Mama

 

Day 93 - I am a Hoop Dancer

Hooping is ever evolving, and my hooping is evolving too.  And so is yours, if you hoop.  I like to take videos of myself hooping so I can see how I look, what looks good, and what I need to work on.  I was just going back and watching some of the ones from last year (I only really started taking videos last summer so the first year of my hooping is mostly undocumented) and it is so cool to see how far I've come.  Everytime I make a video, I always think it is going to look awful, but it almost never does.  In fact, it always looks better than I think it will, because all the little moments of hesitation don't show up on the video.  Moves look cleaner, flow looks more effortless.  So often I start a video, feel like I'm messing up, and then stop the camera after only a minute.  Then when I watch it I find it looks really cool, and then I get angry at myself for stopping!  So I am making an effort to see the song through before turning off the camera, no matter how bad I think it looks.  I am also learning to love my mistakes, and smile when I make them instead of getting frustrated.  It is all part of the process.

The Hooping Game has been fun for this kind of stuff.  I didn't join in for quite awhile, because I was finding that I couldn't commit to the challenges.  Finally this week I did a few and I am happy that I did.  It really helps me move forward with my hooping having to dance to someone else's music selection.  I'm also learning to not try so hard.  Don't think about it, don't try to memorize the music, just put on the song, turn on the camera, and dance.  Feel the music.  Trying too hard is stressful.

I'm slowly starting to feel like a hoop dancer when I see myself inside the hoop.  I love it.

Day 91 - 30/30 Challenge accepted!

It's time for Hooping.org's 30/30 Challenge.  I have not yet participated in one of these challenges, but seeing as how I have already challenged myself to hooping every single day I figured this would be a breeze.  The only difference is that I have to make sure I hoop for at least 30 minutes a day instead of a minimum of 10.  I figure it won't be that hard, most of the time I end up hooping for 30 minutes or more anyway. 

As a mom of three young children, sometimes I have to get creative when finding ways to fit my hooping in.  I don't always have a large chunk of time to dedicate to hooping.  Most of the time I leave it until the evening when the kids are in bed, and then I will hoop for a half hour or so before turning in myself.  I much prefer though to get my exercise in (hooping or otherwise) during the day so it's not left until I am exhausted.  On mornings when I work out at the gym I just take my hoop with me and get some spin time in after my workouts. 

In the afternoons when I take the kids to the Y for their activities I always make sure to bring at least one hoop with me, sometimes two or three.  I don't always get a chance to use them, but I always like to have one just in case!  When the weather is nice I will probably take a hoop with me where ever I go.  On walks, to the park, to the gym, out in the backyard.  You never know when you'll find a few minutes to give it a spin, and waiting around is always more fun when you have a hoop!

Sometimes I will get some hooping in during the middle of the day when my youngest is napping and my middle guy is having some quiet time.  If he is content to play with his toys, or like the other day sit and do some painting, then I can put on some music and hoop.  In fact he makes cameos in several of my hooping videos, hanging out in the background. 

I don't always get my 30 minutes of hooping done in one shot, but many days I will get it done by hooping in little bits throughout the day, and that is ok too!

Day 88 - 2014 Officially coined The Year of the Hoop, and HoopPath rocked

I watch videos, and my mind says I can do the moves, but my body says "Eff you!".  That's ok though.  I never feel like there is something I can't do, only things that I can't do YET.  Every move, every trick that I can now do and that seems easy to me once started as something that seemed impossible.  Remember remember.

HoopPath was amazing.  It already feels like ages ago.  I signed up thinking it was something that was going to help me with my technique, but it was so much more.  Someone called it, "Hoop life coaching", which is a pretty accurate term.  Baxter was so great, and likeable, and had the most amazing things to say both about hooping and about life.  I loved it, and gained so much from it.  I wish I had been able to do the Masters classes the following weekend, but alas life does not work like that when you have three kids at home.  Next year.

But on to the next thing.  I got my tickets for Hoopalicious!  This year just keeps getting better and better.  She is coming in May, and I can't wait to soak up all that she has to offer as well.

I've also go my eye on Deanne Love's Hooplove Coaching course.  I've got some of the money saved up and have another month to save up the rest of it.  I feel like this is the sort of thing I have been looking for.  I've been browsing hoop instructor training courses, humming and hawing over what would be good for me.  Nothing seemed like a really good fit.  Then Deanne announced her course, and it had everything I felt I needed.  It's not just about getting a certification in techniques, she covers the whole she-bang when it comes to starting your own hooping business, and that is what I need.  I don't just need tips on techniques or teaching, I need someone to guide me through how to start it all.  So I think I'm going to go for it.  I'm scared and nervous.  Scared that I'm going to do it and then still feel not confident enough to take the next step, and then it will have been a waste of money.  But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

There is also the InFlow Festival happening in Muskoka in August, and I would like to participate in this as well.  I'm not sure if I could do the Hooplove Coaching and go to the festival as they are both quite costly, and I have been trying to decide which would be the better investment for me this year.  Some helpful friends have suggested that the course would be a better idea for me, so I could get started on my business, and after some thought I think I agree.  I want so badly to go to the festival so that I can connect with other hoopers.  I know there is this whole hooping community out there that I am not yet a part of, and this would be a way to meet other hoopers and learn from them.  Maybe if I am lucky I can make enough money over the summer that I will be able to go to InFlow as well as complete the coaching course.

My hoops are going great though and I have sold probably about 10 adults and kids hoops, with about the same amount pending production and sale.  I'm really enjoying making the hoops and even find it therapeutic to be creating something with my hands.  I look forward to the evenings where I have a hoop that needs to be taped, and revel in it's beauty when it is done.  It's very satisfying.

I have coined 2014 the Year of the Hoop for me.  It has been my journey to re-discovery, reclaiming a part of myself that has been missing since having my children.  I put so much on hold to start a family, gave up so much of my body, mind, time and energy to raising my family, and while I wouldn't have done it any other way, I am ready to focus on what I want for a change.  And it feels good.