Mothering and Hooping

[Hooping.org columnist Lara Eastburn finds the mothering in our circle.]

by Lara Eastburn

With it being Mother’s Day this weekend, I’ve been thinking about how to talk about hooping and motherhood. The foundation of our hoop dance rests around our hips, our centers, where we seem to experience the most grace and power in our hoops. We flow freely while our feet continually reach back down to the earth — Mother to us all — for energy, balance, and stability. Our hoops orbit around the very organs of our potential for biological reproduction, but also around the “fertile crescent” of our creative expression. I like to think that when we as women create anything with our bodies, each of us enacts a kind of “motherhood”.

I can’t help but wonder about what forces are unleashed when a mother hoops with her child. What kind of magic do we make when we dance with a living, breathing part of ourselves? And I wonder how many of us – sons and daughters alike – have created the experience of hooping with our mothers? It is with this wonder I share my Mother-Montra for all and envision how to hoop with Mom, whether she be nearby, estranged or no longer with us.

A Mother-Mantra for All. When pregnant with my first daughter, I became very interested in the idea of what I call the “infinite umbilical cord.” Though my familial ties are weak, I set about researching my genealogy with the goal of being able to name in order the women who had each held me, my mother, and hers … within their bodies. When I had gone as far as I could, I memorized the names (starting with my daughter’s and working backward) and began the habit of repeating the mantra whenever I needed strength, compassion, or encouragement. “… Navi (2006), Lara, Jewel, Sylvia, Mamie, C Belle, Nancy, Roxaan, Jane (1797) …” Write down and try internalizing the names you know along your maternal line. Say them out loud. Teach them to your children and your parents. Meditate on them, while hooping, of course!

Mothers Nearby. Sure, Ma knows you’re a hooper. Maybe you’ve even gifted her a hoop. Now make the time to hoop with her (Yes, you should let her pick the music!). Watch her hoop, see how she moves and soak in her smile. Invite your siblings, too, and give her a fun-filled afternoon watching her kids having fun and being happy.

Absent Mothers. Inevitably, some of us have mothers from whom we are estranged or are no longer with us. But we can always dance with the idea of our mother. We can imagine her moving alongside us. We can imagine what it was once like to dance inside her belly. We can conjure and dance with our memories of her, conjure a mother we never knew, or the relationship with her we wish we had.

New Mothers. On a side note, do you know anyone who is a new mom? Being a new mother can be one of the most difficult, stressful times of our lives. If you know a new mother, please get that woman a hoop. And then visit her during nap-time — preferably to do the dishes and vacuum while she gets her postnatal groove on.

Whether we have children or are about to have them (props to all our pregnant hoopers too) or not, this weekend I invite everyone to hoop meditatively on mothering and the mothering the hoop has given us. As you feel it spin, be aware of our bodies’ capacities to create movement, art and Life itself. Happy Mother’s Day, Hoopers.

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Lara Eastburn has been dancing in meadows and singing with the moon while spinning in circles for eons at Superhooper.org. Beyond commenting here, you can also discuss this and other topics related to the Hooposophy for living in Hooping.org’s Hooposophy Group and Forum. Lara is also the planting and gardening force behind discovering our hooping community roots at The Hooping Family Tree Project.

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