Hooping.org

Hoopers talk about flow all the time. In addition, hooping can be considered a subset of the Flow Arts, an umbrella term that encompasses all kinds of skill toys: poi, staff, fans, balls, clubs, buugeng…

Practitioners of these disciplines often talk about flow and it seems to me that even though we don’t necessarily mean the same thing when we refer to flow, we know what it means when someone uses the term. Does that even make sense?

For me the primary component of flow is presence. Connectedness to now, to breath and movement, when the movement arises from an awareness of every possible path the hoop (or your body or whatever toy) can take.

Another key component, for me, is the space between “moves”. Flow arises in that transitional space: there is no planning, no “this move next”, no “this will look cool”. Only your dance with time, and gravity, and possibility.

What is flow to you? How do you get there?

I consider even though I less then 6 months really active into hooping , I consider myself a flow hooper.
I am an practitioner at heart.
I have no intention in teaching.
I picked up the hoop beacuse a dear friend of mine “Miss Erin Sparrow’ had complety blown me away with her magical and mystical dance flow.

I felt I wanted to feel what she might be feeling, and took the step.
It started good, and in the first 4 weeks I saw myself getting more into hooping and dance.. Then something had happened, that has untill now turned my life upside down or 36o degrees into mush, physical and emotional. ANd it made me loose energy and motivation towards everything in my life, it was very dark, cloudy and very very sad.

Threwout te summer I did still spin, but this was just spontanious and very short everytime, as I didn find myself having the drive to push my mind and body.. but sometimes I did find flow and it was magical.

And the last months and a half, my hooping as started back up again, and has become a addiction and passion. Watching beautiful vids on youtube, exchanging thoughts with hoopers along the world, and and seeing the hoop comminuty in The Netherlands reaching out to eachother.
The workshop that Baxter&Becken gave was for me a real awakening to my hooplife, I had just gotten a new 35 inch hoop, and needed to get up close and personal with my new hoop before the workshop, and i set a goal for myself, it worked! By the ime the workshop had begon i was ok with my new hoop, and the workshop made me see I Can do so much more when dancing and traing , gave me oppertunity to explore what more I could do. Andhaving Baxter and staying at my ouse a week, and even havinig Brecken over a couple nights was a high energy and awakening expierence for me. Seeing how they talked and thought about their art: Hooping.

Then because of my high energy and love for dance and hooping, I started an almost everyday hour or more training. Study my body and moves in film and see what had to be changed.. And thats folks , was just were it went wrong.

This week i have had already about a 8 hour training.
I have the wonderful Rebecca Halls staying at my house, and had the chance to go her workshop.
I found myself in a fight in my head, while during the hoop jam I had in a club the night before, and at the workshop.
A fight maybe many of you might be familiar with; I cant do this, why cant , why cant I, I practise so hard!
That thought basicly made me not enjoy hooping, and made it an I HAVE TO DO!
So I have decided to not thouv my hoop 2 days, well Im trying to because I can go to a gym and dance to hours with other fellow hoopers ..But I atleast only hooped before my showe yesterday before work and it was 5 minutes.

I did a vid after I had baxters and brecken workshop, and was blown away by my flow and moving in this vid.. And I was thinking about this, in that vid I had just moved into my new room , and I really wanted to break in my room with my hoop.. and I just flew and flowed..its amazing.

SO I have to say ;
I am a practitioner, lover, enjoyer of hooping and watching artistic hooping vids online..
And I am one who will not want to be the coolest or tricy-est..
I hoop for me and the growth and learning and pushing yourself to the fullest to give in to maybe looking silly, give into flight, creativity, and being who you want to be in your hoop.

Fox, I just wanted to respond to your beautiful and revealing post and say thank you for sharing some of the roadblocks you experienced in your path. Like you, I started hooping because I wanted to feel what I saw (or thought I saw) another hooper was feeling. When I teach, I actually describe this moment, when I first saw Vivian ‘Spiral’ hooping on the Weaver Street Lawn 8 or so years ago, as wanting to “feel as good as she looks.” I wanted to FEEL that beauty that she embodied, knowing I could never LOOK the same way.

In the following years, I often found myself in the place you describe, of feeling frustrated with myself and inadequate. Why am I not progressing faster? Why does so much elude me? It wasn’t until I decided to invest in my own voice, trust in my own inclinations and the way my body and soul wanted to move, that I began to feel Flow authentically. I really think one of the essential components of Flow is that it must come from a place of authenticity. You have to ‘own’ the movement and make it yours.

Being in Flow is ultimately being in the moment for me. If I’m too wrapped up in how it’s going to look on video or whether I’ve ‘mastered’ something yet or not, I tend to loose that connection to Flow. Ironically, working TOWARDS mastery often takes me there, but fielding internal questions “am I there yet? am I there yet?” like an obnoxious 5 year old in the back seat totally breaks my flow. I was thinking of starting a thread to discuss Flow breakers and how to over come them. Thanks for your input, Melissa. So many of us are in the same boat.

So many great meanings expressed here! So much resonates with me: being in the present moment, getting out of your head, not worrying what others may think, feeling spontaneous…

When I feel an emotion, particularly when listening to music, I want to express it, and the most natural way for me to do this is through my body. So I take the time to regularly focus on and train my body, increasing awareness in every bit of it and strengthening the mind-body connection. I want my body to seamlessly respond to what I feel inside. This is what flow means to me; it makes me feel complete.

Well I’m new here, so my posts will probably not be as insightful as all of yours, but I’ll give it a try.
To me, flow is connecting and serenity. When I hoop, I feel connected to the science of ourselves and the elements of the earth, if that makes any sense to you. In another sense, I feel connected to myself and my emotions. I really don’t think that you can practice flow, but only practice hooping and doing the various tricks. Flow comes from within, it reflects your emotions; you can’t practice that. Saying you can practice flow is like saying you can practice being you. Flow is spontaneous and an expression. I see it as, our bodies don’t control the hoop, we do.