The July 1st hooping station at Glen Echo Park proved to be a ton of super-duper-hooper fun. Curious kids alongside of some hooping-skeptic parents all joined in the hooping joy and learned a handful of basic points to make anyone a successful hooper:

1. The bigger or taller you are, the bigger and heavier your hoop should be. Take note of the large & sprawled out hooper-dog you see pictured. He only wanted to use the really big hoops to show off his skills (prior to tumbling over). It makes sense relative-size-wise that most adults (and some young folks too) are not going to be able to keep up one of the light and cheap drugstore-style hoops of yore. Drop me an email or give me a call if you’re interested in ordering a custom-made hoola hoop that’s oversized, weighted, and beautifully decorated.

2. Start by creating a strong stance on the ground. Sometimes putting one foot several inches in front of the other works well. You may also want to bend your knees slightly, reminding yourself to loosen up and let your whole body into the hooping motion- not just your midriff section.

3. Begin by holding the hoop against the small of your back- making sure the hoop is in contact with your body and parallel to the ground. Your elbows should be fairly close to your torso as you prepare to start your whirling. Give the hoop a little momentum ‘wind up,’ and send it around whichever way you are naturally inclined to spin. If that movement feels super awkward, a solution may be to spin the hoop in the other direction (this is also a great & often challenging move for folks who’ve mastered hooping or any tricks in one direction-> reverse the direction!)

4. Your goal is to make sure that the hoop is in contact with your body (in this case, your waistline) at all times. Try to think about the contact it’s making as it spins around you. Becoming aware of these ‘contact points’ will help you a great deal as you develop your hooping skills and move on to exciting tricks. If you are having trouble rolling your hips in a circular motion, think about and try simply shifting your weight from one leg to the other in a forward-back-forward-back motion. And again, for basic waist hooping, the hoop should remain fairly parallel to the ground (for more advanced maneuvers, you can work on various angles of waist hooping).

5. Troubleshooting: Interestingly, there is much variation in the way people move and look as they hoop. If you are having problems getting the hang of the basic waist hoop- try to alter your movement. For example, if you are wildly thrusting and the hoop falls fast to the ground- tone down your movement and try a ‘less is more’ approach. Conversely, if you are barely moving those hips, get deeper into your hip movement (even try circling your hips without the hoop first to get used to the feeling). If you tend to move your hips solely in a side-to-side or a front-back-front motion, add in a bit of the other direction for a more circular and hooping-friendly movement~

Voila! YOU ARE NOW HOOLA-HOOPING. And if not, do not give up! Keep practicing no matter what, and the movement will soon come enough. Hooping is such a wonderful metaphor for life, because inevitably, no matter how great or skilled we are, there will be times in our lives when the ‘hoop’ will fall… we must simply use it as an opportunity to learn how to recover gracefully and get back into the swing of things~ Remember, everyone has great hooping powers, so KEEP ON WITH THE REVOLUTION Y’ALL!