One thing that I like to share with others and try to remind myself of often, is exactly why the hoop is such a powerful mechanism for experiencing joy, clarity, and creative expression in a relatively safe place: inside the circle.

Most folks who’ve hooped before (as adults) recognize fast about the pure fun and childlike playfulness the movement invokes…it feels goofy and giggly to move one’s hips back and forth or round and round. At a certain age- often around puberty as hormones and bodies change greatly, many humans begin to limit or taper off their creative movement, lessen the amount of skipping or spinning around in circles they do, or altogether feel a lack of embodiment, and rather numb to the world around and within themselves. If we are adults of any age & have found somewhere along the line we lost connection to playful movement, we must take active steps to re-engage our physical selves in novel and silly ways. One way of reconnecting with your inner, joyful, child-like, and body-positive self is to develop a hoop practice and play.

Hooping provides not only opportunities for great body wellness, but also wellness and growth in the mind-emotion-thought center or brain, and thirdly- the combination of the body, brain, and the core/torso areas, or what I’ve recently been calling the Soul entity. When we become in tune with the third entity or the Soul, there is a natural ability to more clearly hear it’s voice and follow it’s light in a confident and satisfied direction. Aligning and following our own unique Soul Path, there is a greater experience of clarity, and less of confusion or uncertainty (please note: I was inspired recently to think a lot on aligning with one’s soul purpose by a few different folks, including the amazing Candice Schutter of Portland’s HoopShine). In order to keep the hoop spinning around one’s core, we must remain in alignment with it’s angle~ wherever we choose to let that angle take us. Sometimes it’s easy, painful, laborious, total brand new, or outside of one’s comfort zone; but if our core energy center does not stay in the middle of that ring as much as possible in the gray & oft messy area that is Life- we’ll fast get off course and lose sight of our connection with one’s Soul path. The more we stay in the center or the grey zone, the more we have true clarity of our path. Inevitably, we stray from our path and notice it feels not quite right, or even very wrong. And, it’s completely okay when that happens- we simply lift up the hoop or the pieces or our chins, take a deep breath, and get on again~ using BOTH our inner circle-soul strength, and our outer circle community and resources, to do just that: re-source~

As we are guided and touched by the hoop’s movement, a favorite feel-good notable of mine about torso/core hooping, is that (with it’s bi-lateral brain and body stimulation back and forth until you stop) you are constantly getting hugged! Over and over and over again- tens of times a minute! How often do we get to experience hugs in a day? The majority of folks around may feel like they could benefit from more hugs- so consider this about picking up the hoop…you will guarantee yourself one hug even if it drops instantly, but in due time, or perhaps in no time, you will be receiving tens to hundreds to even thousands of hugs more a day than you are currently receiving. What a blessing. Not to mention a sure-fire mood elevator. When we feel the power of touch (even in the form of a plastic ring) encircling our core and Soul, on the left and right sides of our body back and forth, it allows us to feel hugged, self-loved, and safe enough to creatively express ourselves through our body’s movement… This in turn motivates new neural circuitry, which helps activate several feel-good chemicals in the brain, causing us to feel even better than we thought we could~ naturally & healthily, through the joyful revolution of one’s own HOOPING POWERS~