Winter hooping.

Rugged up on a chilly morning.



Summer and hooping are natural companions. Summer and hooping go together like ice-cream and jandals, like sea and swimming, like dog and walks. I love hooping in summer, especially in the long, warm evenings after the heat of the day is over.

Winter and hooping? They don't go together quite so well.

Unless you have a very spacious house, or you live somewhere that doesn't really have a winter, hooping in the cold months can be a challenge. In my part of New Zealand we don't have snow to contend with, or even a long winter, but we do get a lot of rain and wind - which can last all through spring.

I, of course, do hoop right through winter but there's no doubt my winter hoop practice is different from my summer hoop practice. Because I often struggle with the winter blues my winter hoop practice is more important than my summer hoop practice. I thought I would share with you my tips for hooping in winter.

Make yourself do it. It's not always easy to motivate yourself to hoop when it's freezing cold. But I set myself a goal in autumn to hoop a minimum of 15 minutes per day, no matter what, and so far I haven't missed a day. Only the days I only manage 15 minutes I don't feel bad about it.

Make the most of the good weather. This winter we've been blessed with a couple of weekends of calm blue skies and mild temperatures. On those weekends I may have had plans to clean the bathroom and do the groceries, but you can bet I abandoned those plans in favour of hooping outside in the sun for most of the weekend.

Challenge yourself. I have limited space to hoop inside, but I do it anyway. Having a wide open space to hoop in is great, but sometimes challenging yourself by hooping in a constrained space can be good for your practice. Winter is your chance to try things like this out.

Hoop with others. Join a local hoop jam or, as I did, start one of your own. It's always fun to have some company while you hoop.

Focus on other things. Hooping in winter may be hard but you can focus on other things that will benefit your hooping once summer rolls around again. For example, yoga is really good to keep your body supple over winter, which can only benefit your practice.

Accept it. Hooping in winter will never be the same as hooping in summer. That's just the way it is. But summer will roll around again, and before you know it you'll be complaining it's too hot to hoop!

Happy hooping,
Anne-Marie x

Hooping for dark times.

Two happy-making things.

I'm not in a good headspace right now; in fact I'm struggling to cope with a lot of day-to-day living.

I know exactly what this is about: one area of my life is unpleasant for me, and I feel like I'm unable to get out of the situation or do anything about it.

I'm feeling powerless.

I'm feeling anxious and disconnected. I'm struggling to find the joy that normally comes so easily to me.

I have, of course, been here before - more times than I wish. So I know the depression will pass; it always does; I just wish it would pass sooner!

I'm trying to keep my head above water by looking after myself physically - eating fruit, getting enough fresh air and sunshine, and going to bed early.

I've also put together a plan to make the unpleasant situation easier, and to [eventually] get away from it.

And each morning I honour my commitment to my hoop. I get up and, no matter how crap I feel, I hoop for 15 minutes. When I can, I hoop during my lunch break and after work.

When I hoop I feel better. My hoop gives me the space to be creative, to move, to free my mind from doubt and fear. I feel "normal" again - as though there is hope for me still.

This morning on Facebook my teacher, Christine [I consider her one of my teachers even though we've never met in person], wrote this:

That way that you feel when you're dancing and it's just you and the music and you've totally got this? That. That's the true you. No baggage. No garbage. Free. You.

Happy hooping,
Anne-Marie x

Dizzy.

It’s hard for me to believe that once I suffered regularly from dizziness and nausea.

An apparently inherited condition – several female members of my family have it – it appeared to be brought on by stress and tiredness.

It was mild, but it was very unpleasant while it lasted.

When I began hoopdance two years ago I thought I may not be able to continue with it because of the nausea and dizziness. Turning and spinning with the hoop are essential skills, but they made me feel off-balance and sick. But my love for the hoop was so great that I couldn’t give it up. Not even for the sake of my balance. I kept pushing on through and tried to ride the unpleasant sensations rather than fighting them.

And then the day came when I realised I hadn’t had an attack of dizziness and nausea for weeks, then months. Not only that, I was enjoying the sensation making myself dizzy through spinning with my hoop. It’s a different sort of dizziness to the version I used to suffer from, although I can’t exactly explain how. But I do know that spinning in circles can be very focusing – your surroundings disappear and all that’s left are you and your hoop.

I’ve spun myself around for long enough now that I know my dizziness and my body’s reaction to it very well. I know where my edge is and when to stop, so I don’t cause myself harm. I know when the dizziness will kick in. I know what to do to ease the dizziness away.

One of my earliest and most dedicated students also had a problem with dizziness and nausea. She couldn’t do the slowest turn without her head spinning; but she loved to hoop. I shared with her my story. “I can’t guarantee the same thing will happen to you but you never know…”

At Monday night’s hoop jam I noticed this woman doing the most beautiful continuous vortex, which requires a lot of turning. Of course I had to remark on how far she’d come from the days when she was afraid to attempt that move.

She giggled like a girl. “It’s my favourite move. I love spinning in circles!”

Happy hooping,

Anne-Marie x

Dancing with Tiana.

Tiana Zoumer [front] leads a workshop on chest rolls on the main lawn at NZ HoopFest. Photo by Natasha Halliday.



It’s been two weeks since HoopFest 2014 happened and I’m only just now getting around to writing about it!

I’d been looking forward to HoopFest for months. I love the opportunity to immerse myself in hooping for two whole days, with no distractions. In “real” life, hooping is something I have to fit in around my work and family life. At HoopFest [and Under The Spinfluence] I can forget about both of those responsibilities. HoopFest is held at Brookfield Scout Camp in the hills behind Wainuiomata, where there is no mobile coverage, no internet, no newspaper, no television, no outside world at all. I don’t have to worry about writing tomorrow’s front page lead, or cooking dinner. It’s just me, my hoop and my hoop tribe.

The big drawcard at HoopFest this year was Tiana Zoumer – oh yes, the Tiana Zoumer! For a small hoop community tucked away at the bottom of the world, it was quite something to have a hoop dancer and teacher like Tiana with us.

You know when you meet someone you’ve admired from afar and they turn out to be a disappointment? The opposite happened with Tiana. She is not only a beautiful hoopdancer and an inspiring teacher, she’s also great company and [something that doesn’t come across in her online presence], very funny. She did an hilarious strip tease performance to a Flight Of The Conchords song during HoopFest’s Renegade Show!

Tiana’s two workshops were different from anything else at HoopFest in that she didn’t teach “how to do this move, then this move”; rather she taught concepts that made you think about the way you move your hoop. Her Sunday morning workshop was perfect for those who were tired and hung-over after the Saturday night partying. She taught us how to move our hoops through the air like they were fish in the sea, and she also guided us in a body parts dance in which different parts of the body “led” the dance. It was a good warm-up, and also a great way to create awareness in the body. I’ve practised it several times since I’ve come home and I love it.

I also got the opportunity for a private lesson with Tiana. Oh yeah! We worked on some moves I'd been having trouble with; no quick fixes, but plenty for me to work on. Thanks to Tiana I now have an obsession with chest rolls and body stalls...

Other than that – it was just a brilliant weekend all round. Catching up with old hoop buddies and making new ones; delicious food; wonderful workshops and dazzling shows; hooping all day long and collapsing into bed at night. Bring on the next one!

Happy hooping,

Anne-Marie x

15 minutes.

I've got into the habit of hooping for the first 15 minutes of every day.

I get out of bed, get dressed, make a cup of tea, and go outside [or clear the furniture in the lounge, if it's raining] to hoop.

I've never been much of a morning person. I hate waking up. I struggle to talk coherently before 7am. And physical activity? Forget about it. When I practised yoga regularly I was always in envy of those people who could roll out of bed and straight onto their yoga mat. I tried, but it made me feel like I was going to vomit.

But in this, as in so many other ways, hooping is different.

I may be only just awake when I step outside with my hoop. The sudden burst of fresh air makes me a little more alert. The first birds are singing, the sun hovering on the horizon, the air crisp. I mumble my hoop prayer and begin to move, slowly at first, but as the familiar rhythm settles into my body I wake fully and move with more confidence.

I always dance this first dance of the day without music. I prefer the sound of the birds, the wind, Monty barking at something I can't see.

I wish I could say these 15 minutes guarantee I'm going to have great day, but it's not always the case. Still, I can't think of a better foundation to my day than this. Before all the clamour of my day begins, I take 15 precious minutes for myself to dance, to reconnect with myself and the Divine.

Happy hooping,
Anne-Marie x