Guest Post: Fall in Love with the Hoop

He lovelies! As you know, I'm on vacation-but I've lined up some lovely guest posters for you! You all know how much in love with hula hooping I am now, so meet the girl who inspired that love in me.

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Hi all, I’m Haley from Wide Eyed Smilin (www.wideeyedsmilin.blogspot.com) & when Angie suggested guest bloggers for the week I figured I should jump out there & do it for my first time, so here it goesssss…..

No matter where you live, you’ve probably noticed someone you know hooping in the past few months, or maybe you started hooping yourself. It’s definitely something that I’ve fallen in love with over the last 3 years and all I want to do is SPREAD THE HOOP LOVE…. So here are my 10 reasons to fall in love with the hoop. 

Hoop made for Miss Angie

10. EXERCISE For those of us who aren’t very athletic, it is GREAT exercise! My biggest seller is the “fitness hoop”, which is weighted 1.5-3lbs, and hooping with it for 20 minutes is equal to running a mile. Many new hoopers love showing off their sweat, bruises & tears from the beginning, the more you sweat, the better you get!

9. SELF CONFIDENCE/SELF EXPRESSION To me, hooping has built up my self confidence a lot. I am not embarrassed to bust out my hoop in front of stangers (like at my BFFs wedding in June), I can go up to other hoopers now and talk about hooping, and most of all ~ I’ve noticed I just bust out DANCING much more, even if I don’t have my hoop in hand. I’ve never been a shy person, but the hoop has definitely helped me bust out of my shell! Also, I’m a music-addict… and hooping really helps me express my feelings for music. There will never ever be anything that tops hooping to live music in my book ~ EVER.

  

8. CIRCLE OF FRIENDS The hoop world is such a LARGE circle. I have met people who hoop from all across the country ~ in person, online, at festivals, etc. Seeing a girl (or guy) with a hoop in hand is like an instant connection, something you know you have in common & likely if you both like to hoop, there’s more to learn! I even signed up on my favorite hoop forum (www.hoopcity.ca) to host any hoopers who may be in my local area! 

7. SPIRITUAL Coming from a not very religious (but very spiritual) person ~ I have had some very enlightening, beautiful experiences inside the hoop. Being so in tune with yourself is beautiful ~ when else do you just get a chance to let go, dance, and be free with your mind & body in perfect sync?! Not very often, that’s for sure! 

6. It’s a HOBBY too! A lot of people in their 20s are struggling to find hobbies they love, something to fill up their time after years in high school & college. For me, when I’m bored my first thing to reach for is my hoop. Even if I’m not hardcore hooping, it’s fun to try hand tricks, simple tricks, or for me ~ to decorate & tape hoops for my customers. I have completely fallen in love with hooping as a hobby!

5. OPENS NEW DOORS Whether you start hooping to become a performer, a hoop maker, or just for fun, you usually end up opening new doors to yourself & your personality. There are so many other things that come with “just” hooping ~ performing, LED hooping, fire hooping, then it opens up into other avenues within the flow arts ~ flow wands, staff spinning, fire spinning, poi, Diablo, scarf dancing & more… hooping is a never ending expander. 

4. EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT This might sound funny, and first I had anger management, but it’s not just that… when my stepdad passed unexpectedly a few years ago, I really threw myself head first into hooping (I was still in my first 6 months as a hooper then), and it helped me get through a lot of those emotions. I was always frustrated with something ~ whether it was my sadness, my mom, my boyfriend, school, or work ~ I could hoop and at least make myself feel a little better. It’s hard to explain, but I feel a lot more emotionally stable now that I can grab my hoop when I’m having a bad day!

3. MUSIC Ever since I began hooping, my musical selection has really opened up. I’ve always loved all kinds of music, but now I can really get into almost anything. Sometimes when I hear a song, I get the urge to just hoop… sometimes at a concert without my hoop, I dance and think to myself “wow I’m dancing like I have a hoop” ~ invisible hooping maybe?! Lol I even went to a country concert last month and hooped there, I was the only one in the entire crowd of 10,000 people hooping, but I found my flow! 

2. TRICKS No one who hoops can say that they don’t feel a rush of amazement every time they learn a new trick. Even if it’s just dropping the hoop down to your knees and bringing it back up ~ it feels like you just conquered the world! Youtube has been a great companion on my hooping journey, I love love love watching hoop trick videos. (Also a tip to all you hoopers reading this ~ HOOP NAKED AT LEAST ONCE! Of course in the privacy of your own home, by yourself! I heard this from other hoopers for a few months before I finally tried. Wow, it’s freeing… it’s like I could do tricks that I had never been able to do before and the hoop is just connected to your body… beautiful experience. My dog stared at me like I was nuts though!) 

Hoop made for Ashley

1. LOVE On many occasions I use the term “hoop love”… share the hoop love, spread the hoop love, etc… It’s true. I have turned so many of my friends on to the hoop, and even strangers from online, etc have ordered hoops from me. I love hearing “thank you so much for my hoop, I love hooping” and it’s just that little smile I get from knowing that I made that person’s life better by introducing them to an instant stress reliever, hobby, circle of friends, and so much more, just by giving or selling them a piece of plastic that I made look beautiful. I gift people the most amazing gift every single day of my life, I gift them the love for something beautiful, healthy & fun. It’s just awesome!

Soooo if you even made it this far, thanks for reading! If you have any questions, comments, etc about hooping, let me know! As mentioned above, I love to turn new people on to the hoop, so if you’re interested in getting your very own hoop, check out my etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/knottycraftkreations , facebook at www.facebook.com/KCKreations, or follow my blog www.wideeyedsmilin.blogspot.com

Angie ~ HOOP you have a great vacation, thanks for letting me spread the hoop love to a few hundred more people!