Fortune Teller | BreVolvinBliss

Erin Sparrow | Mermaid Manifestation

I rewatched this video last night.  It's so simple and stunningly beautiful. 

 Just the hoopspiration I need to get through the rest of the week.

 

 

May your hopes and dream be manifested.

Movin' & Groovin': Check the Rhyme | Zach Boutilier

Happy Wednesday!!  The week is half over and I'm looking forward to the weekend. So, until then, here's some mid-week hoop inspiration.  Meet Zach Boutilier.  His style is kicked back, smooth and has as he calls it, swagger. 

 I first came across his tutorials, which are awesome.  Lots of fun, advanced moves to check out.  I will be using this video to work on getting elbow passes and breaks worked into my hooping.

Check out more from Zach on his YouTube channel.

Smokey Taboo | Lady Stardust

Under the Bridge - Nick Broyd

A Life Half Lived

Have you ever seen the movie Stictly Ballroom?

 I love this movie in all its fantastic dancing cheesiness but mostly the message. 

"Vivir con miedo es como vivir a medias" roughly translated means "A life lived in fear is a life half lived."  

How many times do we let fear rule our decisions?  The fear of failure, rejection or the unknown.  I know personally it controlled my life for far too long.  I am now trying to squelch that fear when ever it starts to creep back in. 

This weekend, I am leaving for a two week cross country trip to Pennsylvania.  I will be vending at Return to Roots hoop gathering with my friend and fellow hoopster, Cally Chavez.  (More to come on R2R in upcoming posts!)  We will be selling homemade items from paintings and chimes to aromatherapy products and healing stones. In June when this trip was first conceived, I was excited and a little in disbelief that it was happening to me. The planning and crafting leading up to it has been fun and helped me realize how much work I will be putting into my future endeavors. 

As the time is getting closer, those feelings of fear are becoming more prevalent and are showing up in my dreams (and keeping me from good sleep). But I am pushing through the self-doubt (mostly) and fear of failure (mostly) and looking forward to a fun adventure!  Somtimes the risks are high, but that makes for a greater reward, right? And if things don't measure up to the success I'm hoping for, I'll be ok. Cause if you know me, I already have 5 or 6 more projects just waiting to start! Plus, if anything, it'll be lots of hooping with lots of amazing people. 

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one."

                                                                                                    -Elbert Hubbard

Not taking chances, I believe, keeps you from acheiving your dreams. 

And that is a life half lived. 

Fellow bloggers, I challenge you this week to squash a fear you have! Afraid to try something new? Afraid you'll fall flat on your face or be told no?  Fearing an unknown outcome? Do it anyway...you never know what'll happen. Could be even better than you imagine. Feel free to share about it in the comments.

Better yet?  Blog about it and share with all! 

Pleasantville, Bliss, and Dancing with the Dark : Erin Sparrow

I love Erin's hoop dancing.  It's so graceful and precise, like a ballerina. 



Her silhouette videos are beautiful.

This slow motion video was so emotional and quickly became one of my favorites. 

Also, dancing in the rain?!  Awesome.

I am looking forward to the three day weekend! 
I am a week away from leaving to vend at Return to Roots (R2R) in Pennsylvania. 
I have so many projects to finish up.  I am excited and anxious to debut all the products Cally Chavez and I have been working on.  I will blog more about it next week and the weeks following while we are out on the road! 

 Have a happy hooping weekend!

Ring-o-graphy : Alexandra Savina



A different take on hula hoops.

Happy Monday!

Growth : Shayla Patton aka Ehli

This is favorite video of the moment.  I love how easy going her flow is.  

Sustained Spinning & Spiral

Lately, during my daily practice, I have been gravitating towards a style of hooping called sustained spinning.  Sustained spinning is a technique where you constantly spin as you hoop.  I have been working on really smoothing and controlling my core hooping around waist, chest and knees.  I feel like I have lost a lot of core skills when I downsized to a smaller, lighter weight polypro.  And while it is great for off-body, breaks, reversals and folding, I tend to not do as much on body.  At first, sustained spinning can make you very dizzy and off balance.  The other night, I realized I hooped to a four-minute song almost continually spinning and was ectatic that I have built up the spinning stamina!  This is Spiral sustained spinning to Massive Attack's What Your Soul Sings.

We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars, the stars form a circle … and in the center, we dance. – Rumi

{Love the Process : Sandra "Safire" Sommerville}

Safire was one of the first hoopers I found on YouTube when I started my hooping journey. Her tutorials were so helpful as I was trying to learn Hoop basics 101. I came across this video a couple weeks after I started and helped me to realize with lots of practice, patience and dedication I could do this! I loved that she shows that there is a learning curve and dropping the hoop is just part of the process.

Have a great weekend everyone and happy hooping!

PS The Perseid Meteor showers are tonight!  Check it out if you can :)

{Baxter Hooping}

This is Baxter and he is one badass ninja hooper. He started The Hoop Path out of Carrboro, NC.  His style is very meditative and he encourges you to practice blindfolded, a techinque that I have used a lot. I took a workshop from him in January and was instantly welcomed into the hooping family. I excited to be "going home" at the end of the month for the Hoop Path retreat in North Carolina for many days (and nights)of workshops, dancing and craziness!!

{Recurring Seasons * Matthias}

::Yulia Pykhtina::

{Inside the Hoop and Heads Will Roll}

This is Beth Lavinder and she is my favorite hoop dancer!   She has such grace and ease when she hoops.  It seems like she just instantly feels the flow.  And I love how when she drops the hoop, it's no big thang.  She picks it back up and dances on.  Beth inspires me to let go and just dance! I had the pleasure of meeting her at the HoopPath Deep Water Tour in Colorado earlier this year. She was so nice and made sure this orphan hooper felt welcomed and included.

In this video it's filmed from the perspective of inside the hoop. It has such a beautiful dream quality. Please be warned though if you get motion sickness, this video may not be for you ;)




And this is just one of my all time fav's...



Happy Weekending and Enjoy the Spin-

{ Got It * Brecken Rivara }

This is Brecken Rivara. She is one of the most ingenious, bad ass hoopers out there. She really thinks outside the box when it comes to movement and the hoop. Oh, to be able to move like her! This new demo video makes me giddy...

*Warning: song contains an explicit lyric
So if you have sensitive ears, just watch without sound! It's that awesome :)

{Round and Round}

Last August I went to a music festival in Denver, Colorado where I heard lots of fantastic music but I also saw this...

I watched a few people dancing with hula hoops and I was mesmerized. The way they could spin it around their bodies continuously in time to the music sparked something for me.

 I came home and immediately started researching hoop dancing.  There is a entire community out there!  I had no idea the things you could do with a hula hoop. 

 The next week I made my first hoop and how fun and oh, how frustrating!

I've never been able to hula hoop, even as a kid.  Could not keep that hula hoop a rockin'.  But you know what? I kept at it and within a few weeks I could not only keep up the hoop for minutes but could turn in circles and do a few tricks.  

I was hooked!

 It honestly has become quite the obsession with me.  I talk about it all the time. I hoop dance for hours a day and it never seems to be enough.   

The best part? I'm losing weight and having fun while I do it.  Who knew it was such great exercise? But yes!  It's awesome...

So for now, this blog will probably be more hooping and less art as I continue on this hooping journey.  I'm excited to see where this year takes me and what hooping has in store for me.