Taking my first hoop class, I instantly felt a connection. Sitting in the room staring at the hoops I thought this should be fun, it put me in the mind frame of playing at the park as a little girl. Or taking my now teenage daughter to the park in her toddler and elementary age years. Showing her tricks and tips I learned as a little girl on the bars. It brought so much joy to me instantly when I took my first hoop class. Walking in the studio for my first go round, I remember just gazing at the beautiful equipment I would start using.
As a child at the parks there was always this one swing that I gravitated to as a child. It was a tire (like an actual tire on a car) it used to hang from the tree, it was my favorite. Now that I’m older I realize someone other than the park attendant had to have hung that there. It was your choice: you could use it as a swing or you could climb on top of it. That’s exactly what the hoops at the studio reminded me of. So I decided to tap into my inner child and let the games begin.
It’s pretty amazing because overtime I realized hoop was part of my journey of healing my childhood trauma. To be honest as I’m sitting here, more things are just revealing themselves to me. I won’t go into details, but there were a few incidents that I didn’t know affected me as a child that carried on to my adulthood until now. As I moved to a new city and began going through my healing journey, hoop class was right on time. I promise I didn’t plan it that way, it just naturally happened.
Hoop has not only taught me to live free like a bird and to enjoy yourself like a kid, but it has also given me so much courage and strength that it literally makes me smile when I sit and think about it. I’m so proud of myself learning something new and sticking to it. Consistency is Key! As time went on I became more comfortable. Just like when I was a kid I remember seeing other kids using the tire hoop with ease, eventually I got it too.
My first hoop class was a small group and each woman in the class was so encouraging. They had been taking hoop much longer than me, so their motivation really helped my determination! I enjoy watching my aerial sisters flow with so much grace on the hoop, it’s such a beautiful work of art. It’s safe to say hoop will forever be my go to whenever I need to just break free.