Going blind

Yesterday morning I listened to a Dharma Talk Podcast by Tara Brach, a Buddhist meditation teacher here in DC that I have recently been turned on to. In the talk she was discussing how frequently our intentions are narrowly focused and self serving and the importance of being more expansive in our intention setting. I started thinking about how this applied to the practice of hooping, so frequently in class we are focused on learning new tricks and we are also very concerned about how we look and how we are performing.

Hoopdance can be an incredible connective and performance oriented experience, but it can also be an internal and meditative experience.

I am mentally gearing up for the Hoop Convergence a meet-up of some of the most incredible hoopers from across the country this weekend. In this setting, it is easy to be awed by the grace and talents of others. And I must admit that surrounded by such gorgeous and talented beings, sometimes I struggle with insecurities about my own skill, or appearance, or grace.

Reflecting on this, I decided that it was a good class to explore blindfolded hooping in my class to encourage my students to deepen their internal practice. Blindfolded hooping was first introduced to me by my hooping "guru" Jonathan Baxter.

Whenever I go blind, at first I feel a little tentative, but then slowly the world starts to dissolve and I am left with the sensation of the hoop making contact with my body and the feeling of the motion, velocity and gravity of the dance. I no longer care how I look, I get lost in the motion and the feeling of sincerely experiencing the NOW.

In my class, I took extra time to set intention for the practice and then I provided a safe space for students to go blind and then served as a guide to facilitate stretching, breathing, and releasing into the flow of the hoop. It was beautiful to watch as the dance went from tentative to full on release into the darkness and the moving meditation. The whole experience was beautiful and I am going to work on integrating this approach even more into my teaching style.

Hooping with kids. . .

A few weeks ago I was asked by Left Noodle Right Noodle to teach hooping to 50 kindergarten and first graders during spring break. I have to admit that i was a little terrified because I hadn't really worked with kids since my adventures in baby sitting in high school.

I loosely planned out about an hours worth of instruction and games, but I planned to just roll with whatever happened since I had been told that kids have very short attention spans. The kids were a true delight to work with. Some of the kids really wanted to learn how to hoop and were like sponges, picking up and retaining the tricks very quickly! Other kids didn't pick it up quite as fast, but they all seemed to have a lot of fun.

In trying to find the right audience for my classes at Contradiction Dance, we recently decide to make my Monday night class a mixed ages class. Tonight was the first test, I had a mother, daughter duo come to class. The daughter was probably in her teens so it felt way more like teaching an adult than teaching first graders. She was actually quite impressive, she picked up the tricks very easily, while her Mom attempted the moves with great cheer. Both of them had great attitudes and were fun to teach. In typical teen fashion, the teen did most of her hooping with her arms crossed in front of her. She rolled her eyes when I suggested that she bring her arms into it and we all had a good laugh! I am feeling great about bringing new ages into the class and who knows maybe this will be a fun bonding experience for parents and kids.