 |
||||||
|
||||||
By Maggie Downs There's something magical about circles. Especially this one, as it spirals around your body, cool plastic on hot skin, your hips swaying. If you want to get deep about it, you could say this is a form of meditation. You could say it reaches down and claws at you on some primal level. Or you could say it's just plain fun. Lately my friends and I have been discussing the importance of play, and the hooping class I took last week absolutely fit the bill. Don't call this hula-hooping, though. Hooping is all grown up, and long gone are the airy pink Wham-O! rings of childhood. This are weighty hoops, circles with substance. And this kind of hooping can be an impressive form of expression, incorporating everything from sensual, serpentine moves to fun, upbeat dance. It also happens to be great exercise, providing joyful relief from boring old treadmills and stair climbers. Classes are taught by Joshua Tree resident Sara Munro, who makes and sells her own hoops and performs throughout the desert. (Find out more about her and her classes at www.flamefatale.net.) It's tougher than you might imagine, dancing and keeping that plastic whirling. And yet, it's also easier than you might think, too. Even if you've never been able to hoop, the body has a way of pulling out natural rhythm, just as the ring has a way of picking up inertia and going, going, going. The two effortlessly respond to each other. The combination is breathtaking and dramatic. "This is a really easy way to give people a positive experience," Munro said last year, when I interviewed her about her fire hoop dancing. "When people realize what they can do with their body, it's hugely empowering for them." Did it change me? I don't know yet, but I have a feeling I've only scratched the hoop surface. After class, I had the same feeling as a kid after recess - happy, exhausted, overjoyed. I even went home with my own hoop, partially for exercise, partially for my spirit, partially for meditative movement. Mostly for fun.
|
||||||
|
|
