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Ambassadors, fresh and new, Hooping and life wisdom, Hooping flow, Hoopologie Team, Kate Ryan

Confessions of a Hoop-Star

The How to Succeed Without Really Trying Chapter.

Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Kate Ryan. I am a professional street performer, circus artist, corporate entertainer, festival shaker, and hoop maker, among many other quirks of the “oddball” trade. I am not much different then you. I have my hopes and dreams, and I aspire to be the best version of myself daily. Some days I fall short, some days I don’t. Some days I find myself in quite the pickle. Thankfully, there is an abundance of good-will and lucky charms in my life, as there is in yours. I am surrounded by beautiful people everyday, as are you. I listen to what the world around me is saying and try my best to be what we consider a “good person”. I have my shadows and my flaws. These are the things that make us unique. When I was 19 years old I visited my childhood dream of traveling the world. I left with a measly $800 and traveled two countries for 15 months. I had some help during my travels, in which I am forever grateful for. I studied traditional circus hoops and social circus overseas and returned home to Canada this summer to solidify my career as a Hoop-Star (like a Hoop-ster with more glitter and glitz). I am currently in the beginning stage of my North American tour, and this is my third tour funded and supported by the art in which I create.

It has been anything but easy.

This November I was named the first Canadian Ambassador of the respectable Hoop-Everything company, Hoopologie. In this moment I realized I had many unanswered questions about myself and my work. So I began asking what it really meant to be an Ambassador for this well-rounded (see what I did there!) community. I knew being named an Ambassador was more then just a title, so what was it?

“How did I get here?”

“What does it mean to represent a global network of Hoop-Stars?”

“What do I want to manifest out of this career?”

“What ideologies will I chose to represent and live by?”, and most importantly, “In what ways will I use my voice to contribute to the hoop community?”

I began to summarize a list of experiences I have lived through and set apart the good from the bad; what has worked and what has not? What have I learned that has brought me here today, and how will I pass this knowledge on?

***Sidenote; this is not only for Hoop-Stars, you can apply these lessons in any practice, any play, any way in life!

 

Below is a collection of two life lessons I experimented with during my global travels teaching and performing in the industry of circus. This is not the ONLY way to succeed in manifesting your dreams, however. Allow me to clarify- this is only a collection of ideologies that has worked for me and my work. This is a collection of guidelines I will embody to my very best. If it helps in any way then my part is done, and if not, then my part is still done. Take what you wish from these lessons and always… PLAY!

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Hoop-Stars Code of Conduct 

1. Community & Competition

Community: “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.”
Competition: “the activity or condition of competing: rivalry” 

 

 I was 6 months a hooper when I moved to Asia and performed my first ever solo piece. It was magical. I was praised for my talents and devotion to such a practice. I held my head high, and it was the first glimpse of a woman who could make something of her life. It was the first glimpse of personal potential and power. Up until this point I had lived my life with insecurities and self-destructive patterns. In this practice I was able to see myself from a different perspective, and before I knew it I  developed an ego greater than the secret love of James Franco (who am I kidding, that’s no secret). I figured that I was some kind of Hoop Goddess (and the only one there ever was), meditating and yoga-ing in this magic circle…. I put myself on my pedestal and frowned upon the so-called communities around me….

What I actually did was remove myself from like-minded individuals and artists entirely. 

This became apparent upon my travels to the land down under.

I brought with me an ego bigger the the Buddha’s belly himself.

Because I had done this, I held my head higher than ever before. I was on the other side of the world, chasing my dreams and making them my reality. I was interesting, and my ego was apparent in my work. I noticed that I had zero “flow friends”, and I struggled with admitting I had no real idea of what I was doing. To be vulnerable was to be weak, and my ego wasn’t about to let that happen.

It wasn’t until I met the humble and sophisticated (and really human) Deanne Love that I was quickly removed from this place.

If Deanne Love (of HoopLovers) would want to be my friend and supporter, who the hell was I on this lonely pedestal?

When I arrived in Australia I was greeted with open arms by best of the best in the Hoop world; my ego took a beating. It became apparent to me that this was my ego, my problem. I thought I was special- the very best their could be. I was definitely not the best, and today I don’t want to be the best. I want to be me. In meeting these inspiring individuals I realized that we ALL have a gift that deserves to be enjoyed by others.

This experience, the one in which I hoarded and ate all the cake to myself…. overly indulging in self-love…. created a not so humble, competitive version of me. I secretly spewed hate at anyone who was living and breathing the life I so desperately wanted. I ignored the magic that was my life.

I found myself constantly comparing me to them.

I initially robbed myself of learning and being inspired by these Hoop-Stars. I was intimidated by the Hoop-Stars around me- I saw them as competition.

 

Negative perception only harmed me as an individual performer and artist. Thankfully my ego was​​ eventually bruised and slightly broken. Without my ego driving in the front seat, I was able to see the hard work and devotion that each and every artist puts into their work. I began to appreciate the individual for their gifts and what we could co-create as a community together. I learned more from my community then I ever would have myself.

This will forever be a reminder and something that I am constantly working towards.
Just last month I was greeted in Canada by another like-minded artist. She had hopes and dreams very similar to my own. You would think this would make us stronger- two heads better then one. I spent a day or two feeling disrupted by this presence. To move through this feeling I had created for myself…..

I had to move forward WITH her….

I would not remove myself from her and her gifts. I would not challenge her or separate our levels of work. No, I would do the thing I was most scared of… I would include her as if she was the only friend I ever had. And shockingly I was comforted to be surrounded by such a woman. I extended my hand in support and gratitude, and received very much the same back. We were living very similar lives, had many things in common, and were able to share with each other the magic in our lives. We each learned something new and were grateful for our short time together.

If you choose to view your communities as competition you will very well live your life on a different level, your level. You will take away the thing in which you crave the most. Removing yourself from support, skill sharing, and the occasional partner butt hoop – which is one of the most bonding experiences I have ever had.
On that note, competition CAN be a healthy outlet in creative aspirations, but only when you include others in your sometimes dangerous, sometimes vulnerable, safety circle. Competition can challenge us to try new things and enlighten us to a feeling of endless possibilities.

Remember, you are the BEST version of yourself….and so is Jimmy, Timmy, and Kimmy…

We are in this together. 

Forever, Play.

 

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2. Inspiration & Limitations

Aligned with Community & Competition, we find Inspiration & Limitations….

When given the choice, choose to inspire….. 

 

There is a fine line between inspiring your peers and…. limiting them. Our ego plays a major role in differentiating these two polar opposites.

When we speak in the direction of our peers, is what we are saying a direct reflect of how we are truly feeling?

Is there an ulterior motive? 

Is “less for you, really more for me?”

 The moment you perceive yourself as “can do’s” and “can’t do’s”, the moment you compare yourself to another….is the moment you remove yourself from inspiring the world around you (and yourself).

Each and everyone of us has a gift in which we chose to share with the world. In some practices we will flourish, in others we will fall. Every one of us has our forte.

Remember this when a peer of yours surprises you in their quickly learned talents, remember that you do have a gift, the thing in which you where meant to do. Do not let another’s riches blind site you from your own. As well, do not allow your ego to rob them of their moment.

Success is Support.

I recently had a client whom asked me to not work in the ways I was working. The client was hurt that I had made the choice to move forward without their approval and support. After many heated discussion and child like arguments we both came to the simple conclusion that this… sucked.

I was left with the feeling of being stuck. And, I started with the feeling of being stuck. I had made a full circle going nowhere. Stuck in an absolute rut. I wanted to grow and move forward, I felt inspired by my own potential and future until this “more for you, is less for me” conversation was brought to light. I had experienced disappointment from one of my close peers and business partners, and they had experienced the same from me.

Here’s the thing, more for me is NOT less for you. Less for me is NOT more for you.

I believe this fall out could have been easily avoided. Had we both been a bit more, supportive…..

The reality of this, not everyone will like your work and how you manage yourself. Not everyone will agree with you. Not everyone will inspire you. Some will make you feel trapped and territorial. Having felt both sides of the spectrum here, I can openly admit that both sides…. suck.

 

I have limited my fellow performers in the ways that they work. Asking them to disregard bookings because of my own personal beliefs (i.e mainly free bookings that irk something deep within me). And yet, when I first started most of my gigs were free.

How else was I suppose to gain experience?

This is a very contradicting story I know. I have asked of them to sacrifice opportunity because I was feeling selfish and territorial. And I have been asked to sacrifice opportunity because of entitlement.

Understand that as we all breathe the same air and oxygen into our lungs, we will not use our breath in the same ways.

When you find yourself in these moments, inspire. Not matter the cost on your entitlement our ego. Inspire your community.

Ask yourself is what I am saying/ acting upon inspirational? Is this a worthy lesson I am practicing?

When we breathe and live in Inspiration we are gifted an abundance of possibilities. When we breathe and live in Limitations, there is no gift, no honor, there is nothing.

Remember the time when you were limited by yourself. Do not wish this on others.
Remember the time this practice felt impossible?

Stay humble in your journey, and you will see many similarities in your communities, you will receive the direct support you need to grow as one, and as a whole.

Remember the very first steps….

 

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Thanks for reading the HoopStars Code of Conduct for the month of December!

For easy reading I have saved the remaining bits and pieces for next month’s newsletter!

Here’s a hint to what the Code will cover!

3. Perception & Perfection
4. Force & Flow

Enjoy!

May all you dreams come true!

Hooping and life wisdom, Hooping flow, Meditation, Meditative Hooping

New Year’s, Personal Growth, and the Beginner’s Mind

_DSC0166The New Year has been a pivotal and celebrated time to humankind for thousands of years. Our modern times have proven that we are no exception, and hoopers everywhere are joining the ranks of celebration and new beginnings. Often times getting lost amidst the hubbub of the “New Year, New You” mantra, we sometimes lose sight of the fact that personal growth and transformation should not only be reserved for the fast to fade excitement over transitioning from year to year. Not to say we should stifle a fun and tribal tradition in lieu of this sentiment, but it is important to remember that our personal growth path is a never-ending one.

Now, some of you might be asking- what does this have to do with hooping? The answer: everything. Every single hooper I’ve ever had an in depth conversation with has always circled back to the notion that hooping has helped them immensely with multiple facets of their life- AKA, personal growth. However, many of us, myself included, sometimes lose a bit of the excitement and love we first experienced with hooping after doing so for years. There may be periods in which we are hooping every day for hours, and some when we don’t hoop much, or at all. While there are innumerable reasons we experience this bell-curve, a huge one I’ve encountered (and almost every other hooper I observe) is getting swept up in the hooping world that lies outside of myself. When we begin focusing too much on hoop-making, viewing videos of others, taking videos for others to see, learning new techniques and tricks, etc, instead of being intimately alone dancing and flowing with our hoop just for ourselves, it becomes easy to upset the delicate balance of our relationship with our hoop.

By no means am I implying hoop-making, taking and viewing videos, and the like are negative in the slightest (in fact they are immensely beneficial!), but when we neglect our truly “alone” time with our hoop we create the potential to lose out on the profound benefits that hooping has to offer; hence the reason it is such a delicate balance. One of the greatest pieces of wisdom that I have attained with my circle thus far is that hooping is a way of practicing self-love and learning how to carry it with you into your daily life. This practice and absorption can begin to become mute if we dwell too much outside of our own intimate little world with our hoop by focusing too much on others’. In some scenarios it can even add to or create feelings of jealousy, self-judgment, lack of motivation, and the like.

All of these feelings, including many unmentioned, are a part of those innumerable reasons we might find ourselves straying away from hooping as much as we’d ideally like to, adding to the bell-curve. This evidently happens to more of us than we might think, otherwise we would not be witnessing so many hoop challenges on social networking sites motivating us to hoop for a certain length of time every day for x number of days. I personally notice even more of these pop up around the New Year because of the previously mentioned “New Year, New You” mantra that becomes so infectious. While these are all amazing motivations and fun, social ways to get us hooping more, I like to pose and ponder the question, “how can we keep this motivation, personal growth, and self-love alive and kicking every single day throughout the year?” One of the greatest answers is quite simple, really. Go back to the way hooping used to make you feel when you first started- your beginner’s mind.

While it is easier said than done for most of us, even just making the slightest effort and acknowledging that you have the ability to be back in that beginner’s mind in every moment, it will make quite a noticeable difference in your daily practice (even if it’s only for five minutes!). Enjoy hooping for exactly what it is- hooping, dance, movement, art… Enjoy the feeling of your hoop caressing you at every point of contact around your body. Enjoy the moving meditative state that your mind automatically slips into while spinning in circles. Just be aware and allow your beginner’s mind joy to shine through. And always remember- hooping is first and foremost a sacred time for your Self.

As we continually learn and re-learn how to experience the happiness and self-love that exists within each and every one of us, there are ups and downs and turnarounds along the path. Just keep in mind that us hoopers have stumbled upon an amazingly beautiful tool that has the power to help in immeasurable ways when we continue to hone our relationship with it. Pull it out of your tool-belt on days you may be feeling lost and unmotivated, even if only for a few minutes. There is absolutely no need to wait for a new year or even a new hoop challenge to start or continue climbing up the next curve. Toss out that dated New Year’s mantra and replace it with “New Day, New You”, or create something of your very own. Because we are all constantly changing and transforming, we persistently have the opportunity to be exactly what we want to be and experience exactly what we want to experience. Every moment possesses the possibility to be something beautiful.

 

***Amber Lane of Lucid Hooping is a general lover-of-life and hoop enthusiast. After being diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and two herniated discs at the age of 17, she entered the world of healing and relief. She discovered the hoop and meditation in 2010 when she was 19 and instantly fell in love, not only because they boosted her self-confidence to new highs, but also because these modalities magically healed her chronic pain. Life since then has been a whirlwind of learning and sharing self-healing techniques and manifesting the life of her dreams. Through Lucid Hooping she hopes to help others in their journeys to health and true happiness through self-healing and transformation.

Hooping and life wisdom, Hooping flow

How to Deepen Your Hoop Practice

 

 

Mallory Maki dances with the sunset - Mission Beach, CA

Mallory Maki dances with the sunset – Mission Beach, CA

As a person who has hooped for over four years now, I can definitely say that I’ve experienced my fair share of searching for new ways to flow and even quite a few hooping “plateaus”- when you feel like you’ve learned all you can or have become stagnated for other reasons. Rest assured, however, that we all have limitless potential for learning, and that includes our precious little plastic circles. Perhaps thinking outside the box is all you need! In this piece I will go over a few helpful tips and new things you can try to help deepen your hoop practice or get that momentum going again if you feel you are stuck with nowhere to turn.

Hoop blind folded

Hooping blind folded might sound a bit unnerving or odd to some at first, but doing so offers many lessons. When we take away our sense of sight our other senses naturally heighten and create a different experience within the hoop. We can feel the hoop caress our bodies at every point single of contact on a much deeper level, and it also helps take away the judgment about how we think we may look.

Dance without a hoop

I personally reached a point this past year where I was ready to begin incorporating more dance like movements into my practice. While a lot of that came from messing around and trying weird dance moves with the hoop, a lot of the progress I made came from dancing freely with no prop and learning how to release my inhibitions. Even if you already dance with your hoop, try doing so without it for at least a few minutes every day. It feels amazing and invites a new twist!

Hoop with different sizes

Every time I felt stagnant with hooping I noticed that I had been using the same hoop size for a very long time. Changing your hoop size (whether going smaller or larger) may sound simple, but it transforms the dynamics of the way you move, respond, and play with your hoop, even if it’s just a tiny bit with certain moves. Doing so will open you up to a whole new world and many more years of practice.

Stretch/do yoga

Stretching or going even further by doing a physical yoga practice can open your body up to a whole new plethora of movements that can also be done with a hoop. It takes perseverance and willpower, but I’ve also found how much more easily I can move with my hoop in general after I’ve done some stretching or yoga, even if I’m not trying new moves per se. Limbering up the body works wonders.

Hoop in both directions

The first time I felt I hit a plateau a huge realization smacked me in the face- almost everything I had learned I only learned in one direction. Going back and correcting this proved to be much harder than it would have been if I had learned each move in both directions right away. Not only that, but the muscles on the left side of my body were noticeably lacking compared to the right, my right side was more lean, and my hips were not moving evenly. So while I had the chance to learn almost every move all over again and jump off my plateau in that regard, I also learned the hard way that uneven hooping could actually create disharmony in the body. Big surprise, huh? If you take one thing away from this piece- hoop in both directions for an even amount of time!

Go back to the basics

When many of us first start hooping, including me, we become so obsessed that we try to learn new moves as quickly as possible and often fall away from the basics that are waist and core hooping. Going back and working on perfecting your waist hooping allows you to work on your footwork and other small intricacies that can add a whole other level to your hoop dancing, especially from an audience’s perspective. This tip can actually be applied to any hoop move as well by going back to every trick and smoothing them out and working out technicalities.

Try new props

Trying new props such as staff, fans, poi, wand, etc… provides something completely new for you to figure out and play with. What’s even better, however, is that using new toys can help you figure out new ways of moving and new tricks that can be translated over to the hoop. Poi is an especially wonderful learning tool to utilize if you are ready to start using double hoops.

Discovering new realms of movement, new items to introduce, and going back to what we already know is often all we need to facilitate a whole new chapter of growth with our hoops. If you have any other tips that have helped you deepen your own personal practice or overcome a hoop plateau I would love to hear them in the comments below. Please don’t hesitate to share! Now go forth and explore, hoopers! 

***Amber Lane of Lucid Hooping is a general lover-of-life and hoop enthusiast. After being diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and two herniated discs at the age of 17, she entered the world of healing and relief. She discovered the hoop and meditation in 2010 when she was 19 and instantly fell in love, not only because they boosted her self-confidence to new highs, but also because these modalities magically healed her chronic pain. Life since then has been a whirlwind of learning and sharing self-healing techniques and manifesting the life of her dreams. Through Lucid Hooping she hopes to help others in their journeys to health and true happiness through self-healing and transformation.

Hooping and life wisdom, Hooping flow, Spin Summit

5 Things The Spin Summit Helped Me Understand On An Even Deeper Level

 

Amber Lane of Lucid Hooping at the Spin Summit 2014

Amber Lane of Lucid Hooping at the Spin Summit 2014 – Photo Credit: Rachel Coughlin

 

Ideas and concepts are constantly introduced to us and expanded upon by our surroundings and experiences throughout our lives. Whether it comes easily or not, these understandings are continually changing, evolving, and being understood on more profound levels, and sometimes even being debunked and replaced with new ones. During my time at The Spin Summit earlier this May, quite a few of these deeper understandings and changes within myself took place, of which I would like to share a few.

1. Flow is universal

While I’ve been thinking about this subject frequently since I started hooping, I was absolutely blown away by some of the flow I witnessed at The Spin Summit.  It was the first time I saw upwards of five poi spun by one person. It was the first time I saw clubs being used in such unique ways through balance and other manipulation techniques aside from juggling (although the juggling was amazing itself). This wasn’t, however, the first time I witnessed seemingly impossible things happen with a prop. So why was I taken to such a new high within this personal understanding of mine? It was because I realized that flow (in other words, energy) already runs through literally everything (well, duh… wait for it), it’s just that it’s up to us to tap into it.

I have observed so many spinners disappointedly claim they don’t have any flow (a thought which should be chucked out the door as soon as possible, by the way) in a manner that indicates it is nonexistent. All energy is borrowed, which consequently means that flow isn’t something that can be created out of nothing. We simply need to tap into the abundance of flow that already exists everywhere around us. Every single person has the ability to do so in some shape or form whether it’s through prop manipulation, writing, the use of one’s mind, etc… and that is Absolutely. Freaking. Beautiful.

2. Listen to your body

A little over five years ago I was unwillingly immersed in the art of listening deeply to my body because of severe disc herniations in my lumbar spine. Although I am now pain-free a majority of the time, it is only because I continually listen to my body telling me what feels good and what doesn’t. The Spin Summit brought with it at points a little physical pain. However, I was able to deepen my ability to stop, listen, and focus on freeing myself from its grasp. It was a good reminder for me, and ALL of us, not to overwork the body and set some healthy boundaries, especially when we are immersed in a weekend-long, physically intensive series of workshops.

3. It’s okay to mess up

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but every time I see amazing performances like the ones at The Spin Summit, one of the factors that make them amazing is the ability to gracefully mess up in front of hundreds of people. This means that making mistakes in our personal practice is perfectly okay, too, and in fact, they are necessary. They help us grow, learn, and develop our techniques. We should be thanking them, really.

4. Don’t be afraid to try new things

New tricks, new dance moves, new props. Try it all! Trying new things allows us to become more well-rounded in our overall practice, and experimenting with new props can especially help us develop deeper understandings of our first love. I was finally able to get a staff at The Spin Summit, and I must say, the highs of nailing moves with it are as wonderful as they were when I first started hooping. It is also helping me understand balance on such a greater level, which is spilling over into my hooping practice.

5. Bigger is better…. for some

Hoopers have begun using smaller and smaller and smaller and, you guessed it, smaller hoops in their everyday practice. I started to follow this trend for a bit because I like trying new sizes and different widths of tubing (and I still do!), but Baxter’s workshop at The Spin Summit made me realize I feel more in-tune with my flow when I use a larger hoop and move at a slightly slower pace. I went straight back home and made myself some new 35” hoops, and I couldn’t feel better about where my practice is going. Use what size feels right for YOU, whether it is 28” or 48”, only you know what is best for the majority of your practice.

I’m so grateful for the experiences I had at The Spin Summit this year. They will undoubtedly influence me and my practice for the rest of my life, and as flow festival season kicks into high gear, I encourage each and every one of you to stay open-minded and flexible. Allow your inner child to shine through, and stay interested in subtleties. Our lives could always use a little more play and exploration. 

***Amber Lane of Lucid Hooping is a general lover-of-life and hoop enthusiast. After being diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and two herniated discs at the age of 17, she entered the world of medicine. She discovered the hoop and meditation in 2010 when she was 19 and instantly fell in love, not only because they boosted her self-confidence to new highs, but also because these modalities magically healed her chronic pain. Life since then has been a whirlwind of learning and sharing self-healing techniques and manifesting the life of her dreams. Through Lucid Hooping she hopes to help others in their journeys to health and true happiness through self-healing and transformation.

fresh and new, Hooping and life wisdom, Hooping flow, Meditative Hooping

Flow. What does it mean to you?

Bex Burton finds her flow in the beautiful foothills of Boulder, CO.

Bex Burton finds her flow in the beautiful foothills of Boulder, CO.

Flow. What does it mean to you? In the movement community it is one of the foremost concepts we contemplate and try to experience in our various practices whether it be in a physical, mental, or more ethereal sense. At the same time, however, flow can be experienced in every facet of life, not just through movement arts. As many of us have discovered through our hoop practice, unearthing flow through movement can prove to help us find it in our every day lives. And living in a constant state of flow is a blissful feeling that we all deserve and have the ability to cultivate.

When I first began hooping, I was searching for my flow in a more physical and somewhat mental capacity. As we all experience at the beginning of our newly discovered practice, making moves look and feel graceful and smooth, and learning how to transition from one move to the next in the same manner can feel rather bumpy and somewhat awkward. I for one was not used to using many of the muscles hooping requires. The more hours we spend inside the hoop, however, the more our muscles continually gain memory and allow us to begin entering a state of physical and mental flow. When I first began experiencing this state it was pure magic. I had no idea a few months prior that my body was capable of cultivating such power through movement, and it felt beyond amazing to be able to transition from one move to the next with little to no thought about how it was going to happen.

I’ve noticed a trend that as we first learn to enter the physical flow state with our props, this stage often comes with contemplation and even concern that from an outside perspective it doesn’t “look” like we are flowing. Although the ability to record ourselves virtually and watch our own hooping can provide various lessons and benefits, it can also cultivate (in my opinion) unnecessary concerns. I’ve seen numerous comments from many different hoopers on their own videos questioning whether they were actually flowing. They claim they felt it at the time, but upon watching their movement, they begin wondering if they truly were flowing. I feel it is always important to note and keep in mind that physical flow is something that comes with practice, and while viewing our videos can help us tweak certain aspects of our movements to make them look better, there is no need to get sad, disconcerted, or down about how you think you look. Respect the process of practice and know that if you felt the flow, it most definitely happened. The feeling is what matters most, not the aesthetics.

As we delve further into our practice we have the ability to experience a more ethereal flow state on top of doing so physically and mentally. We all have different ideas and definitions of what this state entails, but for me personally, it allows me to connect the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of the Self to experience an incredible state of complete awareness connected to Spirit. I like to think of it as a meditative state in which I can live in the present moment on a beautiful and powerful level.

Going even further, immersing ourselves in flow through movement can help us enter the same flow state in our everyday lives from eating, working, and playing to having relationships, communicating, and practicing other art forms. When we completely surrender to the way things are the energy we give and receive in return allow us to experience and recognize the multitude of beautiful synchronicities that are present in every day.

Because we all have different definitions of the term flow in general, I was curious to know how others define their experiences with it. I asked openly for responses to my question, “What is flow to you?”, and received so much heart and openness in return. Here are just a few responses:

“For me personally, immersing myself in the heady study of Flow has had a startling ripple effect. I realized that I was not practicing what I was attempting to preach. So this past January, I quit my day job to pursue my artistic passion in fiber arts, wearable arts, and costume design full time. In addition to practicing my flow with my hoop and fans, I can now say that I am trying to Live in Flow.” – Ann-Marie Phalen-Hartman

“Flow is clarity. The understanding of our universe, finally finding how everything is connected, and how you move with the rest of the energy in the world.” – Destiny McPherson

“Flow is when the outer world falls away and all I know is myself connected to my soul.” – Shannon Loucks

And there you have it. I’m consistently amazed and inspired by the beauty and depth that is ever present in our community. I am always seeking more stories and thoughts about flow, how it has changed you, how it has added to your life, how it has healed you, etc… Please feel free to share in the comments below if you feel called to do so. I would love to hear from you!

***Amber Lane of Lucid Hooping is a general lover-of-life and hoop enthusiast. After being diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and two herniated discs at the age of 17, she entered the world of medicine. She discovered the hoop and meditation in 2010 when she was 19 and instantly fell in love, not only because they boosted her self-confidence to new highs, but also because these modalities magically healed her chronic pain. Life since then has been a whirlwind of learning and sharing self-healing techniques and manifesting the life of her dreams. Through Lucid Hooping she hopes to help others in their journeys to health and true happiness through self-healing and transformation.