If I could sum up my experience teaching partner hooping in one word, it would be SENSITIVE. I basically had all my sensors on high so I could respond in a moment to each attendee. In teaching this art, I find that there are not only physical skills to impart, but also energetic entanglements, emotions, physical reactions, thoughts and theatrical skills which all need to be addressed. I found I had to be much more present than when teaching regular hooping because there was a much higher potential for the unknown to be experienced by each hooper.

Teaching partner hooping playshop was EMPOWERING for me. Because I haven't taught it in so long, I was unsure if I could really impart the key components effectively. Honestly, I never fully taught this alone when I partner hooped... and so it was especially fascinating for me to teach a partner hooping course without an actual partner! I just kept pulling the girls up as live models to demonstrate and learn with me at the same time and it actually worked out great. I felt very confident and courageous and just followed teaching compass.

The exercises in the beginning were a fun warm up for the girls. They did some closed eye exercises where they each played with a lot of energetics around the partner hooping experience, tapping into certain archetypes and embodying certain theatrical elements. It was really fascinating to notice which women felt more uninhibited with which each exercise... I let their bodies tell me what to say next. While at first I led them on a sightless guided journey, I found that putting on some really good music really helped everyone let go and get into it.

When I first pulled Annie in as my first live model, I had some mixed feelings. I mean, Annie had been my office manager for 2+ years, so we already had a power dynamic from that work environment which is only now easing into a casual friendship... so pulling all of that into a partner hoop with the two of us was a bit intimidating for me. I noticed that I put up a bit of a wall to keep my emotions engaged so I could still teach the seminar while demonstrating with her. I deepened my breathing and focused on speaking about the anatomy of how we were pressing our bodies together. Of course getting close to her physically instantly effected my body. I got warmer, a bit self conscious, and was kind of enjoying it as well, all at once. All of a sudden I also remembered the onions I ate for lunch and then reminded the group that perhaps mouth wash prior to partner hooping could be a wise choice. ;)

I noticed that as I demonstrated with different women, there was a different energetic created between us. While hooping with some I felt more of a slightly sexual charge than others. I just kind of breathed the energy up into my heart and felt it all easily manageable in that way. I am pretty straight, although I definatley respond to female beauty and physical sensation and proximity! But I do have to say, in general, being on hormonal management medication for my endometriosis has in general reduced my sex drive...while it was exhilerating to be close and tight physically, I didn't really didn't feel the same intense charge as when I did this several years ago. Lucky me? Well, it certainly made me more able to be an objective facilitator... but perhaps some of those crazy feelings are part of the magic of partner hooping that really can make you feel so breathlessly alive...

To me, this is the fascinating uncharted territory of partner hooping... how it instantly energizes the whole body, mind and spirit. Perhaps it is something about bringing so many energy centers right up against each other... the hips and heart specifically... and also there is something about the reality of it -- two women pressed up against eachother, girl-on-girl, breathing deeply, pulsating together, joined in a way which is primally mesmerizing.

As a trainer, I noticed I experienced an edge when one Allstar kept dropping the hoop again and again. I wanted to create a careful balance of providing guidance and also space for her to figure it out based on her body's own experience. It was actually just like the extreme sensitivity present in a first time hoop class... I allowed her to feel it out, try it with different partners and experience different hoops in addition to taking her into the hoop with me as well.

I was easily able to help her experience success by taking on the "dominant" position as the leader and moving her body with my hands in ways that kept her body close to me and the hoop spinning. I hoped that this experience would help entrain her to experience what I call, "the sensation of success". Step by step, she got it. When she finally got it again after focusing on her contact points with another partner, I felt elated and got the whole group cheering!

I wasn't expecting the whole experience to be so fun. Honestly, I haven't wanted to face dealing with all the complications that arose when I last did partner hooping and as a result I basically walked away from it so long ago. I wasn't able to give voice to these things as easily back then. But being able to step up to the plate tonight as a mentor was incredibly energizing and healing for me. I realize now that if I had only had better communication skills as I learned and started experiencing challenges in my hooping partnership years ago, I may have been able to prevent just walking away.

What surprised me most about this experience was how much information naturally flowed through me about channeling the sensual energy inherent in partner hooping and flowing that in a mystical celebration of the divine feminine within us all. Transforming what some could view as a "blatent pelvic thrusting or just super hot and sexy" into a spiritual practice of personal transformation. This art form clearly brings up issues of control, body image, sensuality, boundaries, and power. Facing these complex issues and each person's response to them head on has an incredibly therapeutic potential. Basically facing fear when it arises and owning it so it can be released. So many invitations to communicate clearly, speak truthfully and explore how to work as a true symbiotic team. Literally experiencing a state of "one-mind" ... an almost telepathic connection.

Partner hooping as a path to sacred transformation was implied in my past experience, but I never really thought or spoke of it so articulately then. Honestly, I think it's potential for me was unfufilled back then. Tonight, an amazing amount of information just downloaded out of me about all of this and it was amazing to watch the girls instantly embody it. Even more has arrived since teaching tonight, involving metaphors of Twin Flames and more specific guidance about use of the heart to lift the energy, even though the hips are the powerhouse, etc. Looking forward to sharing more soon...

I'm so grateful for tonight's experience. I've been inspired to set up a Playshop training for the public in the fall! Stay tuned. Meanwhile... I hope this sharing will encourage the rest of the HoopGirl Allstars to authentically share as well.