relax. don’t do it.

when i first started hooping, i stuck to the discipline of hooping every single day without fail for at least an hour. i did this for several years. it was one of the best decisions i ever made. i built a hooping foundation that has been the basis for a level of expression and flow i never would have dreamed of. these days, with the playa performances on the horizon, i’ve been challenging myself to try to return to that daily discipline. i want to be at the top of my game when that magical week of burning is our shared reality.

it was going well until a few days ago. after three hardcore firehoop practices and two gigs in one week, i found myself in that total worn out-zone. that body-feels-like-oatmeal place of low energy and sore shoulders. the notion of another round of heavy hooping to come just made me feel more tired.

so i took a few days off.

pestered by hoop guilt, i would shyly glance at my hoops from time to time thinking, “maybe i’ll just loosen up my back a bit”…”what if i try that toss across my body?…(or the eternal) i really need to work on my reverse current…” but checking in with my body, the message was clear: it was still mad at me. i let the reasonable part of me win the argument over the impatient part of me that likes to play, and just said no. go do something else.

lo and behold, after a few days of downtime i started feeling better. i found myself once again looking forward to the upcoming hooping opportunities. of course, when i did finally pick up the hoop again it felt great. everything loose, no soreness. body very happy. even flashes of inspiration. since then, i’ve gotten in several solid spins and feel fine.

breaks are good.

photo by donovan watts, 2007.