It occured to me the other day that while I was making continued progress mastering more and more moves, and started to find new and interesting flow between those moves I had yet to master anything on my second side. Yes, I could break and reverse around my waist on my second side, but I had never even tried to paddle, or turn, or ANYthing else in reverse. So I set out to the task of practing to the right.

Part of me was appalled at how awkward it was, and how entirely ridiculous I felt. I was lucky enough to have had no trouble finding my flow in the hoop around my waist when I started. Mastering hooping around other parts of my body (hips, neck, chest) had taken some effort, but now I feel like I picked those up rather quickly too. The stiffness and limited range of motion and control I had in my second side was humbling. I don't think I had ever conveyed a sense of ego to any new hoopers, but I felt like maybe I wasn't relating as well to the other hoopers I had been teaching because I had no frame of reference for how difficult finding the movement was. I'm rather excited to share my new found understanding with them and maybe offer them a new nugget of inspiration or focus that will help them get it.

I had decided to video tape a practice session and wow what an eyeopener that was!! There were two really brilliant things that it offered me. First, I realized that even though there were times where I felt like I was ridiculously jerky and overcompensating to try to keep the hoop moving, it didn't actually LOOK that way. *Wow, I don't look nearly as ridiculous as I thought I did!* Awesome! Second, my left shoulder and hip were so tight and pulled up and forward that it was a wonder that I was as successful to the right as I had been (which really was very mediocre, but i was pleased with that!). As soon as I saw and recognized that tension I got right back in the hoop to work it out. Now I knew where to place my focus.

I got back in the hoop, sent it spinning of to the right and rolled my shoulders down and back. I began to find my gaps, starting with my right side, trying not to think about the timing of the drop in, but instead focusing on the movement of the right shoulder. Then I attempted to try paddling with the left arm, all of my attention on the movement of the left shoulder. Trying to get it to replicate what the right shoulder had been doing. I wouldn't say that I mastered it, but I could feel (and later see) the improvement. I was able to briefly let go of the intent focus on the timing, and just feel the drop... at least one of of three attempts (and I smiled at every one I made and smiled even bigger at everyone I missed!). Being able to watch yourself of video is invaluable for improvement. I'm hooked on the idea now, and want to buy an actual camcorder instead of just using my digital camera.

I've done a few more practice sessions focused on my second side and i am glad to say that I still making *small* amounts of progress, but progress all the same! It occured to me in yoga it is always said that everything you do on the right side, you do on the left. Some sides will be different than the other in given poses, but just as much time is dedicated to one side as the other. by focusing your attention and breath on a dense area you can release that stale energy and over time ease further into the pose, finding a place of balance with the opposite side and than moving forward and progressing together in balanced harmony. This made so much sense, but what didn't make sense was why I wasn't applying that same principle to hooping! Part of me has thought that hooping might be an even more powerful way than traditional yoga to quiet the mind, soften the body connect with spirit.

If you consider the chakra system being a series of swirling energy centers stacked up your spine, how could you not gain healing benefits of aligning all of the chakras and opening a path for divine connection? By hooping in my opposite direction I was stirring up and releasing old, stale enery that had been building in my left side. I have had a noticble dis-connect between my left and right sides for the past few months. I was aware of it and really trying to analyze *why* I was unbalanced, but I wasn't doing much in the way of trying to fix that inbalance. I kept telling myself that I couldn't fix it unless I figured out the cause of the disconnect. Wrong, wrong, wrong!! I should have been spending more time trying to release it and bring balance to my body. Instead stale energy built up and collected, causing my left side to become so tight and my right side strained to compensate and ailing from the fatigue.

I'm so very glad that I was able to see this physical disconnect. In the last few days I feel like I've opened my eyes back up. I've realized that I was not in balance, and I wasn't doing anything to help it. I feel like I've stirred up some new excitement, some passion and drive that has been missing in my life for a while now. I've been very aware of my posture since I saw how tight my left shoulder was. I've been reminded (partly by well timed journal and blog posts seen on Hoopcity... Thank you Caroleeena!) that I should be pulling my shoulders up and back, lengthening through my spine and holding my head high in the world. These are things that I had previously put a lot of effort into and had improved in myself, but somehow I reverted back and now it's back to hard work. My body has been slightly sore, but I know that it is because my muscles are slowly releasing all of the stale energy and finding their way back to a neutral state that they haven't seen in a while. I'm excited to reach that state and grateful that I was able to find the path back.

I am eager to see where my new found awareness takes me. I've been feeling like i've been stagnant in my life for a bit now. Not really unhappy with where I am, overall pretty darn happy with it in fact, but struggling with the idea of what I want next. It's hard to manifest your future when you don't know what you are trying to manifest. I feel like things are starting to come together. I wouldn't say that I have a full 5 year plan yet, but I'm starting to see a nice first draft outline come together... It's a pretty great realization to come just from spinning the hoop the opposite way of what feels natural.

It would be amazing what could happen in this world if everyone realized that by opeining yourself up to something that initially feels completely opposite or "wrong" to you, you can actually allow yourself to open your life up to even more fabulous things!

Love, Light & Hoopiness

Renae