Hooping

This week we had the privilege of learning from Alli with her hula hoops. She shared with us her story and about how therapeutic hula hooping was for her. She talked about getting into the "spirit" of hooping and feeling one with your body. After having struggled with a lot of anxiety and depression, hula hooping helped her to be confident with her body and who she was as a person. Alli has such a passion for this and she really believes it works for people. Because of this, she really sold us on hula hooping. Her body was so fluid and comfortable as she hooped. It was really fascinating to watch.

Anyways, after sharing how hula hooping has helped her and how she wants to use it for women transitioning from incarceration, we got to MAKE HULA HOOPS! We took irrigation tubing and connected it with a special plastic piece. It was easier to connect them if we dipped the ends in hot water. After we had our hoops, we decorated them with duct tape. The tape not only looks awesome, but helps with traction and keeping the hoop up on your body. We listened to music and chatted as we created. That's one reason I love TR. The community within our classes is awesome. After we were finished making our hoops, we went outside to practice. Alli led us in a warm-up and cool down and in between we were able to do some freestyle hula hooping.

One thing that I learned tonight was that the main I was so intrigued and interested in hula hooping was because of Alli. I want this in my life. I want this passion and this something that I believe in, so that other people want it. As I pursue therapeutic recreation, I know that I can't do it without the Lord, because he is my life. I want people to see how good he is and how much he loves us. I want them to see how much he wants to help us and heal us. He is truly more valuable than any TR program we can ever put on. I'm excited to learn how to grow my passion and love for him as I continue on in therapeutic recreation.