Stepping into the entrance of the Elks hallway, I hear laughter and see a sign saying, ‘Positive Energy ahead.’
While I am a bit leery of venturing into this Monday night hula-hooping class – since hula-hoops have never been my forte – it certainly sounds like a fun time.
Christine Hanson, the instructor, greets me with a smile, not breaking her stride as she juggles a hula-hoop around her waist.
She offers her philosophy on why she does “hooping,” and why she started this class in St. Paul, which has been running for more than a month and a half and which Hanson plans to keep going through April.
“It just feels good when you master a move. It makes you feel happy – you can’t be unhappy in a hoop.”
Five years ago, when she was living in the city, Hanson met a girl who was involved in hooping, and says, “I got addicted.”
She started making her own hula-hoops and thought about starting a class in the area, once she moved back.
“It’s a little bit of a craft,” she explained, pointing out the colourful tapes that she uses to decorate each hoop so they are personalized and unique.
Like children do at school, people start off with the basic move of twirling the hoops around their waists.
“Once you learn that, you have to learn to control it, get it down to your hips and up,” she said, swirling to move the hoops from her hips to her chest to demonstrate. “Once you can move it up and down, that’s a move in and of itself.”
“I was self taught, out of YouTube tutorials basically,” she said, going on to demonstrate how she can spin the hoop around her knees, her chest, around her body, up in the air like a lasso, and a number of other styles.
As I watch, the students all work with Hanson’s creations, larger tubes that she notes are easier to learn and work with. They giggle as they stagger over trying to keep the hoops up, or at their own crazy moves.
“Laughter is the best for everything,” said Maxine Hall, a newcomer to the world of hooping, adding if laughing for two hours was all she got out of the class, it would be worth it.
“I was never able to hula hoop as a child, so I was like, ‘I’m going to learn to do it and prove all my childhood friends wrong!’”
I had a similar experience of hula-hoop inadequacy as a child, and can only spin the hoop around myself a few times in my own attempts with it. But I can pick out the people who’ve been with the class for longer, the fact that their moves are more smooth and assured.
Danielle Noel says she’s been working on the hoops for the six weeks of the class, and yet, each time, it takes a little while for her body to remember what to do. But it’s a great opportunity to go out and “spend two hours without my kids,” she says with a laugh.
“The tunes are cranked, we’re dancing with the hoops – you get lost in the music,” she said. “By the time you’re done, you’re sweating.”
And while hooping is a full body workout that offers cardio and toning, Hanson says she doesn’t want people to think of it as work.
“I want this to be more of a social group than a fitness group,” she said. “It’s just automatically, even if you’re not catching it, you’re going to smile and laugh at yourself. Keep your mind open. Even if you come in a crappy mood . . . you’re going to leave a lot happier.”
After leaving, I catch myself smiling too at my own attempts at hooping and seeing friends enjoy themselves. Positive energy ahead? Check - the hula hoop class delivered on that promise.
You can find out more about hula hooping classes offered in St. Paul through Hanson’s Facebook page, Happy Hoops.
