you know ... for kids!

Hi, I'm Marilyn who was in GA. NM is my home now. This is my hooping journal headed art by CL Terry https://www.tumblr.com/clterryart/145081304292?source=share

[marilyn-hoops]

I've neglected this blog yet again. I did just reblog some things from my main, but not all of the hooping posts I've shared there are here from the end of 2025 into 2026.

I've come down with walking pneumonia. I had a sinus infection that morphed into this. I've been some type of ill since 4th March. I'm cautiously optimistic that I'm getting better. I've been being more on the cautious side and forcing myself to rest.

Today I tried an easy outing and I drove home. Also an easy route. Even did some impromptu grocery shopping! A good test to see if I can start incorporating slightly more than just gentle movement. My trusty red polypro has been in use to just stretch a bit. I've also been doing breathing PT exercises to fully inflate my lungs and strengthen them upon exhale. A friend from GA died from complications from pneumonia so that's just been on my mind. I don't want to experience full blown pneumonia.

I've missed many hooping classes because of this. Bummed because the Meltdown event did inspire me back on the 1st of March. But I've not had energy so it's not like I've been actively watching videos and feeling like I'm missing out.

How I feel tomorrow will determine whether I start taking small walks and doing errands along with some off body drills.

[millerflintstone]

Tonight's hoop shenanigans while listening to Wish by The Cure.

This was my fave discovery of the evening. Most things feel more natural on my left hand except for rolls. I've been more casually practicing on the left side over the past couple of years rather than any dedicated training. But look!

[millerflintstone]

escalator breaks with Kylee a.k.a. @cometdancerr

[millerflintstone]

Josh a.k.a @techswan on IG taught some chest roll fakeouts, which tie right into last night's happy accident during practice. This one is not one of those but an interesting twist.

The first part is just me messing around while waiting. Though I think the twisty hand spin will go well with the cross legged turn

[millerflintstone]

After about 10 minutes of it not working, I took one of my kid sized hoops and focused on a spot in the framed art on that wall.

This move is going to be incorporated into twins class in some sort of 5 beat weave formation. There's no post of it up yet.

Now I'm trying to muster up the energy to go shower.

[millerflintstone]

I forgot I was subscribed to Christine a.k.a. HulaGran's YouTube channel. She didn't pick up hooping until she became a grandmother and I just love her style. Check out her latest performance. It's under 3 minutes

I love her classes when she offers them because she's got fantastic musicality, as shown here.

[marilyn-hoops]

Might as well play here too!

[opaldreamcave]

I made myself so dizzy

[nec-dextrorsum-nec-sinistrorsum]

[thethirdman8]

Carter Burwell soundtrack is awesome here. This is film making to the highest order.

[popcornclassics]

[flipchild]

[you2018]

[id: 1. the poster for the hudsucker proxy, featuring norville holding a red hula hoop, with the titled edited to be: mister hula hoop.

2. reply by teaktty reading: great film! endless hoop jokes /end id]

[marilyn-hoops]

I've suspected that my smaller and lighter hoops are part of the issue with getting my reverse weaves cleaner

I got heavier and bigger hoops from Miss Hoops A Lot last year and it looks like I'm getting more consistent clean lines in general.

I have to drill my reverse weaves in general.

The smaller hoops I got from Walmart almost 10 years ago. They are kids hoops that were filled with water but I drained them. They are probably equivalent to 5/8" polypro and about 27ish inches, outside diameter vs the 32" ODs in the second half of the drills

[millerflintstone]

I'm trying to start doing drills every week. I'm just getting bursts of movement in when I can. As you can see, we're still unpacking.

I wasn't really keeping count of my steps. I've just been trying to understand where I am right now in terms of basics. I haven't done these drills on the regular since 2018 ish.

[millerflintstone]

Ha!

I did two attempts to follow along and this is my first one. I actually dropped the hoop less the first time than the second time.

This is the same hoop that is in the video from a 2017, I just re-taped it in 2020.

I realized that a lot of the 2017 video is waist to chest hooping, which isn't what I did in today's video at all.

The lighting is bad and I didn't really pay attention to being in frame, but it's interesting to see the side-by-side.

This hoop is heavy and it's not really meant for doing weaves or one-handed isolations or even that prayer-hands barrel roll. And while my ceilings are pretty high, they aren't as high as the GA house

[millerflintstone]

I started cleaning up my saved hooping videos last night. This is from September of 2017.

I originally picked up waist hooping in middle school in the late 80s and did that on and off through high school, but I'd just hoop in one direction and could not achieve it in the other direction. This is and was bad. I basically overdeveloped one side and it's been an effort to balance myself out.

In 2008, I was interested in the hoop resurgence and got a beginner hoop but didn't really get far. YouTube was not was not what it is now and it was hard to find tutorials. I did get some hooping DVDs which helped, but it didn't stick. I would still waist hoop on and off but didn't know or realize there was a hooping community nearby I could tap into.

In late September of 2016, I saw an ad for a hoop flow class during the month of October. in my local online newspaper's site. It was every Sunday at 2 pm and the yoga studio that was hosting it was maybe a 10 minute drive from my house in GA. I signed up and learning with that instructor was a huge step towards this being my primary hobby.

Though this video is 11 months in, I had surgery in June of 2017 to remove a huge ovarian cyst. I didn't hoop for about 3 months and had experienced pain while hooping for maybe 6 weeks before doctors figured out what was going on. This is my long-winded way of explaining why it's so beginner-y.

I was a beginner in terms of understanding moving with the hoop and getting comfortable with it, even though I knew how to waist hoop. It's been interesting to watch these in order to determine what I want to keep or delete. I'm trying very hard to not cringe at my awkwardness. I'm doing a lot of t-rex arms, which I will sometimes still do if I'm tired.

What cracks me up about this video are Diva and Gigabyte, my two then-senior kitties. They tolerated each other. Diva had just turned 19. Gigabyte was 13.

I love how Diva immediately appears after Gigabyte comes out to see if she can get my attention. Diva was SOOO jealous of Gig. That box Diva settles into is HER box. I found it at Walmart and I think I had kitty toys in it but repurposed it for her with a cushion so she could feel safe, though Gigabyte never was the aggressor.

Poor Gigabyte. She eventually got bored and started to play with that big woolen mouse toy that's by her feet. And what surprised me when I watched this last night is how in-tune she was with my movement. She clocks when I don't have a good grip on the hoop and takes off right before the crash happens.

[marilyn-hoops]

throwback post!

I also realized that during 2020, all of my hooping videos are on my main and not here. I might eventually post them over here.

[marilyn-hoops]

This is from the end-of-class hoop jam from Emma's single hoop combos for this past session. I think our next classes are in a couple of months.

One of my hooping friends is also in this class. She's really been the one to introduce me to Hozier because other than 'Take Me to Church', I didn't really know much about him.

Here is some clunky on-body flow!

I'm happy to have space again. Still unpacking from my move across town from west of Albuquerque to now east of Albuquerque.

I can tell I have things to work on from not really hooping consistently since the start of 2024 through now. I'm bad about non-digital journaling in general anymore and the one hoop journal I have is somewhere in a box at the moment.

I also don't want to post on Instagram anymore, so I'm not keeping track there. Meta doesn't need anymore of my info and I refuse to feed it anymore.

It seems a bit pointless to post on TikTok since I'm not sure if it's going away or if it's going to be limited to US only because of the idiot-in-charge. Though the flow community is pretty nice there, too.

[millerflintstone]

Most of Thursday's twins hoop combo minus the extra toss.

Inner hoop arm roll to shoulder

That same hoop drives the barrel roll. Then there's a swing down/ placement on elbow

Outer hoop does a sneaky z-spin to get that hand in the correct position for the windmill

Windmill (that move above my head) to what Emma calls a butter-flop (where you extend your arms out, thumbs down and cross the hoops in front of you and then extend back out but thumbs up

The rest is just me faffing around (handspin to ocho-grip)

We learn the combos piece by piece. At the end, Emma will add something on that's more of a challenge for folks who have been taking classes with her for a while. One gal in the class shared this move from another hooper with Emma and she incorporated it into this combo.

As you can see, I don't have it yet 😁😁

[millerflintstone]

After class, we do a free hoop flow session for a song. After 90 minutes of twins, I had to rest my arms!