Archive for May, 2010

Who wants to hoop!? Woop woop!!

Superhooper is giving away a day hoop from their amazing collection to one lucky winner! If you read yesterday’s post and thought,”I can do that!”…then you need to enter this giveaway. If you read yesterday’s post and thought, “There is no way can I ever do that!”…then you need to enter this giveaway. Even if you’ve never thought about hooping, you need to start now. It will change your life!

Why Superhooper?
With so many places that you could choose to buy a hoop…why choose Superhooper? Superhooper was founded by Lara Eastburn and her business partner, Barry Clement in 2002. She taught classes and performed in the Atlanta area up until Oct. 2009, and then her family hit the road (I like where this story is going ).

She and her family (husband, Drew and daughter, Navi) are traveling the country in a veggie-oil bus teaching free hoop classes! You can imagine my excitement when I found a fellow veggie oil mama who likes to hoop And of course, I want to support their efforts in any way I can.  They are doing a great thing!

Click here for their schedule…you can also put in a request for your city! Here is brief overview of why they are offering these awesome classes…

In towns all across America, hoopers are learning this new movement art from YouTube videos and instructional DVDs. It is our mission over the next 18 months (maybe more!) to travel to towns where there is little to no live hooping and/or fire safety instruction, bringing hooping to your back yards, parks, and studios. We will help you get started, or master that one difficult move, introduce you safely to fire, or help you start a hoop group in your area. You’ll be amazed at what you can do in a hoop!

Lara and her crew have been making hoops for 6 years, and one of their specialties is the LED (light up) hoop. Soon I will be the proud owner of a blue-green binary LED hoop! Oh my…I am excited. I’ll be hoopin’ all through the night. I’m also going to be trying out some of their mini poi hoops as well. Check out Lara’s write up about minis and the video here…it’s great!

Lara is offering a sweet deal for my blog readers too! When you purchase the SuperGrip Classic Hoop, you can upgrade to the SuperGrip Alpha -OR- the SuperGrip Omega for FREE. Just include the words “Walk Slowly” in the comments section and specify your choice when you check out. This offer is good through May 17, 2010.

See the inside of their sweet bus here. And be sure to check out Lara’s fabulous blog, Hooposophy. I’ve really enjoyed her perspective and thoughtful writing.

The giveaway will take place on Monday, May 10 at 12:00 p.m. CST. Spread the word…hooping is delightful!

Here is how you can enter:

• Click on over to Superhooper and look at the pretty hoops.
• Leave a comment below with your favorite hoop and colors you would pick (I love the SuperGrip Alpha with blue/green!)
• For an extra entries, put a link back to this giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter (and then do a second/third comment here that says “FB/Twitter”) Here is some sample wording for posting: “I just entered the Superhooper giveaway on Walk Slowly, Live Wildly! Come check it out! http://tinyurl.com/29bahdz.” For Twitter, add the hashtag #hooping.
• Add another entry for becoming a “fan” of the Superhooper Facebook page or “Follow” them on Twitter.
• You will get yet ANOTHER entry for posting about this giveaway on your own blog (add another comment here that says “blogged here” with a link).

**Photos courtesy of Superhooper.org.

The very first time I saw someone hooping, I was completely mesmerized. I stumbled across a YouTube video of a girl who went by the name of “SaFire” and I knew…in an instant, that I HAD to learn to do it too. That was a few years ago…and my desire to learn just kept getting pushed onto the back burner. Last spring, Bella and I got matching mother/daughter hoops made, and while Bella totally rocked it, I couldn’t seem to find time to figure it out…beyond just waist hooping. (Please note: when I talk about hooping, these are not the small “kids” hula hoops…they are adult sized and are usually custom made. The bigger they are, the easier to learn!).

Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago. I finally decided that IT WAS TIME! I broke out my HoopDance DVD and watched a million YouTube videos. We went to HomeDepot and bought tubing to make our own hoops and ordered tape online. This was all during the NüRVers rally, and luckily, there were several other adventurous souls who were willing to hoop it up with me (check out Tara’s blog post about her hoop love). One of my new friends, Rose, helped me learn a trick that I had been working on…and once I got it, I was ecstatic! After that, it was like riding a bike…it just felt very easy and natural instead of awkward and clunky.

We had a BLAST learning different tricks together and cheering when we actually did them without dropping the hoop or hitting ourselves in the face! We even attended a Hooping Meetup in Austin (blogged here)..which was wonderful!

It’s safe to say I’m pretty obsessed with hooping. I dream about it. I plan hoop tape colors in my head. I am always searching for new videos online. And don’t you even think that it won’t happen to you Once you start, it’s totally addicting!!

Why do I love hooping so much?

It’s a good time.
Seriously. Who didn’t love hula hooping as a kid? If there is a hoop laying on the ground around here, it’s hard for someone to walk by without grabbing it for a few swirls.

It will raise your heart rate.
Hooping can burn 400-600 calories per hour! And you don’t even realize it because…yep, it’s fun. I will also strengthen your core, your arms, legs…you name it. It’s a great workout.

It’s fun for the whole family.
Both Bella and Matt have their own hoops and we love to hoop it up as a family. Bella learns new tricks so fast…it’s fun to watch her because she is so intuitive about the flow. She just does it…without fear. I learn from her every day.

It’s meditative.
Similar to yoga, spinning a hoop can calm your frenzied mind. Your hooping experience can be whatever you want it to be…depending on how fast or slow you’re hooping and what music you might be listening to.

It’s community-building.
What started off as just a few people wanting to make hoops turned into 16 hoops being made! Once one person starting learning and having fun with it, everyone wanted in on the action. It’s a fun way to pass time and chill with friends and family.

Beyond your immediate community, there is a worldwide hooping community/culture. There are events and performances and all kinds of ways to learn. Right now I have my heart set on Hoop Camp Retreat 2010…that would be the most yummy, wonderful time. All hooping. All day. All by amazing teachers. Oh my.  Anyone wanna come with me?

There are tons of hooping resources out there…here are just a few:

SaFire You Tube Videos I LOVE (yes, there are a lot, but she is an amazing hooper and teacher!):
SaFire Silouette: Gorgeous lines.
SaFire Shoulder Hooping: Oooooh how I love this.
SaFire Chest Hooping Tutorial (chest hooping is what I’m currently working on…so I love this)
SaFire in the Sun (love that song!)
SaFire’s Hooping Manifesto: Love The Process

Hooping is not just for girls:
Malcolm Stuart Hoop Demo
SuperVictorio
Rich Porter – Shoulder Hooping

And these just make me REALLY happy:
Hoopalicous HoopCamp Demo
Glory Days by sharnarose

I will be posting more about hooping music and online hooping communities…and I have some REALLY EXCITING hooping giveaways to announce over the next 2 days…so before you get all crazy and go buy a hoop, hold tight. You’ll wanna wait for this!! Wooooooo!

I’ve written in the past about contentment and wanting and living a life without complaining. It’s a theme that comes up in my heart over and over. And that’s because I haven’t quite mastered it yet.

The attitude of my heart ebbs and flows in direct proportion to the amount of time I spend in connection with Jesus. When I hear myself complaining, feel discontentment, or when I feel any sort of fear starts to creep into my mind, I know something needs to change in my walk with Him. After examining my life, it’s usually pretty easy to determine what has crept in and stolen my heart away from Him. It could be idol time spent online or time spent pursuing passions. But whatever it is, I have to work diligently to re-focus and re-connect.

One way that I reconnect is to listen to and sing worship music. I’ve been listening to Jesus Culture a lot lately (thanks Steph!)…and one of my favorite songs they perform is “Revelation Song”. Every time I hear it, I come into a place of longing to know Jesus more. I will often pray and journal as I listen…writing down the lyrics that really melt into my heart. Today I wrote…

Filled with wonder,
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your Name
Jesus, Your Name is Power
Breath, and Living Water
Such a marvelous mystery

Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and
Glory and power be
To You the Only Wise King…

Congratulations to Stephanie Davis! She is the winner of the “Not So Fast” book by Ann Kroeker. Stay tuned for more giveaways!