Hula Hooping Our Way to the End

                It is finally time for my last blog, and I was given quite the fun class period to blog about. We had a senior Therapeutic Recreation student come talk to us about her love for hooping and how she hopes to use it therapeutically in the future. Hooping is the art of hula hooping being put to use for either a fun form of recreation, or a spiritual, therapeutic escape. She told us her story and how she got into Therapeutic Recreation and then how she got interested in hula hooping.  After giving us some background about herself and the hobby, she showed us a few videos about the hula hooping life. These videos and her stories showed how the hobby can be beneficial and used for much more than just a simple talent. For some people, they even consider it a way of life, like the people in the “Hula Hoping Life” video.

                We then were taught how to make our own hula hoops with tubing, attachment pieces, and duck tape.  We measured the tubing to how big we wanted our hoop to be, then cut it and put the two ends on either side of the attachment piece. We then blow dried them for 2-3 minutes, loosening up the rubber tubing and allowing us to shape them and push them into the attachment pieces more easily. After that, it was time to decorate! We could pick any color duck tape or design and decorate them however we pleased.  Once we were done, we got to put our hula hooping skills to the test and all went outside to hula hoop! It was easier than I thought it would be, yet challenging enough and surprisingly a good work out!

                Hula hooping seems like a simple toy and activity. After this final class however, we learned the secret benefits behind the hobby and how it could be used in Therapeutic Recreation. Hooping has many great aspects to it, including the use of coordination and skill, a good, yet not too strenuous work out, a connection of the mind and body, and of course, a fun time! Someone hooping could express themselves with making and decorating their hoop, relieve stress by letting their mind drift as they hoop, and even have a spiritual experience if they wish! This is definitely an innovative activity that isn’t seen very often, but never the less, a great intervention that a Therapeutic Recreation Specialist can keep in mind!