Hoop it up

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking a hooping workshop here in Tokyo. That's right, I took a class on how to hula hoop. Apparently hooping is very hot right now, maybe even the new pole-dancing? I figured the class would be easy but an experience last month should have forewarned me. I was shopping at one of those mega electronic stores that happened to also sell hula hoops for children. Look! I told the beau, did you ever do this when you were younger? (No) Then, while remembering how easy it used to be, I proceeded to make a total fool out of myself in the toy aisle trying to get this damn ring of plastic to swing around me. Fall to the floor at my feet was more like it.

Fast forward to the hooping class. The class began and everyone picked up their adult-sized hoops and started hooping like it wasn't no thang. Who the hell are these bitches I wondered?! Didn't I sign up for the beginners class?! You are probably laughing at me by this point, I don't blame you, I mean how hard can hula hooping be? Quite hard, I discovered. By the end of the class I finally managed to get the hang of it but not without feeling like a total dunce! And I used to think I knew how to use my hips! I have now been schooled. Luckily the teacher was absolutely fantastic and could even make a dunce like me feel like doing it again. Just in case you're wondering, it's not just about the hip hooping, so don't imagine a room full of people spinning hoops around their waists for hours and hours. These hoop pros have really thought out of the box on this one and it's basically turned into a new dance form. There are even performances at "hot spots" around town.

Lucky for me the class wasn't too new agey or let's embrace the inner goddess because quite honestly, being a corporate bitch has sucked every ounce of spirituality out of me and I just don't have the patience. How sad does that sound? Well I am getting a hoop very soon I hope and despite what the locals think I will soon be spinning around the park by my apartment embracing my inner something and letting out all those Kaisha toxins. More than the hoop tricks I really need to learn how not to bruise myself as after that class, I had a mother of a bruise that looked a bit like Papua New Guinea snaking around my left hip, which concerned some people in the changing room despite my reassuring smiles that it was all in the name of hoop love.