Oasis
Hoop Retreat

About this hooper​

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Hi☺️ My name is Lauren & I started hooping in 2014 , after I moved from Ohio to Colorado all by myself. I don’t have a storied history of performing or teaching. I hoop for myself: I hoop to give myself confidence, to be present in the moment, to remind myself I can do anything I put my mind to. When I first moved to Colorado, I lived by a park & I would go there to just pass time & to try to make friends. I noticed there was ALWAYS a group of people at this park, playing with all kinds of different flow toys. The hula hoops grabbed my attention. So graceful, so smooth, so freakin’ beautiful. It just looked like it felt SO GOOD! So I decided that is what I wanted to do: learn how to dance with hula hoops. I learned how to make my own hoops using irrigation tubing (IYKYK😅), watched endless hours of tutorials on YouTube (shout out to the fabulous Caterina Sutton-your videos were some of my first & favorite inspiration 🤩), and practiced my butt off in my little studio apartment. “What is an escalator?!” “I can pick my hoop up from my waist and make it look like it’s floating?!” “WOW, THIS IS A WORKOUT”

I fell in love: dancing, learning new tricks, activating both my body & my mind in a way that was totally new. I gathered my courage & my hoops and went to the park. I was so anxious & intimidated about hooping in public. I kept showing up but was too scared to hoop 🥺 I felt like I wasn’t good enough. One person, who eventually became a dear friend, saw me sitting anxiously near the flow group. She approached me & said Hi. She was also new to Colorado too & wanted to make friends. ⭕️🤝⭕️ She showed me her hoops: she had one beautiful shimmery silver polypro hoop & some irrigation hoops she made herself. She asked if I wanted to hoop with her on the edge of the rest of the group because she was shy/anxious too. I immediately said yes & the two of us had a fantastic time hooping with our home made hoops, near the big group but still in our own bubble. We exchanged numbers and the rest is history. We would venture to the park together 2-3x a week and encourage one another to not worry about being ‘good enough’, to release the anxiety & ‘dance like no one is watching,’. My dear friend soon moved out if state but this simple act of kindness gave me so much confidence. She clued me into the Instagram hoop world, where I discovered workshops and retreats. I found a local weekend workshop & decided I would go, solo. I am SO proud of myself for going to that event. I am pretty introverted & still felt ‘not good enough’…so going to a workshop solo was scary. But it ended up being magical & honestly life changing!!! It was the catalyst for me deciding that these are my people. That this community was a place to feel free, to connect with myself & to feel completely non-judged. Everyone was so welcoming & kind. I met so many incredible people at this single event. I felt free and like I found my people. I didn’t need to be perfect; these people cheered and propped up EVERYONE. I met the fabulous MissHoopDiDoo, TechSwan, and many other amazing hoopers that I had admired from afar. FINALLY-After a few awkward years, the hoop community felt like my safe space. I still hoop for myself: my mental & physical health and, to maintain friendships with this incredible group of humans. I still feel the most free & safe when surrounded by my hoop friends. I have gained so much confidence from hooping. I kept attending local workshops and fostering friendships. Hooping is now my primary exercise & method of grounding. (I work in an intense & sedentary field-I need a release,). I have met so many amazing people through hooping. I have traveled to some beautiful places simply for hooping. For self care & preservation. Deciding to learn how to dance with hoops has been such a blessing. I now feel like the pretty, pretty princess I always wanted to be but couldn’t see as possible. Hooping has kept me sane in an increasingly insane world. I can’t imagine what my life would look like without this strong, fantastic community of hoopers. 🖤💜💙. I've gotten to meet so many amazing people from putting myself out there because of how welcoming the community is!