Wellllll, we're working on that Danny Boy!

I absolutely agree with you Tracy! That is exactly the path I have taken and I think the results have been fabulous. I know that during those times in the beginning when I had no one around to show me anything I would have killed for a class. What takes me months to break down and process I can pass on to students in less than 10 minutes. Sometimes it is frustrating to watch things come so easy to others that were very difficult for me but I think that is just my fate in life. That is where I stood with poi and now with hoop. But I get a great satisfaction with knowing that I climbed this ladder on my own and when I get something it means so much more because it was so hard. I love to share what I can when I can and teaching the classes gives me the opportunity to do that guilt free. I can pull away from my tremendous responsibilities and hoop knowing that by getting paid it will make our lives easier. Otherwise, no one would benefit from the journey I have taken because no one would get a chance to see it. You Tube is one way and I don't get to interact with other hoopers which is a huge part of the whole picture. But on that rare occasion that I have free time, I love to hoop jam! And when that happens, I will be sure to post it here on Richmond Hoopers tribe so we can spend some time together in a "friendly, non business, hoop session". Good luck on your hooping journey Tracy, I look forward to seeing your hoop flow in person sometime!

Hoop Hug,
Cari

You can "just share" anything with the world. Does that mean we should not get paid for anything? What do you do for a living? Couldn't you "just share" that too?

I must be honest, I, too, was self taught -- originally. Studing with teachers propelled my own learning through the roof. But it came after years and years of being the only hooper in my area. Now I teach. And my students progress faster, farther (which is unsettling) and with less injures than I ever did. I had eight people leg hooping in one class. It took me three years to get that. My students are also more technically proficient now, in a short time, than I was after a long time (I am too. Teaching definitely teaches the teacher.)

Yes, we can learn anything on our own but if we had to learn everything on our own, imagine how long it would take to learn anything! I, for one, would not have a refrigerator or a car if I had to invent and build these things from scratch. I wouldn't know psychology or medicine. We are all standing on the shoulders of teachers, whether or not we realize it or give them credit.

I am grateful for those who have already paid the price to learn the things I wish to learn and who are willing and able to pass it on to me. Big props to them.

Learning in a class has other benefits as well. It is a structured learning environment that also includes the elements of synergy that come from learning in a large group of people. I have a hoop jam every week in Raleigh but people still enjoy my classes and come to them too. Every week. In fact, just last week, one student told me that it was the cheapest mental health care that she could buy. On top of that, you are carving out a space and setting the intention to practice and learn on a regular basis, something that is easy to skip when you're doing it on your own. You are learning in an environment specifically chosen for its learning potential. The teacher is taking time out of their busy schedule, and also from their own hooping and play, to develop curriculum, select and burn music, find the perfect space and pay to rent it, just to teach us. Finally, you are drawing upon lessons they have learned from a variety of sources over a period of years and synergized in the melting pot of their experience, lessons that only they can pass on. You don't have to find and source all those lessons yourself. Someone has already done that work for you. Sometimes, weeks or even years of study can be distilled into one short lesson. (Take the leg hooping example.) Those things are valuable.

As Cari perhaps unwittingly pointed out in agreeing with Tracy, you are paying for someone's time. Firefly has agreed to make her time available every week, in addition to everything else, and that, too, is valuable. I don't see someone else offering to do that.

I understand your desire to hoop with other hoopers and learn in an informal environment Tracy but I disagree with posting it here. It feels disrespectful to Firefly. Perhaps you did not mean to undermine her, someone who has gone out on a limb (in a variety of ways) to share with others in a formal learning environment, but this feels undermining and disrespectful to me. Firefly deserves better.

I know FireFly. I have watched her over the years study and grow as a hooper and I know she has the skills, the passion and the drive to be a good teacher. I know she helped build and works hard to support the hoop community there in Richmond. I think she rocks and I think anyone who has the opportunity to learn under her tutelage is incredibly lucky and blessed. I encourage people to take her class and to support her and all teachers, everywhere. They are an incredibly underappreciated group of people.

With love and light,
Caroleeena