Good for you Mimi. Here is a little video that Jaguar Mary shot of me talking about a ritual I do that you might like, especially the first part about drawing to you everything you need and sending away from you what you don't: www.youtube.com/watch

Also, you might do an exercise where you have them discuss what hooping it to them. Likely they'll say it makes them feel pretty or beautiful while also feeling safe (or you can fascilitate that in some way). Also, you could discuss the aspect of hoops as hugs you have chosen, empowering them not to eshew hugs but to choose their hugs.

Don't underestimate the power of "just play" though. Play gives us confidence, it helps us transform negative energy and heal our bodies, it makes us feel powerful -- all things that would be helpful here.

Good luck in your work. I will ponder on this more and see if there are other suggestions I can think of.

First of all... you are a gift, Mimi. Thank you so much for sharing this - it gave me hope today.

Just thinking on my end in terms of facilitating discussion -
You could begin and end with a circle where some thoughts are shared - creating a space for them to share one good thing that happened that day, or whatever might be on their minds that they want to let go of. You could start by telling them something that happened in your day, one choice you made that you were proud of, or one thing that happened that hurt your feelings. You could ask them to name one thing about themselves they like and share that. Foster some positive self-love. After hooping you could ask them how they feel, if they notice any difference, and talk about some goals they might want to achieve in the hoop. Success with creating and meeting short term goals seems to lead to more confidence in creating long term ones and building up that well of "I can do it" ammo for later.

What about encouraging them to think of something, no matter how small or simple, that made them happy, feel loved or safe, and asking them to close their eyes and focus on it. Take that joyful feeling and begin to hoop with it - hold the space for that feeling and dance with it, make it grow... I like to use the hoop as a symbol, personally. It's a big space capable of holding all kinds of feelings, both happy and sad ones. While my hooping can be a catalyst for joy, it's also a tool to help me move through pain and frustration, too, especially for things that I can't find the words to verbalize. The circle is a safe place to be and can foster a feeling of confidence, self-reliance and child-like joy.

I would also not discount the enormity of simply playing. Maybe this is more from an adult standpoint, but when I have been consciously working on letting go of painful parts of my past, having 10 minutes of play in my hoop was the greatest thing... it was normalcy. A way to not think about things bothering me that I was otherwise thinking about all day long. That was more healing for me than talking ever was - the ability to access joy and a feeling of normalcy. When someone hurts you it can make you feel broken beyond repair - like you've got this big sign on your forehead that says "DAMAGED". For me, hooping took that sign away, even just for a little while. There is a quote I love that says "What we focus on, we breathe life into". I think there is a lot to that when someone is healing... the more we focus on things that bring us joy and a feeling of love, the closer those positive feelings come to the surface for easier access later on. They might not eclipse the pain, but it levels some of it out.

Maybe some of this is a bit much for an 8-11 year old age range... but those were my thoughts after reading your post. Love to you, Mimi.

It might be awesome to have everyone bring in a song that makes them feel amazing & compile them into a mix CD for them to hoop to...

How about taking in a whole bunch of tubing, tape and connectors and let each one of them make their own hoop. They could each write a letter to put into the tube to be sealed inside the hoop. The letters could be about anything they like, but maybe suggesting to them they write about all the things in life that give them joy and all the good thing about themselves, so they can keep the hoop as a special circle of happiness that they can use to surround themselves when times get hard.