My blindfold hooping is rare... mostly because I am normally hooping on my porch or in my living room, which are pretty tight spaces. I have to keep an eye out for walls, bird feeders, etc... I need to g ooutside, visible to all of my neighbors, which is really a great time to be blindfolded because I don't see them looking at me. I also can't look at me, so i save myself the needless scrutiny.

I liked how you described it is "getting yourself in a more tactile place". That's exactly it for me. It intensifies my hoop bonding time (and my self bonding time), simply by taking away sight and letting the feel take over. I am surprised by how different it feels, the hoop against any part of my body, when I cant just look down or up or over and watch it turn. I know what it feels like to hoop, I know the weight, every nick in the tape...but take away my ability to see it and it's like someone else's hoop altogether. It's a little startling.

It does turn off my brain in a good way - the incessant blabbering of "oops, that angle was weird...what am I going to make for dinner? Oh, there's that neighbor with the pink leash on her dog....man, that car is loud....oh, the sky....did I call so and so back?" On and on... When I am blindfolded, time does not matter. What I am doing with the hoop does not matter. I am not impatient with myself at all. I am content to just stand there and waist hoop, which when I am able to see I get distracted from very easily. Blindfolding makes me travel inward and outward all at once... I am very sensitive to touch, almost to the point of it being overwhelming, when I can not see the object hitting my skin. When I am unable to see myself hoop, it feels the most like a gift to myself. It feels the most like a loving dance.

It is also nice to shut my stupid ego up for a while, too. :)

Sharna Rose, you sweet Channel,

I bow to you and the Love which shines from you. You’re one of the reasons I still come back to tribe.net and I have loved reading your posts/blogs and watching your videos over the years. You’re a great Community member even from so far away. Before I wrote anything else, I wanted say to you that the feeling you have for me is mutual. Thank you for the Love you have shown to me, and thank you for the Love you have shown so many others. I consider you a ‘Madre’ within this fledgling Community and I’m honored that we are friends.

You have asked about a technique that has meant so much to me on this path, that I feel compelled to add my thoughts to this discussion. Reading these posts is very funny for me, because all of the reasons that have been mentioned have at one time or the other been a reason for me to go blind. Eventually, all the reasons grew together into a very solid acceptance of the blindfold’s place and importance in my Training.

My ancestors of the Hoop have said to me repeatedly, “there are many Winds.” It certainly applies to the use of blindfolds in one’s Practice. It’s not for everybody. Each of us takes hold of this world in different ways. For some, their eyes are essential in finding and moving about holds on the proverbial climbing wall. Without sight, some have told me it feels as though they are in ‘freefall.’ To have these types of Hoopers blindfold themselves is equivalent to spinning them around until dizzy and asking them to then run as fast as they can. I have had the honor of hooping with other ‘Madres’ and I can say that each of them had different relationships to being blindfolded: some of them used blindfolds a lot, some not so much.

My own experience with the blindfold has honestly been life changing. There are two main reasons I started hooping blind: the first reason, was that I was tired of worrying about witnessing someone’s reaction to my hooping in my backyard, the second reason was that I (later) did not want to be witness to anything other than the pe*A*ce (rhythmic balance) between my hoop and myself. As time has gone on, I have pulled further and further away from the outside world when I am Within no matter what or where the setting.

It was at Burning Man in 2006, when I first started hooping Blind in public spaces. It was weird at first, but I remember being nervous and thinking the blind would calm my nerves. It did. I think I might have only hooped ten minutes or less when I came out. A woman came up to me and hugged me and said, “Thank you for your gift.” I am so grateful she was the first person I saw for I took it to Heart. (I had gone that year to ‘give’ my hooping prayers to the Playa.)

One of the biggest reasons I used the blindfold early on is that, unfortunately, for most of my life, demons (insecurities) have used the gateways of my eyes to infiltrate my consciousness. Like mosquitoes, they come inside and bite me again and again, breaking my concentration and creating a chaotic discomfort within which I can find no peace. Demons have a way of needling me with useless questions regarding my appearance to others and mocking my replies. At the end of most days, I think these conversations are more destructive than helpful, and I find my participation in these exchanges to be moments of life not fully lived. So I go blind, thus, denying an entry to these triggers of insecurity. Of course, this doesn’t mean I don’t have insecure feelings when hooping blind. Rather, it means there are fewer and therefore, I am not as overwhelmed and I am able to be more present within the Current of that moment. Subsequently, those moments of real connection and presence strengthen my resolve to work on the weaknesses upon which these demons feed. Going blind is not a denial of insecurity, but of its triggers. Wrestling with one insecurity can be enough to inhibit one’s expression, but taking on many insecurities at once can flat out destroy it. A Warrior understands that the isolated foe is more easily defeated than when in the company of his allies. By going blind, I am able to have greater control of when and how I deal with my weaknesses and insecurities. The result of this training, for me, is that it now takes much more nasty and vicious demons, to break me from Calm than it once did (both in and out of my hoop.)

As a teacher of Hooping, I think there is much to learn from being blindfolded away from the reasons I just mentioned. Sometimes, hoopers are more connected to what move they are going to pull off next, than to what rhythms are happening in the now. “Next. Next. Next.” As a hoop mantra can create a “hurry up” tempo and disrupt a natural Flow from forming. From what I have experienced, Flow gathers itself like winds do. I have seen in many of my students and in my own practice, that the blindfold seems to awaken a Patience in hoopers. Whatever the reason may be, there is, very often, a noticeable difference in the way someone moves the moment the blindfold is put on. Many, many times the difference is that their hooping looks smoother and more organic. Again, this does not apply to everyone, but I have seen it happen a lot since I began teaching.
If asked, I would probably say that I am a better hooper when I am not blind, but my best hoop feelings have almost all come when I was blindfolded. Probably for that reason more than any other these days, I spend about 70 percent of my practices hooping blind. I think it definitely is worth a try for everyone once.

[The teacher in me won’t let me get out of here without saying that I think it is good to condition yourself to hooping blind. For me, the initial feeling of disorientation and dizziness went away as I worked my way into longer and longer sessions.]

I love reading this tribe. Thanks to all of you who post here.

Sharna, thanks for asking this question. I love the answers so far, and the way it lets us see each other more clearly. It also helps me because I'm so derogatory about myself to hear that people like Baxter and Ann have both had feelings of inadequacy to over-come. To me that sounds impossible, but of course it's not, we are each haunted by our own nasty demons.

I tried blindfold hooping for the first time at our teacher training with Christabel the other week. I was quite nervous before we put the buffs on. At first I felt disoriented and thought I was leaning forward a lot. But I LOVED it! I felt instantly released. I was able to do all the things they asked, all the suggestions they made. I was obviously not very controlled because soft hands would come and guide me out of harms way on a regular basis. I liked it so much that I bought a buff there and then. The next time we tried it I found that I could really let go. I didn't care that I was thrashing my arms around and I learnt a most amazing new type of movement. I felt as if I had wound the hoop up to such a speed that my trunk was sort of oscillating, pulsing into the pushes. I felt as if I must look like a wave (good job I couldn't see because I doubt I looked anything like!) and I got such an endorphin rush from it.

By the end of the course I had bought 2 buffs and I love them. Not only do they control my hair which has a tendency to go wild when I get hot, but the feeling of blindfold is great. I can't do much with it yet. Just body hooping really. I have since done it in the village hall, but didn't have the right music or hoop to get the really fast pulsing moves going. I've not tried it in the garden. Mostly because I can be seen and I thought that might make people think I really had flipped. But you have inspired me to try it. I'm going out to give it a spin.

Great question. I'm really surprised Kitty to hear how you felt about it Isn't it funny how different experiences treat different people. As a child I used to get really panicked by having to walk through a dense crowd of people going against the flow. Now I get less panicked by it but very bad tempered. Most people wouldn't even notice it. We are all wonderfully different.

I had no idea that Christabel taught blind-folded hooping techniques. I always assumed that it was primarily a HoopPath technique. Do many people teach and use blindfolded hooping? Is it much more dagerous cause I tend to be clumsy with my eyes wide open. I can't imagine hooping without sight!

Thanks, Sharna, for posting this topic and engendering such a fascinating discussion.

Having encountered various posts and mentions of hooping 'blind', I had been experimenting in the relatively safe confines of my garden. The blindfold I used initially is called a 'mindfold' and blocks out all visible light. At first, I found it a little disorientating, but I learned to switch off my 'need' for vision and go into what you (Sharna) have so aptly refer to as a 'more tactile place'. After crashing into various plants and bushes from time to time as part of my learning process (it isn't a terribly large garden!), I learned it was OK to take a step or two. Once I allowed myself the freedom to move and learned to relate my direction and location to the music, hooping without sight became a very liberating experience.

It wasn't until Christabel introduced 'hooping in the buff' - with a heartfelt tribute and attribution to the Hoop Path - that I experienced hooping without sight in the midst of other hoopers. The experience of being safe (we were steered clear of obstacles where necessary), feeling unobserved and being able to centre without vision was incredibly liberating and I really enjoyed the freedom of expression it allowed. It certainly does seem to quiet the inner 'chatter' and allow a sense of immediacy and flow, which is very calming.

What Baxter and others have said (far better than I could) about finding inner peace and a kind of patience really makes sense to me, although there is still an enduring sense of the precarious when I practice on my own!

Something to explore individually, and collectively, methinks.

It is seems quite reasonable that, as with flavours of toothpaste, hooping while blindfolded isn't necessarily to everyone's taste, and that is OK, too. If we were all the same, how dull this world would be.
It is wonderful that each of us is able to find a way to explore ourselves and our potential in the hoop, no matter how we do it.
Long may we share the hoop vision - with or without a blindfold.

For me, hooping blind is a very powerful method of getting in touch with myself and my hoop. Yes, it has the potential to be dangerous but it's about establishing trust. I have hooped blind with Bax as well as Christabel and they have both made me feel very safe. I knew that they were keeping an eye on everyone to make sure that we weren't about to collide with mirrors, walls, or each other. I surrendered to that and had my trust validated when Bax gently moved me over slightly when I was getting to close to another hooper. Even before that happened, I figured eh, it's just a little smack if I get hit. I've been hit right in the face with other people's hoops on more than one occasion, so what's another bruise? :D

When hooping blind by myself, it's a matter of finding an environment where I can trust myself. Christabel has said that she hoops blind in her living room by standing with her legs pressed against the front of the couch so that she knows she isn't moving too close to the breakables and other furniture. I don't have enough space in my house for that, but I do have a studio that I rent once a week. It took me about nine months into my hooping before I made the switch from hooping at the park to hooping at a studio, but I LOVE it. I have total privacy, a nice flat even floor with no divots, dog crap, or mud, and I know that I can hoop blind without hitting anything. I had always assumed it would be really expensive to rent a studio, but it was a lot more reasonable than I thought it would be and I wish I'd done it sooner. Knowing that I won't trip over a dog or twist my ankle in the grass makes a huge difference in being able to trust myself while hooping blind.

This technique opened up my hooping so much. I had been at a plateau previous to my first Hoop Path workshop and hooping blind freed my mind, my body, and my hooping. Even now, I can still feel the difference in my hooping when I'm blind versus when I'm not. I try to capture that feeling of hooping blind when I'm hooping without a blindfold, but there is something about that abandoned, silky feeling that I only get when I'm hooping blind.

I love hooping blind because I am such a hooper fan that if you put me within reasonable proximity of other hoopers, I want to watch everyone else and take it all in. Often I will unintentionally begin mimicking whatever I see other people doing. The blindfold forces me to stop lookylooing and hoop without distraction. I love hooping blind with other blind hoopers because it takes away my self-consciousness. I know that no one can see me (except Bax or Christabel) so I stop worrying about what I look like or what I SHOULD do and dig deep into my hooping. I still get self-conscious when I know that one of my hooping role models is even in the same room with me. It's exhilarating to know that no one can see anyone else and that we are all just doing what feels good.