Breaking and balance.

Mmmmm ... breaking. It's my current hoop obsession. I've spent all of October focusing on my breaking technique.

What do I mean by breaking?

Breaks are a whole series of moves that involve breaking the flow of the hoop by hitting it [usually against a body part] and sending it back in the opposite direction. For example, you could be hooping around the shoulders and break using an elbow. Or you might break the flow of an off-body move by hitting the hoop against your knee.

Breaking is usually done in quick succession so the hoop is going back and forth, back and forth. In this it differs from reversing, which is simply sending the hoop in the opposite direction. Then there's paddling, which is propulsion of the hoop using the hand on the inside of the hoop.

These moves were pioneered by Jonathan Baxter of The Hoop Path; but in my opinion you couldn't get a better set of breaks than those by the lovely Caterina Suttin. If you watch the video clip above, you'll see what I mean.

What I have learned from practising my breaks this month is balance. In hooping, there is a risk that your body can become unbalanced if you focus only on your dominant side. [It's something I'm always aware of when I hoop - I practise my non-dominant current all the time and try to incorporate it into my flow.] To do breaks successfully you must learn balance: between both sides of your body, between both currents. Otherwise they just don't happen.

Maybe that's why I love breaks so much.

Happy hooping,
Anne-Marie x