Meet Jaime, our Assistant Store Manager in Newcastle and maker of our unique and colorful hula hoops!
Jaime has been making her own adult sized hula hoops for several years and has been spreading the good hooping vibes for even longer. In honor of World Hoop Day today, we took a minute to find out what it is about hooping that makes Jaime so passionate.
“Hooping is a fun, healthy, and affordable activity. I first started hooping in 2005 when I went to a local festival. But I fell in love with hooping in 2007 when I went to Colorado with some friends to see the String Cheese Incident at Red Rocks. There were hoopers everywhere! They had these amazing hoopers on stage and I wanted to be as good as them. So when I got home I ordered a collapsible hoop online (the only hoop I ever bought) and began my journey. Hooping was not very popular yet on the East coast and they were not easy to find. So I began making them just for myself and friends. Then I would make a bunch and bring them to festivals with me to sell but also to teach people to hoop! My favorite memory is at Gathering of the Vibes in 2011 an older gentleman approached me and wanted to learn to hoop so he could be out in the field with his daughter hooping together. So over the course of a couple hours he found the hoop that fit him the best and we worked on basic hooping. Later that evening I got to see him hooping next to his daughter. Hooping brings people together, family or strangers. We are a unique community!”
What advice did Jaime have for beginners?
“Remember it’s not just moving your hips. It is a shift in weight from one foot to another. Plant one foot in front of the other instead of side by side, this way it is almost a pushing motion. Remember skill comes with repetition and practice. The hoop will fall, you will hit yourself in the head or face, just keep practicing and love the process. Hooping is healthy for you and your soul, it creates long lean core muscles, brings contentment and inner peace.”
Get your own hula hoop (handmade by Jaime!) at any Mexicali Blues store, or check out our collapsible travel hoops exclusively available here.
The post Happy World Hoop Day! Jaime Spreads the Hooping Love at Mexicali & Beyond! appeared first on Mexicali Blues Blog.
