I already have my yoga pages up and running (website, facebook page and Instagram) when I decided to take up and complete a Hoop Coach (Teaching) Certification.
I was mulling over dozens of questions during the process and even after.
How will I position myself as a Hoop Teacher when I am already a Yoga Teacher and especially when I pretty much have my entire set up laid out?
How will I find students? How will people know I also teach it? Do I change my website ? Do I design another ? Do I change the name of my social media accounts? Do I come up with a new one just for hooping? If yes, what should I call it ? Should I combine Yoga and Hooping like other people ? Do I want to teach Hooping that way?
I did not know what to do with it for the longest time. Little did I know, it's just a matter of going back to the fundamental reason why I was drawn to specific activities as a teacher or as a student to figure it out.
I hope my thought process will help you as well if you're in the same boat as I was. So let's go back to how it started...
I fell in love with Hooping for the same reason I chose the Yoga Classes I teach. I don't teach all yoga classes, in fact I avoided some as a student and of course I've avoided teaching them. I teach Gentle Yoga on both the mat and SUP and Yoga Trapeze for adults, tweens and kids. I also discovered that I had the same reason why I am practicing all my other interests as a student : Acro Yoga, Aerial Hammock, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Poi. They focus on one, two if not all of these elements : Coordination, Flexibility and Balance with the Strength element injected to them but not intentionally (let's say it's not like having a leg day where you know you're going to have a leg day, therefore you had a leg day and felt every waking moment that you're having leg day).
I also tried and decided not to push through with some other classes, out of sheer lack of connection to it such as Aikido, Weight Training, Ballet, Aerial Silk (yes there's a difference with Aerial Hammock) and Boxing. I mean don't get me wrong, I'd still would like to do these classes here and there, but it is not something that stuck to my routine.
The movements of all the physical activities I liked have one thing in common : Fluidity and you simply flow with the movements.
They are neither too easy nor too hard. The movements require just the right amount of coordination, strength, flexibility and balance to start, so any person can do them and enjoy the classes earlier on
I know they say that for a lot of things, but let's face it, some things really are relatively easier than others.
So these classes helped me build on coordination, strength, balance and flexibility without even noticing it.
It's like going to swim laps in a pool vs snorkeling & following along a school of fish. I could go snorkeling the entire day but I can barely last an hour swimming in a pool for a lot of reasons I can think of. Yes ofcourse, you gain way more with the first but you also get similar benefits (understandably less but you still do) with the latter.
It's like getting a bit of abs without even doing crunches...it's like learning how to be graceful without even realizing that you have learnt to be such, so on and so forth.
When I was studying yoga, I noticed, I was drawn to classes that had fluidity in the movement, a flow in the movement, a Meditative Flow as part of how the teachers structured their classes. I found teachers that I learnt from who stitched the poses together to form a sort of dance to it and these inspired me to craft classes in a similar fashion. Hooping teaches you the same, to bring the moves together so they can flow together.
I guess what I am trying to say is, if you're like me, and you want to go to a class and enjoy the class by flowing with the movement and forget about the time you spent with your practice, then Hooping may also be for you too. The movements obviously are not the same, but the principle is.
Which brings me to my original question, how will I position my Hoop Classes?
I guess the same way as how I've discovered it and got drawn to it and with the others that focus on fluidity. And if students have the same preference on their yoga classes, then they would naturally gravitate towards Hooping.
So I am not going to change the name of my website, it's still a Yoga website. It will be for Yoga Students who want to have an activity complementing their yoga practice.
But at the very least, I would add a section under "Classes" so you can come join me for a Hooping class right after or before your yoga class :)
This is my profile with the Global Hoop Love Teachers directory : https://hulahoopteachers.com/teacher/jardine-ong/