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Hooposophy articles are written by
Superhooper.org's Lara Eastburn
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Turn off the Music
Odds are the thought of hooping naked has at least crossed your mind. Either as a
passing thought at which you furrowed your brow, or as a possibility that truly piqued
your curiosity.

Or perhaps you're one of the many hoopers who has tried it. In 2006, a group of
young
hoopers in Brattleboro VT attracted world media after hooping naked in a
parking lot for nearly an hour. But more recently, it seems, hooping in the buff has
picked up speed. This year at Burning Man,
one camp hosted an hour of hooping "au
naturel" each and every morning of the week. In January, well-known burlesque and
vaudeville hooper Miss Saturn hooped naked at her
30th birthday extravaganza.
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"Oh how funny- I've wanted to try this for a while but I wanted access to a full length mirror at the same time, so I made sure the
(18th floor) hotel room we have booked for our upcoming vacation has a big enough sliding glass door that I can turn on the lights
(late at night) and watch my own reflection, hooping naked.  I'm glad people are finding value in this- yes, I wanted to feel it but I
also wanted to see it just once!  I definitely won't be filming this one, I don't want to see it in slow motion!" -10/26/10

"When I need to hoop for release or to hoop for my soul I wait till everyone is bed, the house is quiet and I strip down and hoop. I
love it because at that point I don't care what I look like, I don't care if the hoop looks good, I just let go... and in letting go I find what
I was missing all along." ~Amanda, 9/16/10

"Ha ha, my friend posted this on my wall! thanks for the mention! for me it was all about body positivity, and freedom!  Big loves
hoopers" - frenchy xxx dreads 'n' hoops xxx, 9/15/10
Spinning Naked: What Happens When You
Take Your Clothes Off and Put Your Hoop On?
In June, Claire French of Dreads 'n' hoops, danced nude for the British reality TV show, Naked Office. And a
quick Google search will give up a list of videos and photos of folks spinning topless, nude, or working more skin
into their burlesque hooping routines.

But then, these are all examples of public performance.
Who's hooping naked in the privacy of their own
homes, and what are they getting out of it?
 After meeting over 1600 hoopers this year on the road, I can tell
and shredding for an audience, who's to say what we do with the shades drawn?

Hoopnotica's HoopMamma
blogged in 2008 about what she learned from de-robing and jumping into her hoop
one August evening, in her living room with daughter sleeping on the couch nearby. She discusses how hooping
in the nude helped soothe her body-issues, but also writes that "more importantly,
there is a sensory
experience that occurs that is TOTALLY missed out upon when hooping clothed
."

I've hooped naked only once. And I chose purposely to do it with fire ('cause, y'know, I figured lighting would be
important?). Why, you ask, did the idea even occur to me? That, indeed, is the question. It's not like I've
ever
imagined that running, or playing soccer, in the nude would be an awesome idea. In
retrospect, I suppose my reasons were similar to those one has when skinny dipping. I
wanted to feel my hoop, like the caress of the ocean, turn around
all of my skin. And
sure, there was the allure of innocent but clandestine fun.  At the time, the relationship
between my body and my hoop had attained its initial period of peacetime --
the first
round of bruises had faded, and I was enjoying my first extended stints in hooping
effortlessly.
Was my clothing, I wondered, like my mental resistance, yet
another obstacle I could remove between my blundering movements and the
hope of discovering my "flow" in the hoop?

My one, short, and solitary experience certainly suggested to me that there's a lot
more going on than a gratuitous thrill. My ego was surely not participating in the
equation. Concern for how I might look lay on the floor forgotten beneath the pile of
my clothes. Instead, I found myself attentive to the most minute of details of my body's
dance- the instinctive work of my muscles, the confident precision of my feet, my
posture. I became aware of how I hold myself when there's no other thought holding
me back. I hardly felt sexy - sensual, perhaps, tribal, ancient, open.
For lack of a
better formulation, I'd venture to say my soul was hooping.  
Hooping naked did
change how I hoop clothed. And I may just have to do it again.
Hooper, Miami Beach, New
Year's Eve 2009
Photo TheInsider.com
What's your take on spinning solo in the buff, if you so dare, Hooposophy readers?