Usually, you don't read off a card while delivering a speech in Toastmasters. But in this case, I read a quote from Dr. Ramesh Balasubramaniam, a hooping researcher in Canada and the audience was pretty impressed that I could hoop and read while wearing heels. Plus, the fact that I pulled the card from out of my blouse added a little humor to the whole thing. What fun!
This morning I spoke at
Agape Toastmasters and delivered speech #7 from the Toastmaster’s Competent Communication manual. The objective of the speech is to research your topic. I had a blast hula-hooping while talking about physics and threw in some humor to keep it light.
When I first looked at the project, I was flooded with a sense of dread. I had flashbacks of the countless hours I spent in the basement of the library at Cal State Long Beach where I got my master’s degree.
Ever since I graduated, I’ve been slowly trying to recover from the creative trauma of constant analyzation and lately, I’ve gone so far as to make a commitment to have as much joy in my life as possible. This generally does not include spending countless hours in a windowless room filled with computers, books and metal bookshelves.
I had to put on my thinking cap to try and figure out how I could possibly attain joy while researching. I pondered, research? joy! research? joy! And then, a thought came to me, “I can research something that brings me joy…like Hula Hooping!”
Here are some hooping facts you might not know:
** Hoops were created out of grapevines and used for exercise in ancient Greece
** In 1958, the Whamo toy company sold more than 100 million Hula Hoop’s. The cost? $1.98
** At this very moment, Dr. Ramesh Balasubramaniam in Canada is actively researching the dynamics of hooping to try and better understand the mind/body connection
** Larger hoops are easier to keep up because of the principle known as conservation of angular momentum
** Heavier hoops are easier to keep up because of the law of inertia
If you think you can’t hoop, think again. It might be that you’ve been using the wrong kind of hoop. After my speech, two women who swore they have never been able to hoop were hoopin’ with ease within five minutes. It was a blast to see their faces light up.
Other things I discovered include hooping fitness classes and courses to become a certified hoop instructor. If I can raise the funds, I just might go for certification. In the meantime, I contacted the owner of Body Hoops and became an affiliate for selling hula hoops on-line. If you’d like to discover or rediscover the joys of hooping you can buy a hoop or a hooping DVD at bodyhoops.com and get $10 off! Simply go to bodyhoops.com and buy your stuff. Then, when you’re ready to check out, be sure to enter “sheri” in the form when it asks you for a coupon code. Most importantly, once you get your hoop, remember to have fun!
When I hear the words “I can’t” in my mind, I ignore it. If you want less fear and more joy, check it out.
The theme for the Halloween meeting at Agape Toastmasters was Overcoming Fear. I was the Toastmaster of the day. I sent out a group e-mail that said:
Last night, I did a presentation at the Whole Foods market in Torrance titled: Become Your Own Superhero – Slay the sabotuer and reclaim your life. 
