Circle of health

JESSICA MCGOWAN / COX NEWS SERVICE Instructor Lara Eastburn gives tips on hooping it high during the class she teaches at Jai Shanti Yoga in Atlanta. When James Abele tells people he enjoys hooping, they often respond with, "Isn't that for kids?" or "Isn't that for girls?"

But Abele, an Internet consultant who lives in Atlanta, says, "Unless you've seen people doing this, it's hard to imagine. It's not just back and forth across your waist."

And while Abele and others in Atlanta's hooping community — yes, there's a whole community — do indeed hoop around their waists, they also hoop around their arms, legs, torsos, heads, wrists and feet. And these hooping enthusiasts aren't messing around with plastic, pink Hula Hoops. They use bigger, heavier hoops made out of irrigation tubing that are much easier to rotate around the body.

Hooping is back

According to hooping.org, an online magazine, the hoop is experiencing a resurgence. The magazine gives some credit to the band the String Cheese Incident for tossing hoops out to fans during concerts in the mid-1990s.

Hoopers James Abele and Cara Morantz participate in hooping class at Jai Shanti Yoga. Hooping has evolved from a kids' activity to an intense cardio workout. But now the hoop has gone beyond just a concert prop; people are incorporating it into their exercise routines. Celebrities like Marisa Tomei, who used it to get in shape for her role in "The Wrestler," thank the hoop for their fabulous bodies. And Wii Fit has a hooping game.

The trend seems to be spreading from west to east, starting with California.

Lara Eastburn discovered hooping at a music festival in Louisiana back in 2002. "I've never been a dancer. I was embarrassed to dance in public," she says. But when she saw a hoop lying in the grass, she says she thought she could dance without technically dancing. "I had so much fun that I hooped for 12 hours straight."

After returning to Atlanta, she decided to make her own hoop. "I finally figured it out and I must have hooped four hours a day for a year." In fact, she loved hooping and making hoops so much that she and a friend decided to start their own hoopmaking company, Superhooper.org

Healthy hooping

Eastburn also teaches hoop dance classes at Jai Shanti Yoga in the Candler Park area of Atlanta. Abele became one of her hooping students about a year and a half ago. He says that taking one of Eastburn's classes is similar to going to a dance club and not leaving the dance floor for an hour.

But is it a workout? "Oh Gosh, yes," says Eastburn. "You're jumping, moving your arms; there's not a body part that you don't use."

Abele says, "The reason I like it as a workout is I don't feel like I'm working out; I feel like I'm having fun listening to music. I get my heart rate up and, 'oh, wow, I get some exercise.' "

And besides the cardio benefits, both Abele and Eastburn say that hooping allows them to meditate. "It's very much about flow and it makes you focus on the present moment, not thinking about problems at home or what happened yesterday that didn't go right," says Abele.

"A lot of people, including myself, find it amazing for depression," says Eastburn. "I actually started hooping in the middle of a break-up."

Eastburn insists that absolutely anybody can hoop — even those with no coordination.

"Most people will say, especially adults, 'Oh, I can't hoop.' They're thinking of children's hoops. I can't hoop with one of those things either. But the way that these things are weighted and built, I've never seen anybody pick one up and not be able to do it."

She invites new hoopers to attend her "Hooping for Beginners" class. Eastburn has hoops beginners can borrow, so they can easily give it a try — whether it's for some exercise, relaxation or just a pick-me-up.

"It changes a bad mood in seconds," says Eastburn. "There's no way to hoop without smiling."