a few retail strip malls and wasn’t surprised to see some new office buildings on the east side of the city. Indy was always changing.
She saw the large red and white K.S. Fitness sign from the highway and pulled off on the correct exit. She popped the van’s rear door open and pulled out two of her hoops. James had suggested in his email that having one heavier hoop along with her usual one might help her learn some of the new moves quickly.
She was greeted by a tall, muscular woman with purple-tipped short blonde hair when she entered the large, brightly lit building with lots of windows. The woman smiled at her from behind a counter.
“Welcome to K.S. Fitness! I’m Kayla. How can I help you?” Lily instantly liked Kayla’s light, cheery voice.
“I’m here for a hoop class,” she replied, trying to take a deep breath and calm her pounding heart.
“Oh, you’re Lily. Nice to meet you. Follow me, I’ll show you where to go.” Lily nodded and put her hoops on her shoulder.
“You must be pretty special,” Kayla commented, “James hasn’t given anybody one-on-one lessons in a long time.” Her gentle voice was teasing, but Lily instantly clenched her hand into a fist. She struggled to find a response.
“I’m just, um, average.”
“You won’t be after some lessons with James. He’s won The Circle three times.” Lily’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“The Circle?”
“Yeah, you know, the big national hoop competition held in Chicago every year?” Kayla opened a door and Lily slowly followed her. She was surprised to see an entire wall of mirrors on one side of the room, which had a tall ceiling, light grey walls, and a dark brown hardwood floor. The lighting was bright, but not overpowering. She heard some fast, Latin-style music in the background.
“There she is!” Lily heard James exclaim as he strolled away from a corner. “Thanks, Kayla.”
“Anytime, Babycakes,” Kayla responded. Despite her nerves, Lily chuckled as Kayla quietly closed the door behind her.
“I take it you know her?” she asked, working to keep her voice steady.
“We’re pretty much best friends. How are you doing?” James asked politely, smiling warmly at her. Lily noticed he was clean-shaven today and wearing a white “K. S. Fitness” t-shirt and black shorts. She also saw that he had gotten a haircut.
‘He looks even better than last time,’ she thought, then mentally kicked herself.
“I’m good. And you?”
“I am excellent!” James exclaimed. Lily couldn’t help a little smile at his enthusiasm as she hung up her jacket on a nearby peg and put her purse in a cubby next to it.
“So, tell me exactly what you’d like to learn today,” he continued as he grabbed an untaped hoop and twirled it on the floor in front of him.
Lily realized she hadn’t given any consideration to what new skills she wanted to gain. She took a moment to think about some recent hooping videos she had watched on You Tube.
“Well, I haven’t done much walking while I hoop. I just kind of stay in one place and turn. I think I’d like to start with that.”
“Great!” The light in James’ eyes told her he was sincere. “That is so important to do. Movement takes hooping from just being an exercise to becoming the beautiful dance that it is.”
James explained to Lily that they would do some gentle stretches and warm ups before learning drills that she could work on at home to improve her movement. Lily nearly forgot her fears as she listened intently. They came right back to her, however, when they started stretching and she could see herself in the wall of mirrors. It brought Lily to a complete halt.
“What’s wrong?” James asked, noting her wide blue eyes.
“Um, do I have to face those mirrors?” James nearly sighed, but reminded himself that he had to tread lightly.
“Actually, it’s important that you do practice in front of a mirror or a video camera as often as possible,” he said sincerely, “As you work on your skills and your flow-”
“Flow?”
“Uh huh. Flow is the transition from one concept to the next, the connection of your mind and body to the movement. Its definition varies from person to person. You want your flow to be smooth and seamless.” Lily nodded.
“So watching yourself as you hoop will help you correct any problems quickly.” His explanation made sense to her mentally, but she couldn’t stop herself from shaking a bit.
“My ‘dictionary’ definition of flow is the state that you experience when the mind, body and object or activity sync together. It’s a place where thought and time dissolve, but your mind is still moving your body. It comes with the practice of your art but requires the opposite of trying. It’s reached during any sort of exercise and is found in yoga, meditation and martial arts. Artists, writers, actors, dancers, musicians, craftsmen and athletes, they all experience the flow state.” He saw Lily nervously glance one more time at the mirror.
“Tell you what. Just focus on me right now. Ignore the mirror for today. Okay?” She nodded again. “I know you can do this, Lily. Let’s have some fun this morning,” James said encouragingly.
He purposefully had her do some extra stretches to relieve tension before they did some simple waist hooping to warm up. Lily kept her eyes on him, resolving to avoid seeing her reflection in the mirror. Soon James was showing her how to walk not just forward, but in a weave pattern, in circles, and sideways.
She actually burst out laughing when he had Lily do a “model walk” by criss crossing her legs in front of each other while strutting forward. James explained how to do each movement in simple terms, and demonstrated everything slowly for her. He was remarkably patient, even when she dropped her hoop a few times.
“Everyone drops their hoop, or sends it rolling, no matter what level you’re at. No biggie,” he commented.
Lily began to lose herself in the lesson and was determined to remember each step. She eventually gathered enough courage to watch herself in the mirror as she walked sideways while still keeping the hoop moving around her waist. When she unconsciously changed the direction of its twirl, James whistled softly.
“You change currents- the directions in which you can twirl your hoop- very smoothly,” he said, “That’s not easy for even some advanced hoopers to do.” Lily only felt a little heat rise to her face this time.
She felt fairly winded as her session neared its end. They did a few more stretches to cool down to some softer, slower music.
“Something else I’d like to know. What about your hands?” Lily asked.
“Oh, you noticed? They are kind of rough and calloused. I really need to get some special hand cream or something,” James joked. She shook her head and grinned. “Oh, you mean what do you do with your hands as you’re hooping! Gotcha.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“There are a lot of things you can do, the possibilities are limitless. But we’ll start with some of them next Tuesday. Sound like a plan?” She nodded.
“Good.”
He was silent as she gathered her hoops, purse, and jacket. James opened his mouth, and then closed it. Lily noticed his hesitation.
“Is everything okay?” She asked, wondering if she had done something wrong.
“Yeah. I just wanted to say that you did well today. No, make that great. I rarely see anyone catch on to things as quickly as you do.” Lily could see the sincerity in his eyes and feel it in his voice. For once she didn’t blush.
“Wow, um, thanks,” she murmured.
“See