Cassidy Wolfe and the Intersection of Cannabis and Flow

Just dropping by to send a shout-out to Cassidy Wolfe whose recent article on Weedist resonated with my experiences with flow. The Intersection of Cannabis and Flow opens with a well-researched, informative summary of the psychological of flow states, so it's worth a read even if you're not as interested in the cannabis angle.

With that said, Wolfe's anecdotal assertions about pot seem a bit less convincing after the research driven commentary on flow. However, given marijauna's limbo status as a medical treatment worthy of research and a controlled substance, it's not like Wolfe had research to draw on. Certainly I commend her for posting sources with an article on-line. And I certainly agree with her concluding assertion,

Based on this previous research, and my propositions about how flow would positively correlate with cannabis use, it would be beneficial for future studies to include cannabis as a prerequisite in order to see if the presence of cannabis alone allows for a more readily achieved flow state.

Arizona Hoop's photo shoot for NORML via hoopcity.ca

Why Are Hoopers Afraid of Competition?

These retro beach-babes enjoy competition.
Why can't we?

[I wrote this long ago for another website, but never ran it because...."it's not about competition"]

When Caitlin “Isopuppy” Hofer’s “Mini Hoop Tech” spiraled onto mainstream internet news outlets, the hooping community gave a cheer. However, the good news was quickly followed by some expressions of dismay and frustration. While The Daily Mail spoke in terms of “practice,” “natural ability,” and marveled at Caitlin’s use of yoga-inspired movement, People Magazine’s write-up concluded with the declaration, “It's not hard to understand why she's garnered recognition from her peers in the notoriously competitive hula-hooping community.”

Hoopers understandably lamented a focus on competition which they felt misrepresented our community. Yet People Magazine’s write-up and the conversations that it inspired warrants more than a quick dismissal. As a community, we strive toward inclusiveness and supportiveness. We celebrate hoopers at all skill levels and create welcoming spaces for both beginners and professionals. Caroleena’s “Cultivating Non-Comparison” is a mantra for many hoopers--myself included.

Yet at the same time, it’s easy to see how an outsider may see our community as more competitive than we generally assume.

Hoopers compete in a variety of ways. Most obviously, hooping.org hosts the annual Hoopie Awards. This yearly round-up is an opportunity to review hooping’s finest moments and celebrate our outstanding performers, Youtubers, and teachers. Yet it is undoubtedly competitive. Hoopers compete not only for votes in the final rounds, but also for likes, clicks, and nominations throughout the year.  Hoopers also compete for sponsorships and places in festival hoop troops. Performers compete (however indirectly) for gigs and vendors compete for business.

I point out these types of competition, not to criticize them. Rather, I point them out as examples of healthy, natural competition. In a world with limited time, money, and resources, there will always be competition. To deny it and argue that “hooping isn’t a competition” is to overlook a fundamental reality of the world we live in.

Ignoring competition also demonizes a natural, potentially beneficial part of the human experience. While competition can lead to jealousy and unhealthy rivalry, it can also inspire growth. For example, a performance troop is challenged to choreograph new, more impressive routines when another group starts picking up gigs around town. Similarly, I’ve been personally challenged to expand my hooping knowledge as my students advance. I celebrate their accomplishments, but if I hope to continue teaching, I have to stay competitive as an instructor. I have to keep learning--which is a fantastic incentive when I’m coasting along on the comfortable skill-set of a hooping plateau.

Competition is easily seen as destructive. It can become “us vs. them” or a pathway through which one person succeeds at the expense of another. This baggage of back-biting and undermining is what many hoopers decry when they condemn competitiveness. However, far too often healthy endeavors or conversations are shut down with the cry, “Why does it always have to be a competition?” Hoopers that debate the value of various sized hoops or the advantages of a flow vs. tech orientation aren’t necessarily trying to win some kind of battle. Rather they are engaged in debate…an activity that like competition is often demonized in hooping circles. Instead of condemning competition, it is important to acknowledge that our community is profoundly shaped and beneficially propelled toward new levels of excellence by various forms of competition. If we view competition as a fight or problem, it will become destructive. If we view completion as a natural and healthy process,  it will challenge us to grow.

There is space for both competitiveness and non-comparison in the hooping community. I say that with confidence because I see it every day when a beginner’s practice video receives a dozen supportive comments and a performer’s request for votes in a photo contest receives the same support.

On a scale of 1 (not competitive) to 10 (destructively competitive) how would you rank the hooping community? 

All Hoop-Love: A Dissenting Opinion

Hooping.org recently established a new
Facebook community after observing,
"In light of recent events we’ve all come
to an agreement that it’s time to help bring
the community norm of hoop love back,
before we see it disappear once and for all."

Hooping communities are full of folks whose proximity and solidarity (as a distinctive tribe in a larger society that may not fully understand dancing with plastic circles) prompt the creation of supportive, nurturing creative space. With that said, the very best of communities are prone to disagreement, competition, and social confusion.

We are, after all, human. As human bundles of memory and mind, as muscled vehicles of ego and culture, we should be wise and realistic enough to realize that the humanness that unites us also divides us. Nature (to borrow philosophy via Jurassic Park) tends toward chaos. Communities curve toward change. Thus plants thrive and wilt in competition for finite resources. Animals hunt and mark boundaries. River and rain re-carve the creek banks. Microcosms of moss flourish on decaying bark.

With this in mind, the hoop community’s idealism for a conflict-free, all-hoop-love-all-the-time space just is not a feasible reality.

Don’t mistake me. It is a beautiful idea. It is a vision that gives me hope and informs my personal hoop-journey as well as how I present myself in my communities. I love hoop-love and believe it serves us well as a mantra.

So I’m not advocating that we abandon our ideals. Rather, I propose we temper our responses to perceived violations of this vision with realism. I suggest we interact (in both physical and digital spaces) with loving detachment. Loving detachment asks us to witness good and bad with the compassionate awareness that people mess up. Communities do not always live up to their ideals. Facing imperfect situations, loving detachment reminds us, “Oh well…It happens. I control *my* response and no one else’s.” At which point loving detachment frees us to act as necessary: to refocus, keep silent, speak up, take a stand, walk away, give hugs, or whatever else is necessary.

However, calls for "hoop-love" and "positivity" are 

often used to police our community and silence 

dissenting voices.

On the other hand, when we are compelled to continually police how well other people live up to that vision, we quickly create problems. Fighting for perfection creates a dystopia rather than a utopia. When find ourselves policing ourselves and one another, healthy debate and divergent voices are silenced. The lively, messy exchange of ideas and even humor are stifled in favor of continual agreement, continual perfection.

I personally would rather inhabit a community where people disagree, complain, compete, or throw occasional tantrums than a community where certain topics and styles of communication become taboo for fear of being perceived as negative.

Love and respect are worthy visions. However, I hope this post challenges us all to consider both the positive and negative implications of how we manifest that vision in our community. Any conversation of community values and policy must consider the nuances and unintended consequences of that community vision.

Rather than lamenting a lack of love and 

issuing reductive calls for unity, the hooping 

community  must  examine the ways our 
ideals undermine themselves by valuing
agreement over discourse. 

Based on my personal observation, our community runs a far greater risk of silencing and policing based on perceived community collapse than risking a real break down of the hooping community and its core values. Thus I encourage all hoopers to combine love with detachment and keep the unavailable messiness of human communities in mind.

Do you agree? Disagree? How do we create a space that’s supportive of both ideals and imperfections?