Every time I go to Carrboro I fall more and more in love with the place and the people. Well, at least *my* people who live there, but the overall vibe is so easy and comfortable. The first time I arrived there I felt kinship and a sense of belonging. Whether or not that would have been true if it weren't for the Hoop Path connection...? I really can't say; I'd believe either side of the story. I returned from my third trip there a couple of days ago and the smell of the air and the feel of the heat is still with me. More importantly, however, is the ever-strengthening bond with the community gathered around the hoop and Baxter's teaching.

I have to admit it was an odd year for me. I used the word "liminal" earlier today to describe my experience and the more I think about it, the more I realize how apt the word is. From Wikipedia: "The liminal state is characterized by ambiguity, openness, and indeterminacy." "Liminal" is a word that well characterizes my experience this year because of the a) ambiguity: teacher or student? b) openness: participate in the exercises or assist others in performing them and c) indeterminacy: any combination of those circumstances (including none of them) could be the case.

This was not a bad thing -- our very existence, after all, is a liminal state.

This year Baxter invited me to assist in the workshops -- this role consisted largely of holding space (an understanding I did not fully have going into it although I thought I did), helping people understand the techniques and preventing blind collisions. Watching everyone in the blind/moving without the hoop exercise for the first time was so beautiful, and assisting people get shoulder and angle hooping was especially rewarding because I really struggled with those things (and still do, in different ways, even though I "get" them).

As Bax noted in his opening talk on the first day, I sought him out one year at Center Camp. I did so because I sensed a kinship in how we approached our respective practices. I had only just begun with the hoop but what I perceived to be our shared practice wasn't really about the hoop -- the hoop was the Vessel through which our meeting was facilitated. It means a lot to me that Baxter asked me to take on this role because the Hoop Path has been instrumental in my process of uncovering my own Flow and what it means to me and beyond that, what community means to me and what having authentic relationships with other people rooted in mutual respect and love means to me. It's kind of easy to forget in our hoopy/spinny world, but mutual respect and love is not how the rest of the world generally conducts itself.

I thought I had been holding myself back from my process -- and as a hooper, perhaps I was. I didn't give myself over to the exercises in the same way as I would have as a straight-up workshop participant. But at the same time, I think I got a different understanding of flow, a different understanding of HP techniques and I still came away with material to work with.

So the hoop was the Vessel, and this post represents the Mind working through it all...and the Mystery...? That's gonna come out during an actual hoop session. I can't wait.