Hoop For Health, Fun, And The Soul

Given her first hoop by Melissa Cokas in 2009, Maia Bingham of Every Body Hoops has not slowed down one bit. Maia has been hooping at and selling Hoops at Sailfest and I AM Fest since 2009. “She didn’t realize she was creating a monster,” says Maia.

The hoops are hand crafted out of flexible irrigation tubing which is cut to size and attached with an internal couplet.  The hoop is then wrapped in either colored tape or in recycled fabrics of various colors and patterns.  The tubing for the hoops comes in four different weights and there are dozens of size possibilities.

“The hoop itself makes all the difference in the world,” says Bingham. “Handmade hoops are usually superior to store-bought because they are heavier with more diameter.” She also says that the fabric and tape wrappings provide a lot of extra grip that help keep the hoop up longer.

When talking a custom hoop order she always like to talk to customers directly to figure out exactly what they want in size weight and decoration.  An average adult hoop takes Maia between one and two hours to complete.  She will generally take one week out of each month spending at least 40 hours building hoops for custom orders and replenish her supply of workshop hoops.

Maia displays most of her work and get’s the word out in the form of workshops where she brings dozens of hoops for participants to play with and gives demonstrations of fun hooping techniques for everyone to practice.  At her most recent workshop at the Ballroom on June 15, Maia began by demonstrating stretches that could be performed using the hoops to aid the stretch.

She then did a quick demo of how to change the hoop direction and how to tandem hoop with a partner.  After that was a hooping free-for-all with everyone trying out different sizes and designs of hoops.  Some becoming attached enough to their hoop that they decided to make the purchase.

The hoops are beautifully crafted and no two ever come out the same.  If you see one of Maia’s hoops at one of her workshops that you like, act fast because it’s probably the only one of its kind.

Maia Binghams upcoming workshops at the Harbour Towers include June 22 as well as July 13 and 20. Admision is only $5 per workshop and all hoops are on sale starting at $10 for the smallest child’s hoops to $50 for the biggest adult hoops. She also runs hooping parties where participants have the opportunity to make their own hoops.