The Tao of Hoop

On the Transformational Practice of Hula-Hooping (Seriously, Though)

By: Ann Humphreys

Narrated by: Ann Humphreys

Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

The Tao of Hoop is a philosophical memoir about how the humble hula-hoop transformed one woman’s life...but seriously, though!

Ann Humphreys was not aware that she didn’t understand how to feel - something we don’t learn about in school - until she very randomly (through crushing on a hot dude) found the hula-hoop at age 35. Having endured a life-altering loss as a teenager, Ann had learned to handle grief and pain through the time-honored Southern traditions of denial and repression. The hula-hoop broke those old patterns, allowing her to meet a new wave of challenges with a clear mind and an open heart.

Part story, part treatise, part inquiry, part self-help guide, The Tao of Hoop is a raw, poetic, and captivating listen you will have a hard time pausing.

©2021 Ann Humphreys (P)2022 Ann Humphreys

Love!

I loved this book! It made me cry- in a good way. Ann Humphreys’ description of the magic of hula hooping is what I felt to be true but couldn’t put into words. She does it perfectly.

More than meets the eye.

There is so much more to this book than I had expected; life, loss, love, spirituality, resolution, and Southern roots — with a refreshing structure that hopscotches the decades — told in an engaging form of highly-personal storytelling.

I typically prefer audiobooks that are read by the author. The delivery of this one reinforces that preference.

Considering the title, I had originally expected to share this with a few friends who have a passion for the hoop. After sitting with it, I realize the book casts a much wider net than the title first suggests.

Masterful storytelling at its finest!!

The author Ann Humphreys is truly a masterful storyteller! Don't let the title fool you, this book is not just for hoopers it is a journey of the ups and downs of the human condition. It has it all. Full of depth and emotion that pulls on your heart strings one minute 😭 and has you laughing out loud the next 😁. Every word is so carefully chosen but flows as effortlessly as the Tao itself. The author herself is the narrator and one of the best narrations I've ever heard. She even sings a bit too! I might just read this one again.

The Tao of Hoop expands the mind.

If you are open to seeing life from a new perspective, read this book.

A WORK OF STAGGERING BEAUTY

This book braids three narratives together: The author's early upbringing in a well-to-do Southern tobacco town, her late adolescence during college in New York city, and her mid-adult journey to reconcile the trauma of her father's sudden death at 19 and to rectify the oppressions of an upbringing ruled by thought and intellect at the expense of embodied feeling.
Her journey is anchored by the tragic deaths of two men of profound importance to her; her father and her dear friend, a Cree artist from Cold Lake who undertook learning to hula hoop at the same time she did, as a means to heal the ravages of brain cancer. Interwoven throughout the book, like veins of gold, are metaphysical observations and the mind-boggling facts of the physical universe, from quantum physics to the observable phenomena of emotion.
Hula-hooping, (and the love relationship and friendships it engendered), became an implausible means to embodiment, and the slow metabolism of fear, numbness, and neuroses. Against all odds, it launched the author, through submission to the humility of beginning, from an incredulous novice to a world-traveling master teacher of this niche dance/movement practice. It is a hero's journey, beautifully written, and narrated with total PERFECTION.
The author's journey to embodiment has led her not only to hoop mastery but to a life of fearless advocacy on the front lines of the racial justice movement, and her heart-wrenching afterword is a testament to the vital importance of embodied feeling as a means of effective relating, empathy, and as fuel for the ongoing fight for equity.
I would make a "Cats" joke, but truly, I laughed and cried so many times while listening to this book. It is a diamond, (albeit an ethically-sourced, righteous, and devoid-of-bloodshed gem).

Delightful

I enjoyed this book immensely. A tear was on the edge throughout. Highly recommend. 👍

possibly my favorite book

This book is, for me, such a sacred text. As a hooper myself, the analogy of hoop to life is unequivocal. The author also had familial experiences similar to my own in terms of cancer in the family and guilt of how to handle a parent's death at a young age. I initially read the paperback, and I came back to listen to this on audio. I got so much from it both times, and I will definitely read this again.