How to learn to Hula Hoop
It made me
super-hoopy! 
"I wore a bare patch in my lawn because hooping is so much fun!"
How I did it:
Wandering around the internet one day I found
http://www.hooping.org
There's all sorts of great stuff on there!
As I watched the videos, learnt about communities and read the stories I grew more and more excited to get in on the action!
There's a link detailing how to make your own hoops which is very easy to follow.
I read through it, made a list, then went straight to the hardware shop!
Within an hour, I was back home making my very own hoops!
A couple hours after that (having previously watched some of the videos) I was outside giving them a twirl :)
By day 2, I was trying out some of the fancier tricks and by the end of the week I was going to the park and evangelizing to everyone who stopped to look at me play!
I'd made about ten hoops by then (which I can now use all at once!) and have to keep making more, because if someone is brave enough to try it with me and they enjoy themselves, I give them their very own to take home!
Hooping is like sex, it's much more fun when done with others! ;)
Lessons & tips:
I learnt that the trick is to rock forwards and backwards in a lunging type motion rather than trying to circle your hips, which is what people naturally want to do.
Also, being able to laugh at yourself makes you a great hooper! Don't be scared! Nothing bad will happen, I promise ;)
If you make your own hoops, you can make them to 'fit'. The hoops they teach you to make through hooping.org are a bit bigger (therefore heavier) than the little kid sized, so they're much easier to use.
These are the instructions I used to make mine
http://www.jasonunbound.com/hoops.html
I found I didn't need to use a hair dryer, but it's pretty hot in QLD. ;)
Also, rather than using the PVC cutter, I just used a small saw I already had at home which worked just fine.
Really pretty tape is hard to find (at least in Australia), but remember, if you use plain tape of two colours, when the hoop spins, they'll mix! So a blue and red hoop turns purple!
