Nick

Learning to thread the needle behidn your body will teach you great control over your planes. This will make all your patterns with opposites and butterflies more beautiful and confident. 

Learning to play with inspin and antispin on the horizontal plane will open a whole world of horizontal poi spinning. Enjoy!

Horizontal poi spinning looks way better if you can keep the poi spinning truly horizontal. Spinning over a table is a great way to learn!

In this video we look at laying the groundwork for good horizontal spinning, and adding helicopters between the arms to the basic corkscrew. Get ready to master all things horizontal! 

Any exercise program has the potential to benefit your health, or to cause more harm! It all depends on whether you take a safe approach. Watch this video to learn the keys to healthy strengthening and conditioning for poi.

A good warm up is possibly the single most important way to avoid injuries. In this video Sarah and Nick go through the basics of warming up for poi.

And here's the first of our example warmups: Nick's Walking Warmup!

Poi spinning tends to include a lot of reaching into extreme ranges, such as around the back, behind the head, etc. This can put the shoulders in a vulnerable position if the muscles aren't strong enough. In this video we show you how to do some simple strengthening exercises. 

Poi spinning tends to require a lot of inward rotation with the shoulders, and not much outward rotation. This can lead to an imbalance in the strength of stabilizing muscles, which in turn can make the shoulders vulnerable to injury. In this video we look at some exercises for strengthening outward rotation.

It's generally best to let your shoulders stay relaxed and down when you raise your arms above your head, but many poi spinners practically hike their shoulders up to their ears when doing windmill and other high moves. Here we look at how and why to keep your shoulders in the sockets.

Envision Festival in Costa Rica will bring together a bunch of awesome poi enthusiasts from the Americas, and some from Europe! Jon and I will be there to enjoy the music and community. We are even in dialog with the organizers about setting poi training stations! Starting two days after the festival is our month-long Poi Ninja Camp event, so stay tuned for updates! 

March 23 to April 5, 2013, Finca Mia, Costa Rica

This spring Nick, Banyan (plus speical guests) are offering a special new kind of poi retreat: Two weeks of self-motivated, peer-inspired paradise poi goodness: AKA Poi Love Camp!

This retreat is open to those over the age of 18 who are playing poi at an upper-intermediate or advanced level and who know what they need to practice and simply need the perfect place to practice, and people to play with! I.e. this is about peer collaboration! 

Nick will still be leading classes in poi mastery, choreography, rhythm, and performance. There will also be plenty of time slots for other participants to share their own skills. Come with the attitude of sharing! 

It will all take place at Finca Mia, a special ecological retreat centre up in the mountains of Costa Rica, complete with a river running through the property and fresh water springs gushing out of the earth, close to Chirripo National Park and the cloud forests. There we will set up all the "poi training stations" that we've discussed over the years: Mirrors, stall targets, stepping stones, adjustable circular walls for practicing flowers and stalls... every kind of feedback and play station you'd want to be a true poi ninja!

Montezuma, Costa Rica | January 19th - 31st, 2013

We are returning to Costa Rica to offer another round of poi and yoga retreats with La Escuela Del Sol! Join us for thirteen days of intermediate/advanced poi retreat yumminess with Nick Woolsey as the poi teacher, and Banyan as our yoga teacher. Retreats are limited to 20 participants so best to register early if you want a spot.

Playpoi.com retreat promo ~ Costa Rica from LucidTV on Vimeo.