Knowing all the basic poi moves is one thing, mastering them is another. Below we offer a complete review of the poi basics, along with tips for mastering them. True mastery takes years, so be patient. Feel free to move on to Beyond the Basic lessons, but return to this study guide often. 

Here are a series of exercises related to rhythm and timing. This is to get ready for Poi Love Camp but it will be useful for anybody wanting to go deeper into choreography and moving with music. Have fun!

Counting Down and Up Beats with Butterflies

Counting Chase the Sun on a 4/4 Rhythm

Counting Weaves on the Crosspoint

Poitruvian Poi on the Beat

Turning with Extensions on the Beat

Turning with Reels on the Beat

Counting Inspin Flowers

Jonathan Alvarez just exploded my mind with poi skill, great instruction, character, panache, and all around video quality. Check him out.

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.

This is an example of an easy to build "poi ninja training station." Make one at home, or come join us in Costa Rica where we'll have this and many other stations set up. :)