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HoopYogini™ Instructor Spotlight: Venetria Benitez

Sep 05, 2019

Certified HoopYogini™ Instructor Venetria Benitez focuses on connection, flow, and the journey of learning through “Hula Roots” In New York City.

 

Little did I know my life needed more change, as a pair of butterflies landed on me all day at the park. Later I took this as a totem, a sign from the universe. I met Isamar in the park that same day. She explained to me, why she had ALL THOSE hula hoops and how HoopYogini™ enhanced her life. Our conversation lead me to taking a class that next week. To my surprise, Jocelyn happened to be teaching that class. In class, I manifested a way for me to take the next HoopYogini Teacher Training that was starting in Virginia that next week…and there you have it! How I reinvented my life with HoopYogini™.

 

What do you love about hooping and what has it meant for you?

Hooping brings out the Goddess in me. All of a sudden, whenever happiness strikes me, all I want to do is get into my personal universe. As I hoop, I extend my joy to the world and I receive the joy back.

 

What do you love about HoopYogini™?

I already had decided I wanted to teach yoga. I had taken classes of different styles of the practice. At my first HoopYogini™ offering class, I felt was the most organic feeling I’ve experienced. I immediately wanted to share.

 

What do you love most about teaching?

I love getting the practitioner to be swept away as I describe their connection to the earth. I want them to feel all the organics with each flow from each vinyasa. I like when a practitioner says ‘I’m not feeling so good, today I don’t want to practice’ and then I convince them they would feel good once they practice. By the end of class, they want to come back…It never fails.

 

Give us a sense of your background or approach with teaching.

I have over 25 years of dance experience. I come from an American ballet, jazz and modern technique of learning. Very hard, very rigid, very disciplined. When teaching HoopYogini™, I help the practitioner understand how to trust their body. Making a mistake or not getting it the first time is okay because it’s all in the journey of learning. There is no need to be hard on yourself…just let it flow. My background is in rigid teachings, and has changed to feeling the flow. This is my approach to teaching.

 

Share your message, values, and aspirations as a teacher and hooper.

My aspiration is to share HoopYogini™ not just anywhere I go, but to also take HoopYogini™ to the New York Summer Solstice Yoga in Times Square. I trust the energy. I trust my manifestation. Imagine that many hoops spinning in the universe, and that much energy spiraling out into the world. As a teacher and hooper, I want people to learn that there are lots of ways to feel good. Practicing HoopYogini™ is one of them.

 

Venetria’s HoopYogini™ playlist:

“Everything in the Universe has rhythm…Everything dances” – Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

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