What's so Great about poi anyway?
Right then spherculoids I wanna hear why you lot love poi so much, I mean, what IS is that you'll Love so much? What makes you wanna spend all your free time spinning around a pair of old socks (in my case)?
How long have you been spinning? How much do you practice. Do you find that solid things like staff and clubs just don't cut it? Or is poi a lesser skill to you than other stuff?
Do you find that you just can't go out without your poi these days? Do you feel nekkid without 'em? Do you find it quite a lonely pass time or have you discovered oodles of lushious like minded friends through your skills?
Oh yeah. Sorry I haven't been devoting much time to you all recently, been making a big catalogue for wildcat but it should be out soon and I will have more time to devote to you all. From now on I've decided that poiple who use the forums are gonna have more access to more tutorials. In other words, you put the effort in around here and you'll find your rewards. I just feel like a lot of people are taking without putting too much back in, I feel drained. So I've decided to mix it up a little. First off I'll let you poiple into a great little secret that I've only shared with Dub. Whenever you visit one of the tutorial sites you'll see that the address bar says something like .....blah/blah/poimove.html If you replace .html with .swf then you should get a nice little surprise. Now i've only checked it out on explorer on windows, but that's what most of you use so you should be fine. If it don't work then I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do to help. Have fun, let's just keep that to ourselves.
What's so Great about poi anyway?
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What's so Great about poi anyway?
hi matt
I'm from Germany so don't be confused by my great English harr
well I think the great thing about poi is that you can express yourself . you move the poi move and everything is alright . poi are more flexible than a staff for example
a small story from myself .. when I was young I always had to play with fire . I started burning paper , wood sticks and other things with the age of 4 . And soon I got the Idea why not to put a burning thing on a cord . This idea really fascinated me and look there , 13 years later Iam playing with that thing
thehee - one reason that makes (fire)poi so special to me .
poi are just such a great toy and it just makes fun to play them - why do other people play an instrument 4 hours a day ( like one of my friends does ) ? because it's fun
I don't really wanna know what makes me loving my poi , I just know that there is an extremly strong relationship between me and my poi and that fact makes me glad and not wondering 
but all in all I can't decide what I love more - staff or poi ? I just know that they are sooooo different things .....
ps : I think one important fact is the feeling when you have when you're playing poi . I'm playing my trumpet for 10 years now ( I love jazz
) and every time I play it I've got a great feeling - same with staff , poi and so on . the feeling makes things so interesting and fascinating
can't express so good what I mean in English , I hope I could help you at least a little bit :]
bye
duvan
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Well, I've been spinning for 6 months, I heard about it while talking about electronic music. Since I don't like to sit still and listen to music, I took up poi. I've only once saw another spinner so I've learned just about everything online. There's another reason I took up poi to, my dad said I had no cordination so I decided to prove him wrong.
I've tried staff and I don't really like it, I do contact juggle a bit and I'm trying to learn how to juggle. I really like the technical part of the art, since I spin just for myself. Now if I could just isolate my buzzsaw for more then a few beats.... I try to spin for an hour a day, but on weekends it can end up being a few.
What's so Great about poi anyway?
I'm spinning since september 2003. This is my cousin who show me this art. I like it imediatly !
I enjoy poi because i think it's nice and because i love looking at a poier, so i practice this art in order to give people what i feel when i look at someone who swings.
I never try staff but i think i'd prefer poi because we have more freedom.
I practice poi nearly everyday for only 30 to 45 mins because it's cold outside...
What's so Great about poi anyway?
i think that learning a new trick releases lots of endorphins in my brain, which is probably why i like it.
plus i must also get them from just practising moves i can already do, coz that's also nice to do.
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Hey Matt.
I'd have to say what I love about Poi....well I dont truly know the source of it. But something I can point it to, is that its emotion. You dont think "oh I gotta do a weave. Now quick wrap it to butterfly. WATCH OUT *poi comes and smacks head because you were concentrating too hard*", instead you can just close your eyes and just feel the strings pull against you and just know , that whatever your feeling you can express in beauty instead of words. I'm getting probably very whatever right now, but thats how it is for me. There arent specific rules, so you can twist or turn or wrap or toss it anywhere you want, and so it is, in all ways, Emotion. I mean I've not done Poi for an entire year just yet, but the energy it just sets off in me, not like a high kind of energy, but a release. Hehe I'm jabbering now. I practice it around 4 hours a day, just to be at peace with that. I figure , seeing as I hate watching tv anyway (Channel tv, not necessarily films,) , I spend my time just spinning away. So anyways, thats my small input for this thread. See ya later
the kid
What's so Great about poi anyway?
A lot of religions around the world are built around us being formed from 4 separate Bodies; The Physical Body, The Emotional Body, The Intellectual Body and The Divine Body. Each of which takes focused Work to develop.
I find that my poi is the result of balancing these 4 bodies. The Intellectual Body must train the Physical Body to move in a certain way. But this slows down ones reaction time, so at some point (when you nail a new move) the Physical body takes over and just "knows what to do" ~ Some people refer to this as 'Muscle Memory'.
But this alone produces quite mechanical poi. This is where the Emotional Body comes in. Turning all the Techy stuff into artistic movement.
The Divine Body is the trickiest to get involed and requires much hard Work. You can tell the times at which this Body gets involved because you feel "In the Zone". Those times when you can pull off any movement totally in time to the music. I find that my Divine body appears most when I'm performing in front of people who are totally in to what i'm doing or when I'm totally content in myself and spinning in a beautiful location.
Anyway,
Achluophobia: I've got to do a good explanation about isolations, which will involve diagrams. So you'll have to be patient
¦m¦
What's so Great about poi anyway?
tee hee, I seem to be able to hold the isolated buzzsaw for at least 3 beats in both directions. Seems I could almost isolate my weave too. This is one of the few moves where my left hand couldn't do it before my right.
What's so Great about poi anyway?
It's the feeling of light-headed bliss when you've been practising hard, doing tech stuff for three hours, then you whack on some tunes and really let go. Taking it to the next level, above and beyond normal consciousness. It's almost as if you can present your mind, your soul, what you feel in the darkness behind your eyes, to the world.
I started poi because I've always loved to dance (I started ballet and tap lessons when I was two years old), but I'm always looking to improve myself, to take it to the next level. I love my staff too, but somehow feel more intimate with my poi. Maybe it's because you're always aware of the staff being in your hands and having to work it and work yourself around it, as two seperate entities; with poi, they almost become a part of you. It's the same as when I paint and draw. Paint, you have to think about changing colour, washing your brush etc, but a pencil can become an extension of yourself.
Does any of that make sense??
What's so Great about poi anyway?
What I love is the spherical nature of it all (sounds like i'm sucking up!). I dabbled with a couple of other 'circle-based' arts like capoiera and some marshall arts but never found anything as satisfying as poi. As someone said above, it's great the way you can just shut your eyes and full the pull of the poi against your hands and arms, letting gravity do all the work.
Plus, it's a great group activity - trick swapping and so on - and also great to do on your own and completely zone out and forget about everything else.
Lush
Matt
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Hi- love the site, intimidated but inspired by the content (usual response OMG :25 ) and really appreciate the technical investment but also the obvious personal input that matt the growing community give.. (I feel the most welcome in this of all the other poi orientated sites- dunno if that because I've picked it up at a relatively early stage or something, but thats my honest opinion)
Anyway, been spinning for about 18months (on and off- damn british winters) and reckon i'm not bad till I meet a 'proper' spinner. Then I'm pretty average with a couple of BTBs for credibility
Poi is soo great becasue its that completely organic expression and exersion all in one. You can practice tech moves for hours, then, as mentioned above, stop thinking at all, fire up some choons and you're away- no thought (apart from WTF was that? hehe) . I'm starting to think that learning the various moves is simply adding another 'place' to go once you've got that far- it sort of follows the eastern martial arts philosophy that you train the mind through the body- once you've nailed 'x' weave or whatever, its sort of assimilated into your subconscious and becomes much more than just a move (how many even vaguely experienced poiple think about the forward 3-beat these days, but use it all the time just to spin idly for example??- i can almost become trancelike just doing something that basic repetitvely).
Hope that drivvel makes sense to someone,
Chut
What's so Great about poi anyway?
I've been spinning for a couple of years now, although I did go through a phase a couple of months after I started it where I gave up for months... nobody around who could teach me and I'd not found any of the online resources at that time
I'm not a hugely dedicated spinner... I certainly rarely set aside time specifically for practise (apart from Tuesdays at Spitz), instead generally picking my sock poi up and having a spin in my room whenever the urge takes me; so I do 15 minutes here and there rather than focussing on it in one go.
Anyway, what I like about poi... There are several things. It's fun and it's relaxing, and it's one of the things that can really calm me down if I'm out and in a bit of a *ahem* state
I tend to be a little overactive mentally and while I'm spinning my thoughts aren't running around my head as much 
It's also that it's a challenge, and something I'm good at as well. I'd never have thought that I'd be good at anything physical, especially one that requires coordination and dexterity
It's certainly improved my physical coordination... hell, people have even called me graceful when I spin 
There's real pleasure in taking some new technical move, mastering it and then making it look as natural as the 3 beat weave 
What's so Great about poi anyway?
I love spinning poi for some unknown reason its just fun for me helps me pass the time and gives me something to work on and get better at.
I have seen other spinners at some clubs but that was before i really got into poi. I am meeting up with people in the spring to spin fire which i have yet to do yet even though i have a homemade pair that will work fine for a few burns. I just lvoe spinnning it makes me complete
What's so Great about poi anyway?
when someone first introduced poi to me i was just looking for a martial art to improve my balance and focus my mind but hadn't found one i liked... poi just seemed to fill that gap!
i've had my own set of poi just over a year and although slow at first i reckon i practice almost everyday now..
i like it because it gets me outside, i always chose a nice place to spin by trees or water.
i also like the way that i meet so many people throught poi and can communicate with them, learning and teaching. you take some moves or style from everyone that you spin with and can pass it on to others in turn...
everyone's way of spinning is reflective not only of their own personality but of all the styles of all the people they've ever spun with (all all the people they've ever spun with etc...). it's a beautiful thing to share and brings you closer to others!!!
i also think that poi makes me more positive. i'm constantly improving, constantly getting better and constantly progressing. that reflects into the rest of my life! since bginning poi i've enjoyed studying more and have had incentive to better myself all round!
i love dancing with poi as well!!! and fire's always fun...
because i have a short attention span though i also love juggling and am learning staff. different objects offer different textures, feels and skills to learn, it's all good! (But Poi's the best!)
sorry for the long post! (and to many exclamation marks!!!!!!!)
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Wow....this is quite amazing to see
:42 :42 :42
What's so Great about poi anyway?
I know... it's so cool to see the passion on this site. And you can never have too many exclaimation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, this is a bit excessive, I'll admit that...
had to edit that, funny as it was i couldn't read the other posts ¦m¦
What's so Great about poi anyway?
aahhh... wingless one, you've stretched out the thread with all your exclamation marks! (see, being conservative
)
an obvious example of what to much poi based excitement can do to things: get out and release your pent up poi power by having a spin!
:4
What's so Great about poi anyway?
It's not the lack of spinning; I've been doing loads of that in my room and annoying my up/down/sideways neighbours by repeatedly hitting the ceiling, floor and walls respectively. It's more to do with thte lack of fire, I think. See? I'm so full of pent up pyromania I can't even spell "the" correctly!! :18
What's so Great about poi anyway?
:4
What's so Great about poi anyway?
I'm going crazy for some room to spin in. So much stuff with the arms fully extended I want to try.
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Tell me about it, I went out for a quick spin the othe rday and pulled off hyperloop catches ~ woop ~ but it's so friggin cold i haven't played since. Not to mention spining meteor again. I've gotten so rusty, I watch a vid of me spinning fire meteor last summer (i'll post it soon, technical problems and me be slack are to blame~ or maybe it's not quite the right time yet) Anywho, I was watching it thinking "you crazy mother f@~;>?" ~ Particularly at the point when I bugger up a neck wrap and am confronted by a huge flame ~ came out of it giggling though so it ain't too bad.
Roll on spring
¦m¦
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Hey, have been spinning now a mere 6 months but it seems so long ago since I took a severe beating in the face with my then only poi (well not even mine, a flatmate's!)... a pair of ton weight wick stabbed through with piercing nails that held it all to those little wire chain things which were bent as *&^k. And still I loved it! I made my own little tennis ball ones then some sock ones and span outside with nothing to do but listn to music and wait for the next weekend clubbing...where i picked up my glowsticks and a mtes laces (hehe still got em!) and twatted everyone in the club round the face with my ungraceful spinning....am i rambling a bit? Anyway then I dug out the fire ones a little after xmas and span some fire...and yea verily I had found my uyopia or utopia even... (note to self don't go near computer after drinking heavily on redbull....heehee)
Anyway I digress, I just love being able to listen to my favourite music (psytrance)and spinning in time to it is a progression from my love of stomping to it originally...and also requires less drugs to keep up
so I get to remember more of my nights out, dance to my music, and have a crazy time at the weekend with them (I don't hit people now!) and yet if I'm pissed off then I can use them to chill out, listen to a bit of chilled music and have a spin...
I JUST LOVE SPINNIN!
What's so Great about poi anyway?
:4 I hear ya there!
What's so Great about poi anyway?
wher do i start?......
but now ive found u guys 
aww
well i started poing well trying about a year ago, though there has been months where i barley did anything! its gets lonely when ur all alone in the world of poi
it was a friend who got me poing, he went to college and came back with glowsticks and a pair of socks! so he did a little demonstation for us with the glowsticks and it was so cool!!! i remember thinking i wanna look like that too!!
then i remember the first time i got the weave and how good that felt then i got hooked!!
i guess i love pois cuz u can move so much with them like i did a bit of diabolo its fun but u cant really dance with it! whereas with poi u put on some good music and just have a laugh and well it just feels good! i just love the feeling, especially when u get a new move for the first time, now thats satifaction!!
and also since i started twirling i always have something to do!
i dont really know how long i practise for sometimes ill play for hours sometimes i dont do any thing i play when i feel like it i dont like having a routine
well thats my little story
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Well I've been spinning for just over a year now & i started cause of FIRE!!! :twisted: Allways wanted an excuse to play with flammable materials & then i saw a few people doing it with staff/poi & thought - i gotta learn that!
So I had a go, just messing about - no instruction just on a beach in the middle of a warm night in the tropics in the soft sand with the sound of ocean right there..... moving with the flow of the poi & was hooked!
One thing i like about poi is no matter what's happening in the world or what i'm feeling, I can go outside & play with my poi & my brain empties of all thought except moving with the poi. I find it really calm & relaxing & very stress relieving.
Why? Cause if you don't empty your brain of all thoughts & become one with the poi, they know about it..... they read your mind & as soon as your thoughts stray, they swing round, tangle up & aim straight for the BALLS! 8O
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Heheh, very true. If I'm feeling a little tensed at a party due to having taken some ridiculous combination of chemicals then nothing clears my mind like going off and having a spin. And then a cup of tea
What's so Great about poi anyway?
hearin u loud and clear spiralx
a lot of people have never frully appreciated a nice sugary cup of tea whilst out clubbin!
cup of tea + cigarette + poi = clear head
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Hehe, I think it's a very British thing to sell tea at parties... even the skankiest squat parties I've been to sell tea
But sugar? *shudder*
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Meh, I just do it to get chicks
What's so Great about poi anyway?
But does it work?
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Like an inflatable dartboard
What's so Great about poi anyway?
One of the things that won me my current g/f was my trying to teach her the art of pulling through the medium of poi one day when a load of us was down the park
It was all very silly and hilarious at the time 
What's so Great about poi anyway?
hell yeah it works.. but you gotta be hella good.. so I'm kinda without the chick entourage (sp?)..
What's so Great about poi anyway?
What's so Great about poi anyway?
I taught a Japanese exchange student some poi and got an email a while after he got back saying that he spun for some girls and that poi was good as a "lure."
And one of my friends tells me that I seduced a friend of his by spinning. I wouldn't know, I've never met the gal.
But on the other hand, I'm still single.
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Maybe you should get an introduction?
What's so Great about poi anyway?
I picked my current boyfriend out of the crowd based in no small part on his spinning. He's just so friggin' sexy when he pulls off the isolations and anything behind the back. I'm completely week in the knees while he spins.
So, to answer your question, spiralx, I think - yes, it does get the girls.
-Saucy
What's so Great about poi anyway?
that's because poiple have crazy cool muscle developmant.. not like I've got not major muscles or anythign but we work out odd muscles.. especially in the back and shoulder area..
and then theres the spinning.. which is poetry in motion.. closer to perfection then any dancer will be.. :-O
hehehe..
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Dammit, I don't have crazy muscle development!
I'm still a lardy-arse 
What's so Great about poi anyway?
I started spinning because I love dancing and I go to a lot of outdoor parties. Sometimes no-one will be dancing but if someone starts to spin it breaks the ice. I think it looks great, you feel rewarded when you learn something new and even better when you link it to other stuff. People want to talk to you about it at parties so you meet new people. It's great when you meet other poiple. The best thing is it's better than sitting infront of the telly bored and doing nothing. It's great exercise.... I could go on forever because I lurrrrve it so much.... x
What's so Great about poi anyway?
Just means there's more of you to love! *hug*
What's so Great about poi anyway?
More than anything else, I like the feeling of putting effort into something, and having that amount to something. In other words, I live for the sensation of nailing a new trick. There's the calming feeling of working on something that doesn't require much physical or mental application. It's always great to get a compliment from random people, but that doesn't appeal to me much. Having fellow spinners, who can appreciate the effort I put into it, compliment my spinning is much more meaningful to me. It just makes my day that much fluffier.