The Circle of Play is a body and movement play practice that guides helping professionals to experience the restorative and transformative function of play.
The Circle of Play’s vision is to foster transformative learning experiences for helping professionals within the healthcare, education, and corporate sectors. Through play workshops, seminars, well-being coaching, and retreats, helping professionals develop a deeper understanding of the psychological, physiological, and sociological benefits the activity of play affords personal and collective well-being.
Dr. Caroline P. Cárdenas is the visionary behind The Circle of Play. Through her groundbreaking doctoral dissertation entitled, The Significance of Play in Restoring Compassion, she researched the vital role body and movement play has on restoring compassion among helping professionals grappling with compassion fatigue.
With 18 years of experience, Dr. Caroline is a hula hooping expert. In 2014, she wrote her Master’s Thesis, Hoop Dancing to Prevent and Decrease Burnout and Compassion Fatigue Among Nurses, and published in the Journal of Emergency Nursing. Dr. Caroline develops and facilitates play workshops, retreats, and provides online training for hoop dance teachers.
Hoop dancing is a form of body and movement play that for many, evokes joy and a sense of freedom. for The hula hoop is described as a prop or a toy that has been used for play and therapeutic purposes (Camp, 2013). Although the hoop is a simple plastic circle, designed for all ages and sizes, people who connect with it have shared how the hula hoop has opened their lives up to a sense of balance, deep healing, and well-being.
Believe it or not, hula hooping or hoop dance has existed for thousands of years. Hula hooping has even been documented as early as 1000 B. C. E., in ancient Egypt, where hoops were made from grape vines, and bent wood (Camp, 2013). In fact, the famous Greek physician, Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine, who placed emphasis on using the healing power of nature as a therapeutic approach to treating disease, would even prescribe hoop rolling exercises for healing weak backs (Camp, 2013). Hoop dancing requires persistence, presence, a positive attitude, and an openness to physical and imaginative exploration, discovery, while embodying a feeling of release or “letting go”. Many who have engaged in the art of hoop dancing have found that the space inside the hula hoop’s circle creates a tangible and visible boundary that provides and promotes a comforting sense of safety for creative self-expression. Hoop dancing has been described as a powerful movement meditation body play practice that invites more joy in the lives of those who practice (Camp, 2013). Hoop dancers often describe how hoop dancing facilitates a mindfulness presence where all planning ceases and the focus easily transitions into a powerful movement meditation.
