How to Turn Anxiety Into Presence, Confidence & Flow

If you’ve ever felt nervous, shaky, sweaty, fluttery, overthinking, or frozen before teaching a hoop class…welcome. You’re not alone, and you’re not broken.

In fact, you’re human.

Nerves don’t mean you’re unqualified.
Nerves don’t mean you’re not ready.
Nerves don’t mean you’re a “bad” teacher.

Nerves simply mean you care.

I recently shared a free online workshop called Transform Your Nerves as a Hoop Teacher. If you want to experience it in an embodied way, grab your hoop and your journal and join us for free here with the replay.

This free workshop will help you learn how to transform nervous energy into grounded presence so you can show up as the teacher, facilitator, and creative guide you’re meant to be.

Whether you’re teaching your first hoop class or your fiftieth, this blog is your invitation to reconnect with your body, your breath, and your voice.

Step 1: Welcome Your Nerves In 

Before we talk about confidence, clarity, or teaching skills, we need to start with something real:

You don’t have to get rid of nervousness to be a great teacher.
You only have to learn to move with it.

Take a moment to check in:

• What does nervousness feel like in your body?

• Is it tight? fluttery? hot? shaky? buzzing?

If you were in the workshop, this is where we invite everyone to drop one word into the chat. Nervousness is universal. Even teachers who have been doing this for decades feel it.

The difference?

They’ve learned how to alchemise it.

Here’s the reframe:

Nervous energy isn’t your enemy, it’s your power source.
It’s the spark of aliveness that shows you care and that you’re about to do something brave.

This is where teaching begins:
Not in perfection, but in presence.

Step 2: A Grounding Hoop Practice to Shift Your State 

“From Flutter to Flow” — a somatic reset for teachers

Grab your hoop.
Not to perform. Not to impress.
Just to recalibrate.

Start simple:

• Feel your feet on the floor.

• Feel your breath moving in and out.

• Feel your hoop resting in your hands.

This is regulation.
This is nervous system support.
This is the foundation of embodied teaching.

Now add gentle movement:

• sway your hips

• roll your shoulders

• soften your spine

• let your breath guide the motion

Let the hoop join you when you’re ready:

“Don’t fix. Don’t force. Don’t try.
Just let your nerves become motion.”

This is what transformation looks like — taking the buzzing, jittery electricity in your body and letting it move.

When nervous energy stays stuck in your mind, it spirals.
When it moves through your body, it becomes flow.

Pause for stillness.

Feel the shift?

Your nervous system has just whispered,
“We’re safe now.”

This is the moment presence returns.

Step 3: Rituals to Ground Your Teaching 

These four tools are simple, repeatable, and powerful.

Every hoop teacher gets nervous. Even the pros. Even the ones confidently demoing breaks while cueing a room of 40 dancers. The difference is in their tools, the quiet little rituals they use to come home to themselves before class.

Here are four grounding practices to try:

1. Name It to Tame It

Nervousness becomes heavier when we hide it.

Try saying out loud:

“I’m nervous and ready.”
Both can be true.

Naming an emotion reduces its hold on your body.

2. The One Song Reset

Before class, choose one song that’s just for you.

Move for the length of the track.
Not to choreograph.
Not to rehearse.
Not to perform.

Just to remember:

• why you love hooping

• why you’re here

• what feels good

This is joy medicine.

3. The Hoop Hold

Place both hands on your hoop.

Feel:

• the weight

• the smooth texture

• the groundedness

The circle is steady.
The circle is supportive.
The circle is your co-teacher.

This simple touch can interrupt spiralling thoughts.

4. The Grounding Breath

Try this before teaching:

Inhale: connection
Exhale: control

Let go of the pressure to be perfect.
Invite in the desire to be present.

Three breaths can completely shift your state.

Ask yourself:
Which ritual feels like it belongs to me?

Choose one. Make it yours.

Step 4: Integrate Your Confidence 

Confidence is not a performance.
Confidence is not a persona.
Confidence is not a flawless class.

Confidence is a sensation. It is courage on repeat. Showing up in small ways over and over again.

Try this:

Place your hoop over your heart or at your feet.
Close your eyes.
Feel the quiet hum beneath everything.

That’s your confidence.

Not the loud kind.
Not the perfect kind.
The embodied kind.

Ask yourself:

• What does confidence feel like in my body right now?

• Warm? steady? open? grounded? expansive?

Confidence doesn’t arrive when fear disappears.

It arrives when you move anyway 
with your body online,
your breath steady,
your presence available,
and your heart in the room.

This is the practice.
Not to control.
But to connect.

You Don’t Have to Get Rid of Nerves to Be a Brilliant Hoop Teacher

Nerves are normal.
Nerves are information.
Nerves are energy.
Nerves are electricity your body hasn’t learned to interpret yet.

But with simple rituals…
A little movement…
A little breath…
A little presence…

Your nerves shift from something that blocks you
into something that powers you.

If you can move with your nerves,
you can teach with your heart.

And your students will feel that —
deeply.

Want to Go Deeper Into Confident, Connected Hoop Teaching?

If you’re ready to step into your power as a hoop teacher , not from perfection, but from presence:

Hoop Love Coach Training
A full training for hoopers who want to teach with confidence, clarity, and creativity.

This program includes:

• how to design classes beginners love

• how to troubleshoot common struggles

• how to hold space for nervous or frustrated students

• how to build your teaching voice

• how to turn teaching from scary to joyful

Learn more: hooplovecoaching.com