This is one of those moves that is so epically much more work than is ultimately worth it, but man is it bragging rights! Straight jackets are like crossers, but from a place where you arms are pretzeled around each other so you have almost no mobility. Part of the challenge is that it's nearly impossible to practice them without getting the entrance (from a barrel roll) down first. Not for the faint of heart--use soft poi!

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Behind the head tricks come in a couple flavors: those that are standard tricks with a behind the head flavor and those that are only meant to be behind the head. Here is a series of drills that start to build up this capability and a couple moves to begin practicing once they begin to feel normal. Lots of great stuff that comes out of this!

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Back in the Spring, I had a chance to sit down and talk with Keith Marshall about how he came to be a poi spinner, who his biggest influences were, where he comes up with his ideas from, and what advice he had for up and coming spinners.

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From my recent video profile of Keith Marshall--here is the complete audio of the interview with no editing aside from some background noise reduction. Includes more information on the Edinburgh spinning scene when Keith first started up.

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So you've learned your thread-the-needles, now what can you do with them? If you want to get a little mobility with this move, this is a good way to learn how to turn with it that gives it a good visual impact and utilizes some of the lessons we learned from crossers.

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The final installment of my video series on how I make my tech blogs and the longest yet--this one covers how I promote my videos once they're published and how I gauge the success of them. Included here is information on monetization, how I get around restrictions on Facebook Pages, and why I don't post every video I make to Tech Poi or Reddit.

In situations where I want to share videos but I know I'll be on the road and unable to do it manually, I'll use Buffer for both Facebook and Twitter:
http://www.bufferapp.com

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In this installment: planes! What are they, why are we so particular about them, and what do you need to know about them to start spinning? Planes are a concept we borrow from geometry to describe how a poi rotates in relation to our bodies and how closely we adhere to that relationship. For added fun, each plane has two sides, called "plane facing" that you have to keep track of when you turn because every time your body changes the side of the plane its on, the poi will seem to have changed the direction it's rotating in.

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Everything you ever wanted to know about how I make my videos, continuing with editing! This is a three-part series on everything that goes into my tech blogs and tutorials, including time spent on different elements, the technology and editing process, and promotion for my videos. This video focuses on the editing process, both for audio and video and the different software that I use for each. Coming next week: publishing and promoting my content.

Software that I use:
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Adobe After Effects
iMovie

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In this video: choosing head weight, tether length and type, and handle weight. I got some great feedback from the last video and it led to this--a deeper exploration of each of the poi components and the options that are available for them.

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Everything you ever wanted to know about how I make my videos, starting with inspiration and shooting! This is a three-part series on everything that goes into my tech blogs and tutorials, including time spent on different elements, the technology and editing process, and promotion for my videos. Coming next week: the editing process.

Inspiration:
Tech Poi Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/techpoi/
Reddit Poi: http://www.reddit.com/r/poi/
Google+ Poi: http://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105824907484542224167

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