I've touched on this topic before, but I wanted to explore it in greater depth by applying it to all the different timing and direction combinations. Tuck turns are a great way to add an additional visual dynamic to reel turns--I highly recommend adding them to your repertoire!

tuckturns2tutorial.mp4

One of those bad habits that nearly all of us develop in our first year of spinning poi is the tendency to focus the poi's movement on the hand and wrist such that when we begin to play with flowers and the like, it becomes difficult to think of the poi being an extension of the hand rather than controlled by it. Here are a series of exercises to being with this type of movement. Most 2D tech poi is highly reliant on the mobility of the arms, so the sooner one trains themselves out of folding the arms against he body, the better!

extensionstutorial.mp4

Meltdowns are a great combination of behind the back (BTB) technique and reel turns that look cool as hell. Here's how you can build up to them piece by piece.

meltdownstutorial.mp4

Atomic weaves have a very intimidating name, but there are ways to perform them that won't break your brain. Here is one such weave that feels midway between a split-time thread the needle and a buzzsaw weave.

atomicweavetutorial.mp4

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!

bthtutorial.mp4

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.

ttnturntutorial.mp4

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.

wheretostartwithpoipt3.mp4

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.

wheretostartwithpoipt2.mp4

Never picked up a set of poi before? This is the video for you! This is a video to familiarize you with the hardware and how it can be held. No matter what set of poi you pick up, this tutorial should help you get to know this tool and how you interact with it.

wheretostartwithpoipt1.mp4

Buzzsaw fountains were one of my favorite challenges in my first year of spinning poi and it wasn't until much later that I realized they were creating some of the basic skills necessary to get into inversions and barrel rolls later. Here is how you can practice this type of movement and get set up inside moves.

buzzsawfountaintutorial.mp4