Leap start your venture with these 5 business tips for startups. My first year running a business was a lot like playing Frogger without understanding how to cross a road. Instead of assessing the traffic, making a plan, and moving swiftly to the other side, my frog was manically leaping in circles, getting run over, […]
From a network of over 200,000 alumni worldwide, Dr. Kate Riegle van West is selected as one of the University of Auckland’s 40 inspiring alumni aged 40 and under in 2021.
Founder of Circus Aid Jill Maglio sits down with Dr. Kate Riegle van West of SpinPoi to discuss the power of circus arts to improve wellbeing as occupational therapy exercises. Jill Maglio first discovered the world of circus in 1999 when she learned poi spinning while attending college in Santa Cruz, California. Twenty years later, […]
Looking for fun things to do with kids at home? Poi spinning is an easy craft that will keep kids engaged for hours on end. Poi spinning is an ancient tradition that dates back hundreds of years to the Māori of New Zealand. It is said that Māori men used poi to train strength and flexibility, […]
Poi is helping rehab patients at Middlemore Hospital and has become one of the most popular activities on ward. The poi group at Middlemore Hospital has been running for just over a year, and has become one of the largest and most accessible activities on the ward. The programme has helped deliver 200 additional rehabilitative […]
A simple ball on a cord is helping people across the globe find calm and relaxation. With stress and anxiety becoming frequent guests in our lives, one begins to wonder if relaxation is an achievable goal or some kind of mythological creature that we can only catch glimmers of through the haze of existential dread. […]
A clinical study shows that spinning a weight in circles around your body improves quality of life for seniors. Poi is an art form that dates back hundreds of years to the Māori of New Zealand. The act of practicing poi involves spinning a weight on the end of a cord in circular patterns around […]
Spinning a weight on the end of a cord in circles may be the next Parkinson’s physical therapy treatment. Download the Poi & Parkinson’s .pdf for further details on this work More than 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s Disease (PD), a neurodegenerative condition that affects the brain and nervous system. There is currently […]
Während eines Krankenhausaufenthaltes im März diesen Jahres kam Anja auf mich zu. Da sie von meiner Liebe zur Handarbeit wusste, bat sie mich ihr beim kordeln der Maori Poi zu helfen. Ich sagte sofort zu und machte mir viele Gedanken über die Herstellung der perfekten Maori-Poi. Wichtig war es mir auf den Plastik-Kopf zu verzichten und sie auch robust und gut bespielbar zu gestalten.
Rosie chats about her Parkinson's diagnosis and how Rose Poi is helping an entire hospital in Germany spin their health around.
There is an amazing feeling when the thing is spinning, just going around, it becomes alive. And when you get it all synchronized it feels like you are taking medicine almost, it feels like your brain is growing properly some how. With Tai Chi it’s the same, when you are doing a certain movement, or you do the 24 steps in perfect harmony, you feel that.
Especially in Parkinson’s patients, it is sometimes unbelievable to observe how their stiffness dissolves during play, how their focus is directed towards the poi and how accompanying symptoms – such as trembling in the hands or restlessness in the legs – steadily decrease or simply fade away. I’ve also noticed how the mood of the patients rises through the movement to the music, which in turn leads to the stabilization of the general condition.