Poi Lesson 2 - Crosses

[CrystalMGibson]

im so happy you are alive! thanks for the tutorial! you're ace!

[missnisara]

aaaw, hes so cute xD

[katdevendra]

I have had a lot of trouble with this specific move how long did it take you to learn this?

[katdevendra]

you rule

[CarSmashBoy]

trying the reverse.... sticking both arms in front of me as they would be if they were in motion, im spinning with poi in just the right hand left hand empty. got it. switch hands. got it. now im just trying to get one full loop and not worrying about repeating, just to get a feel for the motion. got it... actually completing the cross and recycling the loop. got it, but watch out for intersections, instead of your balls they come straight at your face!

[fairynefertari]

Crossing in split time is the 2 beat wave?

[onewaydk]

im having so much trouble with reversing the beats and forward is easy is the reverse i dont get can you plz post a new video on that?

[Alexmavrogianis]

3 people smacked themselves in the groin...

[32mattyman]

true they feel light but they can cause some serious damge it hurts bad

[lilrastagirl420]

i am having the hardest time crossing back wards. i have the front down perfectly but i cant do it backwards got ne tricks

[mrkurt13]

thanks! great videos

[MsKikiLaRue]

I keep on hitting the back of my head :'( So frustrated!

[arz703]

@NathanielEverist -- everytime i cross my arms, i can't get the poi to intersect and i always nail my groin or back, any suggestions?

[NathanielEverist]

@arz703 Yeah, make sure that your hands move more vertically than diagonally, and one hand is going to be higher than the other one. Check back in a week or two for new videos, I'm gunna remake all these old ones.

[missxanonymeows]

@arz703 The first rule of poi among my group of poi friends is "don't hit yourself in the nuts."

[abs7rac7]

@arz703 If you're still having trouble just think of it as jump roping when you'd put your hands together and swing the rope at your sides or cross your arms and un-cross them. It's the easiest comparison.

[yoitsaust]

@arz703 you dont want them to be *exactly* in synch. one needs to cross a split second before the other

[Lostslightly]

2 peices of advice to other noobs-

-squishy stress balls and stockings barely hurt all when you belt yourself in the face or groin

-you won't hit yourself nearly as much after the first 20 minutes or so, but if you use golf balls, you probably won't keep it up long enough to find that out :)

[NathanielEverist]

@Lostslightly Solid advice.

[pinkknt]

@NathanielEverist and funny advice lol -

[Viewindo]

@Lostslightly I've been using socks with AA batteries. Too many close encounters... xD

[mewingkitty]

@Viewindo

zomg BATTERIES!?

wow man, you're made of stronger stuff than me lol.

[Viewindo]

@mewingkitty haha, not really. When I hit myself I simultaneously felt a tear..

[CarSmashBoy]

@Lostslightly i beg to differ. i could pelt myself in the groin with a stress ball all day, but I'm going to learn really fast with a gold ball ;)

[ApatheticCatholic]

HA! 1st try got it. 2nd hit my self in the crotch. 3rd got it.  Gonna keep practicing. Just made some Poi out of trouser socks and golf balls. Any suggestions on better materials?

[NathanielEverist]

@ApatheticCatholic Golf balls?!? Yeah, use something softer than golfballs, man they would hurt when you hit yourself, so unless you like self-punishment, change them for something like tennis balls or balloons of sand or rice.

[ApatheticCatholic]

@NathanielEverist Got some soft bean bags. Dont hurt! Still screwing up on the cross when i spin the poi in reverse. Keep hitting myself in the behind.

[NathanielEverist]

@ApatheticCatholic good work. if you keep hitting yourself in the back, it means your planes aren't quite good enough, and is usually caused by moving your arms either too far from your body as you cross them and/or moving your arms it too horizontal a fashion. Emphasise vertical movement to keep the poi in plane, you cross your arms yes, but make sure your hands trace a really vertically stretched 'X' shape to help keep your planes in check.

[ApatheticCatholic]

@NathanielEverist Thanks. I'll keep practicing!

[AyslingTheFox]

i keep hitting myself in the face...any suggestions?

[temper1famas]

@AyslingTheFox try and spread your arms out more that helped when i first started

[MacrophileWolf]

does it also aplies to a glowstick /W string tied on.

[temper1famas]

@MacrophileWolf yeh i used glosticks at a rave and it was awesome

[Chr0nalis]

i hit my balls a few times when the poi intersected and went straight down the middle :)

[FireHo57]

I feel harsh liking that but hey... LMAO!

[NathanielEverist]

I'm sorry to hear that, but yeah, other people's pain is kinda funny sometimse.

[NIXON19950]

now we know your a guy :D lol

[djndude]

figure of eight tardo...

[NathanielEverist]

Sorry man, I don't fully understand what you're trying to say, wanna be a bit more specific?

[djndude]

i said its called a figure of eight

[NathanielEverist]

Actually, the figure of eight is done is split-timing (a.k.a, chase), while this is a same-time move. The term figure eight was is also used in freehand glowsticking, glowstringing, staff spinning and club swinging, and in all of those cases, the objects chase each other in alternated timing around a figure eight shape. It's also widely known as a two-beat weave (check out my tutorial for the two-beat weave if you want to learn a figure eight). It's ok that you got confused, but don't insult me.

[kaspar12321]

thats what i tell my friends who i try to teach

[hunt4car]

did u and your mum decide to take the day off at the torture zoo?

[NathanielEverist]

Torturing animals takes its toll...

[moopiequack]

I've already gotten the 3-beat weave down but i never learned the reverse for weaving. when i got to your 3btw turning video i realized i had to learn reverse and came back here, unfortunately my planes are really off going in the reverse, do you have any tips to help me with that?

[sephiroth87932]

like if your planes are off when in the reverse try with one poi and preten to do the reverse three btw with that poi and your hand then do the same with the other stay near a wall or look at a mirrror to see how your planes are if this doesn't help sorry

[beautifulpyre]

Thank you for this. It definitely helped me to understand forward crosses and I'm started to get the backwards ones too!

[andonjuin]

i have trouble keeping my left hand on beat as soon as i go to split-timing. besides that i am doing pretty well, i tried some freestlyeing and surprised myself quite thoroughly with what i was able to do lol. ill try to have a video up soon showing you my progress and it will be open to your criticism.

[wiichovizard]

sorry but im a rookie in this im from mexico an your video helped me a lot but i dont get by all the bross qhen the poi is from down to up besides im doing it with chains an a ball in the other side for the weight thanx a by the way sorry by the english im not an expert in it

[f0rt0r]

Thank you for making this. I am watching these mainly for glowstringing, and they help a lot! Its odd ( I think ) think that there are many more POI tutorial videos than stringing ones, but the same principles apply, we are just swinging different objects.

[NathanielEverist]

Yeah, that's true. I find it strange that there's even different terms for it when yeah, they're essentially the same thing. It's odd also that stringing is so popular but that there aren't that many tutorials for them.

[NathanielEverist]

Oh yeah, and many of my subscribers are glowstringers who are learning too, so you're not alone.

[IsisEir]

I can't figure out how to do the crosses or weaeves in the opposite direction. O_o lol

[69e5d9e4]

Quick question. I've been trying to learn Poi for a good 3 days now. I have just started to get even planes with both hands. I was just wondering is there any specific way you should keep your wrists when practicing spinning, and keeping even planes?

Thanks,

-Jeff

[NathanielEverist]

No, there isn't any specific way, although what I find is best is to rotate your hands at the wrist as much as possible, tracing as wide a circle as you can with your hands while keeping the rest of your arms in place. This will enable you greater control, flexibility and coordination in the long run. In my opinion anyway, I hope that helps answer your question.

[pommyfaye]

Thankyou for this, it is helping me heaps, but i have a real problem with the basic weave, i have no problem at all with the two beat as i learn't this first, but i keep on hitting the back of my head or the side of my thigh with the basic one.

please help i have a headache!!!!

[NathanielEverist]

The best advice I can give if you're hitting yourself in the head is to be mindful of your planes. Make sure your planes are as clean as possible the whole way through the move. If you're still having trouble, revert back to the classic one hand at a time, and soon enough you should find it coming together. If you're still having trouble, let me know.

[Inc02]

lol nice jumping :]

[NathanielEverist]

lol, thanks, took years of practice to get my jumping to that level.

[iamnotpercy]

dunno if this will help anyone but when i practiced backwards crosses I tried started off with my arms crossed and spinning backwards to see when I had to cross. once i could do the "uncrossing" and knew what it felt like, it was easier to suss out the crossing :) hope that helps

[NathanielEverist]

Good advice, if you're ever having trouble with any single part of a move, it's a good move to isolate the part of it that you're having trouble with if you can, as you have so done. That should help a lot of people.

[Hannahdabeast]

Ow. I think I've beat myself in the shin a good eight times. I'll have bruises tomorrow. >_>

Totally worth it though. Thanks, man, you make it look easy. It probably is easy to you.

[NathanielEverist]

Yeah, it'll be easy for you too soon enough. If you're hurting yourself, I recommend wearing shin-guards, there's no point beating yourself up over it... lol.

[granolagirltoo]

Man, reverse crosses are so hard for me! Urg.

[NathanielEverist]

Most people do find reverse crosses hard at first. The best advice I can give you, is practice one hand at a time until it feels natural in each hand, then try and coordinate them. Make sure you keep good planes too. Some people find that focusing on crossing their arms further across their body also helps, but the key problem is people hitting themselves in the back of the head, which is caused by bad planes.