By Michele Hardman
Sherri Lopez wanted to be an actress when she was a kid and had plans to attend a fine arts school. She began having significant pain in her body—especially in her feet—at a young age. No one took her seriously, so she learned to cope the best she could. In her teens, she began having more problems due to the pain and had to start giving up physical activities she had loved. She’d been on a speed skate team but had to give that up. Volleyball had to go. Long-distance running was eventually not an option. Then, at age 17, she finally found a doctor who listened to her and ran tests. He discovered she had multiple tumors in both of her feet that needed immediate surgery to avoid losing one of her feet completely. That’s a lot for a 17-year-old to process. The tumors were removed, and all were benign, but it was also discovered that Sherri had advanced osteoarthritis. Once again, not something she was expecting to hear at her age. Traditional medicines didn’t work for her, plus Sherri isn’t a big fan of them anyway, so she opted to try and deal with her physical pain through natural methods.
Fast forward several years, and Sherri was living in Valparaiso, Indiana, where she worked as an Oncology nurse and in internal medicine. Her own experience with ongoing pain gave her more empathy for the cancer patients she worked with every day. She took the time to learn more about their personal lives and emotions. Her patients became like family. Knowing how damaging negative self-talk and thoughts can be on someone’s overall well-being, Sherri began to encourage her patients to strengthen these areas of their lives, which in turn helped strengthen their health. Then at age 48, she was diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis and bone spurs. Now she had more problems with her feet. It was soon after this that she discovered hoops as a form of therapy.
Sherri relocated to Panama City Beach in 2014, and along the way, several deaths occurred in her immediate family and her close circle of friends within just a few years. At one point, she felt totally lost. Through online research and videos, Sherri started learning the many benefits of working with hoops. She began using them herself and learned that they’re also very beneficial for people with dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, arthritis, depression, anxiety, and more. Basically, any type of restrictive movement—whether that’s physical or emotional. In 2023, she made her hoop classes an official business, calling it Peaceful Funky Hoops. Sherri’s own physical range of motion had been very restricted most of her life until she started using hoops, and she was impressed with the results she started to see in herself. Hoops can work on your arms, legs, torso, and improve your balance. You’re in the moment when you’re hooping. It helps you forget about all your worries and issues for a while and just – be. It creates all the ‘feel good’ properties our bodies need, like endorphins, serotonin and dopamine. An average session lasts about an hour, but there’s no real time limit to them. Sherri says she likes to go until it feels right. Clients have ranged from aged 18 to 72. Her Parkinson’s classes take place every Monday and Thursday at Woodlawn Church. Find more info on her YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram, or email her at: peacefulfunkyhoops22@gmail.com.
In years past, Sherri worked in property management for three years, and also taught Head Start. These days, she’s all about helping others have more peace, love, and calmness in their lives. And we can all use more of that.
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