WEST HARTFORD - Betty Shurin, aka Betty Hoops, parades around the Elmwood Community Center like a drill sergeant, brandishing her hula hoop around her waist like a weapon and correcting the form of about 20 women who came to the center for a little lesson in the art of The Hula Hoop.

She's a four-time Guinness Book of World Records holder, hailing all the way from Aspen, Colo., and she's a flawless hula hoop master who makes her rounds around the country giving classes.

While Shurin swings and sways her hula hoop with pinpoint accuracy and command, the rest of her class flails and stumbles, trying to get a feel for the whole thing while Maddonna's "Cherish" blares over a boom box in the corner of the room.

"Be loose, sway yours hips," she yells over the music as she criss-crosses the room without effort, giving precise instructions to the class.

Next comes an even more difficult task: Maintaining a solid hula hoop rhythm while trying to conquer a limbo pole at the same time. A few younger girls, like 12-year-old Abbey Senft of West Hartford, make it under unscathed, while the task finds itself a bit more challenging for some mothers trying to multi-task the maneuver under the pole.

Either way, after the rigorous hour session, a good amount of exercise has been accomplished. There's satisfaction and relief all around.

Since 1998, Shurin has been mastering the hula hoop as a tool, combining the simple sport of hooping with mind and body therapy. After the tragedy in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, she brought hula hoops for the firefighters to take away their stress.

"My passion is to educate and inspire others to feel great in their body and soul," she said. "Discovering one's own potential is empowering. I teach people to teach themselves."

She's taken the hula hoop to places it has never gone before. World records for distance and speed have Shurin's name next to them. In 2005 she set the record in the Guinness Book for running with a hula hoop in motion for 6.2 miles. Her rules were no stopping, dropping or even touching the hoop while running with a team of six blockers flanking her on all sides. A video of a race is available on her Web site, www.bettyhoops.com. In the video, joggers run all around her while Shurin effortlessly keeps the hoop rotating.

She obliterated a previous record, 10.3 minute run, by completing a mile in just 7.3 minutes with the hula hoop. She also conquered the mountains of Colorado, Oregon, California, Las Vegas and Utah and scaled intimidating 14,000 foot peaks, a task which is that much harder while having to master the rotation of a hula hoop all at the same time.

Robin Collins, director of the Elmwood Community Center, said she hopes Shurin will be back in the area around the spring. For more information about Shurin's classes classes or instructional, e-mail yogabetty@yahoo.com.