Mind-Body & Pole
- Axiom1418
- Jun 20, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 29, 2021
“Put your arm straight like this, now wrap it around the pole. Now that is how I want you to wrap your arm when you’re in an inversion. It should feel just like it does now, but only you will be hanging upside down.” The instructor informs the class.
The mind-body connection is essential for pole dance, not just to make the dance moves look good, but so you don’t get injured. When a new move is being taught, the instructors often include how it needs to ‘feel’ as they are breaking it down. This inclusion is essential in the western culture as we seem to be more in our heads and less in our bodies.
Why am I talking about the mind-body connection in a blog that is supposed to be about misperceptions of pole dance? It’s because when I tell people that I pole, they see it as just a sassy little hobby to pass the time. They don’t realize the importance it plays in my life and the lives of so many others. Having a good mind-body connection is essential to having a healthy, full life and pole assists in this connection.
Before pole the gap between my mind and body was so huge that I didn’t even know it existed. A big part of why this gap existed is due to my anxiety and ADHD disorders. They cause me to always be up in my head, running a million emotional laps and getting exhausted without actually moving. Those disorders along with a lack of experience working with my body in dance or sports and a lack of confidence led to the disconnect. Often I had a difficult time physically doing dance moves, because my body was tense when it needed to be relaxed. I had no idea how tense my body was until an instructor pointed it out.
When I first started to pole dance, I was too shy to look at myself in the mirrors covering the studio walls. How could someone have a healthy mind-body connection, if they can’t even look at their body in a mirror? Through pole I have learned to slow down, work on my focus, increase my confidence, become more aware of what my body is doing (is it tense, is it relaxed), where in space it is, and noticing what sensations it feels. The gap still exists but it’s shrinking.
Soleil Jane (pictured in image above) is a fellow pole student, with three degrees under her belt (humanities, psychology, and education), and a PhD on the way (social psychology), has a lovely and smart way with words, and the most welcoming smile. She is also a pole instructor and writer (see link below to one of her latest articles). I asked if I could interview her as I felt there was a link between my blog and much of the content in her Instagram posts.
One of her recent posts was regarding sensuality (which differs from sexuality). I asked her to speak specifically about sensuality and what it is. She said that as she understood the term, sensuality refers to the five senses and how we experience things through them.
I asked why people have a hard time being sensual. She answered that many people like “playing or dabbling with these things from time to time, kind of like cosplay with them”
instead of making them a part of their daily regiment. This is because it feels overwhelming or inaccessible for some people. Many people are functioning mostly in their mind out of survival, they need to turn off the sensors of their bodies, ignore the aches and pains, so they can plow through the day and deal with life’s circumstances.
We learn to re-acquaint ourselves with our senses and sensuality though pole. Soleil said that the class that is the most sensual class for her is Spin class (where the pole itself spins) as the mind-body connection is a must. Everything is firing in this class and it’s overwhelming. You must always be focused on where your body is on the pole, what to do next with what body part and how to get out of the move safely. I agreed and mentioned that for me the mind-body connection in spin becomes a relationship of one telling the other not to puke.
We also discussed how emotions connected to issues outside of pole can come out during training. When it comes to blockages in progress she noted “so much of the blockage is emotional, when I’m feeling more resistant emotionally, when I’m feeling more guarded emotionally, there’s such a difference than when I feel more safe and more compassion for myself”.
For me the blockage can also happen during dancing itself, worrying about forgetting the moves in the combination, is the flow smooth enough, what’s my facial expression, to ‘what move should I do next’ during freestyle. One of my instructors always says that if you are thinking of the next move, you are no longer freestyling, you have to feel the move. Huh? This is a difficult thing for someone stuck inside her mind to come to grips with, but I am learning.
The mind-body connection is still something I’m working on, but as the connection deepens, I find myself progressing in pole and noticing how my body feels outside of pole.
Me attempting spin:
Check out how a pro (Suzy Giannakopoulos) does spin pole. She is working with both a pole on static and a pole on spin. Can you tell which is which? Also...Suzy is one of my most favourite instructors and people. You will be hearing from her in future posts.
The following was posted by MidwestPoleDancing through YouTube:
Soleil Jane's article: 8 Self-Care Affirmations for Black Women In Pole Dancing
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