Pole addiction - do you need a break?

I found this girls blog from a friend of mine and boy do these words ring true.


"I’ve been pole dancing now for a while– honestly, a lot longer than I thought I would when I started– and I’ve been through some serious ruts.

Ruts upon ruts upon ruts. And boredom. And stagnation, and frustration, and more ruts.

It’s okay to be in a love-hate relationship with the pole. It’s okay to feel like you’re not getting anywhere, you’re not improving, you’re sucking. It’s okay to just be sick of it, to want to move on. It’s okay to move on, if that’s where you are at.

You can take some time off. You can stop watching videos on YouTube. You can ignore all the pole-only Facebook friends you have. You can stop going to class. You can put lotion on.

Try taking dance classes. Yoga, pilates, aerial yoga, silks, lyra, trapeze, ballet. Maybe the physicality of one of those new forms of movement will stir new inspiration in you. Maybe the challenge and freshness of a new apparatus, or new way of using your body, will reinvigorate the spatial-orientation part of your brain and push your coordination and body awareness.

Try forgetting about tricks completely for a little while. Focus on the dance. Focus on organic fluid movement, on inventing new transitions in and out of things. Spend entire dances working on floorwork or wall work. Try on shoes, take them off, work the lap dance chair.

Try dropping out of the pole vortex for a little while. Spend more time with your girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, kids, family. Focus a little more on work, or have some dinners with friends who have known you longer then you’ve been poling. Get your cleaning on. Get your errands and tasks checked off and laundry folded. Call your mom. Anchor yourself back to who you are and what you are about. Reconnect with yourself. Whether you are a full time pole dancer or not, pole dancing is something you do, not who you are… you are much more then the skills you do or do not possess. And if it’s not going well for you at the moment, or it doesn’t fulfill you right now, that’s okay.

Try going back to basics. Work on everything, on your bad side. Shelve everything new that you are frustrated by and find comfort and security in what you can do well. Fill in the gaps of your pole education.

Remind yourself constantly that getting “better” at pole dancing is not a linear path. You don’t have to hit the same milestones as the person next to you, and you don’t have to put pole on a pedestal. For some people, it’s just a hobby or an infatuation; for others, it’s a serious relationship that you have to manage and really put effort and work into to keep fresh. Sometimes you just need to take a break. Pole will always be there when you’re ready to come back."

-Courtesy of Aerial Amy www.aerialamy.com