This has been a very difficult time to everyone in many different ways. I, like many of you, do not have a pole at home (well I do now, but not until very, very recently). With the closing of the studio due to the safer at home protocols, I was not able to do what I normally do and be as active as I normally am. I have seen my body change over the passing weeks because of my changed levels of activity. It has been hard. Hard to find motivation, hard to find time, hard to find space… just hard. When the prospect of getting back into the studio became a reality, I was scared. Scared of starting over, scared of finding out how much strength I lost, scared of having to re-desensitize….. but I didn’t let my fear win.
The first step to “getting back on the horse” is making the commitment to get there. Set aside the time, block it out on your calendar and show up. You can’t start again if you don’t show up. This was the hardest step for me, but once I was in the building, it was natural to want to do things and get back to playing. I did need to be careful though – my excitement to be back tempted me to do too much too fast. I made sure to take things slow. I had just taken two months off from touching a pole, I was not going to be diving right back into handspring combinations! I made sure that I eased in – I reviewed my basics and did more conditioning than tricks. As I felt my grip strengths coming back, and my muscles remembering how to engage I started to transition to slightly more difficult tricks, and making longer combos. I was amazed at how easily I fatigued and how easily I got dizzy! The more I practiced though, the better it got. Desensitizing still sucked, but it went faster than previously. Am I back to where I was? No. But I will be, with time.
As we prepare to come back to the studio it is super exciting! I can’t wait to see all of your wonderful faces again – but make sure you listen to your body. Take breaks in class if you need it, bring extra water. You might not want to jump right back in to taking 3 classes in a row in the same day…. Take it easy on your body, it will thank you!