Flow was not my favorite class. Dancing and movement did not feel natural. To be honest, it still doesn’t feel natural. I started taking them regularly because I hated them and they were very unnatural for me. The idea of “if its yours, you can touch it” felt incredibly uncomfortable for me.
What do I touch? What would that look like? How am I supposed to move my hands and also my feet and maybe do a move or two? It was intimidating.
My first few flows I definitely “just kept moving” during the warm up/cool down free dance. At times I wish I had a video of those early free dances but that’s for another time.
After a few flows an instructor said to close our eyes during the free dance. This was game changer. It was a slow game changer, but a game changer all the same. There was a freedom that came with it. An openness. There was probably still a lot of “just keep moving” going on, but at least it finally didn’t feel uncomfortable. It felt like a possibility.
It gave me the option to just try movement in my body without watching myself or thinking about everyone else watching me. It allowed me the confidence to try moves or transitions I was unsure would work. If I didn’t know how something would look, it didn’t matter because no one would see it. I could simply move the way my body wanted to move.
About two and a half years into my pole journey and I’m just now starting to explore the “touch it if it’s yours” concept. But ladies, I will say, the little I have explored it, it is empowering. It’s simply an expansion of just letting my body move the way it wants. It is also a little bit of self awareness and love rolled into it. Do we really know what our body feels like under our own hands? Have we traced our own curves? I have started and I think it has only improved my body awareness.
Another thing that has changed is I don’t always close my eyes anymore. Sometimes I like looking in the mirror. Wait…what did I just say?!? That’s right, sometimes I watch myself dance. I watch what the transitions look like. Sometimes I like what I see in the mirror.
I also started recording some of my free dances. Want to know what I learned from that? I learned that I do some kind of cool transitions when I just move my body.
So, here we are, 2.5 years later and flow is now one of my favorite classes. It’s one of the classes that has taught me the most. Now, the decision is to try focusing on climbs and inverts or pole spins…
If you’re curious about Pole Flow, drop into a class or sign up using your Fitness or Elite Memberships!