Roll Around a Little!

Any time we’d work on floorwork in class, I’d get impatient. I didn’t want to learn this stuff as much as I wanted to be upside-down! I’d also argue that I’m not inherently graceful or coordinated, so I wasn’t a huge fan.
Fast forward a couple years into my pole journey…
I don’t have the room to put my pole up in my apartment, so I find myself playing around with all of those things I once found so boring. Yes, I crank up the music a little and roll around on my living room floor–you caught me. I might sound crazy (ok, I do), but I’ve found it to be extremely empowering.
I believe that truly empowering floorwork requires you to be fully aware of your body and completely embrace it. You most certainly need to be fully aware of your body to properly use those muscles, but there’s more. If you don’t believe in it, if you don’t OWN every move you make— floorwork isn’t nearly as moving to you or any audience you might demonstrate your floorwork skills to.
Floorwork, to me, requires you to embrace and celebrate the parts of your body you might not like as much, or at all. For me, that’s usually been my midsection and sometimes my thighs. If I don’t feel comfortable with those parts of my body, how can I be comfortable moving them? I’m rolling around on a floor, and if I had an audience, there’s no limb I can hide, no device I can throw focus to (like a pole). It’s me, and just me.
So how is all this rolling empowering? Well, at first it wasn’t. I felt silly and ashamed even though NO ONE ELSE WAS IN THE ROOM. That’s twisted. So I kept dancing. I closed my eyes and listened to the music. I realized that it wasn’t the “I don’t care” attitude I needed to adopt, but the “This is mine, it’s beautiful, and I’m not ashamed of it.” That self-confidence you’ve been building through pole? I truly think floorwork is where it’s tested.
If you don’t feel like getting on the pole today then I suggest this: shut the door, turn down the lights, play your favorite music, and just DANCE. Pay attention to how the music makes you feel, move in any way that comes to you. Enjoy yourself–you’re the only one judging. Use some of those moves you learned in your pole or Core&Flow class. Makes some stuff up, or watch some YouTube videos. For the love of all that’s pole holy, don’t hurt yourself or break your furniture trying a new move–but just allow yourself to be creative and go with what the music moves you to do!
Don’t ignore floorwork. Not only will it help make your routines look lovely, but it will also help you embrace your body, and all the beautiful things it’s capable of. 🙂