Mental Health & MY Journey
Mental health is a huge part of the worlds population. To alleviate these feelings some, meditate, do yoga, go to the gym, what ever they can do to calm their anxieties or depression. As someone who suffers from anxiety and depression, it is amazing what pole exercise has done for my mental health! I usually shut down, and there were a few times I absolutely did not want to go to class. But, you know what? I showed up! As mentioned before, walking through those doors is magical! It is as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. All the anxieties and stress from a day’s work/daily stress in our lives are all left at the door. Someone is always saying hello, whether it another girl from class or an instructor. It makes me feel like I matter, and these women at Aerial Dance are so supportive and empowering. I think pole is sort of like a weekly distraction for me. It gets me out of my head. With having to concentrate on what I am doing, it keeps me focused, and it is the only thing that matters at that point and time. It allows me to just think about how I can improve different climbs and positions. Plus, I really enjoy the company of the other girls and instructors in the class. No matter what has or is going on in my life, pole exercise is my therapy. (I even bought a t-shirt that says POLE DANCING IS MY THERAPY) It releases all the happy hormones such as Dopamine and Serotonin. It even continues after I get home, and helps me to relax and sleep better and stay asleep longer through out the night. After the class there is always an e-mail the next day, regarding how you did in the class. Instructors point out what you were strong at for that night. That always makes me feel awesome! It is something that sticks with me for the rest of the night, and sometimes into the next morning. It is nice when you see other women lifting others up. Aerial Dance is its’ own little family, and they don’t leave anyone behind. Everyone cheers for everybody else, and wants you to succeed. Even other girls in the class will help you out and show you some tricks and tips on what helps them better do a climb or trick. All the positivity I’ve gotten and seen from everyone here, just lifts my spirits, but also calms my anxiety. I am so happy to be apart of something that is positive and helps heal. It has made a huge impact on my mood and confidence, for that I will always be grateful.
Taking a Break is Hard. Coming Back is Harder
I know that these blogs are typically positive in nature, and I promise I will get there. It cannot be stressed enough how important mental health can be. The past 4 months have been absolute torture on me. Just before life threw as many curve balls at me as it could, I signed up for the annual show (I know it was ages ago but every woman who preformed was absolutely gorgeous and killed it!). When life started throwing punches, every inch of me wanted to step back from the show. I told my husband repeatedly that I couldn’t do it, but he encouraged me to not quit. Show day came and went and boy am I glad that I stuck with it! It was a nice break from everything else going on. I never thought about what came after. I went to a few classes after the show, and I slowly realized I was doing more early canceling than showing up. It has been about a month and a half since I’ve taken a class and I plan to return to my regular pole class Monday. Let me tell you something… I am terrified! Can I still do it? Is all my strength gone? Will I remember to engage? What if I fail? As I sat here today thinking about writing this, I’m slowly realizing that I have nothing to be afraid of. I know that the second I step foot in those doors I will be at home again. I will be welcomed with open arms and I know it’ll feel like I was never even away. Will I have to rebuild some strength? Absolutely! But it will come back in time. Will my first day back be a struggle? I have no doubt in my mind, but I will show up and I will do amazing! I cannot wait to see everyone again. If I’ve learned anything from writing these blogs about Aerial Dance it is that I never should have stepped away in the first place. It is my happy place! My break from life and everything that happens, and I wish it didn’t take writing some blogs to remember that. But I remember now, and I am so excited to be going back. Whether you’re returning from a break or joining us for the first time, there are classes for everyone!Check out a pole, aerial, or fitness class today!
Progress is Not Linear
Over the course of nearly three years, I realized that everyone’s aerial journey is different. For the first few months, progress felt really slow for me and I felt embarrassed and ashamed about that. Meanwhile, I watched others progress at a much quicker rate than I was. Eventually, I found my groove. I started spending all my free time in the studio, practicing everything I could as hard as I could. It was a craving I felt that I needed to satisfy. For anyone who needs to hear this: progress is not linear. If I were to make a graph out of my aerial journey, it would look like I was looking at the stock report. It took years of working on myself consistently to fully accept that both the highs and lows are normal. I used to ask instructors if they ever felt like their passion for it was gone, and if so how they continued to push through that to make aerial a happy place for them again. For starters, the unanimous consensus was YES. Finally, there was some sort of validation there, knowing that even the real life women that I look up to and adore struggle with their sport sometimes. I felt understood. How to combat the feeling of falling out of love with a certain apparatus? Let it go. Still can’t nail your goal trick? Work on something else. Being a student at Aerial Dance has helped teach me that I need to have patience with myself. Some days are strong, and some are weak. On the weak days, I’ve been really trying to remind myself that if nothing else, I showed up. I made the conscious decision not to avoid something that makes me uncomfortable. Recently I heard someone say “passion is a form of self care.” Something about that, for me, resonated. I have never felt passionate about anything I’ve done until I found Aerial Dance. It’s what pushes me to try things that are uncomfortable and unfamiliar. At the very least, every class there is a workout, a learning opportunity, and a social interaction – and I can’t think of a better form of self care than that. Try some thing new and find your favorite self care activity! Sign up for Intro to Pole or Intro to Aerial.
Staying Active as an Adult
Working out is something that gets harder to do as the years go by. As a young child you have so much energy and always want to be running around and playing with your friends. While you grow up, you find a sport or two that you love and focus on that. Maybe you play for your school team or a competitive travel team. Then, as years pass you get other interests or responsibilities as an adult that take you away from all that activity. For me that was soccer, I played starting when I was 5 and all through my childhood and ended with intramural teams in college. In the beginning it’s all about having fun and learning something new. After a while it’s all about perfecting your skills and things get much more competitive. While it’s still fun, the focus is more on being better than you were before. For me, I got to the level where I wasn’t really having fun anymore, but I continued to play because it was all I had ever known. Why would I give up something that I was really good at? After a couple concussions in high school I realized that I should probably take some time away from the sport because I didn’t want to ruin my opportunity of ever playing in the future when I went too far when I was younger. I took senior year of high school and my freshman year of college off but ended up missing it. Not all the running per say, I always avoid running like the plague and didn’t miss that for a second. While I was still exercising a little, and walking to all my college classes was plenty of work, I still noticed my body changing. I wasn’t the super fit athlete that I was just two years prior. I missed it, so I decided to play for an intramural team in college. I had a blast again! It was more about doing it because you wanted to have fun than be super competitive about it. Then, college was over and the opportunity to play was lost. I slipped back into a less active lifestyle. I knew that I didn’t want to go to a boring old gym and lift or run on a treadmill for hours on end, so instead I did nothing and the longer I waited the harder it was to start again. I tried a few different things, but in the end didn’t love them enough to want to spend all of my hard-earned money on it. That’s when I found Aerial Dance. I don’t dread going to classes because I’m having so much fun in them that I don’t notice how hard I’m working until its all over and I’m sore the next day. I now get so excited on days that I do have class that I’m in a good mood all day long. Becoming a member of the Aerial Dance family has been one of the best decisions that I have made in a long time. I am excited to workout again and be active as an adult. Aerial Dance offers a variety of classes for adult women and co-ed classes on the weekends!Not sure what to take? Try Intro to Pole or Intro to Aerial!
Mentally Strong
I have battled with my mental health for years, there have been some pretty low moments in that time but within these past two years I have been really diligent about staying on top of it all and making sure that I see any signs of my mental health slipping again. In the past year I also found the love of my life, and while he has a lot to do with my continued happiness there have also been days where nothing he says or does makes me want to do anything but lay in bed. People always want to give you advice, like “oh just get up and take a shower and you will feel better”. Or telling me that if I just exercise and eat healthy, I will be fine. Well, I’m the type of person that will hear that and instantly rebel against what they say. They don’t know what I have been through or how my body feels. It’s not easy to get out of a mental funk like that. I know that I should get out of bed and I may want to but I just simply can’t get myself to do it. After finding an activity that I love to do I have had far less bad days than I have in previous years. Going to my various classes at the studio always puts me in a good mood. There have been times where I had a really rough day and didn’t really want to go to a class, but I drove my butt there and was always glad that I went through with it. All of the classes are the right balance of fun and challenging that I need to stay motivated. I don’t perfect or even achieve every move each class presents, but I try my best and am always encouraged and supported by the instructors and other students in the class. I have never left the studio in a bad mental place, and for someone like me that means a huge deal. There have been other activities that I tried and when I finished, I just wished that I had canceled the class and stayed home instead. They may have been a good workout, but they didn’t do anything to help me be in a better mood. Going to the classes offered at Aerial Dance are more like going to a specialized playground than going to a gym. I genuinely enjoy every class and all of the relationships that I am forming with the other women there. Come play at Aerial Dance! Try Intro to Pole or Intro to Aerial to get started!
