Poledancing and how it changed my life
I've always hated anything that involved physical effort. PE was my most dreaded class ever since I remember, and you wouldn't see me play or watch any sports for fun either - that was the opposite of fun for me.
As a teen, I hated my body, and the only time I did work out was when I suddenly felt the need to do something to achieve the idea of beauty that I would learn from TV and magazines. That didn't motivate me enough though, and those moments wouldn't last. After a few days of trying to be healthier, I would go back to not moving a finger and feeling guilty about it.
So when I was 16 years old, my mom started taking pole dancing classes. I would be lying if I said that didn't make me uncomfortable. I associated poledancing with sexual, and sexual with bad. But I trusted my mom, and she showed me videos of her teacher doing amazing, beautiful moves on the pole. So my thoughts were: "As long as it isn't taken to it's sexual side, pole dance is alright". (Ever since then, I've grown a lot, and so have my thoughts on sexuality and ethics, but I guess I'll leave that for other post)
My mom fell in love with pole dancing, and eventually, she decided to get herself a pole. I didn't say anything, but I was actually really excited. It seemed fun to climb and spin around the pole, without any sexual connotations. So when it arrived, I started playing with it - A lot. It was harder than it looked from the outside, and I was too weak to climb it, but I could do some basic moves. My mom noticed I was having fun, so one day she challenged me to go to a class with her.
I'm not gonna lie. That first class wasn't the best. I was weak on the pole, couldn't do anything right, and I thought the teacher hated me! (If only I knew how wrong I was! But to be honest, I always think everyone hates me...). However, I still learned a few interesting moves that I kept practicing throughout the week, and so, by the time of the next class, I was pretty excited to show my improvements.
The teacher completely opened up to me. I was the youngest girl she had taught to, and she loved that me and my mother were going to her classes and enjoying them together. Right now, about 6 years later, the teacher is one of my favorite people in the world, and I love her and admire her so much.
The more I improved, the better the classes were. I had fun, and for the first time in my life, I was working out without it feeling like a chore or a burden. I was either doing something that I loved - pole dancing - or working out my muscles with very clear goals in mind. And those goals weren't to lose weight, get abs or get thinner legs. The goals were to be able to do certain poses and moves, and my first big achievement was to climb the pole. I worked my arms so hard to be able to do it, and I was so happy when I was finally strong enough. Eventually, it became so natural that now, even thought I haven't practiced in a while, I can't imagine a time when I wasn't able to do it.
That also gave me a really awesome relationship with my body. You see, I lost quite a bit of weight, but I didn't even notice it. People were complimenting me on my weight loss and to be honest, it was really annoying, because for the first time in my life I didn't care about that. The ideal body for me was no longer the kind of body I saw on TV and magazines - it was the body that was able to do the moves I wanted to do, regardless of it's physical appearance. And that, to be honest, was the best motivation I ever had.
Unfortunately, things changed. When I got into college, I stopped having time to go to dancing classes regularly. Right now, I'm at the point in my life again when I don't exercise at all, feel guilty about it all the time, and my relationship with my body got worse again. But I still remember how I felt at that time, and I can't wait to go back to it. Those classes is one of the things I miss the most from Portugal, and hopefully when I come back I can set my priorities straight and make time to do something I love so much.
Have you ever felt this way about exercise? Are you naturally an athletic person or a couch potato like me? What motivates you to work out?
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So when I was 16 years old, my mom started taking pole dancing classes. I would be lying if I said that didn't make me uncomfortable. I associated poledancing with sexual, and sexual with bad. But I trusted my mom, and she showed me videos of her teacher doing amazing, beautiful moves on the pole. So my thoughts were: "As long as it isn't taken to it's sexual side, pole dance is alright". (Ever since then, I've grown a lot, and so have my thoughts on sexuality and ethics, but I guess I'll leave that for other post)
My mom fell in love with pole dancing, and eventually, she decided to get herself a pole. I didn't say anything, but I was actually really excited. It seemed fun to climb and spin around the pole, without any sexual connotations. So when it arrived, I started playing with it - A lot. It was harder than it looked from the outside, and I was too weak to climb it, but I could do some basic moves. My mom noticed I was having fun, so one day she challenged me to go to a class with her.
I'm not gonna lie. That first class wasn't the best. I was weak on the pole, couldn't do anything right, and I thought the teacher hated me! (If only I knew how wrong I was! But to be honest, I always think everyone hates me...). However, I still learned a few interesting moves that I kept practicing throughout the week, and so, by the time of the next class, I was pretty excited to show my improvements.
The teacher completely opened up to me. I was the youngest girl she had taught to, and she loved that me and my mother were going to her classes and enjoying them together. Right now, about 6 years later, the teacher is one of my favorite people in the world, and I love her and admire her so much.
The more I improved, the better the classes were. I had fun, and for the first time in my life, I was working out without it feeling like a chore or a burden. I was either doing something that I loved - pole dancing - or working out my muscles with very clear goals in mind. And those goals weren't to lose weight, get abs or get thinner legs. The goals were to be able to do certain poses and moves, and my first big achievement was to climb the pole. I worked my arms so hard to be able to do it, and I was so happy when I was finally strong enough. Eventually, it became so natural that now, even thought I haven't practiced in a while, I can't imagine a time when I wasn't able to do it.
That also gave me a really awesome relationship with my body. You see, I lost quite a bit of weight, but I didn't even notice it. People were complimenting me on my weight loss and to be honest, it was really annoying, because for the first time in my life I didn't care about that. The ideal body for me was no longer the kind of body I saw on TV and magazines - it was the body that was able to do the moves I wanted to do, regardless of it's physical appearance. And that, to be honest, was the best motivation I ever had.
Unfortunately, things changed. When I got into college, I stopped having time to go to dancing classes regularly. Right now, I'm at the point in my life again when I don't exercise at all, feel guilty about it all the time, and my relationship with my body got worse again. But I still remember how I felt at that time, and I can't wait to go back to it. Those classes is one of the things I miss the most from Portugal, and hopefully when I come back I can set my priorities straight and make time to do something I love so much.
Have you ever felt this way about exercise? Are you naturally an athletic person or a couch potato like me? What motivates you to work out?
Follow me on Bloglovin'
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