Hello all! I’m not writing this to upset anyone but my hope is that it will offer insight into some of the common frustrations among pole dancers.

Pole stars are wonderful, crazy tricks are fun, and its great to have people out there who inspire, amaze and represent. There is, however, a trend in our young community that leaves many pole dancers feeling unsatisfied and maybe like quitting altogether. I see that we start off with visions of rainbows and cupcakes but end up in a cloudy and unsatisfied haze of feeling left out, behind or just not good enough. Why is that?

I’ve been in the pole industry for eight years now, and the fitness industry for fifteen years. In that time I’ve seen a lot and there are some observations I’ve made over the years so let's dig into this a bit!

While pole dancing has been around for longer than most people know pole dance practiced in an organized manner is relatively new. We have competitions around the world, magazines, organizations, websites, blogs and studios starting and failing, left and right. There are even products and clothing made just for pole dancers. This is exciting and makes our community seem large and established, but the reality is we’re still pretty darn new and if we continue to only focus on achieving and promoting the greatest feats of strength and flexibility, I fear, we will become a dying breed. Too many studios jump on the social media trick bandwagon, allowing or sometimes encouraging students to try everything that’s out there. This is not reasonable or safe and allowing students to dictate what is taught not only confuses who is in charge but lends to a mentality that all moves out there should be taught and learned by everyone.

I have been saying for years, not every move is right for everyone. Please help me spread the word. StudioVeena.Com fights to spread the message that pole is for everyone and that it's fun! We’re bombarded with images of perfection and high level achievement without understanding what it really takes to reach elite levels. I touch on this in my Veena Method Teacher Training Course so check that out too found at [www.studioveena.com]

As the popularity of pole dance has grown, people outside our community have become interested in this art. Because of this we now have elite dancers with backgrounds in contortion, gymnastics, and other aerial apparatus representing pole. This is great, but I think we need to become a bit more aware of what is a realistic for the average poler. We are no longer dealing with stars who learned everything while down in their basement or in the strip club. There is no need to play copy cat with every single move you see, because the level is so much higher.

I'm not saying “don’t even try!” I'm saying you need to proceed with caution and listen to your body. Set goals and work hard to reach them. Just be sure that your goals are not pushing you to the point of damaging your body. The Veena Method provides a great guideline to help you decide if a move is safe for your level. We would not take a figure skating class and assume we would learn a triple salchow within a year. Why do we see untrained individuals learning pole and feeling like they need to do Jade, twisted grip handsprings and splits? Instructors need keep things reasonable. Students need to be aware of their limits and be content with where they are and what they can do.

I've also noticed that the focus of many workshops are to learn the latest and greatest tricks and to offer signature trick workshop. These moves are "signature” moves because that performer's body is capable of performing it. It is not reasonable to expect that everyone or even most should try it. There may be exceptions where a signature move is fairly simple, but this is not usually the case.

We have a few brave souls who travel around preaching proper technique, but sadly those individuals are not nearly as popular as they SHOULD be. Here is something to think about when choosing a workshop. Winning a title doesn't mean this person is a skilled teacher. Being a skilled teacher does not mean the instructor will be famous. Being certified doesn’t mean they’re qualified! I was certified in CPR for a few years before I ever felt qualified to use it! Ask around, see what others thought of this workshop, do your research.

We all have different abilities, this is part of what make your dancing special. Most of us who pole dance are not doing it as a profession which means we cannot train like professionals. Why do we feel the need to do what the pros do. Why do we feel this pressure to learn EVERYTHING? is this really healthy? Is this the direction we really want pole dance to go?

Most of the people who enjoy pole dance are moms, dads, students an professionals in other fields. We can't expect them to pole dance 6 times a week and have the time to strengthen and stretch the body in a way that allows for twisted grips, lifts and elite pole work.

Let the professional dancers have the crazy moves. Save your body and live to pole another day. We all have different strengths some of us are naturally more flexible than others and that's ok. But we should not franticly try to shove ourselves into a split or backbends just because some big name can do it. Pole dance should be about your journey finding your sexy, your strength, finding yourself. If we are always looking to do better than the next person or even strive to be just as good, then we lose ourselves. We lose the power pole can have, which leads to self doubt, jealously, anger and finally loss of interest.

Elite dancers, circus performers and pole athletes are amazing they have worked hard and have sacrificed for their art. They share their beauty with us and for that I am grateful and in awe. So lets not forget or ignore the time that is needed to achieve that level of performance. We don't see the toll this level of performance can take on the body. This is their life, it's what they live and breathe. Its not reasonable for everyone to strive for this level of commitment.

Most of the population believes that body builders and figure competitors, are the picture of health. We believe it's why they are on magazine covers? To achieve this level of "fitness" they diet down, live in the gym and live a very different lifestyle than the average joe. The dieting down is not healthy and it can be very hard on the body and mind.

I'm one of those crazy people that believes in moderation! There are individuals who do thrive off of living a very strict lifestyle but it should not be expected or even desired by everyone.

With that, may you all have a beautiful 2016! xoxoxo