Pole dancing, as a healing dance form and modality to reconnect with ourselves holistically (i.e., mind-body-spirit) seems to be where yoga, perhaps, was a decade ago. When I was a graduate student, I remember only 2-3 studios and teachers who were practicing various forms (e.g., Bikram, Ashtanga) in the Denver area. I also remember inviting friends to the classes I was taking and their questions...which were along the lines of, "You mean, take a class where you are asked to "stand like a tree?"
I greatly appreciate the time you are taking to help raise awareness of the pole dance. You asked the question, "How is pole dancing my form of "yoga?" Is it true that the definition of yoga is, "to yoke" or tie together the body-mind...or unify the various aspects of our essence/being? As humans, we tend to perceive differences and make distinctions. This seems to happen at an early age (e.g., 2 years) when we differentiate ourselves from our mothers and parents. From this point on, perhaps we perceive the world along the lines of "me" and "not me." I am not sure if this is where our "separate-ness" begins, but it seems that the concept of "me" or "I" and, "who we think we are," to quote Ram Dass (spiritualist and translator of Eastern spirituality for the West) gets planted and from which we continue our separate, individualistic paths.
In our culture, we seem more and more separate from others, or a sense of greater community. Within ourselves, there seems to be an even greater divide that occurs as an extension of living according to "science, logic, and reason." In my days of counseling psychology, two things were apparent. First, a "split" between a person's thinking and feeling often served as the impetus for seeking counseling. We could analyze and try to understand why we made decisions that went against our heart's desires, but this often lead only to greater "reasons" for not taking the desired actions or making changes that brought ous into congruence or alignment with our hearts’ desires and bodies’ intuitions. Second, and most interesting, it seemed that when we could "get out of our minds’ explanations and stories," and consider the bigger, philosophical and often spiritual questions, this seemed to loosen our "grip" on a given “reality,” allowing for steps in a new direction and overall change.
Interestingly, it seemed that once an individual could align his or her actions and pursuits with his or her inner desires and feeling, fear lifted and problems associated with the experience of not "following one’s deepest sense of awareness" dissipated. It was at this point, an individual would depart from therapy. Hurray!
Dance teacher, Gabrielle Roth, states, "When we follow our soul's desires, life unfolds like a love story." I believe this to be true. When I dance, I connect to the essence of being human. Thus, the pole dance is my form of yoga, a profound spiritual practice that begins and ends with unifying spirit, body, and mind. My journey at the poles has All movement stems from the breath, and we often begin on the mats in yoga and with the rhythmic flow of dynamic moves prior to moving to the poles.
In classes, I often mention that, "dance mirrors life." Life hardly works out the way our minds project. We can both fight and resist certain changes and situations that we are faced with, or we can embrace and roll up our sleeves and remain open to the possibility that something greater will be revealed to us through a given scenario (and often one we would not choose). The poses of yoga and the movements with this dance form teach us that we can "hang in there with moments of discomfort." When we want to retreat into "fight or flight" mode, we can sit still and breathe a little deeper and slower. Often this (new) place reveals that the sensations or things we are "fighting" or "flight-ing" drop away with time's passing. We are left questioning, "where they ever real?"
Yoga, like dance, begs a physical focus. Such concentration on muscles and our soma seems to allow the "chatter" to quiet. Our "souls" live in our bodies. When we can connect to ourselves through breath, movement, we can realize there is a greater rhythm to our lives...and a greater freedom of possibility...something beyond all of the restrictions and fears of the endless chatter of the mind's limited view.
Anything that reveals to an individual his/her true power - relating to the realm of possibility is amazing. It seems that yoga, dance, and other physical, creative activities create a window for "light" to shine in and for people to experience themselves as something greater than they initially thought, or think on a day-to-day basis.
At the pole, it is amazing to see women and men climb, pirouette, and achieve a sense of mastery with their bodies and entire beings. This is something that kids seek with excitement (and no second thoughts) just naturally. However, as adults, we have been conditioned to listen to our minds and "reasoning," and to not do things that could lead to us looking foolish, irrational, or childish.
In yoga, we return to "child's pose." In dance, we return to "playing with movement" and being creative, especially with the pole dance, since there are few rules on how we can connect certain maneuvers. Hopefully between all of the moves and various forms, we learn how to go within, feel our sense of inner truth, and listen to the wisdom of our soul’s expression that shines through our muscles, viscera, and cells. Through this process, hopefully we learn to see a different perspective – one that is based on “felt sensing.” In this way, we might be able to listen when our bodies are fatigued and respond accordingly (e.g., with kindness, allowing rest).
In a culture that is forever focused on “moving forward,” “collecting or consuming experiences,” and “getting ahead,” it is an everyday challenge to be with stillness. There is a value in awareness and observing without having to engage in knee-jerk reactions. This was a concept that we tried to facilitate in the therapeutic milieu, as counselors. That is, to interrupt a habit, there has to be a gap in time and space. This is where, “returning to the breath” and “watching the breath” come in to play. Once we can create a little more time and space, we have the opportunity to be patient and wait things out or possibly attempt a new solution. Both of these offer something different than the usual, habitual, “knee-jerk” reaction.
Finally, there are certainly a myriad of rules, expectations, and social mores for how life is supposed to unfold. The series of events and experiences that contribute to this thing we call, “life,” rarely unfold as we hope or wish. I always say that, “nobody goes unscathed,” meaning that we all face adversity, disappointments, and heart-breaks. If we can find the “dance in it all,” and the “lightness that exists in the darkness,” perhaps we have the power to shift our experiences. This is the philosophy of yoga, and this is the practice of dance. In class, I constantly encourage students to, “find the dance in this dreadful and horribly hard exercise.” We might learn to do this on the yoga mat, or at the dance pole…but when we can take these lessons and practice to our “outside” world, applying them to a challenging job or a struggling relationship, the “trauma” of the difficult situation shifts.
A good friend of mine, John Schettler, who designed and maintains the website for TranZenDance Studio, shared the following wisdom with me years ago when I was struggling about the studio’s future location: We have three things to do in life. First, we have to show up. Next, we have to pay attention. And, finally, we have to tell the truth. On the last point, this is not the truth, as we know it, to tell to someone else. Instead, this is our own deepest sense of the truth, as we know it.
It is hard to live in accordance to what we know, and it is nearly impossible if we choose not even to “show up.” With the years that have passed since first hearing John’s words, I realize, “to show up, pay attention and tell the truth” takes practice. It requires stillness, which requires patience. It requires attending to “felt sensations” and internal rhythms. In the hectic world in which we live, this begins and ends on the yoga mat and at the dance poles.
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