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  • PinkPony

    Member
    April 5, 2015 at 11:30 pm in reply to: I can’t quit sugar

    I am on Day 5 of eliminating refined sugar from my diet. I went cold turkey after years of daily Starbucks drinks and a great love of pastries and candy. It’s an experiment to see if I can do it for 3 weeks. I am allowing myself one alcoholic beverage a week, so that’s a cheat but I think the treat will help me stay on track.
    So far, I feel good and this is really making me aware of what’s in everything I eat! I’m avoiding processed foods for the most part and reading labels on anything that IS processed. I’ve learned a lot about the different names sugar is listed under, it has many faces! Haha And I am learning to satisfy my sweet tooth in new ways like through unsweetened apple sauce, fruit and almond butter.
    Lastly, I am learning to eat when I go out. It’s hard!! But you can find the nutrition information for just about any restaurant online. It’s eye opening to see how different the contents of a dish is when not prepared at home! 😱
    So throw out the sugar in your home, research refined sugar online and then start looking for new healthy recipes that will satisfy your desire for something sweet. I’ve found a lot of good ones on Instagram.
    Sugar offers no benefits besides flavor and many drawbacks like inflammation, weight gain, energy crashes and they say it can even mess with your moods.
    And who knows? Maybe once it’s out of your system, you won’t even want it anymore.

  • Girl, I’ve been there.
    I developed good old tendonitis on one side of my wrist and a very special tendinitis called DeQuervain’s tendinitis on the other side of it when I was a blackjack dealer.
    I took MONTHS off from training and had to quit the casino to heal. I took it as a sign from the universe that it was time to focus on my other talents. This means I spent a lot of time drawing and going to the park for long walks and fresh air. Of course, I was itching to train but I cannot stress enough that if you have inflammation, resting is the best thing you can do.
    See a physical therapist, take your meds, do your Theraband exercises and ice massage and let your body HEAL! It will heal itself if you will only let it.
    The choice is to take a break now or keep pushing, wait for it to get worse, and eventually your body will make you take a break! Don’t let it get to that point.
    You will return to pole with new determination and appreciation for it.
    Try not to get depressed, you aren’t losing your identity. It’s just time to focus on other sides of yourself as you heal.

  • PinkPony

    Member
    January 25, 2015 at 4:25 pm in reply to: Showing off?

    It definitely sounds like your class mates are just super insecure and insecure people love to bond over their shared dislike of someone else.
    However, if it really bothers you, it can’t hurt to go out of your way to be extra nice to them. Smile, say hi, make eye contact. It really is their problem and not yours BUT if you want to make friends you have to show them that you’re friendly. If you’re quiet and keep to yourself and a great student, a lot of unhappy people will interpret this as “bitchy.”
    But if they’re acting like such small people, why would you want to be friends with them anyway?
    I picked up beginner moves quickly because of my background in dance. Dancers have body awareness that an untrained person doesn’t have. But once we got off the ground and started climbing and doing aerial poses…then my progress slowed down a bit. Dance didn’t prepare me as much for that.
    Maybe you’ll be happier with the intermediate students, maybe they’re more secure.
    At the end of the day, it’s your pole journey alone and you have to do what’s best for you 🙂

  • PinkPony

    Member
    December 1, 2014 at 7:53 pm in reply to: Polers who Instagram…

    Just a reminder, I am holding a GiVeAWAY on my IG today, @ponypoison
    If any of you polers want the free pole dancing pony bracelet I am giving away, you just have to be an over 18 poler who lives in the US.
    A few hours left to enter!! 🙂

  • PinkPony

    Member
    November 13, 2014 at 11:39 pm in reply to: Pole “shame” How do you deal with it?

    “Those who mind don’t matter
    And those who matter don’t mind.”

    I have no pole shame.
    People who think pole is shameful are ignorant. Why keep small minded people in your life?
    If someone wants to understand you, they will try to. They will ask questions and listen.
    And don’t let them play the “it’s inappropriate” card on you either. Our culture loves to shame women (especially moms) out of enjoying their sexuality. Don’t fall for it. You’re allowed to be a strong happy person; spiritually, emotionally, physically, sexually.

  • PinkPony

    Member
    November 9, 2014 at 11:11 pm in reply to: Sexuality & Confidence

    I really think a lot of the problems women run into are a result of viewing their body from a third person perspective. You are not outside your body, you live in it. So why would you judge it based on how someone else sees it? That doesn’t make any sense to me.
    Body awareness is something pole can bring to women to empower them and it is one of the things I love about it. I encourage anyone who isn’t getting that benefit from pole to freestyle dance. Don’t do any tricks if you don’t want to. Don’t judge your movements from a technical aspect! FEEL what you’re doing. Feel yours muscles move, don’t anticipate the next dance step, just put on a song you love and keep moving! Run your hands on your body if you want to. When you can turn off your brain and be present in your body, I think that’s the first step toward appreciating it.
    Look at all the things your body does for you. Breathing, stretching, walking, sleeping, healing itself through injury and sickness. How could you ever look at an amazing machine like that and hate it because it has stretch marks?!
    I have stretch marks. I see them in the mirror and I don’t care. They don’t define me. And yours don’t define you. A healthy body is an amazing body. Period.
    And as for magazines…why are you reading that trash? Do you know these models personally? Or fashion designers? Or celebrities? Are they your close personal friends who see you for you really are? No!
    These are people you’ve never met who aren’t even aware that you exist. They have nothing to do with you. Why would you let them tell you how to look or what to wear or who to be? That’s a lot of power to give to someone you’ve never even seen in person.
    Take your power back, ladies 😉

  • PinkPony

    Member
    September 20, 2014 at 3:00 am in reply to: Clubs in Vegas for great Poleperformances

    I live in Vegas. I train at Shine Alternative Fitness and recommend it highly. I train mostly with Suwasit but there are other great teachers there, as well (including Jenyne Butterfly). Also, you can try other things while you’re there that might be new to you; aerial hoop, aerial silks, hand balancing, antigravity yoga, flexibility training. I’ve done the hand balancing class a few times. The other classes I take regularly.

    I also teach Stripper 101. I love our class, it is a ton of fun! Just to let you know, the pole part of class is an intro for beginners, most women who visit our class have never been on a pole. The most difficult move we will execute will be a fireman spin (maybe a front hook if you’re a natural! hehe). There will also be focus on sexy non-technical pole moves like booty clapping & body waves. We go over lap dance and I think you will enjoy that a lot no matter what pole level you’re at.

    As far as shows, the Michael Jackson One show was already mentioned & has Jenyne. I don’t know if Zumanity has pole at the moment, you may want to check. But that’s a great show either way 🙂

    If you’re thinking of hitting the strip clubs, it’s a gamble. Remember that dancers in Vegas (I don’t know how it is anywhere else) make most of their money in lap dance, not on the pole. So you may or may not see anyone do anything technical at all if you go. I’ve been to almost every strip club in town and seen only a handful of girls who were doing interesting tricks. Again, it’s not what makes them money so…I still find the clubs fun, but I don’t walk in expecting technical pole prowess.

    Hope this helps, enjoy your stay in Fabulous Las Vegas 😉

  • Everyone loves knee hold. And yogini. I think, in both positions, Muggles don’t understand how you’re holding onto the pole, as your hands and feet are not on it.
    Also, they are great poses for street poling or dancing on unfamiliar poles since they are both impressive but not inverted (won’t land on your head!).
    And believe it or not, the Muggles love when you drop into a split. It’s such a parlor trick but, whatever 🙂 So anyway you want to do that (from a fan kick, from a ballerina, from a shoulder mount flip…honestly, even of you just land a basic chair spin sliding into a split!), they go nuts. In my experience 😉

  • PinkPony

    Member
    August 17, 2014 at 10:35 pm in reply to: The Public is getting worked up again …

    The public’s view of strippers is the public’s problem. Most people don’t even know why they believe many of the things they believe. If questioned, they cannot explain. I am still waiting to hear the logical explanation that reveals exactly why a woman’s value is directly related to her number of sexual partners or how much she covers/reveals her body.
    Exotic dance is like any other profession in many senses. Whoever you already are, that’s who you will be as a dancer. The girls I knew who were doing “extra” things in the club were promiscuous before they were ever dancers. That’s who they were. My more conservative friends who danced didn’t suddenly become drug users or promiscuous after they started dancing. That’s not who they were.
    What’s so sick is that the mainstream thinks it’s any of their business what a woman does with her body. This is basically treating us like we are not adults. No one ever looks at a male stripper and says, “Oh, wow, he must have had poor upbringing! He must have no self esteem! He is being exploited!” He is a male owning his sexuality and we expect as much in our culture.
    Don’t let mainstream ignorance dictate anything in your life.

  • PinkPony

    Member
    August 17, 2014 at 2:21 am in reply to: The Public is getting worked up again …

    It would be nice if a female in our culture could do what she likes with her body (whether that be sexual in nature or not) and not get penalized for it.
    If a male in a swimsuit did pole tricks, there would be no news story.

  • PinkPony

    Member
    August 2, 2014 at 10:27 pm in reply to: Whats it like to pole as a job?

    Your life is meant to be LIVED, that’s why it’s called a life and that means you must do the things that make you feel ALIVE. You must pursue your passions in every way you can!!
    I love my “work.” I teach pole and perform freelance. I have a been a server & a blackjack dealer & I hated it & I felt like the living dead. I am so happy now to spend my time exposing women to pole and to do what I love. I could care less how much more money I could be making at something else. Tomorrow is promised to no one, I can’t live in fear like that.
    If you want to perform, you may have to up your game. A so-so pole dancer can work as a Gogo dancer or in a strip club. If you want to be on a regular performance stage, you have to want it badly enough to fight for it. Train, train, train! Be the best artist you can be.
    Remember that safety is an illusion, so don’t do something you hate just to feel “safe.” Companies go bankrupt, fire people, get bought out, 401ks can disappear…40 hours a week is a long time to spend doing something you don’t care about.
    Time to get creative. How CAN you make pole your only job? Your first mission is to figure that out. And then to make it happen 🙂

  • PinkPony

    Member
    July 20, 2014 at 10:46 pm in reply to: Am I overreacting? Feeling slightly upset/confused/discouraged

    You might be sensitive if you’re having a bad pole day, but that happens to absolutely every single pole dancer in the world sometimes.
    As far as your instructor goes, it is never a good idea to compare students like that. Especially when one of them is struggling. She shouldn’t have done that.
    Remember, though, that if you want to take her class, you’re paying her so don’t be afraid to speak up! You can say, “I don’t like being compared to others,” if she says something like that. Or just ask her, “Do you think it’s fair to compare me to others?” It’s not rude to point out that what she’s doing isn’t beneficial to you. She is there to help you get better and if she can’t do that, time to try another instructor.
    Don’t worry about the handstand business. Everyone has their nemesis moves. It’s not the move you will never get, it is simply the move that may take you longer to get. Remember there is more than one way to be strong, maybe handstands are not your thing but another move is your bread and butter.
    Focus on what you do well, limit how many nemesis moves you work on in one class.
    Change your focus to flow or flexibility for a little while, maybe. Come back to strength work when your self image is a little more restored and you can tackle those difficult moves with some confidence.

  • PinkPony

    Member
    April 28, 2014 at 11:14 pm in reply to: Aerial hoop/Lyra

    Check out trapezerigging.com or look up the company Fight or Flight Entertainment on Facebook.

  • PinkPony

    Member
    March 8, 2014 at 9:06 pm in reply to: Home Schooling?

    I am not a parent but I was a homeschooled from the 5th grade on.
    Different states have different laws about what they require in a homeschool ing curriculum (I was in the Midwest at the time). At first, my parents created their own lesson plans and later they switched to the American School (americanschoolofcorr.com) correspondence system. So, while I was in grade school, we studied about 6 hours a day and once I was older, I just followed the lesson plans on my own. I was able to move at my own pace, which meant finishing early.
    We also had friends who homeschooled and we would take field trips together. I’m sure there’s an active community of homeschoolers online you could coordinate with.
    I think homeschooling was a really positive experience for me. I still had social interaction with kids through church, dance classes & other homeschoolers. I actually think public school (especially high school) in our culture has become a really dangerous fishbowl that kids get put in and they think it’s the whole world. It seems like poor preparation for the real world. As soon as I finished schooling, I got a job. So I was making a little money, meeting people, functioning in the adult world.
    And my homeschooling didn’t hinder my entering college at all. I do wish that I had had a counselor to advise me on scholarships & things, though! That would have been nice.
    Anyway, hope this helps. Good luck 🙂

  • PinkPony

    Member
    March 2, 2014 at 9:29 pm in reply to: Most Impressive Aerial Shows in Vegas?

    If you only see one show, see Absinthe. It is so much fun with very dirty humor and legit circus acts as well.
    I think it’s fair to say Mystere at TI has the highest volume of acrobatics. There’s also Chinese pole in it.
    The Michael Jackson Cirque show at Mandalay Bay also featured Jenyne Butterfly before she had her baby so I *believe* the pole act is still in the show, but with a different performer.
    My favorite Cirque show in town is Zarkana. It’s really over the top & opera like and I love the cyr wheels.
    Enjoy your stay 😉

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