[Tamarinda]

Battlestarlet that is beautiful advice. So hard to incorporate though. Training our mind to love ourselves just as it is, is as difficult as training our body :). Just wanted to chime in and say those are beautiful words and it is definitely a mentality to strive for and I loved everything you said 😀

[Tamarinda]

Question. I decided I hate iPhones cuz they only have limited space. I’ve been trying to set up iCloud to correct this issue and its giving me issues at the moment. I will try again later. But let’s I wanted to use a camera, I couldn’t upload it to Instagram because it has to be uploaded from a phone right? I read that I can’t upload from desktop. Growl at this process. (Instagram newbie)

[Tamarinda]

Polekat I decided to get the black one because it is a bit pricey and I didn’t want to buy it twice so I decided to go ahead and break myself into the black one. It’s great on my hamstrings cuz I can’t feel anything with a regular one anymore but the black oh yes I can. That thing isn’t going anywhere near my IT bands though full pressure. I rest on the opposite leg with my foot on the ground for that one cuz it is major ouch. It’s great though for everything else. Hopefully one day I can make these IT bands stop hurting so much.

[Tamarinda]

If my muscles are really warm it’s less painful. I also like rumble rollers. If a particular area is giving me problems I rest on that spot for a good bit and I don’t have to always hold my weight because rumble rollers have ridges on them that push more into the muscle. For example, doing hamstrings I can relax on my back or forearms and rest in that position for a good bit and I can slowly rotate my leg around on a sore spot and let the ridges massage it. It can be a lot of stamina to foam roll especially if working for a bit on a good knot. Foam rolling is hard cuz you have the pain you’re trying to roll out and then you have to keep your body strong to hold the positions while keeping the area you’re rolling out relaxed… It’s definaltey a challenge so give yourself time to adjust and don’t give up 🙂

[Tamarinda]

Tracee Kafer is awesome. I remember when she posted some videos on here not too long ago. I went back and looked at her profile on here and she had some vids up from 2009. It was so inspiring to see her roots and where all her hard work got her today. It makes me feel good and like it is achievable. I know she is a pole beast and her flexibility, strength, body awareness, and technique are pro status, but it helps to see someone in their beginnings struggle. I know it will take years to be half as good as her but she shows with practice and work that progress does come. Another person that has old vids up is dirdybirdy on youtube. It truly feels good to see pros and people with great flow in their beginnings. I’m sorry for my long rant but I’m just so excited to sink my teeth into these challenges after finals and so glad Sparrow linked them.

If anybody is unhappy with their progress or lack of being able to freestyle I strongly suggest to go back and look at these two polers beginning vids cuz it will breathe new air into you.

[Tamarinda]

Whoa! She rocked that! Thank you for linking those challenges Sparrow, definitely going to try those!!!

[Tamarinda]

P.S And alethea Austin videos!!!!!!!!

[Tamarinda]

Finding sexy was hard for me. An ex from a long time ago used to comment that I’m a 3 legged gazelle. Very beautiful and majestic, but clumsy and not very graceful. Lol I didn’t take offense to it cuz it was true and we would crack jokes like that all the time to each other.

I never necessarily hated my body too too bad but I suppose I did have insecurities. When I began dancing a bigger displeasure rose in myself because I was dissatisfied with my lack of being able to dance, move fluidly, and be strong.

Recording myself did make me feel kinda bad about myself to be honest.

I’m still not the best dancer or the sexiest but I have noticed a lot of improvement in my movement. There’s still a lot I’m unhappy with and a lot I need to work on, but of course all women have those thoughts in their head.

I think my biggest improvement came when I started to love my body more. I think loving our body, thinking its beautiful, focusing on the positives rather than the negatives, and finding our sensuality is the best way to come across as sexy.

Of course that’s easier said than done. Most women pick themselves apart to no end. I think the point when we can let go of negative views of ourself and ‘find the mood’ is when we can create something decent, and then from there it just takes practise and viewing back videos to see what works and what doesn’t.

[Tamarinda]

I’m still struggling with this and I don’t have enough strength or control on spin yet. I’m no expert but here is what I have gathered so far in my ‘research’… Hopefully it can be of use. In both Veena’s tuck spin and hold spin lessons (in the intermediate section) she says both spins can transition into an ariel invert on spin. It’s similar to the grip Lucca uses in her gorgeous invert. I have been working on holding those and gaining strength to feel confident in those spins. It’s tougher than it looks.

Also MissDirdyBirdy has an ariel invert video (video #29) that has a lot of tips for spinny inverts and shows a lot of those techniques in motion and slowly. She also offers strengthening tips at the end for that particular move.

All this ‘research’… Sigh… I wish I could afford a class. lol. Good luck, I hope that helps with your current nemesis.

[Tamarinda]

I decided to jump on the Instagram bandwagon. It will be good for me because I don’t feel comfortable putting this stuff on my facebook so now I made a place. 😀 Anywho, my thing is tamarinda_pole. I don’t have anything up but a face pic and profile pic and finals are coming up so it might be a bit till I get around to anything. I’m going to start following some of you guys though.

[Tamarinda]

I enjoyed this thread so much. Glad to hear of everyone’s luck with their pole hobby in their professions. It brings me much comfort you have no idea, it’s always something I worried about. A yoga instructor or hobbyist can be out with their passion and receive no flak. I understand if I ever do decide to ‘come out’ the way I present it will be a huge deciding factor on how it is taken. Even if I sterilize it as much as possible I will still expect some negative when that day comes but oh well…

Lol Pheonix Hunter I live in Alabama right now. The Conservative South/Bible Belt… I’m becoming a repressed little ball of rage out here. lol

[Tamarinda]

Grayeyes that’s very comforting to hear that you have no issues at work. My plans are to become an RN and one day an anesthetic nurse. (Long time away) I figured the medical field was catty and it wouldn’t be taken well and used as an excuse and fuel to fire… I also worry about how future schools would see it. I worry too much but I guess because of past experiences. I’m glad you have had positive experiences and I’m glad you got past the shame and feel good about pole. I especially loved your last line 🙂

Romo I loved the cat comment. I’m also glad to hear you have no issues at work. I understand the feeling of not wanting to post videos, I didn’t want to for a long time and I didn’t like how my videos looked. Over time I have gained more confidence. I’m glad you videod yourself and felt pleasantly surprised. I think many of us are crushed when seeing our first videos. Lol. Hopefully pole brings you to a place where you are more happy. I’ll be looking out for you and good luck on your pole journey 🙂

[Tamarinda]

Thank you for your words. 🙂 I’ve gotten a lot of dead weight away from me. I can’t ALWAYS control who I am around but I can control how close I let others be to me.

I read a meme somewhere that said something like, “girls compete with each other, women empower each other.” The pole community here is amazing and is nothing like the ‘real world’. People here try to empower each other and build each other up rather than break each other down. Thank you Veena for creating such a safe space where nobody here ever has to worry about getting attacked or criticized just for enjoying a passion. That is such a hard thing to do in this day and time…

[Tamarinda]

I’m in college right now and I fear the way future employers or schools might see me if I attach my name to pole.

If certain people close to me found out I could see them saying things like, ‘you work too hard in school to ruin it by doing something classless’ or ‘if you ever get into management no one will take you seriously.’

Surprisingly, from older people I get things like, ‘wow, that takes a lot of hard work and dedication.’

From people my age I get things like, ‘you must be an attention whore’ (farthest from the truth, I’m a wallflower and give people no indication that I pole dance in Facebook or out in public), ‘wow, your boyfriend must love you for you to do all that for him’ (not for any man), my favorite response was, ‘you’re still fat so you need to go to a gym too because that’s not working you enough.’

The general population does not take pole dancing seriously which is unfortunate.

While everyone shames me I’ve lost 17 lbs in a year and a half and boy do I eat, I eat more than before pole. My pants are falling off. I don’t hate myself anymore. When I wear spaghetti straps or tube tops I don’t focus on the fat in my arms or shoulders. I’m actually proud to look at my arms, back, and shoulders. My pancake butt that people used to make fun of gets complimented a lot now. I used to have shoulder pain from an injury that went away and now I have no pain and my full range of motion is back. I used to have hip pain and had to see a chiropractor (tilted pelvis he said from muscle imbalances pulling my hips in bad directions) for that and sometimes I would just lay in bed from pain cuz walking and standing hurt. I haven’t had pain in a year from strengthening and stretching.

While people shame me I’ll just sit here with my newfound love and apprecriation for myself and my body.

[Tamarinda]

Phoenix Hunter, the amount I stretch you would never know because flexibility comes horribly slow to me. I try to put work into my weakness which is flexibility. I truly have to force myself to stretch and keep at it. I took part in a 60 day splitter challenge so hopefully that helps… But… I’m not getting my hopes up because even consistency doesn’t get me too far with stretching it seems. Runemist working out does feel great afterward and I guess it doesn’t matter what our training session looks like as long as we do it and feel awesome afterward!!!