Pole Teacher Certification- Where Should You Go? Part III

Day 2 of Training:

Owie ouch ow, ow, ow, whimper.   Did I say I was sore after the first day? I had NO idea what I was talking about.  Because today, after covering level 3 AND 4 spins, I am truly sore.  But wow do I know a lot!  More than I ever have- even after three years of pole classes. 

I want to take a minute to talk about my fellow trainees, because they are awesome.  There are two women named Skye Tacker and Natalie Goldwin from Core Fitness Pilates in Dallas, Texas.  They recently added pole to their repertoire of classes, and they are really starting to take off.  They are both incredibly sweet, high energy and positive.  Then there is the very strong, very wise Jennifer Van Deausen from Pegasus Pilates Plus in Solano Beach.  Much like the first studio, she has added pole into her Pilates regimen.  Her studio is named after the Pegasus because of the transformational qualities both pole and pilates have brought to her life.  And then there is the very beautiful, very kind and very talented Celeste Ayers.  She regularly competes (her performance at the CPDC this year was lovely) and she is a whiz on the spinning pole.  She will be teaching at OC Pole Fitness, however she has already taught quite a bit.  And she has an amazing smile.  Together, the six of us (including Collette) have formed a tight knit group and there is a great deal of support and sharing going on.

(Picture from L-R: Natalie Goldwin, Skye Tacker, Celeste Ayers)

Collette started us off today with a discussion about what it takes to teach a class.  She talked a lot about the amount of giving being a teacher requires and encouraged us to make sure we have the resources to replenish ourselves after teaching classes.  Anyone who has ever taught knows that it requires a tremendous amount of energy and focus, and no matter how much you love the topic, it can be draining to impart your knowledge to others.  She also talked about the different ways in which anxiety can manifest itself in our students, and why it’s important to see beyond the behavior to the underlying issue.  And she reminded us that for new students in particular, pole dancing classes could actually feel very threatening, and you as the sensual, embodied teacher, could induce a great deal of fear in your new students.  As someone with a psychology background, I greatly appreciated her taking the time to bring such things to our attention.  Pole dancing can be as much of a psychological exploration as it is a physical fitness practice.  The more aware teachers are of this, the better they will become at addressing and potentially helping their students through mental blocks.

We also learned floor moves today.  I have to be honest, as someone who thinks there is no better way to spend her time than rolling around the floor in ecstasy (and you can take that however you want, by the way) I was a little disappointed that more time wasn’t spent on the floor.  Floor work has been so grossly overlooked in so many studios and it has the potential to unlock a great deal of a woman’s innate sensuality.  Collette did mention this but I wish we had spent more time playing with it.  I don’t think it’s something that comes naturally to a lot of women. 

On the other hand, one of the many delightful things about this Instructor Certification program is that Collette is incredibly open about the fact that we are learning from her mistakes.  There is no pretention on her part, she does not presume to have it all figured out, and she openly talks about her mistakes and what she learned from them.  This gives the program a very alive and malleable feeling that allows for updates and new information to easily be accepted, digested and implemented.

So you probably remember that yesterday I was talking about how one of the downsides of having teachers learning tricks in the program was that it could slow down the pace of the training?  Well that was smug of me.  Because guess who could NOT get a trick that everyone else could get today? ME! The Drag and Fly was my nemesis for about twenty minutes.  It’s a spin, but it lands your hips in the opposite direction of the Fireman Spin.  Something my hips have never really done before.  And so OF COURSE, my hips were convinced that they were doing the right thing – and they had me convinced too!  It took one of my lovely classmates dragging my foot around behind me and telling me where it should end up for me to get it!  Tomorrow we are role playing, and teaching a trick.  Guess which trick I have to teach?  Like I said….stay tuned!!