January 16, 2025 • 71 mins
Pole on the Call Podcast — Season 4
Pole Coach Laura, Owner of Elevated Aerial
In this episode, Cris Rivers & Mændy Mac interview the amazing Pole Coach Laura, who is the Owner of Elevated Aerial in Montgomery, IL.
BIO:
My passion for pole began in 2014 as a student trying a class for the first time. Being a runner who had faced a lot of competition, I was immediately humbled and fascinated! I quickly realized this was not an “instant gratification” sport and if I wanted to chase this passion of mine, I had to connect to myself emotionally, mentally and physically.
Slowly but surely, I grew; from a student going around, up the pole, upside down and eventually as I like to say to my students, doing “all the things.” It felt so amazing I decided I wanted to give that feeling to others and 5 years after starting pole I chose to become an instructor.
In 2019 I became certified as a Vertical Arts Athletics Instructor, since then I have helped hundreds of beloved students from Beginner to Advanced Levels connect to themselves and find their passion for pole and dance movement.
We dance through our seasons of life- growth, change, challenge and happiness! My specialty is finding ways to help you connect with the movement and tricks that are authentic to your body, celebrating what you can do and developing yourself for what you want to do… elevate with me!
LINKS:
https://elevated-aerial-llc.sq...
Instagram @elle_vatewithme & @misfitaerial
YouTube @Elle_vatewithme
Photo Credits: @ktleephotos @KTLeePhotos
----------
Let us know how you like this episode and share with a pole friend!
Free free to Follow us and Tag us on Instagram @poleonthecall
Or email us for advice, comments, questions you would like us to answer on here and more at poleonthecall@gmail.com
Or you can visit or Website for more Episodes, Free Stuff, Courses and more at www.poleonthecall.com
Here's our Bees Knees link for amazing knee pads and much more!!
Use coupon code BEECALLED at https://www.beeskneeskneepads....
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pole-on-the-call--5317694/support.
Pole Coach Laura, Owner of Elevated Aerial
In this episode, Cris Rivers & Mændy Mac interview the amazing Pole Coach Laura, who is the Owner of Elevated Aerial in Montgomery, IL.
BIO:
My passion for pole began in 2014 as a student trying a class for the first time. Being a runner who had faced a lot of competition, I was immediately humbled and fascinated! I quickly realized this was not an “instant gratification” sport and if I wanted to chase this passion of mine, I had to connect to myself emotionally, mentally and physically.
Slowly but surely, I grew; from a student going around, up the pole, upside down and eventually as I like to say to my students, doing “all the things.” It felt so amazing I decided I wanted to give that feeling to others and 5 years after starting pole I chose to become an instructor.
In 2019 I became certified as a Vertical Arts Athletics Instructor, since then I have helped hundreds of beloved students from Beginner to Advanced Levels connect to themselves and find their passion for pole and dance movement.
We dance through our seasons of life- growth, change, challenge and happiness! My specialty is finding ways to help you connect with the movement and tricks that are authentic to your body, celebrating what you can do and developing yourself for what you want to do… elevate with me!
LINKS:
https://elevated-aerial-llc.sq...
Instagram @elle_vatewithme & @misfitaerial
YouTube @Elle_vatewithme
Photo Credits: @ktleephotos @KTLeePhotos
----------
Let us know how you like this episode and share with a pole friend!
Free free to Follow us and Tag us on Instagram @poleonthecall
Or email us for advice, comments, questions you would like us to answer on here and more at poleonthecall@gmail.com
Or you can visit or Website for more Episodes, Free Stuff, Courses and more at www.poleonthecall.com
Here's our Bees Knees link for amazing knee pads and much more!!
Use coupon code BEECALLED at https://www.beeskneeskneepads....
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pole-on-the-call--5317694/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, hey, hey everyone, I am excited to be back.
We are pulling the call. It is me Chris Rivers and.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Mandy Mack.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Yes, and we are here with the incredible poll entrepreneur
and poll instructor Laura Jackson.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Hey everybody, hie, Yeah, thank you so.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Much Laura for being with us today.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Thank you so much for having me. I am so
excited to be on this podcast and get to chat
with you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
That's truly our pleasure.
Speaker 5 (00:40):
I guess we should start at the beginning. Will you
tell us a bit about your poll journey and how
you started Pulldndsen.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
So, I actually was a late bloomer in the pole world.
I didn't start until my late thirties, and it was
on accident really, So I was a runner and I
had a little bit of an injury and I had
gone to my doctor to get it checked out, and
(01:13):
he said something to me that said a little funny,
which was, you know, as you approach your fourth a decade,
you should really think about doing activities that focus more
on flexibility rather than cardio and strength. And I was like, huh,
(01:35):
all right, Well, it turns out I hadn't really paid
any attention to my flexibility at all. I had been
super focused on cardio and strength, so I was like,
all right, fair enough, but I didn't really feel like
there were a lot of options I was familiar with,
(01:56):
and so I kind of investigated something and I decided
to try a poll class and it was extremely challenging,
like physically but also mentally. I really kind of go
outside of my comfort zone to try that, and a
(02:18):
couple of things came from I mean a lot of
things came from that, but the biggest things that came
from that for me were that I realized it wasn't
going to be an instant gratification thing for me personally,
Like I am not the kind of polar who can
just go in and you know, get things on the
first or even second attempt. So it was not going
(02:39):
to be instant graducation. And then the second thing that
came from it for me was that I was learning
that I was able to sort of build on things
and sort of like celebrate what I was able to
do because there was always like a little nugget of
something like it was like, Okay, well I can actually
do this little piece of it. And so it was
(03:02):
the first time that I was like recognizing the things
I could do instead of just always like trying to
like fix something like after the workout I had done.
In my life, I was always trying to fix something
about myself, Like it was like, Okay, you've gotta change this,
or you gotta tighten this up or do this, and
it was like always like I can focus on like
(03:23):
what I can do, and that was like really different
and cool for me. So that's like how I got
in and how it really like captivated me.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
I have a very similar story, right, because it's really yeah, yeah, right,
it didn't really come easy. I had a dance background,
but it didn't really come easily.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
It was like, I.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
Don't know, it was so much coordination that I wasn't expecting, right.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Right, It's like you get in there and you're like, Okay,
I can see what's happening and I can understand how
this works. But when I actually like go to do it,
it doesn't just happen. You know, Like I've got to
really like be persistent about this for sure.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
But I love that you bring up like the small
little goals because that was also part of my story too.
It was like really cool just to see like oh
my gosh, like I'm up the pole.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, oh my gosh. Absolutely yeah. I mean just to
think like okay, so you know beginning about okay, I'm
gonna spin around the pole, all right, get that. And
then it's like okay, so wait a second, I'm going
to start to go up the pole, Like how did
it work? Because I'm looking at this thing and I
don't see any like notches or step so how it's
(04:49):
it is my body gonna go up this thing, you know.
But then you know it's a process and you start
working and you're like, oh my gosh, like I'm climbing
up the pole right, And then next thing, you know,
you're like wait a second. Over time, like I can
sit on the pole right and there's no seat here,
like this is my body like holding me up? You know.
(05:11):
So like it just builds, right, But you know, for
many of us, it's a lot of perseverance. It's a
lot of pushing out of the comfort zone. And it's
just it's not an instant gratification sports. So I always
say this is not an instant gratification sport. If it was,
I wouldn't have a job because I'm a pole instructor,
(05:33):
and there would not be like pole studios or pole businesses,
right because everybody ever does know how to bowl dance,
you know.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So yeah, my gosh, that's so true.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
Did you have any sort of like dance ser gymnastics
background before you came to pull?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
So, I mean very basic. You know, I was on
er when I was in high school and dance and
stuff like that. But outside of that, you know, I
don't have any like formal dance training or anything like that.
I love music, and you know, I love to move
and dance, but that's really it for me. I always say,
the only reason I'm still polling is just because I
(06:15):
never stopped showing up. It's really the only explanation for me.
It's like, well, she just never stopped showing up. But
the only reason possible explanation for us because it's been
ten years and I don't really know why else I'm
still here.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I love it, right, Also, like what else are we
going to do?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Yeah? I'm like, hey, this is exactly what I like doing.
It's not always perfect. I have my moments of frustration
in tears and all of that, but ultimately I still
love it.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
Okay, So how how long into your pole training did
you start to want to become a pole teacher.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Yeah, so it was about five Well it was exactly
five years when I started teaching, but it was a
few years prior to that, you know, I really started
to learn how to, like what I say, validate from within.
So I actually came from the corporate world for marketing.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
And.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
You know, there are a lot of different I guess,
sort of measuring sticks that I compared myself to, you know,
as a business person, as a mom. You know. I
mean we all wear so many different hats, right, and
I think that we have a tendency to like measure
ourselves against these different roles that we have in our life.
(07:48):
And the more that I took pole classes, I was
able to validate from within and go, okay, wait a second,
Like I can take off these hats that I wear
and I can just kind of focused on myself, even
if it was just for like the class duration, and
go like, huh, you know what, Like I'm making progress here,
(08:09):
Like I am accomplishing things here, and that validate me
from within, you know. And I was like connecting to
myself and it was like pretty amazing. That was kind
of like the first time that that had ever happened
for me in my life. And kind of like while
all of that was happening and really like you know,
(08:31):
coming to fruition for me, Like internally, the company I
had been working for for fifteen years got bought out
and they were just completely reorganizing and doing like layoffs
and all of these different things. And I like to
say it was like the universe like perfect alignment, like
we're releasing you to your destiny, right and my destiny
(08:56):
was to not work there anymore. So that's how that
story ended. And so I decided to get certified. In
twenty nineteen, I became Vertical Arts Athletics certified and I
started teaching beginning pole and it was just kind of like,
you know, if I could take that sort of sense
(09:19):
of how to validate from within and get people to
really like dial into themselves and connect with themselves just
for whatever like a little bit of time that they're
with me, like bottle that up, Like that's that's what
I want to do, Like that's what I'm after, Like
that's that's like my calling like at this time, you know,
(09:41):
And that's what I've been doing since twenty nineteen. I've
helped hundreds of students connect with themselves from beginner to
advanced level, and that's that's what I'm called to do,
and that's where I'm at right now, and it's been
really awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I love the common thing you bring up of reevaluating
yourself and kind of just connecting with yourself because a
lot of pole dancing it's humbling, like you really have
to assess your weaknesses to improve yourself, and it's like,
which always kind of re evaluating yourself and connecting with
your body.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yes, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
And that's that's like a continual conversation that I have
with myself and also with my students is like let's
have grace with ourselves, you know, like let's have grace
with ourselves so that we can say, Okay, you know what,
we're doing hard things here and whatever expectations that we have,
(10:45):
because I know I do it to myself all the time,
like I expect myself to be able to do things,
maybe because I've done it before or I just think
I should be able to do it right. But it's
really like not fair to put that expectation on myself
because I'm not the same person every day. My body's
not the same. Maybe I haven't slept the same, I
(11:06):
haven't eaten the same. Whatever it is, like, just take
that expectation, throw it out the window, like it's not fair,
and have the grace like to do that, you know,
and just say, like, you know what, maybe it's not today,
but that's I've got to be okay with that, you know.
And it's it's it's difficult to release that and give
(11:27):
yourself grace, but I think it's so important. But it's
also a reminder of how strong we are as polars,
right because our mantle game is tough. We are really
tough because when we go into these classes, not only
what we're doing physically is so hard, but we are
(11:50):
mentally dialed in. We are not zoned out. We are
all in here, you know. And it's a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
It is.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
It's so much energy and mindset and it's just amazing.
And like I tell my students all the time, I'm like,
you guys have superpowers. Don't forget that, you have total superpowers,
you know, really do.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Right.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
I always considered pull like the do the one scary
thing every day?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yes, right, Yeah, it's done. Did it?
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:28):
For sure? For sure? And sometimes like the scary thing
is like showing up right sometimes like oh my gosh,
I got myself here and I or sometimes it's I
just attempted this thing, you know, like cause again we're
doing like big things that require mindset and physical like
(12:52):
energy as well. Total superheroes, Total superheroes.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Do you want to tell us a little bit about Elevated.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Aerial Sure, I would love to. So it's been like
a really exciting year for me. So after like a
lot of consideration sitting with you know, how can I
best serve students and you know, what I've come to
(13:28):
recognize as their needs and how that relates to like
their lifestyle and everything, and how can I like best
serve the Pole community, but also how can I continue
to grow as an instructor and an individual. I decided
to launch Elevated Aerial LLCAP and so that is the
brand under which I offer all of my Pole instruction
(13:50):
so classes, private lessons, you know, private events, parties and
such workshops. Even going to do a photo shoot coming
up here in about a month for a bunch of students. Yeah, yeah,
really exciting. So I have some students who have never
(14:13):
been captured for pole photos and this is a version
of themselves, like they really want to, you know, have
captured and be seen. They put a lot of work
into their pole practice and they're really excited. So I'm
going to be partnering with kat Lee Photos and we
are going to be doing a yeah, yeah, really cool
(14:36):
a holiday party and photo shoot. And you know, it's
just been really amazing to be able to be in
touch with, you know, students and offer them these great
options that are in touch with their schedules and their
budgets and just really be in tune with what they
(15:00):
need to serve them in their whole practice. It's been
it's been great. It's been scary, and it's been a
huge learning process for me because I'm I'm my own gig,
so there's like a really high learning curve and I'm
still learning. But I love the flexibility that it offers me.
(15:23):
And I just also have been really lucky to be
able to rent space in this beautiful flex space Misfit
Aerial Studios, and it's really nice because I rent studio
space and then I'm allowed to offer these options, you know, classes,
(15:44):
workshops again, all these things that I've mentioned to students
in a way that students their needs as well as mine,
and it's just been really amazing and wonderful. You know,
I can do what I love, which is offering boutique
style classes, so one person per pole, six people, and
(16:08):
that allows me to really focus in on my students
and check in on them and say, you know, like, hey,
how are you feeling today? What's your energy level? Like,
you know, is there anything specific you want to focus
in on? Okay, if so, let's do it. If not,
I have a few ideas, let's play around with them
and really just be in touch with them and what
(16:30):
they're in the mood for spending their time on. And
it's just I'm so so so grateful for what I've
been able to do this year.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Can you let us all know where it's located.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yeah. So, Misfit aieal is in Montgomery, Illinois, and if
you go on Instagram you can find them if you
just look. Actually, if you look at my Instagram handle,
which is elevate with me E l L E underscore
(17:09):
v at E with Me, there's a link to my
classes and then also a link to Misfit Aerials.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
You can find them there, so we will have all
those links in the comments and notes for people to
access when they're listening and watching.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Yes, and also exciting, Misfit is expanding, so in early
twenty twenty five they are adding on a third studio
space which is going to be a thousand square feet. Yeah,
it's so awesome and it's going to be dedicated pole
space as well as a performance venue. So that's going
(17:48):
to be like I know, right, like it's a dream
come true. So great things happening all around there.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
So that the poles are permanent, because I was going
to ask if you have to take them down or
put them up after each class.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
No, So the way that they have their bringing set
up currently, there's two studio rooms and it is able
to be taken down or put up based on what
you want to rig for because the space is shared
amongst other aerial instructors. So there's lira being taught there,
(18:27):
there's silks, aerial yoyoga. I'm missing a bunch of other
things because we have such a phenomenal array of aerial
arts instructors there, So please check out the website and
look everybody up. But my point is that the poles
can be removed, but don't need to be. I do
(18:49):
not take up or put down any poles. I go
into my room and they're set and then I walk away,
but they could be if they needed to be. In
the news, the poles will be permanently rigged in that area,
if that answers your question.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
How tall are the ceilings?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
So, oh my gosh, I believe that. Well, so it's
a flex space, right, So the actual ceiling to deck,
oh my gosh, I don't even know for sure because
it's just massive. But the actual rigging is steel rigged, Okay,
(19:33):
And so I believe that the poles are and don't
quote me here, I think that they are twelve possibly
fourteen feet. Yeah, so they're they're industry, they're a loupid poles.
So yeah, they're beautiful poles. Yeah yeah, very very nice
(20:00):
equipment there.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Hell yeah, that sounds so amazing.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
I think it is. It is, And they've done a
beautiful job with the lighting and the sound system and
just gorgeous flooring, and it's just been so wonderful to
be in that space.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Hell yeah. And then the opportunity to have performances there, that's.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's it's really nice. It's really great.
There was a showcase in the fall, and it was
very nice, for example, for pole students to be able
to come in and do like a full dress rehearsal
the day before, I'm sorry, the week before in the
(20:45):
actual space where they were going to be performing. It
was super helpful for them to be able to get
on the pole and move around the pole and understand
like their floor space and what they were going to
have to work with before they had to actually do
it for the show. So it was really great. So
really excited for that space to open up.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
That's amazing. Congratulations, think we're all excited.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Earlier before we started, you mentioned that it's you mentioned
it's like there be having a roommate and you share
like a business or like a share space and you
love it. Do you mind? And a little bit about
that for people who may be wanting to start a
studio and not sure alone, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Oh, in terms of like the actual how my business works,
in terms of.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Like are you are you guys like co oping together?
Like how is it?
Speaker 4 (21:48):
Oh? Oh sure, okay, now I understand, okay, so sure.
So the way that misfit operates is it's a flex space,
so when someone who has their own business wants to
come in, they have an opportunity to become a member.
So for example, I am a member, so I pay
(22:11):
a fee to be able to run classes there and
then from there everything else is a room rental. So
you're looking at a schedule and again this is where
like the fun like roommate park comes into play, right,
because it's like kind of like if you imagine, like
if you grew up with siblings and you guys all
(22:31):
shared a bathroom or something, it was like, okay, like
when are you going to be getting ready in the bathroom?
We're like when do you don't need to shower? Right?
Or like what is so you're kind of like it's
like that, right. So you're looking at this schedule going okay,
so you know this person runs their classes at this time,
this person runs their classes at this time, Like you know,
when am I able to rent and put my schedule together?
(22:53):
And that's kind of like how we all operate and
we have an understanding of who's doing their classes when,
and then as far as works our concerned, we all
communicate and it's like okay, so we know that this
person is doing their workshop this time, or you know,
for this person this time of years when they prefer
to run more workshops, or they have this or that
coming up or whatever, and we just kind of all
(23:14):
like cohabitate together, you know, and it's really awesome, and
we have like some great communication lines and we just
talk to each other. And what's really great is when
anyone comes into Misfit for any aerial discipline, whether it
be pole or lira or aerial yoga or silks or whatever,
(23:37):
they come in, they're supporting a small business, an individual
small business, you know. So when people come into Misfit,
there's actually a business card rap on the wall and
everyone has their business cards in there and you can
actually see all the different businesses that filter in out
of there. And so it's really cool. It's like a
(24:00):
co op, you know. And yeah, we just sort of
all like cohabitate together.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I love that. That's that's awesome.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
I want to, Yeah, do the students for like class
passes do they all pay for like is it the
same class past for every class or do you know?
Speaker 4 (24:23):
So every instructor has their own individual business. So for example,
students who buy my class packs. Those are just for
my classes. And then someone may have a class pack
from another instructor who teaches Lira and that's just for
that instructor. So it's all like individual by business.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
I love that. That's clever. It allows small entrepreneurs in
the area field kind of have a space without having
a space.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Yes, yes, it is, it really does. And again kind
of just going back to like that great opportunity you
know of like, okay, so here's my chance to look
at you know, how can I serve? You know, for me,
it's the whole community. But for these other instructors, like
whatever their aerial discipline is, like how can I serve
(25:20):
this community? You know? And you know what opportunities do
I have? And like, here's the space for me to
do it. And it's really awesome.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Right because mirrors are expensive.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Oh my gosh, I can't mirrors, floors, lighting, sound, you
know everything.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Right, great, but you will use it. So we're so.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Lucky to be able to have this opportunity, right, and
then the fact that someone is creating a whole third
studio room for us to use brand new. I mean
everything that we have right now is new, and now
we're going to have extra extra news. It's like super exciting.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
That's so awesome.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
I hope more more dancers to hear this idea and
team up with other aerials and gyms and.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Yes, yeah, all right, And if anybody ever wants to
come visit, like please like shoot me a message on Instagram.
I'd be happy to have you calm on in and
show you around and just even chat with you about, like,
you know, the thought process behind my move, you know,
and what I did to set myself up and and
(26:40):
how it's worked for me, you know, And I'd be
more than happy to discuss those things because it's it's
been a great experience for me.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I've heard contact in the notes.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
And yes, yes absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
What do you get to teach with elevated area? What
are some of your classes you enjoy teaching on your scheddrome?
Speaker 4 (27:11):
So right now I am doing a class it's called
Flow and Fly and that class is a beginner to
intermediate level class and it's focused on like fundamentals and
we do really everything in there, from floor work to
you know, static poll fundamentals to a little bit of
(27:32):
spin work. So I'm actually teaching that class tonight and
we're going to be doing a little bit of a
spin pants and I always like to sneak in some
conditioning in there, so there's going to be a little
bit of bracket hole conditioning. But I make it fun
and I always love to save time. At the end
(27:52):
of my classes for freestyle, I turned lights down, I
put the music up, and I like to dance whatever
movement comes up, let it out, like enjoy yourself, you know,
and just explore. So that's the Flow and Fly class.
And then I have another class that I'm teaching and
it's called Refine, and Refine is for the more intermediate
(28:17):
to advance level student, and there we explore kind of
like the deeper concepts behind advanced movement. So we're looking
at like more advanced choreography, floorwork, more advanced tricks, and
then also kind of how to piece and flow those
(28:37):
things together. Right, So if you're thinking about overall all
of the pieces that go into poll, thinking about, well,
how do you use all of your space? Right? So
like am I using my floor space? Am I using
my standing space? And if I'm somebody who likes airspace,
I mean not everybody does, right, Not everybody wants to
(28:59):
go the poll and that's okay, you know, but like
how do you flow all those things together? And really,
like how do you do that in a way that's
authentic for you? Like isn't that the real question? Like
what feels good and authentic for your body? Because if
(29:21):
it doesn't feel authentic for you, you shouldn't be doing it.
And that's okay, right, because there is something that's good
and authentic for you, you know, it's just connecting and
finding what that thing is, right, And so like, for example,
you know, there are tricks that I don't have in
(29:45):
my bucket of things I can do, but there are
also things that I don't want to do. I'll teach them, right,
I'll teach them because they're good for other people and
other bodies. But for me, I'm like, no, thank you, right,
(30:06):
And I tell my students at all the time, I'm like,
you know what, like if you want this, if you
feel like this is good for you and your body,
I'll get you. There will condition we will learn, we'll
progress there. But please, like, don't do this because you
feel like you have to, because you don't have to,
Like it doesn't feel right for you, don't do it,
(30:28):
just dump you know, like, can you guys think of
like a trick or maybe a move that maybe at
some point in your practice you're like, I've got to
be able to do this, and then you're like no,
ayisha ah.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
Yes, yes, yes, oh my god, yes, I've spent years
of my life.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
What trauma from their elegra?
Speaker 7 (31:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And it's like, you know what, those
are fine loves for certain people, you know, but yeah,
like it's okay.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
To not do the things that don't feel good for us. Yes,
a thousand percent. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Is I feel like social media makes it worse like
it for some reason, it gets in our head and
gives us this image of it has to be this way,
And you're right, do what feels right. Don't force yourself
into stuff just because people on social media.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Oh my goodness, yes absolutely. You know, for me, I
don't I have scoliosis. I have very bad scoliosis, and
so I don't have a ton of like upper thoracic mobility.
And so for me, a move that will probably never
happen is like a smooth aerial ballerina. It's beautiful. I
(32:12):
have so much admiration for that move. But for me,
I have tried so many different ways and things in
training and this and that, and it's just not in
the stars for me, you know. But it doesn't feel
my shoulders and everything will wind up feeling horrible, you
(32:32):
know if I push it too far, and it's just like, Okay,
I've come to peace with the fact that that is
not for this body. What am I going to do?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Thank you for sharing that, because I have recently learned
I have students and have had students with a scoliosis,
and it, oh, that's something from doing certain things. May
I ask, do you have any tips for us instructors
or for dancers with scoliosis waste to train to help
them and do the thing at the same time.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
Yeah, absolutely it. It will make your pole practice different,
but it will not make your pole practice impossible. In fact,
pole is what keeps me my spine as healthy as
it can be. Really, so what I would say is this,
(33:34):
I spend a lot of time stretching my hips, my
hip flexers, my glutes, also activating my glutes. Students in
my class always hear me say, like, squeeze your body,
are you using your booty activate it? You know, because
(33:56):
when you're actually using your glutes in your booty. You're
taking pressure off your lower back, and that is so
very important.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
You know.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
I do in all of my warm ups with my
classes some very basic spinal decompression moves. Cat cow is
one of the soup pine, twist, ragged out forward fold,
all of those right there. They also have a tendency
to relax people, which I think is very helpful. So
(34:31):
those types of yoga poses which have potential to decompress
the spine and loosen up again hips, lower back and
also relax people, I think are extremely helpful, depending on
like the curve of the spine as individual to the person.
(34:55):
You know, you really have to think about certain moves
that are not going to be great for you. So
you know, for me, I tend to look at things
in a way of okay, so if I do want
this move, what's the best approach for me to get
into it? Right? So, Like, for example, if I'm teaching
(35:18):
what I call the pretzel spin, which is sort of
like the precursor to a ball arena, I'm thinking, Okay,
I can set my hips by doing a sit and
then threading through, or I can set my shoulders, which
(35:40):
for me, I don't have a ton of flexibility, right,
I can start in a reverse grad position on the
pole on spin pole, and then I can wrap my
hips around. I have a lot more flexibility with my hips.
So kind of thinking about again the individual and their
body and okay, so you know, if they have less
(36:02):
flexibility and the upper body, can we work with the
lower body or vice versa, you know, or is it
a move that just isn't right for them?
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Thank you for sharing that. You've given me a lot
to think about. Especially I'm always trying to grow and
make sure I meet everybody's.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
Needs well, you know, and we all are. And that's
what makes you a good instructor that you care, you know,
is because that's really what it's about, right, It's when
they're with us, we want to help them recognize, you know,
(36:50):
what feels good and what feels right, and what they
want to pursue and what they want to develop. And
you know, that's something that I also talk to my
students about, is like, Okay, so you know you're going
to have growth and you can have comfort, but you
can't have them together. And so I'll be like, Okay,
(37:11):
you're gonna have moves that go into your bucket of
growth right, and make sure that they're worth it right.
So kind of like what we just talked about, like
these growth moves, like make sure that they're right for
you and your body because they're going to take time.
They're going to take conditioning, they're gonna take sweat and
tears and bruises. You can tell I'm speaking from experience.
(37:37):
You can tell I've been crumpled up on the floor,
like crying, ball up. I've definitely had my run with
growth moves. Make sure they're worth it, and I can
tell you that I have gotten my growth moves and
it's awesome when it happens. Make sure they're good for
(37:59):
you and your body and like grow for it right.
And then there's gonna be moves that like feel comfortable
to you, and those are your comfort moves and they
go in your comfort bucket, and those are the ones
that like pretty much from the get go, they're going
to feel like good and comfortable to you and they're
just gonna feel natural, and you like you need to
(38:20):
keep those handy for the times when life really is
hard and other thing like tricks or just whatever's going
on outside of the studio, Like has you really down,
Like you need those comfort moves. You need them to
keep connected to yourself. You need them to remind you
(38:42):
of the stuff about pole that's good and good for you,
you know, and like it's okay to be in that
place of duality. It's okay to bounce back and forth
between growth and comfort, you know, and like take as
long as you need going back and forth. Right Like,
there's times that I have been in growth and then
(39:09):
I step away and I'm like in comfort, and I'm like,
I've been in comfort for a long time, but that's okay,
you know, my fall I've been mostly in comfort because
I've been going through some things and I can't imagine
being in the growth bucket right now, you know. But
I need pull to be a constant for me to
(39:31):
remind me that it's okay to move and feel comfortable
in my body, you know. And that's really where I'm
at right now. I certainly would not be capable of
training for any high level trick right now, and I'm
giving myself a grace to admit that. So you know,
(39:53):
that's kind of like really what I try to remind
my students too, you know.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Right I feel that I'm also in my era.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
In my comforter I let Fear for the Comforter.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
You mentioned you had some go to tricks.
Speaker 5 (40:16):
Would you like to share some of the favorite full
tricks with us well?
Speaker 8 (40:22):
So on that topic, I would also say that the
tricks that were the hardest for me to learn are
also my favorite ones to teach, because in that process
of learning them, I became like so empathetic.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
You know, again, I am not the person that gets
things usually right away. So for example, you know, for me,
Superman took almost two years, and the reason is because
I did not fall effortlessly into the perfect flat plank
(41:03):
position right. It took me a while to figure out
how to be able to leverage my inside thigh toward
my body and then be able to turn and twist
my hips and get that inside leg tickleer the bowl.
It took me a hot minute to figure that out.
(41:24):
But the good news is now I have a down
pat and I can really work with my students when
they struggle with that, because there's a lot of them
that do and I don't. Superman often maybe like twice
a year, and when I'm teaching it.
Speaker 9 (41:47):
So.
Speaker 4 (41:49):
Stay with Asia. So we talked about that earlier. I mean,
I almost funny. Have you guessed how long you think
it took me to get my asia? But I don't
know that you would. So I'm just gonna flat out
tell you I've been pulling for ten years and it
took me six years to get my split grip asia.
(42:15):
And you heard me correctly, six It just took me.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Like were you crying, Chris, Okay, I'm like, oh my god, Okay,
I'm like, I'm okay.
Speaker 4 (42:35):
So it just took me a really long time to
figure out like my split grip. And I do think
part of it is because of the scoliosis. I have
a different sort of a variable there to figure out
with like the bracket hole, like the pull on the push.
But outside of that, like dusted six years of my
life in that one. But the good news is I
(42:58):
got the good news. I now can tell students exactly
what they should be recognizing in their own bodies when
they're training their bracket hold right, and then how does
that apply to like the process of training for inverted
bracket hold moves? Right? And then also like, okay, so
(43:22):
by the way, HA has a few different grips, right,
so you could do splipwrip, but you also do eleveow
grip or twisted grip or like, you know, let's figure
this out, and also let's figure out your method of
entry too, because one way of entry that someone else
may use might not be the best for your body. Right,
(43:46):
So there was a lot my attempts that didn't work
for myself became all these other ways for me to
explore to teach it for other people. Fall on the
ground and cry a lot.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
On a safety man.
Speaker 4 (44:09):
Yeah well yeah, not like falling like hurting myself, but
like literally like just like collapsing and crying like, oh
my god.
Speaker 10 (44:16):
At beginning, it was like who made this move? Who
I mean to this move? Wholly? Why you bought myself?
Speaker 4 (44:29):
But I wanted it because I'm like, this is a beautiful,
powerful move. That was the thing. I was committed to
it because I respected it and I still do. I
love it, But yeah, I struggled for sure.
Speaker 5 (44:42):
Right same, thanks for for bringing them up, because I
have hypermobile everything, so that's my reason.
Speaker 4 (44:50):
Oh my goodness, yes, yes, yes, yeah yeah, micro bound
and m.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
Sholdies yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
Yeah, Mandy recently did get it.
Speaker 4 (45:10):
Yes, congratulations, Oh my god, it's so exciting. Yes, I
like to say like, oh, you've got a visit from
the Asia theory. Congratulations.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
I love that. I'm gonna start saying that.
Speaker 4 (45:31):
Yeah, that's amazing. I love it. I love it so much.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
If you keep working on it, she visits you more.
You'll be more times of success and less failures as
you keep practicing. At least that's what I found.
Speaker 4 (45:45):
Yes, sure Era comfort, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll go back
every once in a while. I'll do like a skills check.
I'll be like, okay, can I still do these things?
Speaker 5 (45:58):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (45:59):
Thank you? You know.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
So right inside leg cook gets me all the time, which.
Speaker 4 (46:11):
Is interesting because I love outside lay hang. You know,
usually people have a preference, right, and I'm like, I
just default to outside lay hang. Inside lay hang not
so much. So I have been exploring alternate ways to
get in. Inside lay hang to me is just more
of like a hip hold. It's not really like a
(46:32):
lay hang, is what I'm discovering, Like, can we just
call this what it is? Inside hip hang?
Speaker 2 (46:38):
Okay, maybe that's why it's so pinchy for me, because.
Speaker 4 (46:41):
That is it is. This is not my way, this
is my hip. This is increase in my.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Hip is three points of contact. I'm trying to picture.
It's like hip, calf, and thigh.
Speaker 4 (47:00):
Right, this is pain, pain and pain. What it is?
Speaker 11 (47:06):
It's too funny inside like him oh dogs.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
Yeah, it's my dog's outside barking. But it is interesting
because you know, I do make it a point to
explain to students, like just so you're aware inside out
lay hang and outside lay hang. I mean they're really
not the same at all, So don't think that they are.
(47:39):
Like I'm gonna call them inside and outside lay hang.
But outside of that, I really there's really not many similarities.
Like they feel different, like different pressure points on your body.
Like let's just let me just explain this to you.
Speaker 5 (47:56):
Wait, everyone's legs are all so different. Like I've seen
some people get the inside leg hook in their knee pit.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
But I'm like, how did you do that?
Speaker 4 (48:06):
Well? I think it has to do with like actually,
like the mobility of that inside hip, right, Like, so
depending on how much that inside hip opens depends on
how much that leg hooks. So it's like, okay, it's
really again, it comes down this is a hip hole.
(48:27):
I'm just gonna start calling it something else. There is
no inside leg hang.
Speaker 2 (48:36):
An inside hipney.
Speaker 4 (48:38):
Yeah, that's what it is, The inside hipney hang, invented
in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Did you mention a least favorite trick that you may have.
Speaker 4 (48:54):
I think we just figured it out, like sure, invertently,
we just called it out right there.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
I mean, yes, all right, I figured out.
Speaker 4 (49:14):
You know. If I'm teaching a combo, yeah, I can
guarantee ninety percent of them will not have an inside
light hang, although there is one, the sit riskit to
an inside leg hang that I do enjoy teaching.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
That sounds so cool.
Speaker 4 (49:37):
I will send you a video of it because it
does gets you into a comfortable me inside a hang
the new name for it.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
I imagine it, and I can't even.
Speaker 4 (49:53):
I'll send you a video of that.
Speaker 5 (49:54):
I do.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
I do like me a risk it.
Speaker 4 (49:59):
Right, It's fun. You can do on spending, can do on static,
lots of options.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Yes, did you mention it all? If you teach online
as well?
Speaker 4 (50:11):
Or you know? I am not teaching online currently, but
that would be something coming possibly in twenty twenty five.
I would love to be able to offer online teachings
perhaps tutorials, So that is something you know that I
would be looking into to grow continue growing myself in
(50:34):
my business.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
So that brings me to where do you hope to
see yourself and your business in five years?
Speaker 5 (50:45):
Two?
Speaker 4 (50:46):
Five years? Oh gosh? Okay. So you know, as I
mentioned before, I come from the marketing corporate world, and
I would say in five years, where I'd really like
to be able to see myself doing is being able
to continue working with students to be able to connect
(51:12):
with themselves and you know, grow their POLE practice and
what feels good and authentic to them and reaching their goals.
I would also like to be able to work with
instructors to help them kind of figure out like, you know,
what is my calling of what I enjoy teaching? What
(51:33):
do I feel is the greatest strength that I have
to share with students? And how do I connect with that?
And then how do I share that like with them,
you know, like what's the best way for me to
bring that to them? And how do I deliver that message?
And you know, really like how do we just go
(51:55):
about kind of like spreading this good thing that we have,
you know, and really like creating you know, safe and
neutral spaces for people to continue practicing poll and learning
pole you know, and being able then to take like
(52:16):
what they learn and take in and figure out from
their like you know, well, what do they want to
do with that? You know, do they want to keep
it as their hobby? Do they enjoy maybe performing or
competing or you know, maybe do they want to become instructors?
Like it's like, you know, like how do we spread
this so then like other people can take it in
(52:40):
and then also just like figure out like oh, like
this is kind of cool, like how do I want
to use this? And I just love so much that
I got to be a part of this podcast today
because I just believe there's like so much you know,
power in conversation and like connecting and just like sharing
(53:03):
like our ideas and our thoughts and like our experiences,
you know. And I think that when people, you know,
open up and talk and you know, just share, it
just really opens up a lot of doors for other people.
Maybe someone will hear something that I said, or Amanda
or Chris you said today and they'll be like, oh
(53:25):
my gosh, totally you know, And I think that that's
like super powerful, you know, So thank you so much
for letting me be a part of this today.
Speaker 1 (53:36):
True our pleasure thank you for being here. I mean,
it is humbling. We're going on season four and even
now we have people reach out to us from episodes
from season one that helped them. That is exactly why
we do this to, like you said, share stories and
learn together and grow together. So thank you for taking
your time and being part of it.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (53:57):
No, it's it's like, it's so awesome and it's so important,
you know, And I listened to other episodes and it's
just so great to hear people's messages and their experiences
and to be able to learn from that too. It's
just awesome. So it's great that you guys, you know,
allow people to have this channel to communicate. So thank you,
(54:21):
thank you.
Speaker 5 (54:21):
I know, definitely for myself, I've learned so much just
like you said, from listening to people's stories. It's just
like you see yourself and other people and it makes
you feel like you are not like you're on the journey,
like you have some there similar.
Speaker 4 (54:39):
Right exactly exactly, And it's just it's really awesome, you know,
because it's like I think too, you know, we see
each other on social media, right, which there's great value
of that because there's so much visual content behind Paul,
Like it's so important to see you know, what we're doing.
(55:00):
But at the same time, like we don't get this,
you know, Like so for example, like you may see
something of mine on social media, you know, but we
don't get to talk about the fact that, you know,
like it took me next number of years or like
you know, I was laying on the floor crying or whatever.
(55:22):
You know. So it's like this little layer of of
like conversation and connection that's like so important and I'm
just so grateful for that, you know, so thank.
Speaker 1 (55:32):
You love it. Yes, And gee, I feel like we
have more questions than they like left my.
Speaker 5 (55:47):
I think, well we answered a lot of them just
in conversation. There was one that we did this what
do you do in your free time? What time?
Speaker 4 (56:03):
I mean, I haven't had a ton of free time
lately because I've been I mean, I've been building this business, right,
so you know, I had to learn like some web design.
I have opped my safety certifications and a few of
my other certifications. Been just learning a ton about insurance
and LLC and soon I will be upping my business
(56:27):
accounting game with tax season coming. So I've been getting
like a crash course in NBA here, which has been awesome.
But yeah, like muggle job like this, this is my
everything right now, So what do I have free time? All?
Speaker 5 (56:49):
Let you know, thanks for being real about that. You know,
I have to take a step back from teaching to
do all the things. So I really admire youry to
like do well.
Speaker 4 (57:02):
Oh my gosh, I mean yeah, I can't. I can't
even imagine, you know, because I know a little bit
about what you two have built and it's just like,
you know, incredible, So I can only imagine you know,
doing what you both do and then also like you know,
having this podcast as well. It's yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (57:24):
It's hashtag worth it though.
Speaker 9 (57:26):
Yeah, yess, I appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (57:38):
But I'm also in my comfort area era, so yeah,
yeah I am too.
Speaker 1 (57:48):
I don't if what do you have a specific favorite
hand gript that you use, one that you advise to
other people? That's OK.
Speaker 4 (57:57):
Yeah, well so this is probably gonna be a longer
answer than you anticipated, so grip. This is an interesting
topic with me. So, thanks to some extensive childhood trauma,
I had hyperhydrosis, extremely overactivated sensual nervous system. You guys
(58:24):
are like man that she is definitely an exception, Like,
we can't believe she's still in pult scoliosis hyperhydrosis, Like
the odds are not in my favor. Also starting late thirties. Right, again,
the only reason I'm here is because I kept showing up. So,
I mean, I try so many different things in terms
(58:48):
of like, you know, topical anti perspriss for my hands.
I tried oral medications, you know, grips, I work gloves
for me personally super severe hyperhardrosses. What is hyperhardrosis? Okay, well,
(59:09):
the first thing I ask my students again, this whole
experience made me much more empathetic to sweaty hands, sweaty bodies,
sweaty everything is do your hands sweat when you're not
in class? And it's rare that people will answer me yes.
So if they don't answer me yes, typically I'll say
(59:33):
to them, Okay, this is a common reaction to what
you're having. Think about what you're asking your body to do,
and so your brain is just sending a little message
to your hands going no, like this is not typical.
So over time that reaction is going to less. But
in the meantime, you know, let's wipe down the pole.
(59:55):
With rubbing alcohol. We can splittch your hands with rubbing alcohol.
Am I allowed to say specific brands on here? Okay,
So I say don dish soap so at our studio,
We'll keep a bottle of Don dish soap in the bathroom,
and I'll say, go visit, don wash your hands and
(01:00:19):
come back, because that will take out any kind of moisture, oils, perspiration, whatever.
Let's see that how that feels, and kind of start
from there, you know, And then based on how that is,
I'll recommend usually some dry hands. It depends. Also sometimes
(01:00:42):
their hands are so dry that that actually makes it slippy.
If that's the case, I'll suggest a little sprits of index.
I got it all covered, right, I mean, because here's
the thing. I've been in that situation where I could
do a trick because I didn't have the right grip,
(01:01:02):
And it's so frustrating. It's one thing to not be
able to do a trick because you don't have you know,
the strength or the flexibility or whatever skill is needed.
But when you're in a position where you know that
you can do something but your hands are too sweaty,
it's like so frustrating and so it's like, I got
(01:01:24):
to help you take that off the table, right. So again,
for me, though, in my situation horrible hyperhydrosis, there was
like no alternative solution. I wound up having a procedure
actually done. The only way for me to really treat
(01:01:46):
it was to have what's called an ETS. And so
what happens when you have an ETS is they actually
put clamps on the branches of my sympathetic nervous system
that control the mass from my brain to my hands
so that my hands won't sweat anymore, which is pretty
(01:02:07):
wild because I have such a severe case of hyperhydrosis,
so my hands don't sweat anymore. But again, just makes
me so empathetic to those students that come into my
room and are in that situation where they can't do
(01:02:29):
something because their grip is off, because man, that is tough.
And for the students that answer me, yes, my hands
do sweat. Outside of class, I'll say, you know what,
let's have a conversation outside of class, and I want
to learn more and you know, share a little bit
with you, you know, and see kind of where you're
(01:02:51):
at with this experience.
Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Thank you so much for sharing that. Honestly, yeah, own
so much today, right.
Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
I didn't know that there was a like a surgery
like that. That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
Yeah, yeah, it's I mean, I know where I live
in Chicago, there's like only one, maybe two surgeons who
actually do it. But yeah, that's there. And there's different
other treatment options. You know, some people you know have
done like botox inductions and things like that, and there's
(01:03:36):
other treatments and whatnot. But again, you know, my my
case was like so severe that it was like okay,
like this is really the only thing that's going to work.
And I was like, well, I want to do pole
and as a polar, this is dangerous, so let's take
(01:03:56):
care of it.
Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Wow, thank you for sharing that. I think you're the
first person we've talked to about this. So this is
such a learning experience.
Speaker 4 (01:04:09):
It's you know, it's again when you are a polar
with hyperhydrosis, it is you see things in a completely
different lens because you're not just looking at a mover
trick thinking can my body physically do this? You're also
thinking like how are my hands going to get me
(01:04:32):
through this? And can I get through it once? Can
I get through it twice?
Speaker 7 (01:04:37):
You know?
Speaker 4 (01:04:39):
How am I going to do this. It's it's an
extra layer of consideration. And you know, even thinking about, say,
for example, someone who might want to compete or perform,
you know, then you're maybe looking at everyone else going, well,
you know, if I work gloves, you know, is that
(01:05:00):
allowed or is that going to distinguish me differently or
this or that? Like it's just a whole other level,
you know, And everyone has challenges, right, you know, so
I recognize that, but you know, I just would say,
you know, to anyone who has hyper hydrosis or who
(01:05:21):
is who is dealing with that and pole, you know,
to to to give yourself grace and as instructors, you know,
to just trying to be supportive of you know that
because especially you know with Paul, we're hanging out with
our hands, so it's it's kind of a big deal.
Speaker 5 (01:05:43):
You also mentioned that your students who had dry hands,
which is what I think of the window.
Speaker 4 (01:05:53):
Yeah, so so sprinting the pole with wind nex can
add in like just a little bit of actually more
and can make it tacky. So I'll encourage them to
kind of experiment with that too. I'll say like, well
why don't we you know, sprits just like a little
little wind bocks on there and see how that feels
for you. Because yeah, so you know, again, be in
(01:06:15):
the suburbs of Chicago, we have such drastic temperature changes
and that really affects people's skin, you know. So with that,
it's like, okay, so we go from summer sweaty season
into cold, dry skin sweet season. You know, it's like,
oh man, you know, so what are we gonna do? Right,
(01:06:37):
And so it's like, okay, well we'll figure it out. So,
you know, some people have really dry skin, some people
have oily skin. You know, some people are sweaty, and
so like, let's just assess where we're at and see,
you know. And I always encourage people like it's just
it's trial and error, you know, and you know, to
(01:07:00):
be as dry as you can be for what you
want to do. Like in that moment we turned fans on.
I always tell my students, I'm like, don't be shy
about turning fans on, right, right, that's what the stands.
Go turn it on, air things out your hands, your booty,
whatever you need to do, like, that's what it's there for.
(01:07:21):
Go to the bathroom whenever you need to use a bathroom,
wipe stuff down like whatever it is, you know, do
what you need to do, don't be shy about it.
Speaker 5 (01:07:34):
Right, I'm gonna have to try the wind necks because
the colder season right now is when my knee pits
stop working.
Speaker 4 (01:07:42):
Yeah yeah, try and cleaning it with windocks and see
you know what you think about that?
Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Thank you for that tip.
Speaker 4 (01:07:49):
Yeah, for sure, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
You have given us so much to think.
Speaker 11 (01:07:55):
About, like, Wow, this is why.
Speaker 1 (01:08:02):
We do it, to learn so much to share it,
and it's always so fun and humbly hyper g e
t s I can.
Speaker 4 (01:08:10):
Yeah, I'm definitely an anomaly.
Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
The sure. I'm sure there's so many others going through
this who don't know how to handle it or don't
know what to do or add a loss of words
about it.
Speaker 4 (01:08:25):
Yeah, and you know too, like if anyone also wants
to reach out to me on this topic, I am
more than happy to listen, to share whatever perspective or
any any input. If you want input, I'll give you input.
If you want me just to listen, happy, just to
listen to someone who's been there. Just know that you're
not alone, not alone at all.
Speaker 1 (01:08:50):
And we'll have all her links and way notes and comments, y'all,
don't forget notes and comments so much fun. I love this.
Is there anything else you would love to share with
us or the audience about yourself, about elevated aeriel, about
what's to come, any tips anything?
Speaker 4 (01:09:12):
No, I really feel like, you know, we have just
covered a lot of stuff. I feel like people will
listen to this and you know, maybe have questions or
just a lot of thoughts swirling about all the many
different things. So I guess I would just say, you know,
don't hesitate to reach out, you know, any input I
(01:09:37):
can provide or just listening or you know, willing to connect.
And you know, Mandy and Chris, you guys are ever
in Chicago, please come visit.
Speaker 1 (01:09:48):
Really love to.
Speaker 4 (01:09:50):
Meet you guys and dance with you. It would be amazing. So,
you know, it would be great.
Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
Mayby, we got to do this tour season four. It's
been too damn long.
Speaker 4 (01:10:00):
Why oh my gosh, Yeah, that would be great for
you guys. As we were just talking about how you
don't have any free time, how about you plan a
cross country tour.
Speaker 5 (01:10:11):
We we literally plan it like at the end of
every interview, and then we never follow up.
Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
We have to follow up.
Speaker 1 (01:10:19):
I think we wanted to. It's the Yeah, it's the
following up. And finances is a big thing, especially the
fun we get it gets more expensive.
Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
Right, we'll figure it out.
Speaker 1 (01:10:30):
We will sure. Too many people are asking it's pastime.
Speaker 4 (01:10:37):
What they want? We want many and.
Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
I love it. Oh my gosh. Yes, We'll definitely have
to come a visit.
Speaker 5 (01:10:52):
I would love to see the studio and like the
whole space that you guys have. Yes, Oh my.
Speaker 4 (01:10:58):
Gosh, that would be amazing us and we can do
on and do all the things. Would be great. Yes.
Speaker 5 (01:11:06):
Until then, Thank you everyone for listening to or watching
this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
Oh pull up the Call podcast. My name is Mandy Mack.
Speaker 4 (01:11:24):
Yeah, owner of Elevated Ariel.
Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
Thank you so much, you guys. This was fun.
Hey, hey, hey everyone, I am excited to be back.
We are pulling the call. It is me Chris Rivers and.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Mandy Mack.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Yes, and we are here with the incredible poll entrepreneur
and poll instructor Laura Jackson.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Hey everybody, hie, Yeah, thank you so.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Much Laura for being with us today.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Thank you so much for having me. I am so
excited to be on this podcast and get to chat
with you guys.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
That's truly our pleasure.
Speaker 5 (00:40):
I guess we should start at the beginning. Will you
tell us a bit about your poll journey and how
you started Pulldndsen.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
So, I actually was a late bloomer in the pole world.
I didn't start until my late thirties, and it was
on accident really, So I was a runner and I
had a little bit of an injury and I had
gone to my doctor to get it checked out, and
(01:13):
he said something to me that said a little funny,
which was, you know, as you approach your fourth a decade,
you should really think about doing activities that focus more
on flexibility rather than cardio and strength. And I was like, huh,
(01:35):
all right, Well, it turns out I hadn't really paid
any attention to my flexibility at all. I had been
super focused on cardio and strength, so I was like,
all right, fair enough, but I didn't really feel like
there were a lot of options I was familiar with,
(01:56):
and so I kind of investigated something and I decided
to try a poll class and it was extremely challenging,
like physically but also mentally. I really kind of go
outside of my comfort zone to try that, and a
(02:18):
couple of things came from I mean a lot of
things came from that, but the biggest things that came
from that for me were that I realized it wasn't
going to be an instant gratification thing for me personally,
Like I am not the kind of polar who can
just go in and you know, get things on the
first or even second attempt. So it was not going
(02:39):
to be instant graducation. And then the second thing that
came from it for me was that I was learning
that I was able to sort of build on things
and sort of like celebrate what I was able to
do because there was always like a little nugget of
something like it was like, Okay, well I can actually
do this little piece of it. And so it was
(03:02):
the first time that I was like recognizing the things
I could do instead of just always like trying to
like fix something like after the workout I had done.
In my life, I was always trying to fix something
about myself, Like it was like, Okay, you've gotta change this,
or you gotta tighten this up or do this, and
it was like always like I can focus on like
(03:23):
what I can do, and that was like really different
and cool for me. So that's like how I got
in and how it really like captivated me.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
I have a very similar story, right, because it's really yeah, yeah, right,
it didn't really come easy. I had a dance background,
but it didn't really come easily.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
It was like, I.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
Don't know, it was so much coordination that I wasn't expecting, right.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Right, It's like you get in there and you're like, Okay,
I can see what's happening and I can understand how
this works. But when I actually like go to do it,
it doesn't just happen. You know, Like I've got to
really like be persistent about this for sure.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
But I love that you bring up like the small
little goals because that was also part of my story too.
It was like really cool just to see like oh
my gosh, like I'm up the pole.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, oh my gosh. Absolutely yeah. I mean just to
think like okay, so you know beginning about okay, I'm
gonna spin around the pole, all right, get that. And
then it's like okay, so wait a second, I'm going
to start to go up the pole, Like how did
it work? Because I'm looking at this thing and I
don't see any like notches or step so how it's
(04:49):
it is my body gonna go up this thing, you know.
But then you know it's a process and you start
working and you're like, oh my gosh, like I'm climbing
up the pole right, And then next thing, you know,
you're like wait a second. Over time, like I can
sit on the pole right and there's no seat here,
like this is my body like holding me up? You know.
(05:11):
So like it just builds, right, But you know, for
many of us, it's a lot of perseverance. It's a
lot of pushing out of the comfort zone. And it's
just it's not an instant gratification sports. So I always
say this is not an instant gratification sport. If it was,
I wouldn't have a job because I'm a pole instructor,
(05:33):
and there would not be like pole studios or pole businesses,
right because everybody ever does know how to bowl dance,
you know.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So yeah, my gosh, that's so true.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
Did you have any sort of like dance ser gymnastics
background before you came to pull?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
So, I mean very basic. You know, I was on
er when I was in high school and dance and
stuff like that. But outside of that, you know, I
don't have any like formal dance training or anything like that.
I love music, and you know, I love to move
and dance, but that's really it for me. I always say,
the only reason I'm still polling is just because I
(06:15):
never stopped showing up. It's really the only explanation for me.
It's like, well, she just never stopped showing up. But
the only reason possible explanation for us because it's been
ten years and I don't really know why else I'm
still here.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I love it, right, Also, like what else are we
going to do?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Yeah? I'm like, hey, this is exactly what I like doing.
It's not always perfect. I have my moments of frustration
in tears and all of that, but ultimately I still
love it.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
Okay, So how how long into your pole training did
you start to want to become a pole teacher.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Yeah, so it was about five Well it was exactly
five years when I started teaching, but it was a
few years prior to that, you know, I really started
to learn how to, like what I say, validate from within.
So I actually came from the corporate world for marketing.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
And.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
You know, there are a lot of different I guess,
sort of measuring sticks that I compared myself to, you know,
as a business person, as a mom. You know. I
mean we all wear so many different hats, right, and
I think that we have a tendency to like measure
ourselves against these different roles that we have in our life.
(07:48):
And the more that I took pole classes, I was
able to validate from within and go, okay, wait a second,
Like I can take off these hats that I wear
and I can just kind of focused on myself, even
if it was just for like the class duration, and
go like, huh, you know what, Like I'm making progress here,
(08:09):
Like I am accomplishing things here, and that validate me
from within, you know. And I was like connecting to
myself and it was like pretty amazing. That was kind
of like the first time that that had ever happened
for me in my life. And kind of like while
all of that was happening and really like you know,
(08:31):
coming to fruition for me, Like internally, the company I
had been working for for fifteen years got bought out
and they were just completely reorganizing and doing like layoffs
and all of these different things. And I like to
say it was like the universe like perfect alignment, like
we're releasing you to your destiny, right and my destiny
(08:56):
was to not work there anymore. So that's how that
story ended. And so I decided to get certified. In
twenty nineteen, I became Vertical Arts Athletics certified and I
started teaching beginning pole and it was just kind of like,
you know, if I could take that sort of sense
(09:19):
of how to validate from within and get people to
really like dial into themselves and connect with themselves just
for whatever like a little bit of time that they're
with me, like bottle that up, Like that's that's what
I want to do, Like that's what I'm after, Like
that's that's like my calling like at this time, you know,
(09:41):
And that's what I've been doing since twenty nineteen. I've
helped hundreds of students connect with themselves from beginner to
advanced level, and that's that's what I'm called to do,
and that's where I'm at right now, and it's been
really awesome.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I love the common thing you bring up of reevaluating
yourself and kind of just connecting with yourself because a
lot of pole dancing it's humbling, like you really have
to assess your weaknesses to improve yourself, and it's like,
which always kind of re evaluating yourself and connecting with
your body.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yes, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
And that's that's like a continual conversation that I have
with myself and also with my students is like let's
have grace with ourselves, you know, like let's have grace
with ourselves so that we can say, Okay, you know what,
we're doing hard things here and whatever expectations that we have,
(10:45):
because I know I do it to myself all the time,
like I expect myself to be able to do things,
maybe because I've done it before or I just think
I should be able to do it right. But it's
really like not fair to put that expectation on myself
because I'm not the same person every day. My body's
not the same. Maybe I haven't slept the same, I
(11:06):
haven't eaten the same. Whatever it is, like, just take
that expectation, throw it out the window, like it's not fair,
and have the grace like to do that, you know,
and just say, like, you know what, maybe it's not today,
but that's I've got to be okay with that, you know.
And it's it's it's difficult to release that and give
(11:27):
yourself grace, but I think it's so important. But it's
also a reminder of how strong we are as polars,
right because our mantle game is tough. We are really
tough because when we go into these classes, not only
what we're doing physically is so hard, but we are
(11:50):
mentally dialed in. We are not zoned out. We are
all in here, you know. And it's a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
It is.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
It's so much energy and mindset and it's just amazing.
And like I tell my students all the time, I'm like,
you guys have superpowers. Don't forget that, you have total superpowers,
you know, really do.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Right.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
I always considered pull like the do the one scary
thing every day?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yes, right, Yeah, it's done. Did it?
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:28):
For sure? For sure? And sometimes like the scary thing
is like showing up right sometimes like oh my gosh,
I got myself here and I or sometimes it's I
just attempted this thing, you know, like cause again we're
doing like big things that require mindset and physical like
(12:52):
energy as well. Total superheroes, Total superheroes.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Do you want to tell us a little bit about Elevated.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Aerial Sure, I would love to. So it's been like
a really exciting year for me. So after like a
lot of consideration sitting with you know, how can I
best serve students and you know, what I've come to
(13:28):
recognize as their needs and how that relates to like
their lifestyle and everything, and how can I like best
serve the Pole community, but also how can I continue
to grow as an instructor and an individual. I decided
to launch Elevated Aerial LLCAP and so that is the
brand under which I offer all of my Pole instruction
(13:50):
so classes, private lessons, you know, private events, parties and
such workshops. Even going to do a photo shoot coming
up here in about a month for a bunch of students. Yeah, yeah,
really exciting. So I have some students who have never
(14:13):
been captured for pole photos and this is a version
of themselves, like they really want to, you know, have
captured and be seen. They put a lot of work
into their pole practice and they're really excited. So I'm
going to be partnering with kat Lee Photos and we
are going to be doing a yeah, yeah, really cool
(14:36):
a holiday party and photo shoot. And you know, it's
just been really amazing to be able to be in
touch with, you know, students and offer them these great
options that are in touch with their schedules and their
budgets and just really be in tune with what they
(15:00):
need to serve them in their whole practice. It's been
it's been great. It's been scary, and it's been a
huge learning process for me because I'm I'm my own gig,
so there's like a really high learning curve and I'm
still learning. But I love the flexibility that it offers me.
(15:23):
And I just also have been really lucky to be
able to rent space in this beautiful flex space Misfit
Aerial Studios, and it's really nice because I rent studio
space and then I'm allowed to offer these options, you know, classes,
(15:44):
workshops again, all these things that I've mentioned to students
in a way that students their needs as well as mine,
and it's just been really amazing and wonderful. You know,
I can do what I love, which is offering boutique
style classes, so one person per pole, six people, and
(16:08):
that allows me to really focus in on my students
and check in on them and say, you know, like, hey,
how are you feeling today? What's your energy level? Like,
you know, is there anything specific you want to focus
in on? Okay, if so, let's do it. If not,
I have a few ideas, let's play around with them
and really just be in touch with them and what
(16:30):
they're in the mood for spending their time on. And
it's just I'm so so so grateful for what I've
been able to do this year.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Can you let us all know where it's located.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Yeah. So, Misfit aieal is in Montgomery, Illinois, and if
you go on Instagram you can find them if you
just look. Actually, if you look at my Instagram handle,
which is elevate with me E l L E underscore
(17:09):
v at E with Me, there's a link to my
classes and then also a link to Misfit Aerials.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
You can find them there, so we will have all
those links in the comments and notes for people to
access when they're listening and watching.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Yes, and also exciting, Misfit is expanding, so in early
twenty twenty five they are adding on a third studio
space which is going to be a thousand square feet. Yeah,
it's so awesome and it's going to be dedicated pole
space as well as a performance venue. So that's going
(17:48):
to be like I know, right, like it's a dream
come true. So great things happening all around there.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
So that the poles are permanent, because I was going
to ask if you have to take them down or
put them up after each class.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
No, So the way that they have their bringing set
up currently, there's two studio rooms and it is able
to be taken down or put up based on what
you want to rig for because the space is shared
amongst other aerial instructors. So there's lira being taught there,
(18:27):
there's silks, aerial yoyoga. I'm missing a bunch of other
things because we have such a phenomenal array of aerial
arts instructors there, So please check out the website and
look everybody up. But my point is that the poles
can be removed, but don't need to be. I do
(18:49):
not take up or put down any poles. I go
into my room and they're set and then I walk away,
but they could be if they needed to be. In
the news, the poles will be permanently rigged in that area,
if that answers your question.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
How tall are the ceilings?
Speaker 4 (19:13):
So, oh my gosh, I believe that. Well, so it's
a flex space, right, So the actual ceiling to deck,
oh my gosh, I don't even know for sure because
it's just massive. But the actual rigging is steel rigged, Okay,
(19:33):
And so I believe that the poles are and don't
quote me here, I think that they are twelve possibly
fourteen feet. Yeah, so they're they're industry, they're a loupid poles.
So yeah, they're beautiful poles. Yeah yeah, very very nice
(20:00):
equipment there.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Hell yeah, that sounds so amazing.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
I think it is. It is, And they've done a
beautiful job with the lighting and the sound system and
just gorgeous flooring, and it's just been so wonderful to
be in that space.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Hell yeah. And then the opportunity to have performances there, that's.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's it's really nice. It's really great.
There was a showcase in the fall, and it was
very nice, for example, for pole students to be able
to come in and do like a full dress rehearsal
the day before, I'm sorry, the week before in the
(20:45):
actual space where they were going to be performing. It
was super helpful for them to be able to get
on the pole and move around the pole and understand
like their floor space and what they were going to
have to work with before they had to actually do
it for the show. So it was really great. So
really excited for that space to open up.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
That's amazing. Congratulations, think we're all excited.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Earlier before we started, you mentioned that it's you mentioned
it's like there be having a roommate and you share
like a business or like a share space and you
love it. Do you mind? And a little bit about
that for people who may be wanting to start a
studio and not sure alone, et cetera.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Oh, in terms of like the actual how my business works,
in terms of.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Like are you are you guys like co oping together?
Like how is it?
Speaker 4 (21:48):
Oh? Oh sure, okay, now I understand, okay, so sure.
So the way that misfit operates is it's a flex space,
so when someone who has their own business wants to
come in, they have an opportunity to become a member.
So for example, I am a member, so I pay
(22:11):
a fee to be able to run classes there and
then from there everything else is a room rental. So
you're looking at a schedule and again this is where
like the fun like roommate park comes into play, right,
because it's like kind of like if you imagine, like
if you grew up with siblings and you guys all
(22:31):
shared a bathroom or something, it was like, okay, like
when are you going to be getting ready in the bathroom?
We're like when do you don't need to shower? Right?
Or like what is so you're kind of like it's
like that, right. So you're looking at this schedule going okay,
so you know this person runs their classes at this time,
this person runs their classes at this time, Like you know,
when am I able to rent and put my schedule together?
(22:53):
And that's kind of like how we all operate and
we have an understanding of who's doing their classes when,
and then as far as works our concerned, we all
communicate and it's like okay, so we know that this
person is doing their workshop this time, or you know,
for this person this time of years when they prefer
to run more workshops, or they have this or that
coming up or whatever, and we just kind of all
(23:14):
like cohabitate together, you know, and it's really awesome, and
we have like some great communication lines and we just
talk to each other. And what's really great is when
anyone comes into Misfit for any aerial discipline, whether it
be pole or lira or aerial yoga or silks or whatever,
(23:37):
they come in, they're supporting a small business, an individual
small business, you know. So when people come into Misfit,
there's actually a business card rap on the wall and
everyone has their business cards in there and you can
actually see all the different businesses that filter in out
of there. And so it's really cool. It's like a
(24:00):
co op, you know. And yeah, we just sort of
all like cohabitate together.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I love that. That's that's awesome.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
I want to, Yeah, do the students for like class
passes do they all pay for like is it the
same class past for every class or do you know?
Speaker 4 (24:23):
So every instructor has their own individual business. So for example,
students who buy my class packs. Those are just for
my classes. And then someone may have a class pack
from another instructor who teaches Lira and that's just for
that instructor. So it's all like individual by business.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
I love that. That's clever. It allows small entrepreneurs in
the area field kind of have a space without having
a space.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Yes, yes, it is, it really does. And again kind
of just going back to like that great opportunity you
know of like, okay, so here's my chance to look
at you know, how can I serve? You know, for me,
it's the whole community. But for these other instructors, like
whatever their aerial discipline is, like how can I serve
(25:20):
this community? You know? And you know what opportunities do
I have? And like, here's the space for me to
do it. And it's really awesome.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Right because mirrors are expensive.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
Oh my gosh, I can't mirrors, floors, lighting, sound, you
know everything.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Right, great, but you will use it. So we're so.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Lucky to be able to have this opportunity, right, and
then the fact that someone is creating a whole third
studio room for us to use brand new. I mean
everything that we have right now is new, and now
we're going to have extra extra news. It's like super exciting.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
That's so awesome.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
I hope more more dancers to hear this idea and
team up with other aerials and gyms and.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Yes, yeah, all right, And if anybody ever wants to
come visit, like please like shoot me a message on Instagram.
I'd be happy to have you calm on in and
show you around and just even chat with you about, like,
you know, the thought process behind my move, you know,
and what I did to set myself up and and
(26:40):
how it's worked for me, you know, And I'd be
more than happy to discuss those things because it's it's
been a great experience for me.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I've heard contact in the notes.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
And yes, yes absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
What do you get to teach with elevated area? What
are some of your classes you enjoy teaching on your scheddrome?
Speaker 4 (27:11):
So right now I am doing a class it's called
Flow and Fly and that class is a beginner to
intermediate level class and it's focused on like fundamentals and
we do really everything in there, from floor work to
you know, static poll fundamentals to a little bit of
(27:32):
spin work. So I'm actually teaching that class tonight and
we're going to be doing a little bit of a
spin pants and I always like to sneak in some
conditioning in there, so there's going to be a little
bit of bracket hole conditioning. But I make it fun
and I always love to save time. At the end
(27:52):
of my classes for freestyle, I turned lights down, I
put the music up, and I like to dance whatever
movement comes up, let it out, like enjoy yourself, you know,
and just explore. So that's the Flow and Fly class.
And then I have another class that I'm teaching and
it's called Refine, and Refine is for the more intermediate
(28:17):
to advance level student, and there we explore kind of
like the deeper concepts behind advanced movement. So we're looking
at like more advanced choreography, floorwork, more advanced tricks, and
then also kind of how to piece and flow those
(28:37):
things together. Right, So if you're thinking about overall all
of the pieces that go into poll, thinking about, well,
how do you use all of your space? Right? So
like am I using my floor space? Am I using
my standing space? And if I'm somebody who likes airspace,
I mean not everybody does, right, Not everybody wants to
(28:59):
go the poll and that's okay, you know, but like
how do you flow all those things together? And really,
like how do you do that in a way that's
authentic for you? Like isn't that the real question? Like
what feels good and authentic for your body? Because if
(29:21):
it doesn't feel authentic for you, you shouldn't be doing it.
And that's okay, right, because there is something that's good
and authentic for you, you know, it's just connecting and
finding what that thing is, right, And so like, for example,
you know, there are tricks that I don't have in
(29:45):
my bucket of things I can do, but there are
also things that I don't want to do. I'll teach them, right,
I'll teach them because they're good for other people and
other bodies. But for me, I'm like, no, thank you, right,
(30:06):
And I tell my students at all the time, I'm like,
you know what, like if you want this, if you
feel like this is good for you and your body,
I'll get you. There will condition we will learn, we'll
progress there. But please, like, don't do this because you
feel like you have to, because you don't have to,
Like it doesn't feel right for you, don't do it,
(30:28):
just dump you know, like, can you guys think of
like a trick or maybe a move that maybe at
some point in your practice you're like, I've got to
be able to do this, and then you're like no,
ayisha ah.
Speaker 6 (30:45):
Yes, yes, yes, oh my god, yes, I've spent years
of my life.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
What trauma from their elegra?
Speaker 7 (31:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And it's like, you know what, those
are fine loves for certain people, you know, but yeah,
like it's okay.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
To not do the things that don't feel good for us. Yes,
a thousand percent. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Is I feel like social media makes it worse like
it for some reason, it gets in our head and
gives us this image of it has to be this way,
And you're right, do what feels right. Don't force yourself
into stuff just because people on social media.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Oh my goodness, yes absolutely. You know, for me, I
don't I have scoliosis. I have very bad scoliosis, and
so I don't have a ton of like upper thoracic mobility.
And so for me, a move that will probably never
happen is like a smooth aerial ballerina. It's beautiful. I
(32:12):
have so much admiration for that move. But for me,
I have tried so many different ways and things in
training and this and that, and it's just not in
the stars for me, you know. But it doesn't feel
my shoulders and everything will wind up feeling horrible, you
(32:32):
know if I push it too far, and it's just like, Okay,
I've come to peace with the fact that that is
not for this body. What am I going to do?
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Thank you for sharing that, because I have recently learned
I have students and have had students with a scoliosis,
and it, oh, that's something from doing certain things. May
I ask, do you have any tips for us instructors
or for dancers with scoliosis waste to train to help
them and do the thing at the same time.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
Yeah, absolutely it. It will make your pole practice different,
but it will not make your pole practice impossible. In fact,
pole is what keeps me my spine as healthy as
it can be. Really, so what I would say is this,
(33:34):
I spend a lot of time stretching my hips, my
hip flexers, my glutes, also activating my glutes. Students in
my class always hear me say, like, squeeze your body,
are you using your booty activate it? You know, because
(33:56):
when you're actually using your glutes in your booty. You're
taking pressure off your lower back, and that is so
very important.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
You know.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
I do in all of my warm ups with my
classes some very basic spinal decompression moves. Cat cow is
one of the soup pine, twist, ragged out forward fold,
all of those right there. They also have a tendency
to relax people, which I think is very helpful. So
(34:31):
those types of yoga poses which have potential to decompress
the spine and loosen up again hips, lower back and
also relax people, I think are extremely helpful, depending on
like the curve of the spine as individual to the person.
(34:55):
You know, you really have to think about certain moves
that are not going to be great for you. So
you know, for me, I tend to look at things
in a way of okay, so if I do want
this move, what's the best approach for me to get
into it? Right? So, Like, for example, if I'm teaching
(35:18):
what I call the pretzel spin, which is sort of
like the precursor to a ball arena, I'm thinking, Okay,
I can set my hips by doing a sit and
then threading through, or I can set my shoulders, which
(35:40):
for me, I don't have a ton of flexibility, right,
I can start in a reverse grad position on the
pole on spin pole, and then I can wrap my
hips around. I have a lot more flexibility with my hips.
So kind of thinking about again the individual and their
body and okay, so you know, if they have less
(36:02):
flexibility and the upper body, can we work with the
lower body or vice versa, you know, or is it
a move that just isn't right for them?
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Thank you for sharing that. You've given me a lot
to think about. Especially I'm always trying to grow and
make sure I meet everybody's.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
Needs well, you know, and we all are. And that's
what makes you a good instructor that you care, you know,
is because that's really what it's about, right, It's when
they're with us, we want to help them recognize, you know,
(36:50):
what feels good and what feels right, and what they
want to pursue and what they want to develop. And
you know, that's something that I also talk to my
students about, is like, Okay, so you know you're going
to have growth and you can have comfort, but you
can't have them together. And so I'll be like, Okay,
(37:11):
you're gonna have moves that go into your bucket of
growth right, and make sure that they're worth it right.
So kind of like what we just talked about, like
these growth moves, like make sure that they're right for
you and your body because they're going to take time.
They're going to take conditioning, they're gonna take sweat and
tears and bruises. You can tell I'm speaking from experience.
(37:37):
You can tell I've been crumpled up on the floor,
like crying, ball up. I've definitely had my run with
growth moves. Make sure they're worth it, and I can
tell you that I have gotten my growth moves and
it's awesome when it happens. Make sure they're good for
(37:59):
you and your body and like grow for it right.
And then there's gonna be moves that like feel comfortable
to you, and those are your comfort moves and they
go in your comfort bucket, and those are the ones
that like pretty much from the get go, they're going
to feel like good and comfortable to you and they're
just gonna feel natural, and you like you need to
(38:20):
keep those handy for the times when life really is
hard and other thing like tricks or just whatever's going
on outside of the studio, Like has you really down,
Like you need those comfort moves. You need them to
keep connected to yourself. You need them to remind you
(38:42):
of the stuff about pole that's good and good for you,
you know, and like it's okay to be in that
place of duality. It's okay to bounce back and forth
between growth and comfort, you know, and like take as
long as you need going back and forth. Right Like,
there's times that I have been in growth and then
(39:09):
I step away and I'm like in comfort, and I'm like,
I've been in comfort for a long time, but that's okay,
you know, my fall I've been mostly in comfort because
I've been going through some things and I can't imagine
being in the growth bucket right now, you know. But
I need pull to be a constant for me to
(39:31):
remind me that it's okay to move and feel comfortable
in my body, you know. And that's really where I'm
at right now. I certainly would not be capable of
training for any high level trick right now, and I'm
giving myself a grace to admit that. So you know,
(39:53):
that's kind of like really what I try to remind
my students too, you know.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Right I feel that I'm also in my era.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
In my comforter I let Fear for the Comforter.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
You mentioned you had some go to tricks.
Speaker 5 (40:16):
Would you like to share some of the favorite full
tricks with us well?
Speaker 8 (40:22):
So on that topic, I would also say that the
tricks that were the hardest for me to learn are
also my favorite ones to teach, because in that process
of learning them, I became like so empathetic.
Speaker 4 (40:42):
You know, again, I am not the person that gets
things usually right away. So for example, you know, for me,
Superman took almost two years, and the reason is because
I did not fall effortlessly into the perfect flat plank
(41:03):
position right. It took me a while to figure out
how to be able to leverage my inside thigh toward
my body and then be able to turn and twist
my hips and get that inside leg tickleer the bowl.
It took me a hot minute to figure that out.
(41:24):
But the good news is now I have a down
pat and I can really work with my students when
they struggle with that, because there's a lot of them
that do and I don't. Superman often maybe like twice
a year, and when I'm teaching it.
Speaker 9 (41:47):
So.
Speaker 4 (41:49):
Stay with Asia. So we talked about that earlier. I mean,
I almost funny. Have you guessed how long you think
it took me to get my asia? But I don't
know that you would. So I'm just gonna flat out
tell you I've been pulling for ten years and it
took me six years to get my split grip asia.
(42:15):
And you heard me correctly, six It just took me.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Like were you crying, Chris, Okay, I'm like, oh my god, Okay,
I'm like, I'm okay.
Speaker 4 (42:35):
So it just took me a really long time to
figure out like my split grip. And I do think
part of it is because of the scoliosis. I have
a different sort of a variable there to figure out
with like the bracket hole, like the pull on the push.
But outside of that, like dusted six years of my
life in that one. But the good news is I
(42:58):
got the good news. I now can tell students exactly
what they should be recognizing in their own bodies when
they're training their bracket hold right, and then how does
that apply to like the process of training for inverted
bracket hold moves? Right? And then also like, okay, so
(43:22):
by the way, HA has a few different grips, right,
so you could do splipwrip, but you also do eleveow
grip or twisted grip or like, you know, let's figure
this out, and also let's figure out your method of
entry too, because one way of entry that someone else
may use might not be the best for your body. Right,
(43:46):
So there was a lot my attempts that didn't work
for myself became all these other ways for me to
explore to teach it for other people. Fall on the
ground and cry a lot.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
On a safety man.
Speaker 4 (44:09):
Yeah well yeah, not like falling like hurting myself, but
like literally like just like collapsing and crying like, oh
my god.
Speaker 10 (44:16):
At beginning, it was like who made this move? Who
I mean to this move? Wholly? Why you bought myself?
Speaker 4 (44:29):
But I wanted it because I'm like, this is a beautiful,
powerful move. That was the thing. I was committed to
it because I respected it and I still do. I
love it, But yeah, I struggled for sure.
Speaker 5 (44:42):
Right same, thanks for for bringing them up, because I
have hypermobile everything, so that's my reason.
Speaker 4 (44:50):
Oh my goodness, yes, yes, yes, yeah yeah, micro bound
and m.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
Sholdies yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
Yeah, Mandy recently did get it.
Speaker 4 (45:10):
Yes, congratulations, Oh my god, it's so exciting. Yes, I
like to say like, oh, you've got a visit from
the Asia theory. Congratulations.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
I love that. I'm gonna start saying that.
Speaker 4 (45:31):
Yeah, that's amazing. I love it. I love it so much.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
If you keep working on it, she visits you more.
You'll be more times of success and less failures as
you keep practicing. At least that's what I found.
Speaker 4 (45:45):
Yes, sure Era comfort, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll go back
every once in a while. I'll do like a skills check.
I'll be like, okay, can I still do these things?
Speaker 5 (45:58):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (45:59):
Thank you? You know.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
So right inside leg cook gets me all the time, which.
Speaker 4 (46:11):
Is interesting because I love outside lay hang. You know,
usually people have a preference, right, and I'm like, I
just default to outside lay hang. Inside lay hang not
so much. So I have been exploring alternate ways to
get in. Inside lay hang to me is just more
of like a hip hold. It's not really like a
(46:32):
lay hang, is what I'm discovering, Like, can we just
call this what it is? Inside hip hang?
Speaker 2 (46:38):
Okay, maybe that's why it's so pinchy for me, because.
Speaker 4 (46:41):
That is it is. This is not my way, this
is my hip. This is increase in my.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Hip is three points of contact. I'm trying to picture.
It's like hip, calf, and thigh.
Speaker 4 (47:00):
Right, this is pain, pain and pain. What it is?
Speaker 11 (47:06):
It's too funny inside like him oh dogs.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
Yeah, it's my dog's outside barking. But it is interesting
because you know, I do make it a point to
explain to students, like just so you're aware inside out
lay hang and outside lay hang. I mean they're really
not the same at all, So don't think that they are.
(47:39):
Like I'm gonna call them inside and outside lay hang.
But outside of that, I really there's really not many similarities.
Like they feel different, like different pressure points on your body.
Like let's just let me just explain this to you.
Speaker 5 (47:56):
Wait, everyone's legs are all so different. Like I've seen
some people get the inside leg hook in their knee pit.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
But I'm like, how did you do that?
Speaker 4 (48:06):
Well? I think it has to do with like actually,
like the mobility of that inside hip, right, Like, so
depending on how much that inside hip opens depends on
how much that leg hooks. So it's like, okay, it's
really again, it comes down this is a hip hole.
(48:27):
I'm just gonna start calling it something else. There is
no inside leg hang.
Speaker 2 (48:36):
An inside hipney.
Speaker 4 (48:38):
Yeah, that's what it is, The inside hipney hang, invented
in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Did you mention a least favorite trick that you may have.
Speaker 4 (48:54):
I think we just figured it out, like sure, invertently,
we just called it out right there.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
I mean, yes, all right, I figured out.
Speaker 4 (49:14):
You know. If I'm teaching a combo, yeah, I can
guarantee ninety percent of them will not have an inside
light hang, although there is one, the sit riskit to
an inside leg hang that I do enjoy teaching.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
That sounds so cool.
Speaker 4 (49:37):
I will send you a video of it because it
does gets you into a comfortable me inside a hang
the new name for it.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
I imagine it, and I can't even.
Speaker 4 (49:53):
I'll send you a video of that.
Speaker 5 (49:54):
I do.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
I do like me a risk it.
Speaker 4 (49:59):
Right, It's fun. You can do on spending, can do on static,
lots of options.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Yes, did you mention it all? If you teach online
as well?
Speaker 4 (50:11):
Or you know? I am not teaching online currently, but
that would be something coming possibly in twenty twenty five.
I would love to be able to offer online teachings
perhaps tutorials, So that is something you know that I
would be looking into to grow continue growing myself in
(50:34):
my business.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
So that brings me to where do you hope to
see yourself and your business in five years?
Speaker 5 (50:45):
Two?
Speaker 4 (50:46):
Five years? Oh gosh? Okay. So you know, as I
mentioned before, I come from the marketing corporate world, and
I would say in five years, where I'd really like
to be able to see myself doing is being able
to continue working with students to be able to connect
(51:12):
with themselves and you know, grow their POLE practice and
what feels good and authentic to them and reaching their goals.
I would also like to be able to work with
instructors to help them kind of figure out like, you know,
what is my calling of what I enjoy teaching? What
(51:33):
do I feel is the greatest strength that I have
to share with students? And how do I connect with that?
And then how do I share that like with them,
you know, like what's the best way for me to
bring that to them? And how do I deliver that message?
And you know, really like how do we just go
(51:55):
about kind of like spreading this good thing that we have,
you know, and really like creating you know, safe and
neutral spaces for people to continue practicing poll and learning
pole you know, and being able then to take like
(52:16):
what they learn and take in and figure out from
their like you know, well, what do they want to
do with that? You know, do they want to keep
it as their hobby? Do they enjoy maybe performing or
competing or you know, maybe do they want to become instructors?
Like it's like, you know, like how do we spread
this so then like other people can take it in
(52:40):
and then also just like figure out like oh, like
this is kind of cool, like how do I want
to use this? And I just love so much that
I got to be a part of this podcast today
because I just believe there's like so much you know,
power in conversation and like connecting and just like sharing
(53:03):
like our ideas and our thoughts and like our experiences,
you know. And I think that when people, you know,
open up and talk and you know, just share, it
just really opens up a lot of doors for other people.
Maybe someone will hear something that I said, or Amanda
or Chris you said today and they'll be like, oh
(53:25):
my gosh, totally you know, And I think that that's
like super powerful, you know, So thank you so much
for letting me be a part of this today.
Speaker 1 (53:36):
True our pleasure thank you for being here. I mean,
it is humbling. We're going on season four and even
now we have people reach out to us from episodes
from season one that helped them. That is exactly why
we do this to, like you said, share stories and
learn together and grow together. So thank you for taking
your time and being part of it.
Speaker 2 (53:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (53:57):
No, it's it's like, it's so awesome and it's so important,
you know, And I listened to other episodes and it's
just so great to hear people's messages and their experiences
and to be able to learn from that too. It's
just awesome. So it's great that you guys, you know,
allow people to have this channel to communicate. So thank you,
(54:21):
thank you.
Speaker 5 (54:21):
I know, definitely for myself, I've learned so much just
like you said, from listening to people's stories. It's just
like you see yourself and other people and it makes
you feel like you are not like you're on the journey,
like you have some there similar.
Speaker 4 (54:39):
Right exactly exactly, And it's just it's really awesome, you know,
because it's like I think too, you know, we see
each other on social media, right, which there's great value
of that because there's so much visual content behind Paul,
Like it's so important to see you know, what we're doing.
(55:00):
But at the same time, like we don't get this,
you know, Like so for example, like you may see
something of mine on social media, you know, but we
don't get to talk about the fact that, you know,
like it took me next number of years or like
you know, I was laying on the floor crying or whatever.
(55:22):
You know. So it's like this little layer of of
like conversation and connection that's like so important and I'm
just so grateful for that, you know, so thank.
Speaker 1 (55:32):
You love it. Yes, And gee, I feel like we
have more questions than they like left my.
Speaker 5 (55:47):
I think, well we answered a lot of them just
in conversation. There was one that we did this what
do you do in your free time? What time?
Speaker 4 (56:03):
I mean, I haven't had a ton of free time
lately because I've been I mean, I've been building this business, right,
so you know, I had to learn like some web design.
I have opped my safety certifications and a few of
my other certifications. Been just learning a ton about insurance
and LLC and soon I will be upping my business
(56:27):
accounting game with tax season coming. So I've been getting
like a crash course in NBA here, which has been awesome.
But yeah, like muggle job like this, this is my
everything right now, So what do I have free time? All?
Speaker 5 (56:49):
Let you know, thanks for being real about that. You know,
I have to take a step back from teaching to
do all the things. So I really admire youry to
like do well.
Speaker 4 (57:02):
Oh my gosh, I mean yeah, I can't. I can't
even imagine, you know, because I know a little bit
about what you two have built and it's just like,
you know, incredible, So I can only imagine you know,
doing what you both do and then also like you know,
having this podcast as well. It's yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (57:24):
It's hashtag worth it though.
Speaker 9 (57:26):
Yeah, yess, I appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (57:38):
But I'm also in my comfort area era, so yeah,
yeah I am too.
Speaker 1 (57:48):
I don't if what do you have a specific favorite
hand gript that you use, one that you advise to
other people? That's OK.
Speaker 4 (57:57):
Yeah, well so this is probably gonna be a longer
answer than you anticipated, so grip. This is an interesting
topic with me. So, thanks to some extensive childhood trauma,
I had hyperhydrosis, extremely overactivated sensual nervous system. You guys
(58:24):
are like man that she is definitely an exception, Like,
we can't believe she's still in pult scoliosis hyperhydrosis, Like
the odds are not in my favor. Also starting late thirties. Right, again,
the only reason I'm here is because I kept showing up. So,
I mean, I try so many different things in terms
(58:48):
of like, you know, topical anti perspriss for my hands.
I tried oral medications, you know, grips, I work gloves
for me personally super severe hyperhardrosses. What is hyperhardrosis? Okay, well,
(59:09):
the first thing I ask my students again, this whole
experience made me much more empathetic to sweaty hands, sweaty bodies,
sweaty everything is do your hands sweat when you're not
in class? And it's rare that people will answer me yes.
So if they don't answer me yes, typically I'll say
(59:33):
to them, Okay, this is a common reaction to what
you're having. Think about what you're asking your body to do,
and so your brain is just sending a little message
to your hands going no, like this is not typical.
So over time that reaction is going to less. But
in the meantime, you know, let's wipe down the pole.
(59:55):
With rubbing alcohol. We can splittch your hands with rubbing alcohol.
Am I allowed to say specific brands on here? Okay,
So I say don dish soap so at our studio,
We'll keep a bottle of Don dish soap in the bathroom,
and I'll say, go visit, don wash your hands and
(01:00:19):
come back, because that will take out any kind of moisture, oils, perspiration, whatever.
Let's see that how that feels, and kind of start
from there, you know, And then based on how that is,
I'll recommend usually some dry hands. It depends. Also sometimes
(01:00:42):
their hands are so dry that that actually makes it slippy.
If that's the case, I'll suggest a little sprits of index.
I got it all covered, right, I mean, because here's
the thing. I've been in that situation where I could
do a trick because I didn't have the right grip,
(01:01:02):
And it's so frustrating. It's one thing to not be
able to do a trick because you don't have you know,
the strength or the flexibility or whatever skill is needed.
But when you're in a position where you know that
you can do something but your hands are too sweaty,
it's like so frustrating and so it's like, I got
(01:01:24):
to help you take that off the table, right. So again,
for me, though, in my situation horrible hyperhydrosis, there was
like no alternative solution. I wound up having a procedure
actually done. The only way for me to really treat
(01:01:46):
it was to have what's called an ETS. And so
what happens when you have an ETS is they actually
put clamps on the branches of my sympathetic nervous system
that control the mass from my brain to my hands
so that my hands won't sweat anymore, which is pretty
(01:02:07):
wild because I have such a severe case of hyperhydrosis,
so my hands don't sweat anymore. But again, just makes
me so empathetic to those students that come into my
room and are in that situation where they can't do
(01:02:29):
something because their grip is off, because man, that is tough.
And for the students that answer me, yes, my hands
do sweat. Outside of class, I'll say, you know what,
let's have a conversation outside of class, and I want
to learn more and you know, share a little bit
with you, you know, and see kind of where you're
(01:02:51):
at with this experience.
Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Thank you so much for sharing that. Honestly, yeah, own
so much today, right.
Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
I didn't know that there was a like a surgery
like that. That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
Yeah, yeah, it's I mean, I know where I live
in Chicago, there's like only one, maybe two surgeons who
actually do it. But yeah, that's there. And there's different
other treatment options. You know, some people you know have
done like botox inductions and things like that, and there's
(01:03:36):
other treatments and whatnot. But again, you know, my my
case was like so severe that it was like okay,
like this is really the only thing that's going to work.
And I was like, well, I want to do pole
and as a polar, this is dangerous, so let's take
(01:03:56):
care of it.
Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Wow, thank you for sharing that. I think you're the
first person we've talked to about this. So this is
such a learning experience.
Speaker 4 (01:04:09):
It's you know, it's again when you are a polar
with hyperhydrosis, it is you see things in a completely
different lens because you're not just looking at a mover
trick thinking can my body physically do this? You're also
thinking like how are my hands going to get me
(01:04:32):
through this? And can I get through it once? Can
I get through it twice?
Speaker 7 (01:04:37):
You know?
Speaker 4 (01:04:39):
How am I going to do this. It's it's an
extra layer of consideration. And you know, even thinking about, say,
for example, someone who might want to compete or perform,
you know, then you're maybe looking at everyone else going, well,
you know, if I work gloves, you know, is that
(01:05:00):
allowed or is that going to distinguish me differently or
this or that? Like it's just a whole other level,
you know, And everyone has challenges, right, you know, so
I recognize that, but you know, I just would say,
you know, to anyone who has hyper hydrosis or who
(01:05:21):
is who is dealing with that and pole, you know,
to to to give yourself grace and as instructors, you know,
to just trying to be supportive of you know that
because especially you know with Paul, we're hanging out with
our hands, so it's it's kind of a big deal.
Speaker 5 (01:05:43):
You also mentioned that your students who had dry hands,
which is what I think of the window.
Speaker 4 (01:05:53):
Yeah, so so sprinting the pole with wind nex can
add in like just a little bit of actually more
and can make it tacky. So I'll encourage them to
kind of experiment with that too. I'll say like, well
why don't we you know, sprits just like a little
little wind bocks on there and see how that feels
for you. Because yeah, so you know, again, be in
(01:06:15):
the suburbs of Chicago, we have such drastic temperature changes
and that really affects people's skin, you know. So with that,
it's like, okay, so we go from summer sweaty season
into cold, dry skin sweet season. You know, it's like,
oh man, you know, so what are we gonna do? Right,
(01:06:37):
And so it's like, okay, well we'll figure it out. So,
you know, some people have really dry skin, some people
have oily skin. You know, some people are sweaty, and
so like, let's just assess where we're at and see,
you know. And I always encourage people like it's just
it's trial and error, you know, and you know, to
(01:07:00):
be as dry as you can be for what you
want to do. Like in that moment we turned fans on.
I always tell my students, I'm like, don't be shy
about turning fans on, right, right, that's what the stands.
Go turn it on, air things out your hands, your booty,
whatever you need to do, like, that's what it's there for.
(01:07:21):
Go to the bathroom whenever you need to use a bathroom,
wipe stuff down like whatever it is, you know, do
what you need to do, don't be shy about it.
Speaker 5 (01:07:34):
Right, I'm gonna have to try the wind necks because
the colder season right now is when my knee pits
stop working.
Speaker 4 (01:07:42):
Yeah yeah, try and cleaning it with windocks and see
you know what you think about that?
Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Thank you for that tip.
Speaker 4 (01:07:49):
Yeah, for sure, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
You have given us so much to think.
Speaker 11 (01:07:55):
About, like, Wow, this is why.
Speaker 1 (01:08:02):
We do it, to learn so much to share it,
and it's always so fun and humbly hyper g e
t s I can.
Speaker 4 (01:08:10):
Yeah, I'm definitely an anomaly.
Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
The sure. I'm sure there's so many others going through
this who don't know how to handle it or don't
know what to do or add a loss of words
about it.
Speaker 4 (01:08:25):
Yeah, and you know too, like if anyone also wants
to reach out to me on this topic, I am
more than happy to listen, to share whatever perspective or
any any input. If you want input, I'll give you input.
If you want me just to listen, happy, just to
listen to someone who's been there. Just know that you're
not alone, not alone at all.
Speaker 1 (01:08:50):
And we'll have all her links and way notes and comments, y'all,
don't forget notes and comments so much fun. I love this.
Is there anything else you would love to share with
us or the audience about yourself, about elevated aeriel, about
what's to come, any tips anything?
Speaker 4 (01:09:12):
No, I really feel like, you know, we have just
covered a lot of stuff. I feel like people will
listen to this and you know, maybe have questions or
just a lot of thoughts swirling about all the many
different things. So I guess I would just say, you know,
don't hesitate to reach out, you know, any input I
(01:09:37):
can provide or just listening or you know, willing to connect.
And you know, Mandy and Chris, you guys are ever
in Chicago, please come visit.
Speaker 1 (01:09:48):
Really love to.
Speaker 4 (01:09:50):
Meet you guys and dance with you. It would be amazing. So,
you know, it would be great.
Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
Mayby, we got to do this tour season four. It's
been too damn long.
Speaker 4 (01:10:00):
Why oh my gosh, Yeah, that would be great for
you guys. As we were just talking about how you
don't have any free time, how about you plan a
cross country tour.
Speaker 5 (01:10:11):
We we literally plan it like at the end of
every interview, and then we never follow up.
Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
We have to follow up.
Speaker 1 (01:10:19):
I think we wanted to. It's the Yeah, it's the
following up. And finances is a big thing, especially the
fun we get it gets more expensive.
Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
Right, we'll figure it out.
Speaker 1 (01:10:30):
We will sure. Too many people are asking it's pastime.
Speaker 4 (01:10:37):
What they want? We want many and.
Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
I love it. Oh my gosh. Yes, We'll definitely have
to come a visit.
Speaker 5 (01:10:52):
I would love to see the studio and like the
whole space that you guys have. Yes, Oh my.
Speaker 4 (01:10:58):
Gosh, that would be amazing us and we can do
on and do all the things. Would be great. Yes.
Speaker 5 (01:11:06):
Until then, Thank you everyone for listening to or watching
this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
Oh pull up the Call podcast. My name is Mandy Mack.
Speaker 4 (01:11:24):
Yeah, owner of Elevated Ariel.
Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
Thank you so much, you guys. This was fun.
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