Anxiety is a bitch. But a gentle reminder that I like to tell myself is that anxiety can only exist when weāre not living in the present moment. It forms when we worry about the future, which doesnāt exist.
I typically create scenarios in my head, and when they donāt play out that way, anxiety comes creeping in. But if I didnāt create this imaginary future, I wouldnāt feel anxious or worried at all. Donāt get me wrong, sometimes anxiety comes from a very real future, such as stressing out over an exam or upcoming bills. But we have to remind ourselves that stressing out about the inevitable is only causing us to hurt ourselves. The way to relieve anxiety from the real future issues is to plan ahead and prepare for them.
But weāre still human and anxiety always finds a way to creep its annoying head in. Lately, Iāve been totally sober, and my anxiety has been at an all-time high without its usual crutches. My preferred medicine was *mj* (trying to keep it family-friendly here) but I didnāt realize it was only making me numb to my emotions and preventing me from actually facing my issues head-on. Not everyone reacts this way to that plant, but I noticed it in myself and chose to put it down so I can work through *and conquer* my “problems”.
Spend Time with Your Emotions
Something you may have heard often is that we have to sit with our emotions without intellectualizing them in order to properly feel them and release them. Iāve tried this, but honestly, my brain just doesnāt stop talking and it will always attempt to intellectualize them. This causes me to sit with anxiety for far longer than I really need to.
I think weāve all been there at least once where we sit with anxiety for a long time and we donāt even realize how much time has actually passed. I find time to be the most valuable thing we have, and I donāt want to sit with a negative emotion for longer than I have to. But I donāt want to be numb to the emotion and ignore my problems because that doesnāt help me either. I want to find the perfect balance of feeling and acknowledging the emotion without dwelling on it and taking away precious time from the present moment.
What I found works best for me is to move my body. I literally dance with my emotions or “dance with the devil”. This helps me get out of my head and not intellectualize the emotions and actually feel them the way theyāre meant to be felt. Whenever Iām done pole dancing, anxiety has left the chat! I feel calm, centered, and reset. Iāve given the emotion the attention that it needed without sacrificing too much time dwelling on it.
How to Bring Yourself to a Meditative State
I wanted to emphasize how exactly pole can release any anxiety lingering in my body. I do not simply pole dance just to pole dance. I am actively bringing my awareness into my body. Pole dancing is like my yoga. I always do this when I’m training at home, whether I’m feeling anxious or not!
Even if I have certain moves in my head that I want to execute, I am not dancing to “get the move”. My main goal is to be mindful, present, and in tune with my body, and the second goal is to do so while attempting to achieve a certain move or combo. I recommend trying this out if you don’t already do this because it’s what truly makes me love pole so much. Pole has the power to completely get me out of my mind and into my body.
Here are some tips that help me get into a meditative state while pole dancing:
- Take your time with your stretching. It’s extremely important to be properly warmed up before doing anything on the pole and it preps your mental state. You are not in a rush. Make it a sacred ritual.
- Turn off your phone notifications, light some incense, burn some sage, play sensual music, dance and flow through your stretching, make it its own art form. Spend time with yourself.
- Before beginning your freestyle or combo, take time to connect with the music. Feel it flow through your body. Actively breathe in and out (making sure your stomach expands as you inhale).
- Do not think about what you want to do or achieve during this session. You can decide in the beginning, but afterward just flow. Your body will know what to do because you’ve already commanded it. Your thoughts are no longer needed. This will also help with having more seamless transitions.
- If you end up doing something else that wasn’t apart of the plan, keep dancing anyway. Let your body do what it wants (as long as it’s safe). Chances are that you’ll end up liking the “accident” more or you’ll uncover new transitions and shapes.
- Surrender to the emotions. Feel them pulling you and guiding you to move in different directions. Do what feels right. Don’t think or care about what it looks like. Just move.
Related: Create Just to Create
Turning Lemons to Lemonade
As much as it sucks feeling sad, worried, or anxious, these emotions are very powerful and are a fast track to connecting to source energy. Have you ever tried to accomplish anything while you were angry? Or even overly ecstatic? I wouldnāt be surprised if you hit your goal on your first try! Emotions are a superpower when you utilize them properly and donāt let them take over your mind.
All of my moody pole sessions were my best flows! Iāve never had to redo the same moves/combos over and over. I get whatever Iām trying to do almost the first try because my emotions have me incredibly aligned. It can be difficult having the motivation to get up and move when my emotions are intense, but once I get over that initial hump, I always feel grateful and relieved after. When I donāt want to move my body, I tell myself, āis it better to be sad for multiple hours or to spend some time with my anxiety for one hour and feel normal again for the rest of the day?ā The emotion wonāt go away just because I want it to, it will only leave when I give it the attention that itās craving.
And on a positive note, having to dance through my emotions is helping me improve my pole skills. There have been enough times where I’ve only decided to pole dance because my emotions were heavy. Emotions are a catalyst for getting me on the pole! They give me more training hours which helps me improve when it comes to perfecting basic moves, having clean transitions, and gaining more strength. Maybe negative emotions aren’t the bad guys after all?
Related: The Healing Powers of Dance
Mushrooms as Medicine
Life happens and we canāt always dance our emotions away. So, I wanted to share one more thing that has changed my life. And I want to emphasize that this isnāt sponsored in any way, Iām genuinely hyped about this product! Iāve been taking (nonpsychedelic) mushroom capsules from Alchemi Mushrooms, specifically the Clear Mind product. Itās an herbal supplement of lions mane, ginkgo, rhodiola, and bacopa mushrooms. When my anxiety is really intense, I take a few of these pills and the physical effects subside. It doesnāt make me detached from the feelings, but it makes it more manageable and allows me to flow through the emotion with a clear head.
Iāve given some to a couple of friends and theyāve also noticed feeling super calm and centered while still being able to process and deal with their emotions. These supplements have been incredibly helpful when my anxiety is attacking me when Iām in situations where I canāt dance, like being at work or spending time with friends and family. It brings me back to the present moment, and for that, this product is priceless in my eyes.
It also helps with insomnia! Sometimes my mind will just run all night long, and when I take a few of the clear mind pills, Iām peacefully asleep within 20 minutes. I prefer these pills over anti-anxiety medication because those come with so many negative side effects that it doesnāt seem worth it in my opinion. These pills are all-natural mushrooms and do the job perfectly without any side effects. Thank you, mother nature <3
Conquering the Pendulum
I hope this was helpful for those of you also struggling with anxiety. I donāt know if anxiety is anything that can be ācuredā, but every time it creeps its way in, we have the opportunity to move through the emotion with grace and honor. The best part about having low moments is that it means better times are to come. We cannot escape the pendulum of life, but we can find ways to cope with it.
Happy dancing!
