You might be thinking, āwhat?ā but hear me out! The Matrix is one of my favorite movies ever and yes, Iām a firm believer that we live in an actual matrix. Surprisingly, pole dancing it what helped me come to that conclusion.
Thereās one scene in particular, when Neo goes to visit the Oracle. But before entering the room to speak with her, he notices a group of children practicing their different talents and abilities. One child was bending a spoon with their mind. Neo then held the spoon and nothing happened. The child had a brilliant response. āDo not try and bend the spoon, itās impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon. Then youāll see it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.ā And for a quick second, Neo actually gets the spoon to bend before meeting with the Oracle.
I LOVE that scene so so so much! And it comes back to my mind often when Iām pole conditioning, especially when Iām shoulder mount training. For so long, I have failed over and over at a shoulder mount! And since then, Iāve watched a training video (via PooorBabyās patreon) and she said something that completely changed my ability to do one. She said, ādonāt try to lift yourself up, instead try to pull the pole over your shoulder.ā
I donāt know the science behind it, but I do believe that all is mind. If we start in a shoulder mount position with the thought of lifting our bodyweight above our heads, that sounds really hard. Maybe weāre subconsciously thinking about the laws of gravity and how heavy we feel, making it almost impossible to pull ourselves up.
But when we switch that thinking into pulling the pole over our shoulders, thatās something that works in our reality. We can pull things above our heads all the time. Weāre not thinking about gravity and how heavy the human body is ā especially a pole dancerās body! ~hey muscles~
When our minds are focused on a completely different thing to lift, all of a sudden, we can feel as if weāre defying the laws of our world. This movie + shoulder mount conditioning really solidifies my belief in mind over matter and nobody can convince me otherwise!
Hereās a video of my shoulder mount as of May 2021. Iām so close to lifting higher and hooking my leg! But I still canāt believe how high I got after hearing just that one sentence from one of my pole instructors.
If youāre having trouble with your shoulder mounts, try it again with this frame of thinking and let me know if you end up getting it! And 2021 is a great year to rewatch The Matrix if you havenāt seen it in a while.
Happy training!
Related: How Pole Improved My Way of Thinking
