1) Changing your mind set.
Over coming obstacles, being in control of your body,trying over and over to get a difficult move then nailing it, that feeling of accomplishment spills over into all areas of your life.
If you are a naturally pessimistic person, or someone who lives thier lives based on `sods law` then, mastering a pole dance sequence or trick will soonteach you that actually, you CAN do ANYTHING you want to!
Seeing a really difficult pose or trick you want to hold or master, and working hard to get it, polish it and add it to your `bag of tricks` is an empowering journey to go on.
 

This time we have the hard working and super sweet Tracey Huckfield from Pagans Pole, North Wales. Also owner and creator of the All Wales Pole Dance Championships.
http://www.paganspole.com

What made you start Pole?
So I've been pole dancing for 8 and half years now, I know to the exact week how long because I had just given birth to my baby when I started (he was just 6 days old when I had my first lesson!) You may wish to exclude the last sentence as I'm not promoting postnatal exercise, and was very naive as to the dangers back then!

What do you get out of it?
 I LOVE exercise, but usually became bored of fitness trends very quickly. I spotted a newspaper advert for pole classes when I was pregnant and thought 'hell yea', exercise and sexy sounds awesome. As soon as I was accepted I started. I always say pole dancing is like marmite, you'll either love it or hate it...I was hooked from first lesson onwards.

Even though pole dance classes blew up in popularity over the past decade, it is still the norm for many people not to have any idea what goes on inside one. Some even may have an outdated view of pole dance classes being an avenue for `learning how to be sexy for your man`.  
Lets get one thing straight, pole classes can teach a women how to use her full bodies potential strength wise, how to install her own home pole, with her own sets of alan keys and spanners, and how gracefully dead lift an invert as well as perfect the slinkiest body wave. Then the person she is obviously doing all this for- is herself.

An invert is any upside down trick (pose or combination of tricks strung together), btw. Which obviously is Intermediate level, and not to be expected in any beginner classes. As a beginners we would build core, shoulder, back and arm strength, gradually and safely, over time.

`It` being Pole Dancing. It’s a question I get asked a lot by those just starting out in beginner class. And it’s a question that has no simple answer. I assume being `good at pole dancing` for some can mean knocking out an Iron X (twisted grip straddle flag) and holding it, for others it can mean being able to flow effortlessly linking moves and dance together?

As an Instructor, to me a basic two handed spin done gracefully with a soft landing means you are `good at pole`. Some advanced pole dancers can flip, deadlift and drop in a way that will blow ya socks off, but care a lot less about dance and flow. Obviously, depending on what your priorities are when it comes to Pole, they are both `good at it`.