Hello and welcome back to The Ealing Pole Studio Blog! Have I got a treat for you. Our gorgeous student Caron is talking everything menopause and how it changed her life for good but Pole changed her life for the better! Take it away Caron.
Hi everyone, I’m Caron. I’ve been doing pole for just over a year now and you can usually find me in the studio on a Sunday, front right on ‘Stella’.
I’ve always exercised. I love, fitness and training. I love lifting weights, circuit classes and, back in the day, step aerobics – the dancier are better! I'd been curious about pole for a while as I'd a couple of friends who did some classes, but I never thought I'd be able to do it as I have problems with my shoulders.
I’m 56 and for the last four- or five-years menopause has really been kicking my ass.
Suddenly out of nowhere, my weight began to creep up and up and up, and nothing I was doing could counter it. I gained over 20kg and the impact this had on my confidence and self-esteem was tremendous. In addition to the weight gain, all the other menopause symptoms started piling up, the lethargy, the weakness, anxiety, aching bones, and of course brain fog! I felt invisible. I felt like I’d lost ‘me’. I’d look in the mirror and not recognise the person staring back at me.
I remember turning up to the studio last April in my little gym skirt and vest, I met Topher and the rest of my fellow newbies and for the first time in ages something clicked… I absolutely loved the class and had the biggest smile on my face when I left! I even did a headstand in that first class, something that I thought I’d forgotten how to do.
Topher has this energy and joy about him that is infectious, he lights up the studio with such passion. He and Alex are amazing instructors, they are also the best cheerleaders – the pure joy in their voices as they scream ‘yesssss!’ when a student achieves a move, or a spin, is fabulous.
So, after four weeks of beginners, Pole, I moved onto improvers where I met the gorgeous Jess and Charlie, and we became class pals, and encouraged and cheered our successes. That’s what I love about pole, as students, we really do love it when someone does well. For me, I’m still working on achieving the elusive invert, I can’t wait to hear “yessss Caron!’ when the day comes that I can get upside down on my own.
I love how I feel in class – I’m sashaying and shimming and having so much fun. My face hurts from laughing and smiling so much. I also wear my Pole bruises with pride (some of those bruises are special!).
Choreo is my favourite week, I love, love, love it! I took part in the showcase last year. I think I was the only one from the improvers class in it, and it was a really big thing for me to put myself out there, especially as I wasn't feeling as body confident. But I went out there, I danced and twirled in front of an audience who clapped and cheered as only a TEPs, audience does.
I've even brought my husband along to a couple of private sessions, he's not into the sashaying as such, but he does love the tricks - and of course, he can invert with ease
Menopause is still a struggle for me at times and the weight is still a problem, but the laughter and regaining of my confidence that has come about since doing pole means that when I look in that mirror now as I’m twirling around Stella, I’m pretty proud of the woman smiling back at me.
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