Practice a bit of body love

A good friend of mine, Esther Fennie, recently put up a post on her blog, HighHeels and Protein Shakes, about practicing body love and I decided this is a sentiment I want to echo.

You see, our mind set affects everything we do in ways we can’t even begin to understand. What this means is if you see eating healthily as a punishment, you’re doomed.

Just like if you hate your body and see it as fat, then that’s all you’re ever going to see. This is partly because even if you do lose weight, your mind says you’re still fat so that’s what you’re going to see, and then you feel like nothing works so you fall off the wagon and give you. The first step is to accept the body you have.

The next step is body love which is about coming to terms with the fact that healthy food is a reward not a punishment. As Esther put it, all she wanted was pizza and she felt like a naughty child who just wanted to break the healthy eating rules instead of obey them. This is all because of the mind-set, if you think good nutritious and healthy food is restrictive and punishing you, then you’ll want to rebel.

So in order to succeed you have to change your mind set. Every time you eat your plain oats, egg white omelette or chicken and broccoli, remind yourself and your body that this is a reward for the hard exercises it did or is going to do. You’re showing it love with good food instead of poisoning with crap.  

The same applies to exercise, you’re rewarding your body with an increased heart rate, endorphins and health. If you focus on this instead of the sore muscles or effort, then you’ll actually get somewhere with your fitness.

If you check out Esther’s article you’ll see she’s had great success since adopting this new mind set.

So change the way you think about your food and exercise and practice a bit of body love, remember, health is a choice and a gift, not a prison sentence.

Your cat could teach you a thing or two about your physical and emotional well-being

I’d like you all meet someone very dear to me, his name is Dali (after Salvador Dali), he’s about five months old and he’s my little darling

Yes, Dali is my kitten who I love madly. Dali is everything a kitten should be; he’s playful, inquisitive, energetic, he only wants and gives love on his terms and you know what, he’s perfect.

But, Dali is more than MY PET, he’s a creature that has taught me a few things. Sounds nuts right?

Well, not really, let me explain.

Imagine what your life would be like if you were constantly curious, playful and energetic? See this is what my little bundle of fluff (or my bug as I nicknamed him) taught me:

Be curious: You never stop learning! The world is a massive place and when you stop appreciating that fact and stop learning and you stop growing.

Give affection on my terms: So often people will accept and give their affections just because they don’t want to be alone or they don’t think they can do any better. What happened to giving your affection because it’s what you genuinely want? My little fluffy reminds me that when it comes to love and my affections it must be on my terms, something my significant other has always understood.

If something interest me, I must pounce: Just like when Dali stalks something, it may disappear before he actually jumps and then it’s gone (normally because it’s a ribbon and I’m holding it) but this applies to life too. If you wait too long to grab onto the things that interest you they may disappear before you can catch them. So pounce, pounce today and hold on for as long as it has your interest. Whether it’s a new hobby, new job, new love interest, new adventure, seize the opportunity before it’s gone.

Remember play is important: We’re all so serious about meeting deadlines and making money that we forget how important play is. When we let our hair down and “play” we learn more about who we really are and that’s when we grow. Just like a kitten practicing its hunting skills through play, we must also learn through play. This is what pole is for me, it’s my space to play, explore and grow.

Listen to me body: We’re so cruel to our bodies these days. We feed them crap and then we starve them. We push them past the point of exhaustion and we hate on them. If we simply listened to our bodies, eat when we’re hungry, sleep when we’re tiered and be active when we have energy, then we’d be much happier and healthier.

How many times have you said, “I wish I could have my pet’s life” or heard someone else say it. Well you can’t have their life, but you can learn something from them.

What have your animals taught you?

The Art of Creating a Pole Dancing Routine

So, I’ve been dancing for eight years. And I danced for a bit in high school, as I mentioned in my “Why Dance” post and all that training has given me two pretty important dance skills:

1.     The  ability to understand moves easily; and
2.     The ability to understand how movement links together with music.

Now I don’t think I can help you with the first skill but the second one is easier than you may think. You just need to follow a few pole dancing principles and you’ll have a routine in no time.

So here’s my top ten LivingLovingLifestyle tips to creating a pole dancing routine:

Tips 1:  Have an idea of a few songs you might want to use even if you haven’t settled on one yet. Most pole dancers are notorious for constantly changing their minds about their music.

Tip 2: Vary the speed and level of your moves because if everything is performed at the same tempo, it may feel boring. Find moves you can do quickly and ones you can do slowly. Ones you can do high up and ones you can do much lower. And don’t forget to add in floor work!

Tip 3: Begin your routine with a move you can hold comfortably, whether it’s on the floor or the pole. You need to be comfortable so you can remain in that move for as long as it takes for your music to start.

Tip 4:  Put your hardest moves close to the beginning. There’s method to this madness I promise. If you leave your hardest trick for later, you’ll already be tiered and sweaty and they might not work. So do them while you still have energy and dry skin.

Tip 5: Spend as much time in the move you are most comfortable. I personally hate spinning so I’d rather spend as much of my routine as I can static. You may prefer a spinner. If so, stay there.

Tip 6: Try stay on the pole for as long as possible. It looks bitty if you have to keep coming down and inverting into your next trick.

Tip 7: Mix hard moves with easy ones. For example, knee hook or “Gemini” is easy and doesn’t take much effort to stay there. Use this move to catch your breath before you go into something harder, like a double knee hold.

I love these :D not a great photo though…

Tip 8:  If you need a moment to breath, go back to the floor. Even basic floor work is the perfect opportunity to catch your breath.

Feel free to browse my YouTube channel for inspiration on some floor moves.

Tips 9: Find a move that looks epic and/or difficult for your finish but is actually really easy. You’ll want to end on a high note even if you might be too tired to pull off THAT triple somersault off the pole. I like basic swan drops. Any time you look like you're falling then catch yourself, it has a big impact, but this drop is simple

Tips 10: Wear whatever makes your feel comfortable, confident and sexy!

So there you go, those are my top ten tips on creating your own pole routine.

Happy dancing!

Why Pole Dance

So after last weeks ‘Why Dance’ article, I thought why not take things one step further. I first wanted you to see why I’m so passionate about dance, before I introduced the love of my life… Pole dancing!

There are lots of people who seem to believe in the myth that if you’re a pole dancer, then you must be a stripper. Those people can continue to believe what they want, but that isn’t the case. On the contrary, most of us pole dancers pay to dance instead of the other way round.

Pole dancing is basically a beautiful mix of dance, gymnastics and parkour.  It’s the grace and fluidity of contemporary dance; the hard, rhythmic, edgy stylings of hip-hop; together mixed with the flexibility and skill of gymnastics and the gravity defying stunts of parkour!

What could be better?

Well let me tell you…

Pole dancing or pole fitness is an amazing form of exercise. You’ve probably heard that before but imagine this: you could do your weight training AND your cardio AT... THE SAME... TIME!!! 

That is exactly what pole dancing is. 

You have to use your own weight to build your strength. The beautiful of this form of training is that you don’t just have a broad goal of “I want to have a six pack” or “I want to be stronger”. Your goals are supper specific based around a move you are trying to perfect. A happy consequence of those goals will get you stronger in the process. Maybe you are trying to do a one handed bow and arrow, which looks like this…

So you practise and practise and practise until you get the move right and in doing so, you get stronger and stronger. This means you are more likely to succeed because you can actually see your improvement week after week as you get harder moves right.

So that’s one amazing pole benefit or polefit J

There’s another one though! Pole has this incredible ability to change lives. You see, the stronger you get, the more you can do these gravity defying tricks. And if you can go from doing this...

To doing this…

Or this... 

Then hell, you can do anything right?

Suddenly, the things that used to hold me back are minor, my feelings of inferiority have dwindled and I feel invincible. I firmly believe every woman out there should stop making excuses and get on a pole. Pole has definitely changed my life, it’s given me strength physically, emotionally and mentally. It’s given me more confidence and taught me the art of perseverance. It’s taught me not to be afraid. 

In pole, there’s nothing that will hold you back more than fear. If you can take that and apply it to your life, there’s nothing that can stop you. And pole has changed the way I feel about my body.

If you’ve read my Beautiful Body Challenge article, you’ll know I’ve struggled with this curvy and somewhat wobbly body of mine, but pole changed that for me and many other women I know from pole. Not only is pole a great way to lose weight, which obviously makes you feel better, but it also just makes you feel sexy. I think it’s partly that feeling of strength and power where you know you’re strong and that makes you feel confident which makes you feel sexy. I also think that there’s a little bit of that “Hey I’m a pole dancer and I can do the kind of things men pay to see in strip clubs except I do it with a class and my pole clothes on” and that always just makes you feel sexy.

I love pole. I love my pole family. I love the women and man who teach me. I love the constant support and encouragement you find inside any pole studio. I love how we share our triumphs and our tribulations. I love how it makes me feel and what it’s taught me about myself.

Every day is a new challenge and a new achievement. So all of you, women AND MEN, please do yourself a favour and go try pole, because the only answer to the question “Why pole dancing” is because it will change you life…

Why dance

When I was in primary and high school, I used to dance. I did freestyle, hip-hop for a bit, modern and so on. But when I got into grade 10, I started to get really lazy and I just stopped.

I didn’t realise the loss until I started university and began my drama training. It was then, when I was thrown into movement training that I regretted those years of lost dancing. In my second year though I really found my way back to dance when I met a truly amazing South African dance talent. This man wasn’t just my lecture, but he was also the inspiration I needed to get my butt back into dancing gear.

But you see, there’s contemporary dance and then there’s contemporary dance training for theatre. The focus of the first is all about the technique. The focus of the second, is on the story, the creation and the feeling.

Dance, from my point of view is about inviting those watching into an emotional experience. And that is exactly what it should be when you dance, an emotional experience.

I’m a huge advocate for dance and the advantage it has in education and personal development. You see dance is a form of expression and because of this, including dance into the school curriculum could help teach children a positive way of expressing themselves. When a child learns to put their emotions into their movement instead of in to their fists or negative words they begin to develop stronger social skills too.

Dance isn’t just about looking pretty either. It’s about physical, whole-bodied creativity. People underestimate the importance of developing creativity in childhood development. Even for adults creativity is a vital skill that is often over looked. You see, creativity isn’t just about making pretty things or being an artist of some kind. Creativity helps with problem solving, innovation and the ability to think outside the box.

And, according to SocialDance, dance is a stress reliever and increases your serotonin which improves your sense of well-being. But they also say, that new studies have shown dancing actually makes you smarter. They site a study from the New England Journal of Medicine and in this study they examined the effect of different activities and how they may help an individual prevent dementia. The study showed that something like frequent reading offers 35% improved protection from dementia. But, dance offers a 76% improved protection again dementia. That was the highest improvement in the whole study.

Now, aside from the emotional and mental benefits of dance, let’s look at the physical benefits. Betterhealth.vic.gov.au list a number of physical benefits including:

·         Improved condition of your heart and lungs;

·         Increased muscular strength, endurance and motor fitness;

·         Increased aerobic fitness;

·         Improved muscle tone and strength;

·         Weight management;

·         Stronger bones and reduced risk of osteoporosis;

·         Better coordination, agility and flexibility;

·         Improved balance and spatial awareness; and

·         Increased physical confidence.

Not everyone enjoys running or cycling (in the gym or on the road). Dance is a great alternative to these

traditional forms of cardio. And because dance is a dynamic form of movement that requires you to use multiple muscles in many different ways, you’ll develop more over all muscle tone and burn calories without having to stand on a tread mill and just work part of your body. 

And above all of that, dance is fun, it’s challenging and it’s exciting. And I’m going to say this, whether or not anyone listens, but dance isn’t just for girls. The kind of strength and tricks that a man can do in dance is just too cool.

I’ve been teaching dance for three years now and I have seen the young ladies I teach grow in confidence and ability. So give dance a try, doesn’t matter what type it is. And if anyone asks you “why dance?” you can tell them it makes you fitter, smarted, more creative, confident, socially developed and hell, it’s fun.

Happy dancing!

Bringing back retro

Let's bring back retro fashion

Retro Fashion 

You can’t actually go shopping for clothes anywhere without saying the words “that’s so retro”. The fact is, retro fashion is back and the different eras are merging into one another.

I personally love retro fashion, but you do need to know how to wear it. Ever era had it’s good points and it’s not so good points. It takes some restraint to make it work.

So that’s what I want to do in this article. I want to show you, my spin on bringing back retro fashion and the good points I think you should focus on when you try put together your own retro fashion throw-backs.

Let’s get started with the 20s…

The 20s

The fashion of this era was fun and flirty. All you have to do is think of the movie Gatsby and you already know what to expect.

Now as beautiful as the 20s fashion is, I think you’ll struggle to pull of elbow length gloves and tassels.  But then what do I know, I’ve gone out for an evening of dancing in a red tops hat…

See?

Anyway, for some 20s fashion rather focus on:

•          A dropped waist;
•          Strappy heals;
•          Lots of beads and bracelets;
•         Fun hair accessories with sparkle and maybe some feathers; or
•          A cloche hat (as close to).

There’s my take, see dropped waist, hat and strappy heals.

So, nothing noteworthy happened in the world of fashion in the 30s and 40s. I think everyone was more worried about recovering from war to be fashionable. So lets jump to the 50s.

The 50s

This is another era of beautiful fashion and I personally advocate for drawing on your inner pin up girl as much as possible.

For 50s fashion, I’d say focus on:

·         Poka dots! And lots of them!;

·         High waisted;

·         High heals; and

·         Red, red lips!

Oh and curly hair is a must here, it adds to the flirtiness of this fashion. Here’s my versions.

The 60s

Now to another of my favourite fashion eras, the 60s. This era is fun, sassy and cute. There’s also lots to work with, so here’s what you can use:

•          High waisted pants and short (yes please);
•          Short dresses with a fitted waist;
•          Shirts and dresses with petter pan collars;
•          Caplets;
•          Fun bold prints; and
•          Of course, if you’re feeling hippy vibes, peace signs accessories.

The 70s

Now let’s bring back disco. The 70s were about fun and partying and the fashion shows that. So for your 70s through back, focus on:

•          Bold and psychedelic prints;
•          Boots. If I could find a pair of white GoGo boots, I’d be all over them;
•          Of course, there's the bell bottoms. Just be careful with these. If you’re big on top, then the bells may just make you look bigger; and
•          If you’re brave, a plunging neckline too.

Just please no yucky tassels.  Those are a bad through back.

Now, let’s get colourful

The 80s

Let’s not lie, the 80s were bad. Bad, bad, bad! Too many mismatched colours and some fabric textures that should never be repeated.

So if you’re going to try pull off the 80s, stick to:

•         Bright colours (a few but not too many);
•         T-shirt with bold slogans and pictures; and
•         Layers.

My version doesn't look very 80s at all I know, but I kept it to the 80s use of bright colour with neon pinks and green.

If you want to do more than that… good luck and please send my photos!

But… in the spirit of retro fashion this did happen…

Yeah… anyway, onto our last era.

The 90s

Oh the bubble pop and girl power. With the influences of the Spice Girls there was a lot of pink and sparkle. This was this era of the platform sneaker thing and pigtails, not to mention my childhood.

To pull off a bit of 90sness go for:

• Crop tops (if you’re a prude like me just wear a tank top underneath it);
• Bell bottom jeans;
• Lots of pink;
• Sneakers (if anyone still has their spice girls shoes, then you’re my hero);
• Acid washed denim shorts and shirts;
• Tommy takkies;
• Floral and plaid prints; and
• Over sized shirts. 

Here’s my 90s throw back.

With all of these things, restraint is key. Pick one or two focus elements and make them stand out.

Retro fashion is about having fun and mixing it up.

So go get your retro on and I’d love to see photos of your retro fashion.

I'll leave you with this image of boyfriend (he's meant to be Prince) and myself before hitting Flash Back Friday last night.

Yes... I went 80s...