Reading Body In Space: Observing Inverting On The Pole As A Morphing Experiential Practice
Reading Body In Space: Observing Inverting On The Pole As A Morphing Experiential Practice
Connecting my inverting practice to the critical observation of how pole inverting is taught and observing bodies in space inverting
Oh…
Inverting.
I’ve been practicing inverting for 3 years now and it still doesn’t look like the standard basic invert. This year though I realized that, it may take another 2 years for me to pull off a standard basic invert and I’m okay with that. Why is that?….
It’s Not A Matter Of Time
What time will do is make muscles stronger, which yes will alter the look of an invert. Time is also an opportunity to change body composition. Overtime, by whatever means if body mass decreases, then there’s less mass to physically have to pull up. What time won’t do is embody the techniques. No matter how much time you spend drilling, time is relative to our bodies understanding the function and naturally executing the mechanics without much thought.
If you’ve learned from me in the “Invertical” or “Pre-Inversion” coursework, my definitions for ‘inversion’ and ‘invert’ are two separate concepts that aren’t mutually exclusive. One’s function is to maneuver (tilt, recline, bend, ect) to get upside down. While the other’s is to move upward, upside-down (which is to ascend in an upside down position).
After surveying a smörgåsbord of movers’ videos, the function/usage of getting upside down is not equal for all people, and all movements, and all styles and all genres of pole. The skill of getting upside down has a variety of applications. Frankly put, everyone isn’t using inversions the same way
It’s a Matter of Experience
The notion that “pole is for every body” is a dubious sentiment. I’d go the spicy route of saying “pole is not a universal experience, it’s a different one for every body”. I think the former statement is an oversimplified talking-head of the recent phenomenon of DEI efforts that address emotional injuries from pole’s past transgressions against nonstandard body types. When it comes to inverting specifically, it is not an “everybody” methodology. Anyone can get upside down, yes— but doing so on the pole by the standard methods of ‘inverting’ is not safely accessible to every body.
Despite differing body types, each person has different experiences with dysregulation and the posture of their body. There is a reading of inverting that reveals the maneuver as more prone to imbalance and danger. Over the years I’ve researched cues, tips or tricks and classes on inverting that I could access from search tools. Each has provided information, even when it wasn’t beneficial directly for me. One critical observation is tutorial creators and educators, that are search engine discoverable, rarely are nonstandard body types or acknowledge nervous system reactions when inverting. I’ve also been that mistaken creator early on who got caught in the loop of creating helpful videos for people to raise my status as a knowledgable teacher. In recognition of my underdeveloped entitlement and assumptions about body capability, I’ve taken videos of my invert tips off of Youtube. I’ve realized that in all honesty, the people who look at me and feel as though they can learn from me more than likely need more personalized instruction. They need their experience understood and they need an encounter with learning “how” that is more experiential than anatomical. In a class setting, even virtual, I can put my eyes on people and their bodies to address the matter of their experience.
My journey of practicing to invert has lead me to adapting to my lived experience and seeing myself differently— rather than assimilating to the standard conditioning. I look back and realize there were certain steps I should have taken out of sequential order OR that I maybe shouldn’t have even considered the practice of inverting as a thing to chain train. I’d love to tell most people the truth about why they can’t invert yet— it’s based on their experience. Based on the years I’ve been practicing inverts and working with multiple body types, here are reasons why inverting is hard or may feel unattainable:
Self-efficacy: Disbelief in one’s capacity and will
Strength: The ability to stabilize & generate force on command
Posture: The experience of the way a body naturally is carried in space
Mass & Gravity: The physics of density and ability to balance one’s weight transferring in space
Coordination: Reaction timing, agility and synchronization of motor skills
Surrender: Deconditioning limiting actions, changing behaviors in real time, accepting when to move on from frustration
Style: The way one engages the pole is crucial to the type of invert they should be practicing
There are ways to address these experiences that don’t involve the pole, that should involve the pole and some that may require behavioral therapy/therapeutic approaches. As I practice my invert these days I’m in constant dialogue with what my body is experiencing felt-sense wise and the visual documentation of that experience. Each conversation revealing if the experience is morphing me closer to or further away from embodying getting upside down. Im considering all 7 of the things I’ve outlined above when I’m making notes about my attempts— because I believe that’s what makes it a sustainable practice. The practice has morphed from proving that an invert is something I should be able to execute, to allowing the practice to change me. The invert is a result of the the changes I make in the practice of my body’s movement and living my life.