I have had a lot of people asking me questions recently on how to deal with dizziness when learning how to pole dance for fitness, especially for beginners. This is a very common concern and some beginners fear that they will never be able to enjoy doing pole spins for the long term because of the dizziness they experience.  For other people, this may sound like a very trivial question, but this is something that you should consider for your safety especially when transitioning from using a static dance pole into a spinning dance pole. Ideally, pole dance beginners use the static dance pole first to practice the basic movements of pole dance before switching to a spinning or rotating dance pole. This is because spinning or rotating dance poles allow a lot of momentum and require some skill and strength to manipulate. More than that, dancing on a spinning dance pole can cause motion sickness so much that they are at risk of falling off the pole; we want to avoid that ;). People get dizzy because of the conflicting messages that the parts of the nervous system that controls their sense of balance and equilibrium send to our brain. An example would be a damaged ear sending the wrong signals as compared to the other ear which isn’t damaged. The conflicting signals to the brain makes it confused about our sense of rotation making us suffer and experience vertigo or nausea.  More importantly, we are not cookie cutters and our sense of equilibrium are greatly affected by the state of our general health.  Some people may have better sense of equilibrium than others and this is why your friend in pole class may be able to endure a longer pole spin while you get left feeling like you might throw up after one rotation; every body is different. The good news is that bodies adapt and regardless of your body’s brain messages, with time, it will adjust to the movement as you continue practicing your pole dancing spins. In the meantime, there are a couple things you can do now to drastically reduce the dizziness after your pole dancing spin:

• Lean To Spot While You Do Your Pole Dancing Spin.
• Make Your Hands In a Blade and Place It Between Your Eyes.

Here is a short video that shows you how to spot while learning to pole dance and use the bladed hand to stop dizziness on the spot:

In addition to the video tip shown above, you can follow these valuable tips listed below and perform your pole dance routines gracefully and seamlessly without the light-headedness: 1. Do not drink or take products that hamper your body’s circulation before pole dancing like caffeine, nicotine, and salt. 2. Try to relax prior to pole dancing. Undue stress or anxiety can precipitate motion sickness. 3. Don’t fight the rotation of your spinning pole and make it work to your advantage. Also, try spinning from different directions to see which side or direction your body favors. Once you know which side is stronger, work on your weaker side to come out equally strong and muscularly balanced.  Working on your weaker side will subconsciously force you to go slower and take your time : ) 4. Start small and start with short spinning lessons to help your body adjust to the new movements. Moreover, always start practicing with the beginner spinning pole combos first on a spinning dance pole before jumping on to more complicated movements.  In the PoleBody Complete Home Edition, there are several short pole dancing routines that are “warm ups” and they do not usual cause any dizziness for beginners.  These are a great way to ease your body into your more advanced pole dancing training periods. 5. Be consistent with your spinning dance pole practices to really get your body to learn the nuances of dancing on a spinning dance pole because there is also such a thing as muscle memory. 6. Control your transitions. Do not be too fast or too hasty especially when you are still learning to dance on a spinning dance pole. The key is to get your body accustomed to the motions of dancing while spinning first. When your body has adjusted, you can progress from the basic dance pole moves to trickier ones. 7. Control you momentum.  Know how to slow yourself down from spinning. Pulling your body nearer to a spinning dance pole will make the pole go faster while extending your body or a body part away from the pole will slow it down.  Learning to control your momentum in this way will also help you avoid unnecessary bruising caused from gripping the pole too hard or slamming into the pole when you don’t have proper control. 8. When practicing on a spinning dance pole, have a buddy to help slow you down when you feel you’re getting dizzy. Let your partner put a little pressure by squeezing the base of the dance pole. A lot of pressure on the dance pole would stop it abruptly and send you flying, so squeeze gently. 9. Lastly, Take some motion sickness medication like Dramamine, Bonine, and Marezine. These are over the counter drugs and can be bought without a prescription. However, I would only suggest this if your motion sickness is really bad and cannot be controlled by regular methods.  Please rest and give your body time to adjust before considering drugs, after all, they are a bit toxic on the body. I hope you will find this article helpful and start enjoying how to pole dance on a spinning dance pole!