What to do if You’re Scared of Freestyling

Freestyling in pole dance can feel frightening and physically stressful, often driven by fear of failure and harsh self-criticism. This episode offers some practical strategies to cope with that. Drawing on sports psychology, we’ll talk about research (Ceccarelli et al., 2019) showing self-compassion predicts better stress recovery and fewer maladaptive thoughts after recalled sports failure, and use Neff’s (2003) framework of self-compassion: mindfulness (noticing thoughts without over-identifying), common humanity (remembering others struggle too), and self-kindness (treating yourself as you would a friend). We’ll also go through some specific strategies that you can use in the moment to help cultivate more self-compassion.

Citations: 

• Bluth, K., Gaylord, S. A., Campo, R. A., Mullarkey, M. C., and Hobbs, L. 2016. Making friends with yourself: a mixed methods pilot study of a mindful self-compassion program for adolescents. Mindfulness. 7:479–92. doi: 10.1007/s12671-015-0476-6 

• Ceccarelli, L. A., Giuliano, R. J., Glazebrook, C. M., & Strachan, S. M. (2019). Self-compassion and psycho-physiological recovery from recalled sport failure. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1564. 

• Neff, K. (2003). Self-compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and identity, 2(2), 85-101.

Chapters:

00:00 Freestyle Fear Is Real

00:57 Coach Disclaimer And Shoutouts

01:48 Why We Fear Failure

04:13 Research On Self Compassion

06:19 What is Self Compassion?

07:25 Mindfulness And Meditation

10:55 Common Humanity And Community

13:06 Self Kindness In Practice

14:51 Tools To Calm And Reset

17:53 Final Encouragement And Wrap Up