Today we’d like to introduce you to Joy Hansen.
Hi Joy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up a product of the FLDS religion and then switched to mainstream LDS at 18. I made sure I did what everyone wanted me to and did not question anything. In other words, I was always striving for perfection but never actually felt “good enough” no matter what I did to show up for others. I realized in 2013 after the death of my father, leaving the LDS religion, experiencing multiple miscarriages, finishing my college degree abroad (literally it all happened within a 6 month time span), all while doing my best to be an available and supportive mother/wife/sister/daughter/friend, that no one is going to care about me or my happiness until I do. Of course, we are all fed that self care starts with exercise, so I started at the very bottom of trying out different activities to learn what I actually liked and happened upon pole dance in 2014. My first experience was atrocious, but I was fortunate enough to give it a second try and fell in love with the sport after that second first class. It was the first time I had felt a deep appreciation for my bodies capabilities, the first time I had been given permission to feel good in my own femininity, and the first time I was given an example of women that had a healthy dose of self love and honored it through movement. That second first class I decided: “I need to learn this, teach this and grow this!” And I’ve been doing all that I can do to make that happen ever since. I’m Xpert and ElevatED certified as a pole instructor, ElevatED certified as a flexibility instructor, certified as a floor flow instructor and certified as a reiki master, implementing all that I’ve learned into each of my pole classes. I’m also in the process of becoming a Somatic Sex Educator, a NLP practitioner, and Trauma & Recovery practitioner. In the past decade, my experience as a student and instructor of pole dance and somatic healing has shown me that there are many paths up the mountain of coming back to one’s self. I strive to create the thing that I needed way back in 2013, a place to learn who I was: worthy of my own time/attention, healthy in my thoughts/emotions through regulating my nervous system, and supported through a community that actually understands.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth road? No. The initial traumas kicked off my need for pole dance, but since I’ve stepped into my own power, I’ve had many struggles along the way including but not limited to:
-Overworking myself in my obsession to do it as much as possible and hitting burn out in the thing that I needed the most
-Getting an umbilical hernia in 2018 and having to take a forced break from pole for over 6 weeks
-Having my business called “a hobby that pays for itself”
-Addressing all the stigma around pole dancing and how misunderstood it is from the majority of people
-2020, the Covid 19 pandemic forced me to get creative to still teach with all the restrictions, so I bought stage poles and taught outside
-Wearing multiple hats as a business owner and being told many contrary tactics to growing clientele and maintaining a studio
-Having my beloved dog die
-Addressing my own PTSD around getting sexually assaulted multiple times in my 13 year marriage that led to getting a divorce
-Handling the stress the divorce created with my kids and holding space for them, all while grieving myself
-Cutting off my family who chose sides with my ex and created a situation where I had very few people I could trust to stay in my life
-Buying a house as a single mom and building my own studio piece by piece with literally my own two hands
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I help others ignite the innate brilliance within. My whole job is about showing others how to step into their feminine power by using an unfamiliar phallic object; a pole. My classes are NOT your normal pole dancing classes because it doesn’t prioritize how good you look or how sexy you are, instead the focus is on what are you facing right now (how is your body speaking to you). I teach metaphysical awareness around what each body part represents on an energetic/emotional plane and if there is a struggle/success, that is a conversation to be had with your body. As you become more aware of how your body responds to different movements, you can take responsibility for your thoughts/feelings and take charge of your life again. This can be done with or without heels on. I don’t know exactly how, but taking this info and moving through the emotions really ripples out into all other areas of life. We are not machines and nothing is disconnected. Once we start understanding that our meat suit vehicle will never lie to us about your behaviors/beliefs, we start to have a sounding board for each moment and can make adjustments accordingly. I am proud of being able to convey this ideology/perspective to my students and most proud of seeing how they blossom in their own lives!
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I like how diverse and lively our city is! The music, the various activities/events, the playful nature of it all. I dislike all the construction through…. Come on SLC, you don’t have to make all the fixes all at once (insert eye roll emoji)!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.patreon.com/freeljoy
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_freeljoy_/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@polealchemist
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