About Feelin’ Peachy
Feelin’ Peachy is the home of body inclusive pole dance on the Wirral. We have students from the Wirral and all over the North West, with some travelling from Liverpool, Ellesmere Port, Chester, and North Wales! We are known as THE studio to attend for Beginner Pole Dancing classes, and our values as a business have established our reputation for excellence, inclusivity, and accessibility.
What is a body inclusive pole studio?
Our commitment to ensuring pole dancing is accessible to people of all body shapes and sizes and health conditions defines our studio as body inclusive. This commitment is reflected in our teaching approaches, continuous professional development, and studio management.
Exercise and movement are incredibly healing, enjoyable, and fulfilling, especially in the form of dance. We wanted as many students to enjoy these benefits of pole dancing as possible. We noticed that pole dancing was often marketed and taught in a very focused way on the advanced or gymnastics-style elements, which weren’t always the most accessible to people.
Peach thought, “How can we make it so that more people can enjoy pole dancing?” She started researching and developing curriculum and teaching approaches allowing more people to participate in pole dancing.
Peach was also inspired by her own experience of body image issues and chronic health problems to provide a space where others like her can access pole dancing classes on the Wirral. In the years running up to opening her studio, Peach ran a popular blog called Pole with Peach, advocating for body positivity, inclusion, and diversity within pole. When opening her own studio space in 2018, these values formed the basis for the brilliant community that would come to grow.
Inclusion of Health Conditions
Initially, the studio primarily focused on including students of different body shapes and sizes. Ensuring that those traditionally excluded from much of the pole could share the joy of the pole in the plus size community. We hired plus size instructors, took additional training in how to adapt to plus size pole students, and used our social media presence to educate on this subject.
Around the time Peach started pole, she also began dealing with symptoms of chronic fatigue. Then, the same year she opened the studio, she developed intermittent back pain, migraines, and other symptoms. After developing Long Covid and the worsening of her (at the time undiagnosed) Endometriosis symptoms, Peach became disabled and learned the massive impact that chronic health conditions could have on exercise and movement.
Between 2016 and 2022, it was a long process from symptom development to diagnosis and treatment when she finally had surgery and treatment for Endometriosis. During this time, Peach learned so much about listening to her body and developing ways of teaching and learning. As a disabled and chronically ill pole instructor and student, Peach saw the ways pole dance could be better adapted to include those with health conditions.
Our body inclusivity mission then extended to include those who may have chronic health conditions and dynamic disabilities such as Endometriosis, Fibromyalgia, CFS, Chronic Pain, EDS, Multiple Sclerosis, and others. Life with such health conditions can be challenging, and poles won’t always be accessible, especially during flare-ups. However, having access to a hobby where you can move your body, meet great people, and have more laughter is incredibly beneficial for improving and enhancing your quality of life.
Dance is for every BODY!
Our Values
Self-love, Fun, and Freedom are our core values, informing every decision we make at the studio.
Self-Love
We strive to help our students love themselves a little more than when they started with us. Our training, class planning, and business operations reflect our dedication to creating a place where you can develop self-love.
We have two rules that reflect this value:
1. Do not talk badly about yourself – this means no negative self-talk! This rule is especially around your body, appearance, and skill level. If you break this rule, we will remind you that when we’re all on the same wavelength, it creates a fantastic environment and culture.
2. Do not apologise – you can’t apologise for merely existing! Whilst you may wish to apologise if you’re late or forget to take off your rings before touching the pole (haha!), if you’re asking a question or needing another explanation of a move, keep your sorry to yourself!
You will see our social media, marketing, and website reflect this value also, by observing:
• No weight loss talk
• No ‘Before and After’ photos
• No boot camp style fast results classes
For us, fitness is about longevity and sustainability. We find the best health changes come from a place of self-love rather than self-hatred or wishing to change ourselves due to insecurity and dislike of the body. When we love ourselves and our bodies, we can choose healthy movement, exercise, and other habits that reflect that self-love.
Your mind, emotions, and mental wellbeing are all part of a holistic, healthy lifestyle that understands how we feel profoundly impacts our physical condition. Your body FEELS emotions before you can comprehend them, and often, physical illnesses have an emotional component. Therefore, a healthy body and mind exist in a symbiotic relationship, so our approach to exercise and movement reflects this awareness.
Fun
This value may appear frivolous at first glance. However, it has become the heart of Feelin’ Peachy’s approach. Laughter is medicine, and hearing our students say, ‘I was having a terrible day until I came here’ and ‘I was so upset this morning, but this has turned my mood around’ demonstrates the power of joy.
As adults, we are in a ‘play deficit’. We don’t spend enough time indulging in activities that allow us to ‘get lost in the moment’ and become engrossed creatively or mindfully in something. Animals and children all instinctively recognise the importance of the play paradigm, but we are conditioned as adults to see it as ‘silly’ or ‘juvenile’.
The problem is that those in a play deficit are more likely to develop harmful patterns of behaviour, such as binge drinking or comfort eating, as they seek those pleasurable moments of delight in ‘adult-approved’ ways.
Feelin’ Peachy has been, and always will be, a place where adults of all ages can indulge their ‘inner child’. Dress up, dance, laughter, playfulness, creativity, and self-expression are all encouraged. The community built around this value at the studio has some of the best people you will ever meet. Students who laugh together and see each other at their most ‘childish’ are also incredibly empathetic, supportive, and non-judgmental.
Freedom
Freedom – the state of not being imprisoned.
So many students walk through our doors feeling imprisoned by something: trapped by social pressures and expectations, insecure and low self-confidence, or their own limiting beliefs.
We seek freedom for all of these students:
- Freedom to be authentically them.
- Freedom to love their bodies and themselves.
- Freedom to move and create without boundaries or self-judgement.
- Freedom to exist in ways that society may deem unworthy.
- Freedom to dress in a way that feels powerful to them.
- Freedom to be visible in a world that would rather they be invisible.
- Freedom to not apologise for simply being different.
- Freedom to try, fail, try again, without worrying what others think.
Freedom is so important. Freedom is the absence of entrapment. Yet, many of us lived trapped lives defined by our perceived limitations.
We hope to gently encourage and support our students in making breakthroughs in areas where they feel trapped. Our classes, teaching style, and support provide a safe space for students to expand into their whole selves.
Want to join the Feelin’ Peachy family?
If you are new to pole, sign up for an upcoming Beginner Pole course or register for a group class if you’ve done it before. If you’re unsure which level or class is appropriate, send us a message.
We also offer 1-2-1, 2-2-1 and small group pole classes if you prefer a more personalised experience. Check out our Private Pole Classes page for more information on how to book.
