How Pole Fitness Helped Me Find Confidence, Community, and Myself
Dance has always been something I sought out, both as a child and as an adult. As a kid, it felt natural. As an adult, it became more challenging to find spaces that felt welcoming, challenging and aligned—but they existed, and I had a lot of fun learning different styles and meeting wonderful people. When I found Aradia it felt exciting yet familiar, like something I didn’t know I had been missing.
“I just want to help people find their inner confidence.”
— Chantelle Beasley, Owner of Aradia Fitness
This quote stopped me in my tracks.
If it weren’t for the staff and students at Aradia Fitness, I honestly don’t know who I would be today — and that truth deserves to be witnessed.
Dance has always been something I sought out, both as a child and as an adult. As a kid, it felt natural. As an adult, it became more challenging to find spaces that felt welcoming, challenging and aligned—but they existed, and I had a lot of fun learning different styles and meeting wonderful people. When I found Aradia it felt exciting yet familiar, like something I didn’t know I had been missing.
My very first class was at the old Whyte Ave location with one of our incredible instructors, Charlie. She was effortlessly cool with long, colourful dreadlocks, and she always asked what music we wanted to dance to. There were only a few of us in that class, trying it for the first time.
We loved it.
I remember finishing that first class and immediately wanting to go home and practice so I wouldn’t forget anything before the next week.
Fast forward a few months and I was taking more classes—so many more—that I installed my own pole in my basement so I could practice every single day. I was obsessed, but in the healthiest way. My kids got involved, and our home was filled with dance parties for years after. Even when studios were closed due to government restrictions, I had learned enough foundational movement to keep me going… for a while.
When I returned to pole fitness semi-full time, I started learning inverted moves—going upside down. They terrified me. They exhilarated me. I remember Chantelle once saying that the first time she went upside down, she realized she could do anything. I understand that now.
There is something profoundly empowering about training your physical body in a way that your mind has no choice but to follow. Between pole fitness, running and hot yoga, I became the strongest I had ever been in my 40+ years of life. All while being a mom of two boys and navigating the messy, beautiful challenges of life.
Aradia was there through all of it.
I remember storming into a class one morning at the old Sherwood Park studio, climbing to the very top of the pole, and asking permission to rage about the frustrations of life. My pole mama and sisters cheered me on the entire way. Those classes became my therapy—healing my physical, emotional, and mental body.
I felt focused, determined and ready to create a different reality than the one I was currently living.
Around that time, Aradia posted that they were hiring party instructors. The hours were Saturday nights—literally the only night I had to myself and I usually no plans anyway. Getting paid to dance felt like the perfect segue back into the workforce. What I didn’t realize then was how completely that decision would change my life.
The moment I became part of the instructor team, everything shifted. I was suddenly surrounded by over 50 women—supportive, encouraging, and genuinely rooting for me. I became part of a team led by one of the most inspiring and grounded women I had ever met.
At the same time, the idea for a spiritual business had been brewing in my heart since before I had kids. I knew I didn’t want to return to the public system to teach. I was exhausted by childcare, too tired to serve tables, and craving a challenge—something I could build on my own terms.
Enter opportunity.
I was considering running a business out of my home, but anyone who’s worked from home with kids knows it’s not quite as glamorous as it sounds. Just as I was asking Chantelle if I could sell crystals (yes, rocks) out of one of the Aradia locations, she presented an entirely different opportunity: renting a room in the new space and working alongside her and other like-minded women.
I remember her encouraging words, “This is literally the safest place to try something new.”
Of course, she was right.
When I decided to take the leap, she lovingly asked a promise of me.
“Angela, please give it at least one year.”
November 1, 2023 Sacred Connections, my passion project was born.
That was two and a half years ago.
Today, both of our businesses are growing and thriving. I have become the most confident woman I have ever been and I owe so much of that to this community.
Chantelle and the women of Aradia are some of the most genuine, nurturing, and supportive souls I have ever known. I truly don’t know where I would be without this community. I am deeply proud to be part of it, and I will always strive to uphold the safe, sacred and empowering space that Aradia represents—for every person who walks through its doors.
Use Code: ANGELA25 to receive $25 off any level 1 6-week class series and see how your confidence can be transformed!
Roots of Energy: How Movement Shaped My Healing Journey
I grew up in a small farming community in Saskatchewan. At that time, I didn’t realize I was already learning how to work with energy — I just knew that movement made me feel alive. My father, a devoted traditional karate sensi, began teaching me at the age of five — not only the physical forms of the art, but the spiritual awareness that flowed within every movement.
In karate, I learned to focus, breathe, and sense the energy around me. My father used to call it our “sixth sense” — the ability to feel a shift in an opponent’s energy before they moved. We were taught to listen with our bodies, to be aware of our surroundings, and to always be on alert for potential threats.
I grew up in a small farming community in Saskatchewan. At that time, I didn’t realize I was already learning how to work with energy — I just knew that movement made me feel alive. My father, a devoted traditional karate sensi, began teaching me at the age of five — not only the physical forms of the art, but the spiritual awareness that flowed within every movement.
In karate, I learned to focus, breathe, and sense the energy around me. My father used to call it our “sixth sense” — the ability to feel a shift in an opponent’s energy before they moved. We were taught to listen with our bodies, to be aware of our surroundings, and to always be on alert for potential threats.
As I continued my journey with karate, I found another source of movement that made my heart full — dance. Tap and ballet were my first languages of true self-expression. While karate taught me grounding, discipline, and structure, dance showed me flow, rhythm, and release. I loved how the same energy that focused my karate kick could also swirl through a graceful pirouette.
Those early lessons — in both martial arts and dance — were the beginning of my lifelong relationship with energy.
The Balance of Yin and Yang
It’s funny how life prepares us for our purpose long before we realize it. Karate and dance may seem like opposites, but they share a sacred symmetry.
Karate taught me awareness, protection, and the strength of stillness.
Dance taught me surrender, trust, and the beauty of flow and release.
Angela, 7 years old. Performing Karate in the street.
Together, they created harmony between the masculine and feminine aspects of energy — what we often describe as the balance of yin and yang. One anchored me in discipline; the other opened me to grace. Both taught me that energy is not just something we feel — it’s something we become.
Energetic Awareness as a Way of Life
Even as a child, I could feel the energy of a room shift when someone walked in. I noticed how music could change my mood, or how a kind word could instantly lift my spirit. These were early lessons in what I would later come to understand as vibration and frequency — the foundations of Reiki energy healing.
Over time, I realized that these practices weren’t separate paths. Karate, Dance, and Reiki all lead to the same destination: connection to the self through energetic awareness.
When we move our bodies, we awaken energy within us. We release what no longer serves us, and we create space for light, healing, and joy to flow.
Embodying Energy Today
Today, as a Master Reiki Therapist and Healer in Edmonton, I continue to honor the lessons my body first learned through movement. I see energy not as something mysterious, but as the natural rhythm of life — constantly flowing, shifting, and seeking harmony.
Movement is medicine. Whether through Dance, Reiki, or mindful breathing, energy finds its way through us. When we learn to listen, we discover that our bodies have been whispering wisdom all along.
Reiki: The Stillness That Balances the Dance
For much of my life, movement has been my medicine. Karate gave me power and precision; dance gave me rhythm and release. But what I’ve come to realize through Reiki is that true healing happens in the stillness between the movements.
Reiki is the breath after the leap, the pause between the notes — the quiet moment when the body recalibrates, and the spirit returns home. It’s the energy of recovery, restoration, and integration.
Just as our muscles need rest after exertion, our energy body needs stillness to realign and flow freely again. Reiki offers that — a sacred space where movement settles into harmony, where the chaos of life softens into clarity.
Whether we move through dance, strength training, or merely through the challenges of everyday life, Reiki reminds us that healing doesn’t always require motion. Sometimes, it’s found in the simple act of being — of breathing, receiving, and allowing the energy to do what it knows best: restore balance and bring us back to center.
Feeling called to explore your own energetic awareness?
Reiki helps you reconnect with your body, mind, and spirit — restoring the flow of energy that keeps you grounded and inspired.
Learn more or book a session with me at www.sacredconnectionsreiki.com and begin your journey of healing, balance, and transformation today.