15 Pole position

Pole position

Nelson emergency doctor Jane Hopgood has found empowerment in turning 50, through getting off the floor and discovering the beauty of movement, she tells our writer Tracy Neal.

At first, it wasn’t easy; Exposing the legs she didn’t like to a roomful of people and then dropping to the floor at her first attempt at spinning around the pole.

“I was so embarrassed. I was among the older of the group and I felt really self-conscious about that, plus standing in front of a full-length mirror. “I went to do a simple move – a spin around the pole and I just dropped to the ground like a stone while others in the class were achieving it.” In pole you need bare legs to grip to the pole and a mirror to adjust your position, but this first attempt was Jane’s lightbulb moment. When she got up the next morning, she almost fell out of bed.

“I couldn’t lift my arms above my head. It was terrible and for the next three lessons I couldn’t even climb the pole I was so sore. Despite the embarrassment it made me crushingly aware of how out of shape I was.” The senior doctor at Nelson Hospital’s emergency department turned 50 last July and decided that the quality of the next half of her life was in her hands. She and husband Kevin, the owner of Hopgoods Restaurant in the central city, had already turned the first half into a great adventure. They moved their young family from London 17 years ago, where Jane worked as a GP and Kevin as head chef in a French restaurant in ritzy Soho. “I turned 50 and realised my upper body strength was pretty terrible and my lower body strength wasn’t much better. I realised I was heading into the second part of my life with a decreasing ability to do things I enjoy, and I had a choice about it.”

Jane knew she needed a different approach to gaining fitness; something that would keep her engaged for the long run, unlike the gym where an annual membership was often retired at about three months.

“I thought about things I enjoy and that includes a boogie at a party. When I was younger I would have liked to have learned to dance but my parents had no money; we never could have afforded it. I was always pushed academically but sport was not something my family did.” Jane says she does not possess any superpowers and had the flexibility of a brick when she started, but what she does possess is willpower. She came upon the Netflix documentary Strip Down, Rise Up, which explores the intersections of movement and meaning. It delves deep into how people learn to reconnect with their bodies, sometimes broken by abuse, through sensual movement. “It is not about feeling pretty, it is about feeling powerful,” the women in the film explain. Jane says it was enough to convince her to have a go, so she Googled it in Nelson and found Altitude Pole. She says the exercise is extremely gender empowering whatever you identify as, and the most “body positive environment” she has ever been in.

“The really lovely thing about pole is that pretty soon you realise that no one but yourself is judging you, and if you can stop doing that then you can finally start to move forward into a place of self-acceptance. “I feel better if I feel good about myself. It’s as good for me mentally as it is physically. I would encourage anyone considering trying something new in 2022 to take that first step and give it a go!” It has also offered an unexpected benefit to her often challenging role as a doctor who deals with trauma. “We see young people in the emergency department, where things maybe aren’t going right in their lives, and it’s so lovely seeing young people outside that setting, and to see the great choices they’re making. “Some I’ve even learned from, and I think it’s helped me to become a better doctor.”

I realised I was heading into the second part of my life with a decreasing ability to do things I enjoy, and I had a choice about it. I feel better if I feel good about myself. It’s as good for me mentally as it is physically.