It doesn't hurt my shoulders at all. I feel the stretch in my arm pit area mainly. It might help if you post a pic to see your alignment

I second pole combos! I know you have some that you include in the weekly challenges, but I feel like many times I'm missing foundational skills/transitions in parts of the combos where I can't even do the first transition in the combo and need you to talk to me through it like I'm 5 because all I know is how to do a move and come down. Basically if you haven't talked me through how to do a move or transition I probably don't know how to do it. The ones I remember from this week that bamboozled me was a grab the foot flippidy do-da after the first thread through. Then the other combo was like a genie to a butterfly. So basically I don't get very far linking moves when you don't talk at me 😬

The head shake is so relatable. ACTIVATE EXTEND-O ARMS™️

🐰featuring nutmeg 🐱

Oops there's the picture of the position

Stephanie Tallant had me lay like this to find the back engagement then roll onto my side with my back towards the pole trying to maintain that same back engagement to get the correct position of the legs going back instead of down. I'm sure she has it recorded and better cues but I call it the Roly Poly and I do it every time before I janeiro and it was helpful for me

Your coach looks like they know what they're doing. I know Steph is showing cat pose here and usually I'd follow her cues, but I really think you should listen to your coach because they seem like the expert in this area. The perfect rounded back and tucked tail creating a seamless loaf. Impeccable.

So janeiro is hellllla back intensive and it might be helpful if you post the video but based on this picture and your other video, I would say first step is being able to have the flexibility to have both butt cheeks clear the pole while the second leg is still on the pole and relatively straight. The next step is be able to hold that first leg at the elbow line position actively driving it backwards into the pole without putting the full weight of your leg in the bottom arm. (Picture for reference of the position). If you aren't able to do both of those then it's likely a flexibility/ back strength issue and I'd keep working on active flexibility off the pole to avoid frustration.

If you can do those things above then Steph had a roly poly drill thing that really helped me understand the engagement of the legs so you can eventually take the hand off and rely on your back strength to hold your legs up.