Lessons From Zumba

Zumba. A fun word for a fun workout. I've given up on exercise for the sake of exercise. I have to enjoy it at least a little bit or I won't do it. Put me in a gym with free weights and my eyes will be glossy before I finish five reps. Enter Zumba, the sassy, tooshie-wagging world-music workout that is never the same. I always feel a little bit naughty after a good Zumba workout :)

Dancing is not one of my natural abilities. I think I have average athletic prowess, but I have a hard time getting my hips to wiggle in one direction while my hands and feet do something completely different. I learned early on that I had to get over myself if this Zumba thing was going to work out. Ignore those floor-to-ceiling mirrors and the fit chicks in the tight fitting workout clothes. Ignore the Latin Diva whose hips intuitively know what to do when they hear the word salsa.

Fortunately, the music makes you think you're on a cruise, and the footwork is fancy enough to take total concentration, so you have little time to think about anything else. My problem was that I was thinking too hard. Have you ever thought so hard about something that it didn't make sense anymore? Guilty, right here!

I would stare at the teacher's feet, trying to discern and copy her every move. Unfortunately, the big picture was lost on me and I'd end up totally lost or at least a beat behind...not the best way to Zumba.

Tonight was different, though. I found that I wasn't thinking so much about the steps as I was the music. Paying attention to the music let me hear cues for my body and I could anticipate them. I also quit looking around the room, trying to read the crowd. Who cares if the girl in front of me knows every step by heart or that the lady on the left side of the room has cute workout capris? I did my best tonight when I focused first on the music and then on the motion, tuning out all the extraneous other stuff.

Since I like analogies and applications, I tried to think of how this revelation could spill over into other parts of my life. It seems that when I can give an activity my full attention and stop worrying about how others will perceive me, I will do a better job and have more fun. Take that energy you used to spend worrying and channel it back into the task at hand and watch it take off!