Zumba ® Fitness Class

 

If you've never heard of Zumba, it's a fitness class, in which the instructor teaches routines to music as you go along, rather than breaking down the steps, meaning you keep a party vibe going throughout the class, and the classes use a mix of international rhythms to get everyone moving.

 

I started going to classes in January 2010, became an instructor in November that same year, started teaching Zumba Gold in May 2011, teaching Zumbatomic (now renamed Zumba Kids, you know, for kids) in 2012 and even performed in Trafalgar Square twice in 2012(!)

 

Whenever I am trying new treatments or looking around for healing on my travels I find the most important thing is to trust my intuition.

 

Sometimes the most wonderful answers can be found in a world famous and glamorous spa, but sometimes I can luck into an even more wondrous experience by knocking on a door or asking someone I bump into at the bus stop.

 

When I first started Zumba it filled a gap for me as my gym workouts were not inspiring me or really keeping me fit anymore.  On an individual level it became my best form of healing, helping me to reduce stress and get fit again.  Then came a breakthrough moment when feeling joyous in a class I realised how unhappy I was in the rest of my life, and it wasn't that long before I left my job.

 

Looking for new sources of income I heard that it was fairly easy to train as a Zumba Instructor (if you can manage to book into a training) and a few months later I took my training and started teaching my first classes.  Again Zumba filled the gap in my life and helped me make an income without having to go back into a 9 to 5 office.

 

A few months later I took the Zumba Gold training for older people, because so many of my participants were over 50 and I wondered if this specialty class might be more beneficial to them.  What I learned is that you can adapt the Zumba format to any group, you can even teach it in the chair for people in wheelchairs or who want a bit more stability, you can teach it in water and you can teach children (and now even toddlers).

 

Over the last couple of years I've taught more and more Zumba Gold classes and I was able to write on my business card "ages from 4 to 104" with no small amount of pride.

 

I see every week the huge difference that my classes make to people with any problem, from stress to dementia, and research has slowly been appearing about just why the Zumba programme heals people.

 

For me the most dramatic research is that showing that Zumba may well be able to slow down and reverse progressive diseases that so far medicine has not been able to help, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and rheumatoid arthritis.

 

There are two main ways that it works; the first is the unique format; the music, the learned choreography, the moves, even mirroring the instructor all have benefits; the second is that just doing something, anything you love has a hugely beneficial effect.  As I always say, seek your bliss.  It goes against so many of the things society has tried to teach us; no pain, no gain; that we should feel guilty about anything hedonistic or enjoyable, whereas the truth is that reaching out and enjoying what you love, whether it's a massage or a fitness class (or surfing, skiing, swimming) are the things that keep us healthy in mind, body and spirit and allow us not only to live wonderful lives, but to support those around us to do the same.