Zumba!

This is my favorite song to "Zumba" to. Seriously, I know you all think I'm kidding, but I'm not - there's nothing like bumping and grinding to Pitbull/T.O.K. with a bunch of college girls and middle aged women. Just let this song play and read the rest of the blog entry. It'll put you in such a great mood.

I think I've mentioned Zumba once or twice before, but I went again tonight and was reminded of how much I love it. 

First off, if you've never heard of Zumba, you can check it out here. It's basically a Latin-dancing cardio class that encourages extreme booty shaking in the name of fitness. Now, I was never the girl who was dancing and jiving around the room. I dropped out of dance when I was roughly eight years old. In chorus as a middle-schooler, my best friend had to teach me the dance moves in my bedroom over the weekend. Throughout my high school career, I avoided dance parties like the plague for fear that I would be forced to display my severely lacking dance skills. 

But then I discovered Zumba. It was sort of an off-the-wall decision to try it; I'd merely heard good reviews from some acquaintances and thought it would be fun to try. Thank goodness I did! Zumba has given me so much confidence in my body, in myself, and in my dancing ability. I've learned things like salsa and mambo and cumbia, but I've also just learned how to shake my hips and be excited about it.

The first time I came to Zumba, I met Heather, our fabulous instructor, and she instantly gave off the aura that everything was going to be just fine. She opened the class with the magic words: "It's your body - do what you want with it!" and then proceeded to dance and shake and yell 'aye aye aye' with such abandon that I had no choice but to join in. And I loved it! Zumba has completely changed my outlook on dancing. Anyone can do it, you just have to be brave enough to try. Heather would then close her class by yelling, "What are you thinking about right now?" and we were all instructed to yell back "How awesome we are!" She wanted us to love ourselves, and she wanted us to love Zumba. For that, I just want to say thank you, Heather.

And for the rest of you - give Zumba a try! They teach it everywhere, for goodness sake. Not just the YMCA, but all sorts of fitness clubs. You won't regret it!