Winding Down!

        I am truly beginning to feel much more confident in my skin. I've been feeling so great lately! I find that it is easier to get up in the morning, I feel strong, I feel beautiful and I am more motivated in general! That is all thanks to Zumba! Ever since I have started dancing there has been a shift in my moral! I feel so much happier and I can tell my body feels happier. Once again, I feel so fortunate to be a part of this great community. I am so glad I was able to join the group and go through this journey with all of these amazing women! Things are really started to wind down for me... school is going to be starting up soon.

Picutre Post!

       I thought I would post just a couple pictures of me getting ready to do some Zumba! As you can see in the picture, I am surrounded by my fellow dancers! I just wanted to show everyone what my classroom looked like and what the environment is like! It is a pretty big room with wood floors and mirrors at the top of the room. Ariel, our instructor typically stands in the front of the classroom and completes dance moves we have to imitate. He will sometimes weave through the crowd of dancers to encourage us! It is always a great experience!

New Challenges

        This week our instructor Ariel showed us a new song. It was a little bit more difficult than usual -- this made it harder to keep up. I am so glad he is showing us new dance moves -- this way I can develop my skills and learn some new ones. Dancing is an ever growing and ever changing way to work out. There are so many directions one can take dancing in, especially salsa. Today, we learned this new dance move where we had to step right, make a complete turn, and step left... it may sound easy, but we had to do it extremely fast over and over again. After a few tries, I managed to do it right! This process has been so fulfilling and exciting -- there is so much I am learning about myself.

Community Love!

         My love for Zumba just keeps growing. Today in class we danced to a particular song by Marc Anthony called Tu amor me have bien - which is a particular favorite of mine! Going through the movements with my instructor and a huge crowd of women made me feel so connected to this amazing salsa dancing, Zumba loving community! I truly do feel so lucky to have the chance to participate in something like this! What I love the most is that there are women from all over the world with every skin tone, every age, and every weight. We have all started this process without knowing each other and now I feel like I have made many many new friends. Although we are all from different backgrounds we have come together for the same purpose -- to dance!

Exercise? Dancing? or Both?

           The more and more I continue to do Zumba, the more I realize the importance of exercising. For a long time I thought that exercise was just running or just lifting weights. Whenever my mother asked me if I wanted to go to the gym I would sigh and say "no." I simply despised the gym, I hated the idea of sweating and running when I could be home on Netflix or hanging out with friends. I remember the first day of Zumba... a Saturday over a year ago. I was extremely hesitant and did not want to go -- nevertheless, my mother dragged me into a huge room at Gold's Gym. Completely unprepared, I did not know what to expect as I had never done it before. Little did I know that the thing I despised the most, was inevitably going to become one of my favorite pastimes. Being Puerto Rican or boriqua, I absolutely love dancing -- especially when it's salsa. I am the first person on the dance floor, at any party, to get up and start dancing. Up until this moment, I never realized that dancing could be working out. The idea that exercise was enjoyable seemed like a complete fallacy. But when the instructor walked in and the music started playing, I knew I was in the right place.