Anne Lamott, a wise woman and amazing writer, recently wrote down “every single thing” she knows “as of today.” (You should read the entire essay; it’s brilliant!) Item #13 on her list is Exercise, about which she says, “If you want to have a good life after you have grown a little less young, you must walk almost every day. There is no way around this.”
I love to walk but I have discovered it’s not enough to keep my middle-aged body revving. I need more. Lucky for me, there’s Jazzercise. I know, I know: You’re tired of me telling you how wonderful it is. However, I got to thinking about WHY I love Jazzercise so much. Here are my reasons:
- It’s a community of women. Sure, every now and then on a weekend a man wanders in but during the week, it’s all us girls.
- I walk in wearing Spandex—which is not my best look—and no makeup and no one judges me. Because everyone else is wearing the same thing.
- We support each other. When my fellow Jazzercisers found out I was an author, many of them went out and bought my books. (Thank you, ladies! Your enthusiasm means so much to me!)
- The music is fun. It’s pop which is meant to appeal to all of us, after all. You can sing along. It’s often about love which is a topic I spend a lot of time with, being a romance writer and all. The best part: I can freak my children out by knowing the words to the music they listen to.
- Dancing has been proven to reduce the risk of dementia. Enough said.
- As a writer, I spend a lot of time in my head, so it’s a wonderful contrast to spend an hour really, truly inhabiting my body and enjoying how it moves.
- Jazzercise is something I do just for me. I’m not trying to excel at it. I’m not trying to impress anyone (see #2). I’m not doing it to sell books (although it has had that surprise benefit-see #3). It’s all about letting loose and being a different, freer version of moi.
- It’s a break from all my responsibilities. For one hour, I put myself in the hands of the fabulous, energetic, smiling instructors and let them guide me. No thought required on my part.
So that’s my love poem to exercise the Jazzercise way. We are all growing “less young” but we don’t have to let our bodies slide into disuse because of that. Dance as though no one is watching! I do.
I love jazzercise too! It’s the only exercise program I’ve been able to stick with (for almost 6 years now)!
Roni, you are way ahead of me! I just celebrated my one-year anniversary at Jazzercise. i can see myself sticking with it for a long time though.
I love Jazzercise. I stopped going when I went back to work part time, but my husband encouraged me to return. some weeks it’s hard to make it with my schedule (and my kids’ schedules, which get pretty crazy this time of year). But after being away for about 3 years, I recognized many familiar faces, I even remembered most of the moves. I still can’t do a left jazz square as good as a right one (or is it the other way around?) but I can keep up. More importantly, though is that I can modify the exercises to accommodate my flat feet and my tailbone injury from last summer. When I was pregnant with my sons- now almost 17 and 12, the instructors made sure I didn’t do anything that would cause problems. And somehow, whatever area is bothering me (usually my shoulder or neck) they seem to pick the routines that work and stretch the area the most.
Oh, and I get to dance without anyone getting embarrassed (12 year olds).
Kristina, I’m glad to hear you have had an equally positive experience with Jazzercise. And I totally agree with your last sentence: dancing without embarrassment is a huge plus.