What Makes a Moment

What Makes Chair Yoga Great

Painstakingly, (not really) I went over my music, figuring out exactly where the meditation music ends, and the piano music begins- the music the people love so much. I had about 20 minutes mediation, you know; where you hear the water running in the background, and you feel like you’re in the sanctuary of the elves-Rivendell- in “The Lord of the Rings?” Then, the piano music hits, and that’s when we must be at the back of the chair, performing the standing poses, working on balance along with flexibility, of course.

I’ll have to listen to the music because we need to be sitting in the chair for salutations at precisely 35 minutes into the class, (you can do salutations in a chair).

The ultimate effort of the deep twists and sitting balance poses (Warriar poses performed in the chair) will fully bloom when it’s choreographed to the “Sculptures of Pemberley” from “Pride and Prejudice.” Here’s where we achieve the moment, as the music pushes us into it, and the people don’t even realize they’re working harder, lifting their heads higher, reaching through the fingertips more intensely, and why it’s so good.

I follow it up with Claude Debussy, which all the former piano teachers love. Those particular songs produce leeway just in case I don’t hit the cues precisely, as planned. The poses work well to Debussy also, and, it’s another chance to give the class ‘a moment’ that somehow makes them much happier as they walk away into the rest of the day.

When It’s Extra Fun In the Pool

I was teaching in the pool. I’ve been trying to get the class to that moment. Last night, I achieved it.

I brought in a couple of songs that I know the people love. If I can get the moves just right, and we perform something crazy to the chorus, (moves that work in the pool) then we have the moment; one where everyone enjoys what they’re doing, and they’re having a good time. Last night, we accomplished it! And it was fantastic!

After class, “We love it when you’re here- that was so much fun tonight,” was the nice words they complimented me.

“I’m more of a Zumba teacher, but I love coming out here and doing this,” I shyly commented because I can’t take a compliment, so I directed the conversation to the music. That gets people off me and onto other things. It worked. We discussed the music and laughed about the crazy music choices we’d just jumped around to- with great posture, of course. 🙂

That Moment in Zumba Class

“We want you back in the Zumba room,” someone said at the gym. “Why are you in the pool?” That was kind!

Both are great places to be. I tried to avoid the pool for a long time because I knew once I went there, my dancing days were coming to an end. I saw it as an assisted exercise place for dance instructors? (That’s not the way it works, truly, it’s just the way I’ve orchestrated it in my mind.)

“The truth is, I want to be in the Zumba room too, but for now; everything is working out the way it’s supposed to. I’m a much better ‘participant’ with all of you, in the Zumba room, for the time being.” The people were fine with that answer. We always have a good time, and sometimes- not all the time, depending on how I lived my day- I bring just the right amount of energy, so I contribute to the party. (Again, not always, but sometimes.)

I want ‘the moment’ desperately, so I strive for it no matter what. I would like to have it in every class, rather I instruct, or I’m only there for fun (or fitness).

That moment is when the music hits just right, the choreography is perfect, the people are feeling it, and they’re making it their own. A connection is made. You all of a sudden are enjoying the same thing as a group, and those who don’t really dance; they’re a part of it, and they’re motivated and dancing like they’re professionals training for Broadway.

They’re having a GREAT time, and they didn’t have to attend an awkward party or gala to get it (where they had to drink a few shots beforehand to really let loose and have a good time). It’s right there in their exercise class with people they barely know, but they’ve seen a million times before, so they’re not strangers, exactly.

All of a sudden, magic happens. Those people are friends, and everybody really is a little tipsy on the exhilaration of the endorphin high, and no one even saw it coming; it just crept up and took the class.

Everybody is dancing in the dark, some are seen, some don’t want to be seen, (that’s why we always need big classes, so the unseen can remain that way) but we’re all on the same page, and that’s happiness, true joy, because for that small amount of time; we all love what we’re doing, and we’re all doing it equally, together.

That is the moment I love, relish in, adore, and live to bring to my exercise classes. . . or my books. This blog is not supposed to be about books, much, but while we’re here; what the heck!

I’m not releasing the Zumba book for a good while, but in it:

The main character, Allison, kind of, sort of, hates her life. She loves her daughter, likes her husband, but passion is missing- and it’s missing greatly. She’s fifty, and that’s a new problem. She meets an exercise instructor who is having the same issues, and of course; they end up together.

However, it sounds extremely adulterous, but there is a mystery, and by the end of the book; you find out everything was not as it seemed, so the match was actually a good one. It fixed a lot of problems. Now, back to the ‘moments.’

Moments in life are important. They’re priceless. They can be a door opening a whole new future, or they can be a warning.

Moments, that one instance, that’s what makes life fun, what we remember, that connection that we want so desperately to get back to.

I don’t know if I can repeat our fun last night in a pool class. That might’ve been a fluke, but there’s always the possibility it can happen again, one day.

In my Zumba class, there’s this one song that hits perfect just about every time. It’s not popular, I found it by accident, but everytime I play it, someone yells, and at the end of class, someone always comments how great that song was and how much they liked the routine. I always have that hidden in my individual back pocket these days.

And in Chair Yoga, I have the soundtrack from Pride and Prejudice, because anything connected with Jane Austen, the finest writer of romance to ever have lived, will always produce good things.

Silver Sneakers? I do instruct that sometimes, and for now; it’s a monumental miss. I’m still trying to figure out what makes the magic there. I think it might be in serving the people after the class is over. If they know they can talk to you, that’s the magic. To rush away is almost a disservice. The magic is in the music of conversation, maybe?

If this blog sounds a little crazy, I’m an artist at heart. Of course, I see everything a little on the melodramatic side. But hey, if one can benefit from it; that’s probably alright. 🙂

I am a writer of fiction, so I live to bring you the moments.

“Fridays Up the Hill” by V. M. Jenkins