Warriors in the battle against sedentary lifestyle or Thank you Darren.

Today we stray from the topics of art and family to focus on self and fitness. I spent this past weekend taking my instructor training to be a Body Step instructor. I am back at least one pant size smaller and a changed woman.

I have been involved in athletic endeavors in a round-about way. As a young child I took a lot of modern dance and in college I was in the African Dance troupe. In high school, looking for a place to fit in, I found the newly created crew team. Anyone could join, no cuts. Many of the kids were like me. They never played sports seriously and were looking for something new. Others were hard core soccer players or members of the swim team looking for a sport for a different season. It turned out that crew was an all year affair. An affair with our coaches who made us run long distances, hills, and stairs. They created circuit training that left us moaning and groaning. Then we rowed. An experience, that when done correctly (our college-aged coaches told us) was better than sex. I did not get the analogy at that point in my life, (I suppose some of my teammates did) but the experience is incredible. Eight oars dip into the water silently and with one collective swoosh the entire boat picks up and skims across the surface. If you all work together, pull at the same intensity and rate, the boat stays there, on the surface, for the entire course. The only sound is that of the coxswain calling out stroke ratings, pushing you to go farther, and cheering you on when you give her all that you can give. Then take it even farther. That was then. I was sixteen years old and had very few responsibilities.

Jump almost 20 years into the future. I am 34 years old and have had two children. I am married and I'm trying to reinvent myself as an artist/writer after teaching middle grades for ten years. My responsibilities weigh on me and I often feel stressed. I go to the gym to release and get that push. I am powerful and enthusiastic when I go to my Body Step classes. I feel competent and cocky.

Enter in Darren Watson. Les Mills trainer extraordinaire. He is funky and cool and he took me back to my "crew-self" in 48 hours. Certainly he kicked my butt physically. It was like boot camp. I have never completed so much physical activity in such a condensed period of time and have never been so exhausted. Nor have I sweated so much in my life. We accomplished successive Body Step classes (trust me, one is fabulous and more than enough). We ran, we did circuit training from hell, (Darren: you need to learn to read a second hand, one minute is only 60 seconds), and we were given a song track exercise routine to learn on Saturday that we had to perform/teach Sunday morning.

I did it. I did it all. I am proud and more importantly I am humbled. Humbled by what I now know my instructors do to help me be the best I can be in class. Humbled by how much I will need to do to prepare for my certification video. (I have 90 days to send it in.) I am confident that I will do it but I am no longer cocky. My spirit feels lighter, and happier now. My stress has all but vanished. I hope I can hold onto or get back to this feeling when I need to. It seems to be a really wonderful place for creativity in my art.

My boys and my husband were very proud of me. More expressive than I thought they would be. As I put my small son to bed last night he asked what I had learned at my class. I told him I learned that good instructors and healthy people come in all shapes and sizes. I learned that I have to push myself when I am tired. I learned that I feel successful when I do push myself physically. I learned that I am healthy and fit and that I want to help others feel that way. I learned, I told him, that I have a lot to learn.