Good days

I taught Yoga for the first time in a long time tonight, and it felt wonderful. It was nice to not only get to practice my yoga with new people, but to offer yoga classes free of charge to college students and parents and their children meant a great deal to me. Tonight my class had 5 students in it and they all seemed to really love the class. It felt really great to give them a free 45 minute yoga class after a long first day of class, a long day at work, or a long day taking care of their kids. So rewarding :)

I've had a great couple of days, in fact, all centered around fitness and dance too. Yesterday I taught a tap class as a guest teacher down in Mandarin. It was so much fun to get back in my tap shoes, and the girls I taught were so enthusiastic and quite talented. The class went so well that the studio owner actually offered me a job teaching it for the rest of the year! I'm so elated; I can hardly believe that happened. I was just so happy to guest teach for them, and now that I am going to choreograph their recital dance and teach them every week, I am just beaming with delight. Seriously, I haven't been able to stop smiling in more than 24 hours, lol.

That's what teaching does for me, especially teaching dance and fitness classes. I love to teach, to spread my wisdom and experience on to others so that they can have a new experience, or an hour of stress free enjoyment or grow into beautiful dancers and healthy individuals.

And that's why I write this blog. Because I can't teach classes every day, and I can't teach everyone I know, especially since many of you live across the world. I just want to keep teaching and inspiring, and I want to help each of you (and myself) reach these goals and aspirations we constantly strive for.

Health and fitness are attainable goals, even when we think we don't have the time, the energy or the money to help us get there. Tonight, I taught a free 45 minute yoga class that may have helped someone release all the stresses of their day; that might have jump started someone's new year's fitness resolution; that might have helped a little ballerina improve her balance for class tomorrow. I would hope that there might be a class like this that you all can find where you live. Something that won't break your budget or your schedule. For anyone in Jacksonville, come take my class.

In my opinion, fitness should always be free to those who are willing to better themselves. As much as it would make for a nice career to have a yoga studio and charge $10-15 per class per student, I just wouldn't feel right charging that much. I would feel like I'm turning people away who couldn't afford my high price tag. Sure, staying home and watching TV is cheaper than having a gym membership...but it shouldn't be.

Of course, if finding such a class is hard for you, you can always try to workout to a DVD. It's not as silly as it seems to follow along with a video, especially with all of the fun and nifty versions out for sale right now. Some of my favorites are:

-Zumba Fitness DVDs (www.zumba.com)
-Pussycat Dolls workout (available at most major DVD retailers)
-New York City Ballet Workout (available at most major DVD retailers)
And more
Also, the newest video games for the Wii and Kinect systems), though they are slightly pricier than DVDs, are great ways of working out at home for a fraction of the cost of group exercise classes. My favorite has always been (And will always be) Dance Dance Revolution (DDR).

The DVDs typically cost only $30 or less per DVD and most of them have multiple workouts on them, giving you plenty of variety that you can workout with over and over. Plus they're loads of fun, and being able to workout in the privacy of your own home is priceless.

I can't wait to teach again. I'm so excited, I'm going to start choreographing right away! Starting right now!!!!