# 41 - Zumba Mania, It's Got Me

Last night at our Efrat Women's Health Center Zumba class, led by our exuberant and fun teacher Tanya Richardson, I decided that I'd be in the best shape ever if I could do Zumba every day. I never contemplated daily exercise before. I am so busy and do my best to do what I do already - that's tap twice a week, another dance once a week, and two nights of exercise (at the WHC). 
I try to fit in the treadmill when it's possible. It ain't easy, boy. Most people hate exercise (of course, they don't know my exercise teacher Daphne Kupietzky - she's great). But everyone like the results of exercise.
More than 12 million around the world love Zumba. Zumba is different than exercise. It's aerobic at times. It's fast. It keeps you moving. Most of all it's not threatening. A Zumba session is one big Dance Party (actually, that's what they call it), and you know I love to dance.
It's Latin. It's African. It's tribal and sometimes silly. You can dance as hard as you like, or as lazily as you wish. As the music plays (Zumba music or the latest hits), you do whatever you feel you can do. So, the real hard-edged exercisers bend more and really put tension into their movements. The other folks (probably me) do the Zumba routines with a happy whatever-I-can-do attitude. But they're moving every moment. And meanwhile, when they can breathe, they're laughing and sometimes singing along.
There's a friendly atmosphere in Tanya's Zumba class. At the Efrat Women's Health Center, we goof around sometimes during Zumba, like when we're jumping and playing fake guitar, or when we have to twirl and scream, "Hey."  Sometimes we're very serious, like when we're trying to get a new step. But Tanya's all full of encouragement for us, so we get through anything she can throw at us.
I've also been to Tanya's regular Zumba classes. They're more intense than those at the Efrat Women's Health Center, but they're still filled with the feeling of fun and do-your-best. It's nice that all different kinds of women of all different ages, shapes and sizes dance together at Zumba. Some jump around a little more and some a little less, but we're all evened out on the Zumba floor - a great big group of women who just want to be healthy and enjoy life together.