February can be a mentally hard month here. By this point in the winter, it’s been gray and rainy for a long time, and sunshine is something our Orcas psyches pine for. I find that I’m least motivated in February to go out and walk, hike, or do anything in the rain again. The outdoor things I normally love to do take effort. Even my arms go dormant. They’ve had little to do but hang at my sides for months, tucked snugly in my permanent down-jacket cocoon.
The rain is magical when it first begins in October or November, but by February even smiling can feel hard when I look outside in the morning to yet another gray blanket covering the sky. And I’m a pretty naturally happy person. A typical Northwest February feeling is bereft of the elements of fun, excitement, and adventure.
Zumba rescues me from that feeling!
I am so thankful when I walk into the Odd Fellows Hall on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to an hour of loud, exciting Latin and African music bursting out of the windows. It’s the opposite of the quiet, pensive feeling outside. Don’t get me wrong; I love that internal pensive stuff for the first three or four months of winter, but by now I need a little external help.
Alyson Stephens has been teaching Zumba classes for 8 years, and she is a breath of happy, fresh air as she leads us through songs that incorporate everything from salsa and merengue to hip hop and samba. I love that you don’t even have to know what you’re doing. You just let go of your left brain and mirror what she does. And then laugh when you start thinking too much and you goof up. No one judges anyone, and Alyson is nothing but a positive light on a dark morning.
It dawned on me at the beginning of the month that even though her Tuesday and Thursday classes start before I get the kids to school, I can at least dart over there after I drop them off and catch the second half around 8:30. On Wednesdays they start at 9:00, so I can do the whole hour. Three days of Zumba each week, even if truncated, counteract the gray and get me to March!
I have a similar post here from summer of 2018, but I just had to do another one. It’s that much of a lift in my February life!
I would encourage anyone of any age to come – it is a total blast. It’s also wonderfully affordable – $7 per class or $30 per month.
Thank you, Alyson, for giving us joy and supporting our neurons until spring arrives!
Remember…this was taken in August when it’s sunny outside.
