Dear Husband and I attend an exercise class three days a week. It seems easier to do our exercise with this group than to do it on our own. The class is 45 minutes long. The first 30 minutes involve warmups, stretching, cardio and cool down, followed by 15 minutes of strength training, resistance, balance, etc. Our leader uses a fair amount of yoga and a bit of Tai Chi.
A number of years ago, I’m not exactly sure how long, but I think perhaps seven years or so, our guru asked if I would be willing to lead the class when she was absent. I was a band director for 11 years, so I’m accustomed to moving to music, so that didn’t bother me, but I would have to get 35 to 40 other people to move with me. THAT bothered me!
I made a list of the moves we were doing, and our guru gave me a copy of the music. I sat down and counted out the number of beats in each cardio piece, and assigned movements to the phrases. Then I wrote those instructions on posterboard. These became my “cheat sheets.” When I lead class, I duct tape the posterboard to the mirrors in the dance room.
Our guru can call out directions as a phrase changes. She can also tell us which direction to go while facing us, something I will NEVER be able to do. She will tell us to go right, while she has to go left. I face the same direction my classmates are facing, and call the instructions as we exercise.
I subbed Wednesday. The cheat-sheets were taped lower than usual, so I could only see the lower half of my classmates in the mirrors. It was quite funny, but it was enough to tell me that they could hear the instructions, and that they were all moving in unison (for the most part). I saw one of the men go the wrong direction and told him “The OTHER right, Jim…”
I sub again tomorrow. Or, it will be tomorrow in five minutes. I couldn’t get my brain to shut down so that I could sleep. Perhaps now, after visiting Word Press for the first time in ages, I might try again. I want to be ready for class tomorrow. It will be a good way to begin the Labor Day weekend.