Today was the day I suddenly thought “wow, I’m hooked”. Perhaps I have gym ADD, and perhaps I am obsessed with all the pretty things Equinox has to offer, but really I have fallen in love with these three classes I have taken there and what they have made me realize about exercise
Day Three I attended Patricia Moreno’s class “inten-sati”. Online the description reads
IntenSati is a revolutionary workout fusing high-energy aerobics, martial arts, dance, yoga, and strength conditioning. Combining spoken affirmations with simple choreography, IntenSati provides a heart-pumping, exhilarating workout that builds physical, mental, and spiritual muscle.
After google searching reviews about the class I came in open minded and ready to drink the affirmation kool-aid.
The class is a series of movements and simple choreography that are performed while saying affirmations. It sounds very cult-ish and religious, but I must say it is truly empowering. The sweat is dripping, I am punching and telling myself that “I AM STRONG”, performing moves with titles like “carefree”, high fiving those around me after a job well done, and feeling the most centered I have in while.
Really, the class was awesome, and I’m usually skeptical about, well, everything. There was something pure about the affirmations, something in them that everyone can grasp on to, young and old, student and professional. It was fitting for where I am today, at 21 and having daily freak outs about life beyond college, and I’m sure it is just as powerful as people in their 50’s dealing with a whole other set of stresses. Marrying these positive affirmations with intense body movements? wow. It sounds hokey and fake, but wow. It sticks with you like a catchy song.
After class, as I walked home sipping a perfectly made starbucks chai in this beautiful unseasonably warm weather, I couldn’t help but feel so freaken happy. For everything. To feel a peace with myself and this sense of “everything will be okay, whatever happens”.
What’s the biggest difference I’ve noticed these three days at equinox? MIND BODY CONNECTION. Each class has married the mind and the body in order to get a complete workout both physically and mentally.
This week has been about focus when I’m working out. How to not think about dinner or my to-do list or how much homework I need to do. To truly take what this class is offering me. At inten-sati I felt I could push myself harder, that there was more in me, and I once again felt invincible.
I came home, showered, and got dressed up for class for the first time in awhile. recently i’ve ditched my signature style of cute dresses and perfectly matching accessories out of laziness and feeling I am not trying to impress anyone, why bother. But today I thought “do it for yourself. wear the cute dress with the fun tights and the awesome earrings for you.”
Since last June I have focused a lot on happiness, first reading “The Happiness Project”, then experiencing the most happy summer and basically period of my life, and trying to keep the essence of that going during the school year. Right now I am taking “the science of happiness” at NYU. So much of my happiness came from living in the moment. During the summer I was able to just “be” and enjoy each moment as it came. Today I was reminded of that as I sweated my butt off.
Kayla in the City 