I hate exercising. Well, that’s not really true – I love moving and sweating and doing hard work. What I hate is exercising for the purpose of exercising. My life’s timeline – as no doubt is it with many other people – is dotted with many good-intentioned attempts to whip this poor body into shape. When a form of exercise sticks I’m either getting paid for it (construction work is awesome) or I have friends to keep the fun quotient high. Or maybe it might take some skill and you’re worried about being ridiculed for not knowing how? You, dear reader, can imagine how I felt upon seeing the video below. Fun! Frolicking! Silliness!
The first thing that strikes you is the happiness – the genuine “I’m so glad to be here doing this!” look on everyone’s faces. Are some people staring in disbelief? Absolutely. Are the people participating really caring about that? Absolutely not. How many times have we decided not to use a certain gym or partake in a certain activity because someone might watch and we think they’d be judging us for not being able to use the treadmill at more than 4km/hour, or mentally point and laugh at how we look in our swimsuit?
Now, thanks to that first, wonderful, happy man and the reporter who saw something worthy, an idea has been set on fire. It has been spreading around the world because not only is it not “exercise,” it is an embrace to all that is fun, silly and social. You are supposed to laugh, you are supposed to make other people laugh… *with* you.
Dance Walk like everybody’s watching. And love it.
Photo Credit
Feature And Thumbnail Images – Screen Cap From Video
Guest Author Bio
Jodie Gastel
Jodie Gastel lives and plays in Victoria, BC and is frequently followed around by noises that usually sound like “What is she up to now?” Not content with sitting still, Jodie has taken part of life’s smorgasbord and has experienced as much as possible including traveling around France, running business libraries, getting a mohawk, owning businesses, writing books, doing things interesting enough to be written about in magazines, becoming a mother and donning steel-toed boots while learning to drive a Bobcat.
Currently she is planning the next adventure. Preferably one that involves Yurt building.
Blog / Website: Dance Walking Victoria BC
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Paul, I’m with you on that one… getting the momentum as we speak! We are going out again this Saturday, starting at the Y downtown. We can brainstorm there, too 🙂
OMG Jodie! It’s like somebody thought of me, and came up with an exercise. Thank you!
I think we should have a world record beating dance walk event!
Can we? Call me, maybe.
Hi Jodie,
Fun video. I don’t know if I would join in with a group of people doing this, but I would definitely stop to watch.
Finding the right gym is a challenge for the reasons you’ve stated. Also, if we walk in and see beautifully fit people, we become subconscious, but if the gym is filled with out-of-shape people when we visit, we’ll wonder if it’s worth our time going there.
In spite of these reasons, we know we should do it, so it’s best to put our fears aside and just go.
Hi Ray!
I understand about the joining in – even for me (who is not a shrinking violet by any means…) getting started was a bit of a hurdle. It is easier in groups of larger people – it’s like the School-Of-Fish principle :).