Day 2 of my free week at the fancy Equinox on Greenwich Avenue.
Tonight at Equinox I wen to “Zen Combat” with Violet Zaki.
I had no idea what the expect except what my new fitness friend from the other night told me and what I read online:
“Created by Black Belt & Fitness Celebrity Violet Zaki, this electric fusion class will kick your cardio fitness to the next level while defining and shaping your body Basic martial arts techniques and strength moves that challenge balance and agility. A serious calorie burn, Zaki-Style.”
Um, okay. I was unsure what “zen” in the title meant. After my 30 minutes of yoga-ish activity yesterday, and my usual Wednesday morning crack of dawn yoga class at Crunch, I was praying that Zen had nothing to do with yoga for the sake of my poor, tired, arms.
The 60 minute class was like kickboxing on crack— 60 minutes of intense, sweat inducing cardio. We learned a martial arts combination (I pretended it was dance choreography and still counted it in 8’s in my head), that built throughout class. It took a shocking amount of mind power to memorize and repeat this combination over and over again while praying I didn’t fall over or kick the person next to me.
So what is Zen? And did I experience it in this class? Googling searching “zen” I come across this defintion via Urban Dictionary
One way to think of zen is this: a total state of focus that incorporates a total togetherness of body and mind. Zen is a way of being. It also is a state of mind. Zen involves dropping illusion and seeing things without distortion created by your own thoughts.
Total Focus and togetherness of body and mind. This is something I definitely struggle with– my mind is going a million miles an hour ticking off to do lists, reviewing songs that I’m supposed to have memorized for the day, planning what I’m eating for lunch and dinner, planning what I’m going to wear for the next week… Seriously, this is what I think about when I am supposed to be concentrating in class, or say at yoga.
In yoga I try oh so hard to focus. Look at that groove in the floor Kayla, stare at it, and think of nothing else except that and your breath. This lasts a millisecond before my mind is thinking “I really should make pasta for dinner in 12 hours.”
Zen Combat was a totally different story though. The movements were super intense and required a lot of focus. You had to remember everything start to finish and be hyper aware of those around you. When it comes to dancing I usually have enough of a muscle memory from learning that dance that I just kinda do it and concentrate on the whole picture I am creating and how to act the emotion of the dance. At Zen Combat I was so clueless about the vocabulary that I had to think myself through each run of the combination “Okay Kayla, shoulder, knee, lunge, kick, lunge, punch right left uppercut, back kick, crescent kick, pivot pivot…..” etc.
I had to do this EACH TIME we went through the combination which was easily 50 times I had to tell myself every. single. move. in order to make my body do it in time with the other peeps around me.
When I got distracted by thoughts of dinner or my to-do list was when I messed up the moves. When I thought about each move as it was coming I could nail the combination each time. Zen? I was finally giving my mind a break from creating to-do lists and planning out every meal I will consume and every outfit I will wear. So maybe it was zen.
I loved loved loved the class, from the sweat pouring off my entire body, to the amount of brain power it took, it was a fantastic full body work out. The music was pumping and never ending and Violet is awesome, encouraging, terrifying and fierce all packed into one tiny fit body. She reminded us that beginners should not be discouraged, which I really appreciated.
I had to will myself to leave the group fitness studio and not stay for the next class. Kayla, you have homework to do, laundry to wash, and you already sweated for 3 1/2 hours today. enough.
My thoughts on Equinox thus far? You do get what you paid for, you get top rate fitness gurus, icy cold towels waiting for you in a refrigerator, a clean locker room with plenty of lockers and yummy smelling soap. Oh how I am won over by the classiness of a gym.
If I can walk tomorrow the game plan is to attend Inten-sati before school.
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