Who Me? – Sandra’s Story
In 1986 I started bellydance lessons at my local community center in Sunnyvale, CA. Flash forward to 2006, two daughters occupy my life and bellydance has fallen by the wayside and my weight is slowly creeping up about 10 pounds per year over the previous 4 years. My loving man caught me dancing in the kitchen and insisted I get back to dancing. I made the commitment to myself to exercise more. My attempts to go to the gym more often were often sidetracked by homework help, driving my kids to their activities and over all boredom with my workout.
Then at Rakkasah West in 2009 my husband pulls me away from my shopping telling me, “You have to see this!” and takes me over to the SharQuí booth. My mind did a double take, a BELLYDANCE workout? Then she said she was looking to train instructors. ME? An aerobics instructor? With this tummy? A bellydance instructor should look like Oreet, petite, slim and strong not tall and overweight. I took the literature and bought the fundamentals DVD thinking that I would at least do it at home. I loved it! The workout was fun and easy to follow and I could feel my abs working. I was hooked.
I did the training and it was the most fun working my butt off I had done in a long time. Oreet was encouraging but kept to her high standards for her program and made us work for our certification.
I started teaching one night a week and building my confidence as a teacher and then the explosion happened…four classes a week at a variety of gyms and community centers. My clothes fit better and people think I have lost more than that because my tummy is so much smaller. I am not super skinny, nor am I super flexible but I love to dance. I am soft and curvy but I can MOVE and I have fun doing it. That I think is what brings people back to the class every week – they getting a good workout and having fun.
My life is richer in so many ways because SharQuí allows me to step out of the regular world and be a positive influence in other people’s lives; but a healthier me is the best reward of all!