Why I Do What I Do
WHY I WANTED TO TEACH ZUMBA
In December of 2011 I was 225 pounds, depressed and stressed. I had just had my fourth child who did not sleep at night and I was hopelessly frustrated with myself. I was a chubby kid and grew up fighting my body. Meanwhile I had no idea how to eat right or find exercise that I enjoyed enough to do and not quit. I started going to Zumba with my best friend and I was hooked! I loved the instructors. I wanted to look like them. I wanted to move like them. I wanted to be happy and feel the way they appeared to feel.
Being in their Zumba classes made me feel like I could do more, be more… like I was worth more. So I jumped in with both feet and since June of 2012 I have been a licensed Zumba instructor. My goal is to make you sweat, help you have fun, make you feel special and give you an avenue for releasing your stress while getting healthy and feeling good about YOU!
Why soul glow was started
Before I was a Zumba instructor, my only experience with group fitness was taking a class at my church called Believercise. I attended this as a teenager with my sister and I loved to feel the burn and hear popular Christian music and sing along when I had enough breath to spare. As a busy Christian I know I need to find opportunities to worship and meditate, so one of my go-to resources is listening to Christian radio like LifeSongs and K-Love and singing and dancing along to the music. As a Zumba instructor I often find myself mentally choreographing all the music I hear so naturally there have been some Christian songs that have found their way into our Zumba playlist.
After years of toying with the idea of offering an all Christian dance fitness class I decided to try it out and added an additional hour of dance fitness on Saturdays prior to Zumba. Several of my students tried to attend when they could, but two hours of fitness early on Saturday is a big commitment and I decided to make a change. Soul Glow was transformed to be a 30 minute dance fitness class with a serious focus on toning. I structured the class to flow from one body group to the next with specific target areas for two songs each (upper body, core and lower body) and two songs that focused on whole body toning. The class was re-scheduled to after Zumba so if anyone wanted to stick around for an additional 30 minutes it was not as big a deal as waking up early and staying for 2 plus hours. This was very successful and enjoyed by many in the class.
Fast forward to 2020 and our quarantined version of Zumba did not lend itself to including Soul Glow as an add on because it was already difficult to sequester myself in my daughter's small bedroom for the hour of Zumba without interruption from my family and pets. We all missed it though, and eventually I had an idea to combine Zumba and Soul Glow into a hybrid class on Saturdays. This was found to be very enjoyable by all attending and once we resumed our classes in person it was continued and will remain for at least the summer months.
Why Nutrition became a part of what I do
When I had been teaching Zumba for years and trying to use my social media and YouTube in particular to motivate and inspire people to make healthy changes in their lives in addition to fitness, I came to the startling and frustrating conclusion that I did not have all the answers and the things I was preaching to people were not working for ME. I had been following a fellow Zumba instructor and had watched her confront the same problem and she is a medical doctor! In following her progress I learned many things from her and became a coach for Beachbody under her leadership. Though I wanted to share the products and the knowledge I was gaining through this venture I knew that people don't all have the financial freedom to pay for these things. I can't give away Beachbody products but I CAN share the things I learn as I follow and learn from people who know the truth about nutrition and the lies we have taken to be fact, only to find out that these recommendations do not lead to the healthy bodies we expected.
This was why my Facebook group called Priscilla's Transformation Tribe Teaser was created to find people to coach using the Beachbody format and then was changed to be my actual Tribe in which I share all the knowledge I gain with my people for free with no strings attached. Yes, you will see information about the products I use and you can purchase them through me but there is never any pressure to do so . If you are frustrated because the things your doctor told you to eat or not eat have not helped you then the Transformation Tribe is for you. If you have T2 Diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, wacky hormones, or any other ailment that the doctor has said is hereditary and you need to take medication for please give the Transformation Tribe a look. The Facebook version is always more up to date than the web version and is interactive so head there now if you want to make a major change in your health.