You've probably heard of the runner's high - that release of endorphins that happens after traveling long distances - but dancers get a special kind of high too. It happens when the steps start coming automatically and you don't have to think about them anymore. Your body just feels like it's magically dancing itself, you're flying and you could go on forever. Words really don't do it justice (it's even harder to describe than a box step). It's a heady feeling that goes beyond accomplishment. It's better than accomplishment because "accomplishment" implies a past and future. You're just in the present, moving to the music and being. Your body knows what to do without your having to tell it. It's a feeling of pure joy. It's when dancing becomes, in its own way, Zen.

If you're just starting out, confusing your left and right feet, forgetting which is the outside foot and screwing up a simple Mambo, you probably feel about as far away from that feeling as Earth is from Jupiter. Maybe you can't even imagine what a dancer's high would feel like. But keep at it and you'll find out. Everything in life that's worthwhile, from Yoga to JavaScript to a college degree takes practice and persistence. You start at the beginning, take one step at a time and eventually those steps become a path and the path becomes a journey.

When you are learning aerobic dance, it's your body that is actually learning the steps. It really doesn't matter whether your mind learns them - in fact, trying to force the steps into your head will slow down the learning process. Watch. Feel the music. Move. With time you'll realize that the less you think, the better your body catches on. Dancing is not about Mind. When Mind takes a back seat, dancing becomes automatic. It becomes really fun.

If you keep at aerobics, someday you'll be working out and your mind will forget to think. Suddenly you'll realize your body is doing the moves beautifully without the mind's intervention. You'll feel lighter than air and you'll never want to stop. And you'll finally know what dancing is all about.

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