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The Great Escape: Zumba Class at Body Kinetics

Get in touch with your inner Shakira in class with Lis Addison at Novato's newest club.

Sometimes the best thing a mom can do to get the endorphins singing, tone her body and lift her mood is the hardest to fit into a mom’s schedule: vigorous exercise.

That's especially true if you prefer to get your ya-ya’s out during the morning hours and enjoy some class camaraderie at the same time.

Running with a jogging stroller can be OK up to a point, but for me it never felt all that ergonomically beneficial. And with another little child on a tricycle and frequent stops, it didn’t allow for a sense of liberating cardiovascular exercise by any stretch of the imagination. (I remember the pure joy of even the opportunity to walk briskly with unencumbered swinging arms, back when my limbs seemed to be forever full of one child or another, a basket of laundry or a pot of pasta.)

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Hiking in Marin always provides a great escape, and we’ll certainly discover and review some favorite spots in and around Novato in the coming weeks. I hope you’ll share your favorites with me via e-mail. But it’s still winter, and for this week’s Great Escape let’s visit the new club in town: Body Kinetics in the old Nautilus location in the Nave Annex off Center Road and South Novato Boulevard. Specifically, consider a class offered there twice a week:  Zumba with instructor Lis Addison.

 Zumba (pronounced ZOOM-ba) is a form of Latin fitness dance and classes can vary quite widely depending on the instructor. Lis brings a cornucopia of dance experience to her classes and as a mom herself, understands the balance needed to provide and nurture for a family while keeping a strong center and creating space for self-expression. Besides teaching Zumba, she has been exploring unique self-expression in her own little backyard yurt for years now, and has created several excellent music CDs on which she plays all the instruments, provides the vocals and does all her own recording and producing. Her results are nothing short of world-class.

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Lis has pioneered her own blend of chant and dance in a technique she calls Kivo, and teaches Kivo workshops in and around Marin and beyond. (If you're looking for an all-day great escape, I recommend a day of Kivo with Lis — check out her website including videos and more detailed descriptions.) This gal has it, and she brings it to whatever she does. 

Getting back to Zumba classes at : You can join Lis and a friendly, diverse, fun group to shake your booty with on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Maybe your little ones are in preschool, or perhaps you can work out a reciprocal childcare swap with another stay-at-home mom to get away for a little more than hour to try something new and work up a sweat and, of course, get those endorphins singing while your hips are swinging.

If you’re not a Body Kinetics member, you can join a Zumba class for just $8/class from now until the end of the month. Please mention you heard about it on Novato Patch.

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