What Does Fitness Have to Do With 9/11?

I work at a destination spa, and I have for more than 10 years. I happened to be working the morning of 9/11. I had two small children at the time and remember watching the news reports of the twin towers. I was watching when the second plane hit. I was a mess and didn't understand what was going on, everything seemed to be chaos. I had to report for work that morning and teach fitness classes. How could I act happy during a time like this?

In the fitness industry we are actors and actresses on stage giving clients a workout and a performance at the same time. I didn't think anyone was going to show up for class, the property was in pandemonium. Guests were just coming off their morning hikes and hearing the news for the first time. Many were from the East Coast, specifically New York and New Jersey. Calls were being made, and cries were heard across campus.

I couldn't teach; I didn't want to. I was crying; everyone was crying. People started showing up to class, begging me to teach. The pleas were to please take their minds off of what was happening. And so it was, amid the pain and terror we were all feeling, I had to become a cheerleader and give them a performance. I had to suppress what I was experiencing and compose myself enough to make them move and smile, to give them a few hours of solace before the magnitude of what was really happening to our country set in.

I have worked every 9/11 since 2001. I have watched the effects of that day span 10 years of fitness at a destination spa. In 2001 I taught 40 people a stretch class. Today my biggest class was 14. Our nation changed forever. Our economy has completely reversed as well. People stopped spending money on fitness- related services, stopped going on vacations, and many have lost their jobs. Our country has been at war for 10 years.

Tonight, I ended my meditation class with the mantra " I am peace, peace is in me." I heard someone on the radio today talking about the impossibility of peace; it made me sad. Through fitness the last 10 years, I found yoga and meditation. I didn't have the coping mechanism in 2001 that I have today or the hope for the future like I have today. On 9/11 10 years ago, fitness taught me that no matter the circumstance people wanted to move; the movement made them happy. The movement gave them a direction, a focus. Fitness helped to bring us all together that day and project happiness during a time that negativity abounded.