#Zalsa: My journey out of burnout into wellness/wellbeing innovation through creative movement

Back in 2020, while COVID-19 was peaking during its first wave, as a front-line emergency physician I was frustrated. It was not just my hectic work routine in one of the busiest emergency departments of the megapolis of Karachi to blame. The unavailability of my gymming routine because of the pandemic-mediated lockdown was adding to my woes.

To keep sane, I, therefore, settled into a nice daily home-based exercise routine: 2.5 km of outdoor running followed by 15 minutes of indoor creative movement (aka Zumba-like dancing, to be precise). The fact that I went overboard with my routine and ended up fracturing my right ankle is a story for another day. 

After I had reflected enough on my intra-pandemic/post-fracture predicament and my ankle (with a metal screw inside) had healed enough, I resumed my home-based Zumba routine. But this time I added Salsa steps to it so I could make it a high-intensity/low-intensity workout. Although I became quite happy with my workout, I felt the dearth of like-minded people who were equally excited about such a routine. It was around then; I realized that readily available routine workouts did not entice people sustainably so that positive outcomes could be demonstrable. I also noticed that varying levels of people’s fitness precluded uniform involvement in mixed-intensity workouts. Furthermore, couples interested in Zumba, Salsa, or similar, were unable to find classes easily in Karachi where they could enjoy joint workouts for collective wellbeing.

Given the above problem that I became passionate to solve, in the fall of 2021, I created a novel wellness routine which I termed Zalsa, as a merger of Zumba and Salsa. Since its inception, Zalsa has gone through three major iterations already. Each time it’s tested and adapted to the needs of the group, its empathetic nature becomes evident. It is demonstrably a robust approach to the envisioned wellness and wellbeing, because it is group-based for those interested in an interval high and low intensity or impact whole-body workout experience. It helps you achieve flexibility/agility while being a great cardio workout. It can help improve coordination since learning salsa is akin to acquiring a new skillset.

The routine is also meant to be a hangout for like-minded people willing to let go of their inhibitions through creative movement. The outcomes to be achieved through the engagement are personal and collective wellbeing, mindfulness, physical fitness, creative expression, and learning about one’s biorhythms in a fun and wholesome manner.

I am often asked ‘Who is it for and how is it unique or more beneficial than what already exists with respect to group workouts’? Zalsa is different from traditional Zumba, Yoga, Pilates, etc. It brings a mindset that bridges the individual’s physical, mental, and spiritual fitness with that of a like-minded community of practitioners. The encouragement of partners and milestone-based roadmap (aka schedule) are additional unique features.

With respect to the Zumba aspect of Zalsa, a distinctive feature is its playlist that focuses on a combination of Bhangra, Pop/Rock, Hip Hop, and Freestyle, versus Latin music. Following the Zumba bit, the ‘Salsa of Zalsa’ is predominantly Latin music. Adhering to the schedule or curriculum of Zalsa, the learner demonstrates a progression in the skillset achieved (for Salsa, per se). Open to all ages and genders, irrespective of fitness level or ability, Zalsa epitomizes parity, inclusion, and diversity. Still, it is noteworthy that all courses to date have significantly more women enrolled than men.

The intriguing bit about the Salsa part of the routine is that you may get to learn from and partner with someone from the same gender. Hence, mix gender couples are not the norm in these classes, and you need to be okay with that level of gender fluidity and transcendence. There are moments when you would have to do the ‘salsa male lead’ moves, followed by the ‘salsa female follow through’ moves. The fluidity that you acquire because of flipping between male and female moves, enhances your skillset. You become comfortable dancing with men, women, or genderless people, without batting an eye. 

This was exactly how I experienced Salsa in Houston, the city where I learned that dance form. 

I am the main instructor of Zalsa. I am also an emergency medicine doctor/educator/ researcher, with additional expertise in healthcare innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. As a trauma and injury expert through emergency care and my own sports-related injury, I have become keenly aware of the need for safe workouts. Because of my passion for physical wellbeing, I gained several years’ worth of experience in Salsa and other types of workouts such as Zumba. After formally learning Salsa in Houston, I successfully led a few cohorts in Karachi at the Aga Khan University, Adaptive Fitness Academy, and Sind Club. Cumulatively, Zalsa has enrolled and successfully graduated/certified around two dozen people in 2022 so far.

I am often asked ‘Is there any evidence that Zalsa may work at a public health level’? Recent studies from North America are adding to a growing body of evidence that indicates ‘nature time’ (time spent in parks, nature reserves, etc.) can improve all kinds of different physical and mental health conditions. Doctors are willing to write prescriptions for wellness. Extrapolating that to wellness in Karachi, since we do not have ready access to parks here, one may speculate that Zalsa ‘prescriptions’ shall benefit those eligible, i.e., people committed to this workout regimen.

As the founder and primary trainer of Zalsa, I link it to my intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial thinking and implementation abilities. However, zooming out of those characteristics of Zalsa that have personally benefitted me or the personal health of others, if you consider ‘movement’ overall, the question arises ‘What are the potential benefits of movement’? For that, I would allude to Aristotelian philosophy about movement and the peripatetic school of thought, in that people would indulge in walking and actively link that to creativity, critical thinking, and reflection per se. Then, if you consider Rumi's approach to movement that led to the foundation of the Mevlevi order of Sufis and whirling dervishes. Their circular movements to music were and are considered fundamental to their Sufic practice. To summarize, there is a spiritual link to movement and if you are creative about said movement then I believe it can generate more engagement with and interest in contemporary culture/society.

Kahlil Gibran, the famous philosopher-writer said, "You give but little when you give of your possessions, it is when you give of yourself that you truly give". I feel Zalsa is reflecting that as I am not accepting any payment for my role in it. I am doing the pro bono work because I am not only passionate about the creative process, but it also gives me an opportunity to engage with my human fellow travelers in a totally different manner. In the final analysis, if I can non-transactionally benefit anyone in today’s toxic, cutthroat, and competitive world, then the unconditionality of it is truly giving of me.

[from Mixed Bag]

Acknowledgment: This essay was originally published by BolNews.