Dancing for My Health: How Zumba Saved My Life

Written by Pak So Hyon

Photos by Erin Henderson

Aside from dancing, which I loved to do in my twenties, the only exercise I find remotely interesting is Zumba. Think about it, it’s a high intensity workout where potential injury is fairly limited, you don’t have to run, you don’t have to lift weights and well let’s face it, I’m Korean and Zumba is basically synchronized dancing. I’m not just a fan, I am a certified instructor. No, I won’t teach classes. I am a Zumba aficionado and the smiling face behind the front desk at the SFC Ray E. Duke Memorial Library at Camp Humphreys, who can help you find your way to the book you’re looking for. I share Zumba with my coworkers when we create performances for our young reader patrons for programs and event days. I share Zumba with my crew at the library because it’s fun and I enjoy sharing health and happiness.

Before I started working at Camp Humphreys, I worked at the library at Camp Casey. The library there is a little smaller but a lot like the Humphreys library. I worked there for thirteen years. I was drawn to the library and the security of the government job.

While I was working there, in 2015, I was diagnosed with throat cancer and doctors identified a desmoid tumor on my abdomen; a 3kg giant tumor on the abdominal wall. Desmoid tumors are benign, however the cells of the desmoid tumor can invade nearby body tissue and be very painful.

This type of tumor often appears after pregnancy and that’s when it appeared for me. At the time, my daughter Min Jeong An was two weeks old. It was very hard and brings me to tears recalling that moment.

Don’t worry. This story is happy. After many surgeries, the cancer was addressed (I am in remission) and the tumor was removed. Two years post-op, as a result of all of these surgeries and resulting stress, I had gained a lot of weight, was having trouble breathing, had trouble walking, and was experiencing heavy depression. I’m not a gym rat so I wanted to find an alternative exercise to lose weight and cheer up. I researched online, searching for a high intensity workout option. I came across Zumba and it looked like exactly what I could get into.

In 2017, I started doing Zumba at a studio in Dongducheon. I loved it and before long, I was doing Zumba for one to five hours each day. The teacher at the center recognized my enthusiasm and encouraged me to pursue Zumba instruction certification. Following her advice, I joined the Zumba Instructor School in Seoul where I met Zes Nana.

Zes Nana inspired me. She is famous but she is not a diva. She cares about people. For example, when Zumba classes across the world could not meet because of gathering restrictions, Zes Nana was the one who reached out to Zumba headquarters in New York City and suggested a worldwide discount on the membership price.

Now, I have been doing Zumba for over five years and I believe it has saved my life. I was so sick physically and mentally. Thanks to Zumba, I lost 73 pounds over eight months.

As personnel and service members began to shift to Camp Humphreys, I followed the movement and came to Pyeongtaek in March 2021. I enjoy my job at the library because I love books and I enjoy reading. I also love sharing Zumba with my coworkers, building our sense of community and team spirit.

Like many other fitness programs, Zumba instructors are certified. They teach high intensi- ty routines to four basic rhythms (salsa, reggaeton, merengue, and cumbia), each with four core steps. The moves are choreographed by Jammers who teach the Instructors. e s s a n d s u p p o r t a p u b l i c a t i o n c r e a t e d t o s u p p o r t U S F K c o m m u n i t y m e m b e r s !

Zumba is originally from Columbia but it has been very popular in Korea since 2015 and correlates with Korean culture, which values synchronized dances. Our love for synchronized dances has to do with our cultural norm of respecting each other.

If you are interested in learning more about Zumba, come find me at the library or join a Zumba Center — you’ll be hooked by the catchy music. You can also add seeing the Zumba Fitness Korea Team at the Wonju Dynamic Dance Festival to your bucket list (https:// www.wonju.go.kr/english/contents. do?key=2885&).

Come by the library with your little one(s) for our next program, you never know when there will be a Zumba performance or k-pop dance activity!

U n i t e d o n t h e R o K i s a c i v i l i a n i n f o r m a t i o n & l i f e s t y l e m a g a z i n e d i s t r i b u t e d m o n t h l y a t a l l U S F K i n s t a l l a t i o n s . T h e p u r p o s e o f t h e m a g a z i n e i s t o e n h a n c e c o n n e c t e d n e s s a n d h e l p c o m m u n i t y m e m b e r s e m b r a c e a n d a d a p t t o l i f e i n K o r e a .