Conversations with Denea Duran – Laurier

Today we’d like to introduce you to Denea Duran – Laurier.

Hi Denea, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
In 2013, I had my son and after giving birth, I had postpartum depression and anxiety. I was placed on three different medications and felt so disconnected from the world, my family and friends. Two years later I had my daughter and vowed that after I gave birth, I would not go back on medication. I know that medication was supposed to help me but it hurt me more mentally than anything. So after I got my six weeks clearance from the doctor, I got a gym membership and would go at least twice a week. I noticed the positive effects working out had on my mental health so I then started looking into group fitness classes and found a Zumba class that worked with my schedule.

I went to this Zumba class 4xs a week for a year before the instructor told me to get my license because she could tell how much I loved it. I got my license for Zumba in 2016 and two months later had 2 Zumba classes on the schedule at the gym I went too. I then began to get other licenses like Aqua, Personal training, HIIT and Zumba toning. Working out saved my life – and I looked at all of my instructors like they were my therapist through movement and I wanted to be that light to someone else.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Covid 19 was hard for everyone in the fitness business. I remember teaching my last class the Sunday before all gyms were made to shut down. I knew I needed to move and workout and my students were reaching out to me asking if we could do classes on zoom because their mental and physical health were declining.

I offered 3 Zumba classes a week on zoom and would personal train my clients on zoom. Most of my clients did not have workout equipment. After looking on amazon and searching other stores, I knew I had to focus on using their own body weight and restructure my personal training format.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. My audience is geared toward mothers. My goal is to help women forget about all of their troubles in life and for that 1 hour make it about them. It’s hard to put yourself first when you have a list of a million to-dos but when you come to my class, you leave your worries at the door. I am most proud of the community I have built. Everyone in my class comes from a different walk of life. Different cultures, religions and many of my students don’t speak the same language and that’s the amazing thing about music and exercising – it brings everyone together.

What matters most to you?
I lead with intention. Before I go into class – I set my intention for my class. I remember walking into class in the worst mood and didn’t want to inspire anyone and felt like I couldn’t inspire anyone with the dark cloud over me, I walked into the class and my only intention was to keep smiling because I had no motivational words. After class I had a student come up to me and said she had something tragic happen to her that morning, she lost her best friend but when she came to class and she saw me smiling she knew everything would be ok. That day I knew I did exactly what I was supposed to do!

Contact Info:

• Website: dancewithd.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/dance.with.d
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitwithde