On Finding her Brightest Light in a Very Dark (and Sweaty) Room

Anyone who has begun a fitness journey in some form knows how transformative it can be, not only for your body, but for your mind and soul as well. You learn about aspects of yourself you may not have known existed. You meet people who change your life along the way. You start to feel like you’re capable of more than you thought you were.

REV rider Dana Harrison shares her fitness journey and the way her daily life has been transformed since she found REV.

Dana has always been inspired by her older brother, Danny. “As his baby sister, I always wanted to do what he did, to be like him. So, just like him, I started with running.” Dana loved the silence and solitude that came with running, and the way in which she could lose herself in movement. She had tried different group fitness classes like Zumba and bootcamp, but could never find any joy these types of classes. “All of them felt awkward and unnatural to me.” For Dana, fitness was a moving meditation in which she found peace and solitude while listening to the sound of her own breath. She loved being alone - until she discovered REV.

“REV opened my eyes and my heart to a new way of thinking, living, and being. It allows me to challenge my body, free my mind, and build a sense of community.” Community is something Dana never experienced working out alone. But being in a dark room surrounded by 40 other people became her new safe space where she felt bold enough to face her fears and doubts. “It’s a place filled with energy, love, strength, and peace. It’s a place I can go inside myself, dig deep, mediate, and come out feeling focused and accomplished.”

Just like running, spin became Dana’s new form of moving mediation. “There is something that happens, something transformative, when the lights go down. Pounding the pedals, grinding the gears, and breaking barriers all happen there in the darkness… everyone is moving in sync, moving to the beat, grinding it out, breathing, and sweating together.” Her moments of zen happen throughout different parts of class - from the moment she takes a seat on her bike to the heaviest climb of class to after the last song ends and class is over. “I feel sweaty, messy, and proud. Proud that my body could do it, proud that my body did it.”

As a nurse anesthetist, Dana’s day job happens in a high stress environment. REV is her sweat therapy - it’s a place where she feels like she can leave her stress, worries, and insecurities on the bike. “There, in the darkness, is where my light shines brightest.” Doing an early morning spin class before work fuels her for the day and gives her the energy and focus needed to provide the best care to her patients. “My mood is instantly improved and I feel I have an edge up on my coworkers! I’ve been fueled by REV.”

As with any passion, Dana wants to share REV with people she cares about in her life. “All of my family, friends, and coworkers know how much I love REV. They know because they have all been invited to partake, and most have taken me up on the offer.” Dana talks incessantly about REV, her love for spinning and for the staff. So when her family comes to town, they always look forward to joining her in a class. And when Dana goes out of town, she really misses it. “I crave it. I have often looked for a substitute; but, I have yet to find any spin studio, spin instructor, or staff that comes close! REV is, hands down, the best.”

As for Dana’s brother - the inspiration to begin her fitness journey in the first place - he lives across the country in LA. “My brother runs a busy solo practice as an orthopedic surgeon. He’s also an author of a book on fitness, so he’s extremely busy and hasn’t made it here to Baltimore to spin with me.” The day when Danny joins Dana in a REV class will be special. It will signify the journey for both siblings coming full circle as each will have shared a piece with each other. “He is, just as I am, looking forward to the day that he spins with me at REV!” And that’s exactly what REV is - when stripped of everything else, we are simply just one big, sweaty family.