Nia: A Workout with Spirit

 

Over the last several months, we have explored Nia Technique as a movement and life practice that conditions the body, amplifying cardiovascular conditioning, building strength, flexibility, mobility, stability, and agility for optimal health and wellness at ALL ages and fitness levels!  We explored how Nia conditions the mind and it’s ability to go from “Monkey Mind to SUPER Brain” through engaging conscious awareness, imagination, creativity, directed focus, neurological cross-patterning and mind/body synchronized movement that delivers balance to both the physical brain and the conscious mind.  We even tapped in to Nia’s way of using emotional expression to take your fitness to the next level.  But one of the (many) things that makes Nia Technique truly extraordinary, is it’s appreciation of the individuality of each and every participant who steps into the Nia Class.  Every person in the room is ‘unique’!  Just like a snowflake, no two are alike!  Each, with gifts, talents, and ways of BE-ing, that are only inhabitable by that one, unique individual!  Nia ignites a call to the spirit of each participant, to be unfolded, let out, revealed in it’s uniqueness, pure potential, and ‘greatness’.   

 

When considering the word, “spirit”, depending on one’s frame of reference, it would  be easy to jump to the conclusion that Nia is “woo-woo”,  wondering, “is this some kind of new-agey-metaphysical-spiritual practice?”  No!  It’s much simpler than that!

 

TheFreeDictionary.com defines ‘spirit’ as:  

1. The vital principle or animating force within living beings.
2. Incorporeal consciousness. 
3. The essential nature of a person or group.

 

YES!…not woo-woo at all!  Essentially, spirit defined as “life-force”.

 

 

 

Nia defines spirit simply as, “uniqueness”.  The spirit/life force that resides in each of us is Unique, like no other, one-of-a-kind!  Spirit is the elemental energy that allows you to be you!  And when you connect to your spirit, that in you which is unique, there is a sense of intimacy, meaning, and purpose that allows you to feel existentially YOU….whole and complete.  How you move, how you express yourself, how you exert your own personality in the class is how you “do YOU”!   Now IMAGINE it!  A room full of people, each honoring, moving, and expressing their unique light!  A room full of people moving in their own way…in their own time…radiating their uniqueness!  Well, imagine no more!  Just get yourself to a Nia Class, STAT, and experience for yourself, how Nia Technique is the vanguard fitness practice that acknowledges, engages, and ‘conditions‘, not only your body and mind, but your Spirit, as well!

 

So many in our society (and fitness classes) are striving to ‘fit in’, or pushed toward conformity…but Nia invites us to ‘stand out’, shine our light, and radiate our essence self…because, out of all the humans who have ever lived…or who will ever live in the future, there is NO ONE like YOU!  Like Bono, from U2, says in the song, Original of the Species, “YOU are the ONLY ONE of your kind!”  I say, “Behave accordingly! (especially on the dance floor!)”.   

 

5 Ways to Cultivate Your Spirit with Nia:

1. Recognize your uniqueness!!  Make a list of all the ways you are unique!  Noting, what makes you, YOU?!!   Include everything…no matter how big or small!  All that matters is “uniqueness”!
2. Say goodbye to ‘cookie-cutter’ methods of living/moving/BEing!  Say hello to your unique radiance!  You, doing YOU…in YOUR own way…and in YOUR own time. 
3. Find the courage to ADORE all that is unique within you!  Have the courage to live, move, and BE, without analyzing, criticizing or judging yourself!  Just BE! 
4. Find opportunities to experience community!  (you will find it every time in a Nia Class!)  Uniqueness is best explored in the environment of community!
5. Become ‘spellbound’ with the uniqueness of every thing!  Not only are YOU unique, but so is EVERYONE (and everything)!   Enjoy the process of discovering uniqueness everywhere…and find bliss in acknowledging and interacting with spirit.

 

Want more? Bring Jule to your community for experiential workshops, masterclasses, and Nia Trainings and ignite your uniqueness, and  spirit!   Learn more at http://www.juleinthelotus.com!  Find Nia classes near you at http://www.nianow.com.

  

resources:  

The Nia Technique:  The High-Powered, Energizing Workout that Gives You a New Body and a New Life by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas (2004).

 

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Working IN by Working-out | 3 Ways Nia Delivers Health to Your WHOLE Self!

 If you have been hanging out with HFA’s FitFactor  for very long, by now you know their motto, “healthy bodies bleed less”… and it’s TRUE!

Doctors specializing in bleeding disorders stress that consistent exercise can prevent or reduce bleeding by strengthening muscles and vulnerable joints for hemophiliacs of all ages.  In fact, whether you have a bleeding disorder, or not, healthy, active, moving bodies don’t just survive, they THRIVE physically, psychologically, neurologically, and emotionally!

The Nia Technique is a unique, cardiovascular-based movement practice that stimulates and conditions body, mind and spirit through its conscious engagement of 52 Moves, 9 Movement Forms (from the martial arts, dance and healing arts) and focused attention, not on only on the outcome of fitness, but the SENSATION of “functional fitness”.  Students are guided to “personalize” their movements toward what feels right for them, allowing each individual to ‘do it their way”.  Mindfulness, imagination, and expression, are interwoven for a holistic, integrative, body-mind experience that leaves participants feeling energized, happy, healthy and WHOLE!  And the BEST part?  Anyone can do it!  Whether old, or young; fit, or not-so-fit; man; woman; beginner, or seasoned athlete; Nia Technique will MOVE YOU!

3 Ways Nia Delivers Health to Your WHOLE Self:

• Nia Provides Diverse, Multi-dimensional Movement and Energy Variety:  With movements stemming from the martial arts, dance, and healing arts AND 52 distinct movements that address every part of your body (from your feet, to your head, to the tips     of your fingers), Nia Technique delivers a systemic movement program that is functional, conditioning, and FUN!  Unlike other movement programs that rely on repetitive, joint-stressing, unnatural movement, Nia will have you moving in alignment with the design and function of your body….what we call “Your Body’s Way”…with fascination and self-discovery.

• Nia Invites You to Go INSIDE for Maximum Results and Safety:  Nia Technique is ‘sensory-based’, conscious, and self-aware, inviting participants to make movement choices based on SENSATION, moving from the inside-out, rather than simply following the directions of the instructor.  This allows each student to personalize, self-direct, and self-pace movement for what is right for them at any given moment, making Nia the most accessible movement program on the planet!

• Integration:  more than just ‘exercising’, Nia stimulates and activates body, mind, emotions, and spirit, utilizing functional movement, imagination, expression, play, and connection to self with the world around, allowing individuals to fully embrace the magnificence of their whole being.

Intrigued?  Stay tuned to FitFactor, as I will follow up in the coming months with more on specific aspects of Nia Technique’s transformative tools for body and life enrichment. Lear more!

Find a Nia Technique classes near you.

Click here to read about Nia at HFA’s 2013 Symposium in Texas!

*As with any new activity, or if you are having joint or bleeding problems, make sure you check with your physician or therapist to be sure you are ready to get started.

___________________________________________________________

Jule Aguirre, M.Ed., LPC, NCC, is a member of the International Nia Training Faculty as Black Belt Somatic Educator + Trainer.  Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, JuleMOVES body-mind integrators, urban athletes & adventurers in wellness with her unique approach to blending conscious movement, body-mind awareness, and integrative psychotherapy to dynamically stimulate change and transformation through her trainings, classes, workshops and private sessions!

As a Licensed & Nationally Certified Psychotherapist, Jule’s gift is being able to integrate the wisdom of Nia with her counseling techniques to form an integrative, therapeutic program of wellness, healing & personal power for participants of her work.  Jule works privately with individuals seeking personal growth, self-actualization, transformation & integration of all parts of the self.

Jule was named in 2012 by ORIGIN Magazine as one of the TOP 124 people in the United States that INSPIRE!  juleinthelotus@me.com

http://www.hemophiliafed.org/news-stories/2013/08/working-in-by-working-out-3-ways-the-nia-technique-delivers-health-to-your-whole-self/#.UiDSChY73i7

Reblogged from the Hemophilia Federation of America |  join me monthly at HFA’s FitFactor for MORE on The Nia Technique + Wellness for people living with bleeding disorders!

photo credit:  Paul Echols at Studio 205 in Denton, TX

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The Aikido of Nia…Words From an Aiki-Taiso-Dancing-Nian

The dance of Nia infused with the art of Aikido...we love the way you move, John!

This blog comes to you with inspiration from a fellow ‘adventurer in wellness’.  John Lucas has been attending my Nia class for many years now, and I have to say, he is a true inspiration to me.  His passion for Aikido, blended with my love, interest and curiosity of this grounded, harmonious, non-aggressive martial art form, makes for many enlightening conversations before and after Nia class!  I have had the pleasure of witnessing how Nia informs his Aikido practice…and I see how Aikido informs his Nia practice….a perfect, harmonious blend!  Here’s what John has to say about his ‘dance’ of Aikido…

“Holistic Nia is great fun and I have enjoyed all of its 9 dimensions for the past six years.  Slicing out the Aikido component of Nia recently occurred to me and is paying great dividends in my Aikido practice.  Aikido is a core-based, internal martial art (non-aggressive, non-provoking) that guides attackers (we call them partners) back into harmony via redirection of their energy harmlessly away from the Aikidoist and the attacker.  Aikido seeks to merge aggressive, low vibration energy into neutralization and stay spiritually above (high vibration) the fray at all times.  As in dance and Nia in particular – Aikido movements are circular, elliptical, and cylindrical with an emphasis on using a lower, grounded center (core), and maintaining connection (in this case – with attacker) until the energy is spiraled away harmoniously.  The attacker doesn’t fully understand what happened via the merged and blended energy action except that they are decidedly not in an attacking position or mode any longer. 

I used Nia classes to train for my recent blackbelt test by focusing on a centered, whole, and fully Ki-infused body, interacting with surrounding energy and fellow dancers.  Using Nia dance movements with minor modifications I practiced aiki-taiso’s (Aikido exercises) and was pleasantly surprised by how many aiki-taiso’s secretly reside in Nia waiting to be expressed. The parallel in the two arts is merging and blending (Aikido- with the partner, and Nia-with the music) and moving the body’s natural way which is inherently non-linear and joyfully high vibration. Through developed awareness, consciousness and clear intent – efficient, elegant dance and martial arts are achieved – and we can experience more of our humanity in harmony with our surroundings.  We call our Aikido training “Aikido for Life” and use its advantages 24 hours a day.  I thank Jule Aguirre’s blackbelt-grade-Nia for its “Nia For Life” capability as well!”

– John Lucas, MoveStudio Student, Dallas, Texas

to learn more about Aikido, check out John’s Aikido Instructor, Lynn Fabia’s website (and book) :  http://www.lynnfabia.com/ and MoveStudio www.movestudio.comfor Lynn’s classes.

 

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A Lesson from Zorba the Greek: Movement as a Path for Psychotherapeutic Healing

Let’s start with a metaphor from the movies.  In the final scene of Zorba the Greek, the intellectual, uptight writer, Basil, asks the exuberant older man to teach him  to dance—and thereby embrace life…and thus the dance begins…

Expressing joy, religious fervor, and other emotions, dance is probably one of the oldest art forms—dependent as it is on nonverbal use of one’s own body to communicate.  Using dance therapeutically—to lift spirits —is ancient, as well.  Dance has been an important part of self-expression, ceremonial and religious events, and health in most cultures throughout history.  For example, medicine men and women of many Native American tribes used dance as part of their healing rituals.

This shared expression of feelings allows the participants/clients to see and be seen, and break through some of the isolation caused by their mental/emotional imbalance.  Because the ability to verbalize was often impaired by their illness, dance and body movement became the pathway for communication and expression.  Nia provides this path as your body leads the way.

As Nia has developed over the last 30 years, at its core utilizing organic/authentic movement from nine distinctive movement forms from the martial arts, dance arts and healing arts, Nia naturally found it’s place in the world of psychotherapeutic healing.
Part of what makes movement in Nia so therapeutic and such a powerful tool is that it is preverbal.  Nia as a vehicle of self-realization opens doors of rational thinking, personal growth and transformation.  For patients with mental illness Nia can be a noninvasive solution to the mental/emotional blocks that hold them back from fully enjoying life and reaching their full potential.
While cognitive abilities and socialization may be impaired, the modality of movement in Nia works.  Nia’s tag-line and philosophy is “Through Movement We Find Health”.  So then, we may extrapolate that “through movement, health, healing and well-beingness is gained in the mind, emotions and spirit, as well as the body…thus people suffering from mental/emotional imbalances begin to embody new ways to relate throughout life, finding stability in all realms of self and fully thriving.

Nia uses choreography broadly. It creates dances with everyday movements put into sequences, to get to a metaphoric level, to use as insight into their lives.  Nia prompts patients to express their feelings as it increases their insight. They may not have the
skills to express themselves verbally.  That’s where Nia’s purposeful, expressive, guided movement comes into play.  Nia is an exceptional technique—and it helps.

Many people, including those with mental illness, often venture into thinking and talking into self-defeating patterns.  Nia gets them into their bodies, into new worlds they can’t manipulate.  This may sometimes lead to resistance, but once the music
begins and the movement is activated the spell is broken.  It has been proven that movement helps develop body image; improves self-concept and self-esteem; reduces stress, anxiety, and depression; decreases isolation, chronic pain, and body tension; and increases communication skills and feelings of well being.

Nia also provides the health benefits all exercise does.  Physical activity is known to increase endorphins in the brain, which creates a feeling of well being. Total body movement enhances the functions of other body systems, such as the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, and muscular systems.  Regular aerobic exercise helps with glucose metabolism, cardiovascular fitness, and weight control.

Since we are our bodies, the experience of Nia occurs within the self as it moves, with no transitional ‘object’ to mediate it.  This can be both profound and threatening.  There are breakthrough applications for Nia all the time.  It is offered as a health promotion service for healthy people, and as a complementary method of reducing stress in caregivers and people with chronic illness.  As a movement and life practice it can provide exercise, improve mobility and muscle coordination, and reduce muscle tension. Emotionally, it is reported to improve self-awareness, self-confidence, and interpersonal interaction, and is an outlet for communicating feelings.

Nia practitioners assist students to develop a nonverbal language that gives information about what is going on in their bodies, minds, emotions and spirit.  In a private setting, the Nia practitioner observes the client’s movements to assess and design a program to help the specific needs.  The frequency and level of difficulty of the integrative-therapeutic work is tailored to the needs of the clients.

Nia has at its core one of the 3 M’s – Movement. Movement is fundamental to human life.  In fact movement is life.  Contemporary physics tells us that the universe and everything in it is in constant motion. We can move our body and at the most basic level our body is movement.  According to the somatic educator Thomas Hanna, “The living body is a moving body -indeed, it is a constantly
moving body.”  The poet and philosopher Alan Watts eloquently states a similar view, “A living body is not a fixed thing but a flowing event, like a flame or a whirlpool.”  Centuries earlier, the great Western philosopher Socrates understood what modern physics has proven, “The universe is motion and nothing else.”

Nia, in a sense, is a psychotherapeutic use of movement for emotional, cognitive, social, behavioral and physical conditions.  Nia, as a therapy, strengthens the body/mind connection through body movements to improve both the mental and physical well-being of individuals.  As a form of expressive art therapy, Nia is founded on the basis that movement and emotion are directly related.

What is the aim of this psychotherapeutic approach to movement that Nia uses?  It is a quest for self-revelation through bodily movement.  When we tune-in to the deepest well-springs of our Being we move with a grace, rhythm and beauty which is unique to each individual.  Through this “tuning-in” process we learn new aspects of ourselves and others without the need for the spoken word.  We can attain through this means – calm, peace, spiritual upliftment, self-confidence and greater physical energy for ourselves and others.

There is an enormous difference between what traditional fitness does and what Nia does.  The only purpose of the former is the exercise session and increased fitness.  What Nia brings and does also has the aspect of physical well-being but it provides an opportunity for emotional reactions and insights.  The aim is to bring about a feeling of “wholeness”.  Various styles of movement forms from dance  arts, martial arts, and healing arts are used but the emphasis is not on technique or performance.  What this approach offers is not a cure, but a means of discovery which brings about greater harmony between the realms of Body, Mind, Emotions and Spirit.   Through creating a “safe”, accepting, non-judgmental environment the student accepts or rejects an activity, he or she can express problems, unhappiness, hopes and fears through movement which originate from within our own selves.

Zorba the Greek wasn’t a therapist, but with his freeing effect on Basil as they kicked up their heels together on the beach, he might as well have been.

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re-blog: Katie Goes to Nia Class

Katie, a seasoned dancer and artist, is new to Nia….but she ‘gets it’ all the way!  Check out her thoughts about her experice of dancing my Nia Routine, Moulin Rouge.   Dancing this body of work with such a profoundly expressive, raw performer was, simply, THRILLING!

http://katiegoesto.blogspot.com/2011/06/katie-goes-to-kitchen-nia-class.html

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move. Be Moved. BE ™

I have been a ‘mover’ my whole life!  From dancing in front of the TV with Tom Jones at age 2-3, to running, climbing trees, riding bikes, jumping, digging, rolling, tumbling, racing, splashing, growing up playing with ‘the boys’ (my younger brother and uncle who is 4 mos. younger than me….that’s another story ; ), playing in the “Little Dribblers” basketball league, softball, running track, jumping the long jump…my formative years provided an environment and opportunity for me to develop skill, speed, power, agility, self-mastery, ‘team-man-ship’, competitive spirit, success and zeal in being in a

BE.

moving body.  Growing up (not even in a small town, but…) OUTSIDE of a small town in East Texas, there was not much else for a girl to do but to entertain herself.  I did not have access to the arts, dance classes, music classes, etc.  So my way was to ‘PLAY’.  Play-pretend, play chase, play sports, play jokes, play games…  We only had 3 channels on the TV, so we did not sit around watching TV.  No video games or internet back then either. I did not even love to read.  What I did love was to MOVE & PLAY (excel and WIN)!

In my young adult years (18-present ; )  I did not want a job where I would sit or stand all day…I wanted to MOVE!  So, my first job I applied for a job at ‘Figure World’, where I could move and move others in the Pepto-Bismol pink women-only fitness center.  This transubstantiated my journey from the world of sports to the world of ‘fitness’.  I learned how to teach aerobics classes and eventually became a personal trainer for bodybuilders and ‘Average Joes & Janes’ who wanted to tighten up and get fit.  Still loving the act of moving…but not really ‘being moved’.  My movement throughout my life was to attain a result…skill, mastery, trophies, WINS, scholarships, tight bod, etc.  But I can’t say that I had ‘awareness’ of me being IN my body.  There was an excitation of what my body could DO, but “I” wasn’t necessarily IN THERE.  It was more a vehicle to achieve.  Nia was the entry point for me to have an experience….and awakening…to me fully inhabiting my body with awareness.  Here, I enter the place in my life where I was ‘moving…and Being Moved’.

<Here, an ancestral aside>  I believe the need to move is inherent in our DNA.  Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer, suggests that dogs are ‘wired’ neurologically from ancestry to nomadically walk.  To go from point A to point B with purpose.  There is something about the walk itself that ‘sets’ their nervous system to a state of psychological balance.  This is different from randomly moving in the back yard, or dog park.  The walk itself is a homeostatic necessity.  The combination of the nomadic travel from point A to point B with the cadence of the walk, combined with the ‘cross-crawl/cross-pattern’ neuro-muscular stimulation, all combine to ‘callibrate’ homeostasis in the dog’s body, mind and spirit.  I was struck by this philosophy…and struck even more when I witnessed its truth in my dogs as I devoted myself to giving ‘my guys’ this gift every day…and what I noticed was that it stimulated a sense of balance in ME too!  As ‘hunters & gatherers’, I believe we humans are also designed to move, navigate, walk the earth…cross crawling, cross patterning our nervous system to homeostatic set points.  Here, movement not only serves to condition, but to ‘set’ the nervous system to a healthy state of equilibrium.  I can’t help but wonder how psychologically, emotionally and energetically balanced all humans would be if they moved…and better yet, PURPOSELY moved more.  When I think of our pioneer ancestors who worked the home, hearth and land from dawn ‘til dusk, moving their bodies all day long, how balanced their body, mind, emotions and spirit were.  Did the movement itself balance?  Or were they just too tired to be ‘disturbed’?  As a licensed psychotherapist, I pay great tribute to the power of movement in mental/emotional balance and well-being-ness and tout it to be THE path to condition body/mind/emotion/spirit wellness.

Now, back to “moving…Being Moved…and…”  As a life-long ‘mover’, I ‘got off’ on what my body could do.  When I entered the world of psychology/psychotherapy/counseling, I catapulted myself into the world of ‘fixing’ all the things that was ‘broke’ (in me and in the others)…this world I speak of is the world of ‘Self-Help’.  Yes, in this world, there’s an unending abyss of ‘issues’ that need ‘fixing’.  It’s the world of unending reading, talking, workshop’ing, conferencing, etc. where the ultimate message is that ‘you are not ok ’.  When I first read Oriah Mountain Dreamer’s poem and book, “The Dance”, I received the invitation that “I am enough…” and that to fully become the person that I already am—not always to seek change, but to rest in the bliss of “me—just as I am”.  In her poem, The Dance, she says,

“What would you do if you knew you were enough just as you are today, if you knew—really knew—that you were in your essential nature a compassionate, gentle being capable of being fully present with yourself and the world?  Would you trust yourself more?”

This brings me to “BEing”.  Moving…Being Moved….and BEing our elemental selves.  The REAL YOU…and it is enough.  It is MORE than enough.  It is ‘the all that IS”.  It is the place where my body, mind, emotions and spirit expand with the energetics of being “all that I am”.  This place of “BEing” is the symbology of the totality of me.  My geometry, archetypes, art, symbols, heart, essence, numerology, shapes, metaphors, postures, the big “I”…. all coming through TO BE in this body and in this life.  My 16-year practice with Nia moves me from the archetype of  ‘athlete’, ‘helper/healer/fixer’’, to the “Sacred Athlete” who plays the game of life with warrior-like prowess, confidence, practice, skill…blending all my life experiences and archetypes…to navigate the planet, fulfilled in ‘BEing Jule’.

Architectural Symbology.  My feet, large, grounded, stable…walk me, dance me through life.  Their anatomy/structure speak to me the state of my structural alignment and the terrain I move over.  They hold the energy and memory of my primal, warrior heritage…of my organic, earth-loving spirit.  My legs, long, have tremendous gait for traveling me on my life’s path.  They ‘reach me’ to high places.  They grow me to my highest and greatest potential.  My Core, vibrant and alive with energy centers, sense the world multi-directionally/multi-dimensionally and radiates my life force 360 degrees out into infinity.  My upper extremities reach out, extending to the world my gifts and then draw in receiving the gifts offered to me by the universe, conditioning my chest, back, arms and ‘winged spirit’.  My body, with over 200 bones and nearly 700 muscles, has unlimited potential for movement variety.  This 200/700 potential holds the possibility of infinite symbological states that emits an energetic vibrational message that speaks to humans, animals, the spirits, angels and cosmos…aligning to the BEing of everything…..all matter…antimatter…ALL.

Nia’s gift of 52 principles, 9 movement forms, 13:20 Natural Time Code, 200/700 potential, 5 Sensations of Functional Fitness, relationship and energy of the 4 realms, and 7 cycles of the Nia Class Format, etc. offer a menu of archetypal conditioning tools to, with dynamic-ease, fully exist in the truth of “move.  Be Moved.  BE ™”.  

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The Spiritual Power of Dance by Gabrielle Roth via Huffington Post 5/11

Each of us is a moving center, a space of divine mystery. And though we spend most of our time on the surface in the daily details of ordinary existence, most us hunger to connect to this space within, to break through to bliss, to be swept away into something bigger than us.

As a young dancer, I made the transition from the world of steps and structures to the world of transformation and trance by exposure to live drumming. The beats, the patterns, the rhythms kept calling me deeper and deeper into my dance.

Being young, wild and free, it didn’t dawn on me that in order to go into deep ecstatic places, I would have to be willing to transform absolutely everything that got in my way. That included every form of inertia: the physical inertia of tight and stressed muscles; the emotional baggage of depressed, repressed feelings; the mental baggage of dogmas, attitudes and philosophies. In other words, I’d have to let it all go — everything.

At the time, I was teaching movement to tens of thousands of people and, in them, I began to witness my own body/spirit split. Between the head and feet of any given person is a billion miles of unexplored wilderness. I yearned to know what was going on in that wilderness, not only in me, but in everyone else as well.

And so, movement became both my medicine and my meditation. Having found and healed myself in its wild embrace, I became a mapmaker for others to follow, but not in my footsteps, in their own. Many of us are looking for a beat, something solid and rooted where we can take refuge and begin to explore the fluidity of being alive, to investigate why we often feel stuck, numb, spaced-out, tense, inert, and unable to stand up or sit down or unscramble the screens that reflect our collective insanity.

The question I ask myself and everyone else is, “Do you have the discipline to be a free spirit?” Can we be free of all that binds and bends us into a shape of consciousness that has nothing to do with who we are from moment to moment, from breath to breath?

Dance is the fastest, most direct route to the truth — not some big truth that belongs to everybody, but the get down and personal kind, the what’s-happening-in-me-right-now kind of truth. We dance to reclaim our brilliant ability to disappear in something bigger, something safe, a space without a critic or a judge or an analyst.

We dance to fall in love with the spirit in all things, to wipe out memory or transform it into moves that nobody else can make because they didn’t live it. We dance to hook up to the true genius lurking behind all the bullshit — to seek refuge in our originality and our power to reinvent ourselves; to shed the past, forget the future and fall into the moment feet first. Remember being fifteen, possessed by the beat, by the thrill of music pumping loud enough to drown out everything you’d ever known?

The beat is a lover that never disappoints and, like all lovers, it demands 100% surrender. It has the power to seduce moves we couldn’t dream. It grabs us by the belly, turns us inside out and leaves us abruptly begging for more. We love beats that move faster than we can think, beats that drive us ever deeper inside, that rock our worlds, break down walls and make us sweat our prayers. Prayer is moving. Prayer is offering our bones back to the dance. Prayer is letting go of everything that impedes our inner silence. God is the dance and the dance is the way to freedom and freedom is our holy work.

We dance to survive, and the beat offers a yellow brick road to make it through the chaos that is the tempo of our times. We dance to shed skins, tear off masks, crack molds, and experience the breakdown — the shattering of borders between body, heart and mind, between genders and generations, between nations and nomads. We are the transitional generation.

This is our dance.

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A Retro-spective: the equation of Me, Music & Listening

listen & B transformed

Music, and our connection to it as humans, is inherent.  Is the connection encoded in our DNA?… In the mind-field of all the Universe?… Handed down from our elemental ancestors in our collective unconscious?..   I’m not sure….but it is true, that music has been a part of human culture since the beginning of our existence.  Daniel Levitin, in his book, “This is Your Brain on Music” states, “No known human culture, now or anytime in the recorded past, lacked music.”

This might explain the rapturous gyrations seen on black & white 8mm film of me as a wee-little girl dancing-all-out with Tom Jones on the TV in the background, circa 1969.  No one ‘taught’ me to move this way to the music (except, maybe Tom, himself, as he shook his money-maker, while singing, “What’s up Pussycat? Wow-oh-wow-oh-wow-oh”). It spontaneously happened, be it my DNA, my tap into the collective unconscious, etc., Tom played…and my body moved…WILDLY!

Then there are the unforgettable moments of my dad singing “I know a girl named Boney Maroney…she’s as skinny as a stick of macaroni…” To this day, I have never heard this song anywhere else…not on the radio, tv,..anywhere…only from my dad’s sweet voice singing to me while I sat on his lap… it is forever imprinted to my memory-bank.  Memories of my grandfather chillaxing out in his old Ford pickup truck, one cowboy boot/leg hanging out the open window as he lay across the cabin with the radio turned WAY UP listening to his ‘twangy’ country songs (and most likely downing many-a-LoneStar Beer to drown away the pain of life reflected in the ever-depressing country song). …(did I mention that I grew up in the country?)…  Mom & Dad playing cards with friends with record albums and 8 track tapes of Elvis, Neil Diamond, Willie Nelson, and the like.  Later, Queen’s “WE will, WE will, ROCK YOU/STOMP YOU” as we warmed up before our basketball games…certain that this message would frighten and intimidate our opponents.  Then, a sexy, sultry, international male voice on the phone, HARK! …my long-distance love, interrupting my work day quoting Divinyls’,”I don’t’ want…any-body else…when I think about you, I touch myself”… my love, soul-mate and future husband bringing a sheepish smile to my face.  Music, it seems, accompanied everything!  Birthdays, church service, funerals, weddings, favorite TV shows, sporting events …practically every memorable…and not-so-memorable …moment in life…creating the soundtrack of my life (enter, “Rocky Theme”…”Dah-Dah Daaaaah. Dah-Dah Daaaaah….).

Then came the day where I would, at age 18, become an aerobics instructor and begin to seek out music that would make my students work hard, move hard and sweat buckets!  Janet Jackson’s ‘Nasty’, The Village People’s “YMCA”, Billy Ocean’s “Caribbean Queen” (cheesy, I know ; ), Tina Turner, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and the list goes on, and on, and on…  The value of music then was to help me, help you, get your heart rate up to your target heart rate and keep it up for at least 20 minutes (key word = LEAST).

Then I met Nia…and my relationship to, not only my body and being-ness, but to music would be changed forever.  I went from moving to the pounding, high tempo music of ‘step aerobics’ to the easy, calming, ‘new age-y’ music of Medwyn Goodall’s “Medicine Woman”….what a contrast!  But the effect was just what I needed…his South American flute invited me to BREATHE… the fluid melodies invited my body to FLOW….and to become one with earth, water, wind and fire.  This music set the stage for me to be introduced, again…for the first time…to myself…my body, mind, emotions and spirit.  I HEARD the music…and I FELT the music…sensory…stimulating feelings and emotions…connected, myself to community, music, space and all that is…

It wasn’t’ until I took the Nia White Belt Intensive that I learned to decode/deconstruct the music as a means to ‘get inside it’…to be intimate with it…to let IT get inside ME.  When I taught traditional aerobics, my relationship to the music was, well….shallow.  All I needed was a high BPM (beats per minute) to rock your heart, ass and thighs.  Nia’s ‘Way’ with music was different.  It put me right in the heart of it… dissecting every beat, count, bar, the ‘brightness of the ONE’, the ‘drum roll’ at the …7 & 8 &…, the melody, vocal, chorus, instrument, tempo, patterns that repeat, differences within sections, diverse genres…an infinite mind-scape of silences and sounds to titillate the ‘ears’ of my 75 trillion cells, my nervous system, brain, mind and body.  But, REALLY…isn’t it AMAZING that our minds can track all of these elements that are going on while listening to music?!!  I think so!

As I developed my practice of listening, music became ‘resonant geometry’, a healer for my body, a ‘therapist’ for my mind and emotions, a topography for expression and dance…organic, authentic dance! … ” An invisible force” as Debbie Rosas-Stewart states, “inviting me to flow and BE, rather than DO”. Surprisingly, I instruct my iPod to play a song….and then, the song “plays ME” (Neil Diamond/Debbie Rosas-Stewart)!

Yes, it is true that, although we cannot taste, smell, or see music, we can perceive its presence as vibration and resonance through our skin, bones and organs.  When I reflect on what I observe to be the most important skill to develop for receiving the healing benefits and the power of sound…I conclude that, as Debbie Rosas-Stewart so eloquently stated in a recent music lecture, “Listening is the ‘Royal Root to the Divine”.

silence + sound = mUsIc

ME (all 75 trillion cells) + awareness + RAW + instruments/music/sounds = listening + transformed body, mind, emotions & spirit.

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The Nia Way | Health Fitness | by Jenny Block 4 :: AmericanWay

A really nice article by Jenny Block served up on American Way Magazine RIGHT NOW!  Traveling?  Pick one up on your flight ; )    

When it comes to working out, forget that whole idea of getting physical. Instead, get aware.

If the ’80s fitness craze was about ignoring what your body had to say, the wave of the future is listening to it. During the high-impact aerobics and Nautilus machine days, trainers preached, “No pain, no gain.” And, yeah, people lost weight and got buff. But what they didn’t do was stick around. That’s the thing with trends — especially trends that turn out to do as much, if not more, harm as good.

In 1983, aerobics instructors Debbie Rosas and Carlos AyaRosas were a major part of that universe. That is, until they decided to leave the traditional fitness world behind after watching a number of their teachers and students alike become injured and disenchanted. Rosas and AyaRosas were ready for something completely new, something that involved listening to the body’s inner voice rather than what the outside world was saying. This inner voice became the Body’s Way, a method of using the body according to its natural design and function.

No more “working out.” It was time for “working in.” And thus, Nia, a practice originally named as an acronym for nonimpact aerobics or neuromuscular integrative action, was born.

Considered a cardiovascular body-mind-spirit exercise, it’s based on principles that mix forms of dance, martial arts and healing practices. (In fact, Nia blends tai chi, jazz dance, the Feldenkrais Method, tae kwon do, modern dance, the Alexander Technique, aikido, Duncan Dance and yoga.) But don’t let the ingredients fool you.

That combination equates to hourlong classes that put all your joints and all your muscles (including ones you never knew you had) to work. And because you do what feels good for your own body instead of simply aping your teacher’s movements, the result is as challenging as it is healing. It also means that anyone can do it. Seriously, anyone. You don’t have to be coordinated or even athletic; you just have to be game.

WHAT IT IS     

In the most basic, technical sense, Nia is a dance class based on 52 moves divided into three parts of the body: the base, the core and the ­upper extremities. You might have foot movements like relevé and “rock around the clock,” stances like sumo and cat, step combinations like cha-cha-cha and “fast clock,” a kick (how about a knee sweep?), a few pelvic movements (circles and hip bumps), a mix of arm movements (punches and elbow strikes), and even finger movements like finger flicks and creepy crawlers.

In a more theoretical sense, Nia is a practice based on 52 principles that are taught through a series of belts — White, Green, Blue, Brown and Black. In each belt (except for Green, which is optional and focuses on the craft of instructing others on Nia), 13 principles are taught, each with one focus and one intention (e.g., the focus of the White Belt is physical sensation, and the intent is to know your body).

Naturally, the Black Belt is the most intriguing. According to its description on Nia’s official website (www.nianow.com), it “invites you to let go of all you know and enter the River of the Unknown, a place of infinite and endless creativity.” Of course, how you actually achieve this is only known by someone who has already mastered the Black Belt; the final 13 Nia principles are revealed only during the training, and afterward, Black Belts are sworn to secrecy.

At its very heart, Nia is a practice founded in sensations of the body and awareness of the mind and revealed through dancing. Really, really fun dancing.

The 52 moves on which all of the routines are based — the rhythms, the philosophy, the focus on natural time, all of it — are ­infectious. Once your body gets a taste of feeling that good, you get hooked. It might be the promise of great exercise that gets people in the door. But it’s the mental, spiritual and emotional components that keep them coming back for more.

It’s also a hard habit to kick when instead of hearing “No pain, no gain!” barked at you during class, you hear words like “Breathe, and be inspired.”

Nia Near You….

Dallas
MoveStudio
17062 Preston Road
(972) 732-0206
www.movestudio.com            

 OR www.nianow.com to find a Nia Class Near you!

Link to the American Way article:   http://www.americanwaymag.com/debbie-rosas-duncan-dance-health-fitness

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I R1

In my work of embodying, learning and sharing the Nia body of work called, “R1”, I contemplate how the universal ‘R1-ness’ connects with and relates to MY body’s ‘R1-ness’.  My spirit exalted in the notion of ‘we are all ONE’.  The first song of R1, “We are all Connected” by Magic Sound Fabric, says, “We are all connected…everything… every energy… every being… is all connected….there are types of life and existence that you have no concept of whatsoever…but we are all still connected”.  TRUTH.  But then, when I picked up and started reading Linda Hartley’s book, “Wisdom of the Body Moving”, I found this truth to also be resonating in MY BODY!  It hit me…yes, we are all ONE…AND I am all ONE…thanks to the connective tissue that literally connects everything in my body… every cell… to every bundle of cells… to every organ…to every muscle, tendon, bone and ligament…ALL CONNECTED!

Theoretically, I could ‘buy’ that everything is connected in my body…but it wasn’t until I had a live experience with it that I knew it to be true.  Here’s my story… I had been suffering with knee pain…burning pain…that would come and go for quite some time!  It did not hamper my Nia Movement Practice, but would typically flare up at night…a burning sensation as I slept.  I attended a Psychotherapy Conference where I ran in to a long-time friend & Nia student who is also a masterful Cranio-Sacral Therapist.  Intuitively, on our break, she sat behind me and started moving my upper arm bone.  “Why my arm bone?”, I thought, “…if she’s going to work on me, there’s plenty of other places in my body I can direct her (i.e. my shoulders, rhomboids, neck…oooh, my sacrum…or better, yet, MY KNEE!)….but I said nothing and trusted that this was a gift and I would not contaminate it with my ‘directing it’.  So, I sat there and received about 10-15 minutes of her moving my right upper arm bone around while placing her left hand on my left scapulae area.  She finished, I got up and walked around, got some water, etc. when “BAM!!!” …my KNEE POPPED….LOUD!  I don’t know how I knew, but I instantly KNEW that my knee popping had something to do with her cranio-sacral manipulation! Now, I never said a word to her previously about my knee issue…this all was, indeed, intuitive.  After the loud knee pop, I shared with her of this experience…and her words were….”well, you know everything is connected via our connective tissue and the web of fascia that connects every part of the body…your body directed me to do this manipulation…so I’m not surprised that this happened”. Well…I WAS surprised! Knocked flat into the ‘yes-ness’ of this experience I was enlightened with new knowledge that my body is connected in ways that are not so obvious!  OBVIOUS would be…’ok, my knee hurts, so rub my quads’…but moving my right arm bone while touching my left scapulae was not a connection highway to my knee that I knew of!

Now, after reading Linda Hartley’s book, I am further enlightened!  She suggests, “…a way of bridging the methods of passive bodywork and manipulation of tissues with the more active art of movement reeducation. The body tissues are intelligent.  They receive, perceive, and respond to the messages given by the practitioner’s hands even before the conscious mind is aware of them  [HOLLA’!!! recapitulation of my experience!].  Then, through movement, these new sensations can be organized consciously into healthier patterns of use and in this way are more clearly and consciously established and integrated within the body”. (Hartley, pg. xxx-xxxi)

What I love about this statement is the power it gives ME. I don’t need to solely rely on ‘healers/bodyworkers’ outside of myself to access healing…I can use MOVEMENT to change/heal/transform my body and connective tissue through conscious, intrinsic, organic movement!  Nia continually teaches me how to do this for my-self…and for my body.  Nia invites me to use the concept of ‘transubstantiation’ (the process by which one substance changes into another) in my every movement, transition, and life experience.  Transubstantiation brings seamlessness and flow to my movement, calms my nervous system, magnifies my sensory intake of information, keeps my body safe and relaxed…and allows for a room FULL of transubstatiative conscious bodies, to be able to all move together in seamless ‘one-ness’…a peak experience, indeed!  In the same way that transubstantiation touches the macrocosm of my body in how it operates in the world, so too is its existence in the microcosm of my internal make-up…my parts…on a cellular level, transubstantiation abounds!  There is this thread in my body, called connective tissue, that runs through everything…surrounds everything…touches everything. NOTHING in my body is truly isolated…it is all connected with this connective thread.  Just as The Joy of Movement is a thread of sensation and consciousness that runs through and is available in every part of my body and life…so is the transubstatiative thread of connective tissue.

Nia ‘s close-to-the-bone, intrinsic movement lets me slip and slide inside my connective tissue “…the spaces between the organs, bones muscles, blood vessels and cells…. [I’m] moving through the connective tissue sheaths. This movement is sensual, internal, flowing, and elastic, like the luxurious stretching of a cat. …it gives vital support to the integrity of the whole in both movement and stillness.” (Hartley p.289) My Nia 5 Stages practice actualizes this potential, as well.

From moving the body’s 200/700 potential, to activating Nia’s 52 moves and 9 movement forms with the 13:20 code of Natural Time, I engage my 75+trillion cells (and their protective/supportive connective tissue sheaths) with health, vitality, integrity, and JOY.

Linda Hartley goes so far to say that our connective tissue largely defines the shape of our body. If this is true, then the shape my body takes is the shape of “ONE”.

Resources:
Sandy Hanne, Super-intuitive-Master Cranio-Sacral Therapist in Dallas, TX.
Linda Hartley, Wisdom of the Body Moving: An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering

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