February 2010

Focusing on “stability” this week as part of our five week, five sensations of Nia cycle. After studying the sensations, reading about them, rewriting them and then finally making myself a table to get them all straight in my head, I’m happy when something relevant pops into my head during class. I suppose I should not admit this, I should appear all-knowing and confident, but this is part of the journey, this continual learning, one of my favorite things about Nia. Also I’m just so proud of myself to be able to say that we will focus on stability with the intent to be ready for action.

Stability is sensed as a calmness in the muscles combined with a readiness for action. Tennis requires this constantly, a stable base that is ready to spring in any direction. Stability is also sensed as harmony between muscles and joints and is maintained by equalizing muscular contraction & relaxation. Loss of stability results in weakness and loss of balance and support.

So while practicing stability is great for athletes, it is also imperative for us to maintain stability during the aging process in order to stay strong and in balance. Just “moving in directions” is a good practice. Monday night we pretended that we were paired with the worst doubles partner ever, requiring us to constantly travel around the “court”. That was fun. And that’s what it’s all about.

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