When I took my first Nia class, I danced, and my body smiled and breathed a huge sigh of relief – to move in a way that felt so natural and sooooo good. After taking ballet, tap and jazz as a girl, I tried ballet again as an adult, but there was no smiling in any part of my body. It seemed forbidden!

So great was the pull of Nia that I always thought in the back of my mind that I would like to share it with others, although I had never had the desire to teach anything before.

In the meantime, I moved to Greenville and struggled to find a Nia class close to home. After my daughter’s first birthday, I realized I needed to do some things for myself, to exercise and have some fun. Finally I had a revelation, I will teach my own classes! I was also trying to find ways to heal some lower back pain and little did I realize that Nia would help me with that. During this time my mother’s cancer reoccurred as well and Nia saved me from going crazy with grief while I was losing my mom. To delve into the teaching of  a positive, joy-affirming practice and to share it with others has made such an enormous impact on my life, helping me heal physically, emotionally and spiritually. My hope is that I can help others, even in some tiny way, find healing too.

10:45am-noon

Muve Fitness (787 East Butler Road, Mauldin, right of I-385)

Come dressed ready to move and enJOY!

A fun hour of dance-fitness followed by tea and gifties for moms and their guests

$10 per person goes straight to Disciples CDC

11am on February 17 at MuvE

FUNdraiser for Disciples CDC

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.

From an article in January’s Natural Awakenings by Katy Bowman, a biomechanics scientist, “A 2009 study published in Clinical Rehabilitation that compared the effectiveness of unsupervised versus supervised exercise programs, found more desirable improvements in balance, functional mobility, flexibility and strength in the group that met regularly in a private session or group class format.”

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=263563399578#/ical/event.php?eid=244703513554

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101140302

Steve revamped the site this weekend and hallelujah-it’s gorgeous and I am blogging again!

Had two newcomers at Riverside tonight and while I was giving them a brief Nia overview, one of them asked “What will it do for us, will it make us more agile?” I got to answer, “Yes, and as a matter of fact, agility is our focus tonight!” That was neat. We’re doing a series on the five sensations, flexibility, agility, mobility, stability and strength. I had this great idea to do a flyer for Riverside, which is a tennis club, about how Nia increases these five sensations which is perfect for one’s tennis game. Of course, I have yet to create the flyer. Tomorrow!

The starting and stopping of agility is apropos of life. We move quickly then must wait or put exciting things on hold in order to take care of the business of living, or the business of other exciting things if we’re lucky. The push and pull is great practice for me in the gentle guidance of a three year old. If I re-enter the corporate world later I’ll sure have learned some maneuvering tactics. The practice of agility is also supposed to decrease fatigue which seems to be working tonight. Or maybe it was the 4pm latte. Is it appropriate to put a in your blog?

I’m also excited to be subbing for Anne at Furman tomorrow night. The last time I taught her class there it was a nice group of ladies and the space is a study area overlooking the lake, so we’re almost dancing outside.

My personal, silent focus for tonight was appreciation of MLK’s birthday. Should we all have such a dream.

http://www.nianow.com/nia-in-action

http://www.yourcarolina.tv/ycvideo/entry/nia-more_than_a_physical_fitness_or_weight_loss_program/

Five minutes of fun!