Feeling Whole

I adore this description of Nia I found on the Aspire Magazine website. The article titled "Feeling Whole: Reconnecting and Celebrating Self-Love through Yoga and Dance" was published in April 2009: 

Nia™ (Neuromuscular Integrative Action) includes 52 moves by combining nine movement forms from the martial arts, dance and yoga. President and Co-founder of Nia™, Debbie Rosas shared how this form of movement helps women embrace their bodies:

“Nia gives women the opportunity to feel the feminine body, and the freedom to do what a female body does: change. There is a great desire in women for a space in which to have a creative voice; Nia creates this space. Moving the hips, swaying and sensing what it feels like to be a woman moving, Nia connects women to sensation, the Voice of the Body. Nia gives women the freedom to say “yes” and “no” and to affirm the meaning of both as a sensation. Nia is a ‘Love Your Body’ workout, and women are all about love.” 

Give Your Joints Some Love

Last night I had an interesting conversation with a fitness instructor, specifically a Zumba teacher. We were talking about the joys of teaching and she mentioned that she had to reduce the number of classes she teaches due to joint and body pain. I realized in that moment that in the 8 years I’ve been doing Nia and the 7 months I have been teaching I have not experience any joint pain at all. I attribute this to the emphasis of Nia on moving with pleasure, joy and body awareness.

I feel very fortunate to have a loving relationship with my body. I dance for pleasure, I know when and how to tweak my movements and listen deeply to the voice of my body. I stop or ease up when needed and I do not need my body to scream at me. I hear her whispers and have learned to anticipate her needs.

The 13 joints are the ankle, knee, hip, wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints on the right and left sides of the body, and the spine. We will explore moving our 13 joints so that we each find a pace, depth and way of moving that is most pleasurable for us individually. We explore the sensation of pleasure in every joint as we become familiar with every joint’s range of motion and discover our unique style and expressive self, the choreography of our own dance.

Here is a free student handout on a 13 joint exercise from Nianow.com: 13 Joints Exercise PDF Download

The focus of tonight’s class is dancing the 13 main joints of the body. The intent is to find your own internal rhythm. Move at a pace and depth that feels right to you and take the opportunity to make each movement yours completely.

Join me from 6pm - 7pm at Delilah's Belly Dance Studio in Fremont.

Seduced by the Music

It's Fremont Friday! The focus of tonight's class is allowing ourselves to be seduced by the music. We will be invited to let the various sounds of the music speak to and move our bodies. 

Class is from 6pm - 7pm at Delilah's Belly Dance Studio in Fremont. 

See you tonight!

Nia is to Exercise What Holistic Medicine is to Healthcare

I discovered this article today. It captures Nia beautifully, especially for those who haven't experienced it yet. My favorite quote from the article is: "Nia is to exercise what holistic medicine is to healthcare. Through movement we find health." Well put!

This article was originally posted on this website: http://sassyhongkong.com/sassy-guest-blogger-tracey-fenner-tell-us-about-nia/ 

Sassy Guest Blogger: Tracey Fenner tell us about Nia

July 8, 2010

Today, our guest blogger, Tracey Fenner (founder of Nia Hong Kong) tells us about Nia, which is an expressive body-mind movement and lifestyle practice. Nia is now available in Hong Kong thanks to Tracey who is a Certified Nia Blue Belt Instructor and we can’t wait to check out one of her classes. Check out Tracey in action (she is in the red pants and white tank) on You Tube – so neat! 

Nia is an expressive body-mind movement and lifestyle practice, integrating fitness and health and it creatively blends movements, concepts and philosophies from both Eastern and Western traditions. Founded on the concept that there is a dancer, martial artist, and highly aware person within each, this neuromuscular integrative action melds various concepts together.

Combining classic movement forms, it encompasses three arts, martial, healing, and dance to create a synergy unmatched by any isolated technique. Revolutionizing the world of fitness and well being, it replaces punishment with pleasure and advocates doing things the easy way. Nia builds internal and external strength including strengthening bones, joints, muscles & breathing, cardiovascular conditioning, improved muscle tone, flexibility, weight management, relaxation and stress reduction. Nia is to exercise what holistic medicine is to healthcare. Through movement we find health.

Nia is normally practiced in hour-long classes but the true depth of the work lies in a rich body of education, which for many develops into a powerful life practice. With a philosophy rooted in “The Joy of Movement,” Nia teaches people of all lifestyles to use the sensation of Pleasure as a map toward physical, mental and emotional health. If it feels good, keep doing it, if it hurts stop! Nia is danced in bare feet and provides three levels of intensity in every movement, a variety in range of motion, and endless user-friendly choreographic movement choices.

Nia blends nine movement forms taking the energy essence of each. The nine forms are: Martial Arts (Tai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido); Dance Arts (Jazz, Duncan, Modern) and Healing Arts (Yoga, Feldenkrais, the Alexander Technique). Playing with these forms helps to unblock impediments of energy flow in the body. In Systemic Movement, Nia opens up to moving as a unit and increases your sensitivity to moving as a whole. Creating awareness within how you connect parts, energetically connecting limbs to the core, spine and breath.

Nia and has been established for over 26 years with 100,000 of students being taught by more than 2,500 Licensed Teachers in 42 countries worldwide. Nia is safe and bursts boundaries of age, gender and fitness levels, delivering a fun, effective and life changing practice for all walks of life. Discover Nia for yourself today. For more details on classes, workshops, retreats currently being staged in Hong Kong and around Asia please visit www.niahongkong.com.