My journal reads December 1, 1996 and it is just the second page of what was a fresh new journal, ring-bound, medium size with a antique floral cover. I started my Nia journey 13 years ago today and I'm writing a series of blogs to share with you and myself what I privately wrote of this experience. I write it to share my journey and to reflect on the changes this powerful and yet subtle form of personal growth and self expression has done for me...and where it has led me. It would be a priviledge to hear your stories as well. The setting is the Nia House--Debbie and Carlos' house at the time. As for me in 1996, I am 10 years into being a hardcore aerobic instructor and I have my own very busy personal training business in Seattle. In the entry prior to December 1st,  I write about how I feel something stirring in me. That I don't want to teach traditional fitness anymore and yet I don't know what else to do. I'm scared and also thrilled. The next day, Dec. 1st, I go to Portland, arrive at 6pm for the intensive to begin.

Dec. 1 Sunday

The last in this Nia Up Close & Personal Series, this week we danced our way through our upper extremities. It reminds me how much I love to focus on dancing with my hands, palms, fingers, wrists. So often, too easily, are these important delights of beauty left behind. As a fitness professional for over 25 years it wasn't intill I became a Nia students/instructor/practitioner that I even CONSIDERED my hands in exercise. In traditional fitness it's all about the big muscles (especially in the 80's and 90's). Only recently has fitness jumped on the wagon of training our core (that's another blog all together!) Well, last Tuesday, to the delight and surprise of all that attended, we focused on our upper extremities and to each other's delight we found power, grace and a completeness in our conditioning. Here's a recap of our anatomy discussion.

Skeletal Review:

So it's week 2 of my new class Nia: Up Close & Personal and I am totally loving it. It is such a pleasure to slow down and spend some time sharing the many principles and educational material of Nia. And of course, I'm an anatomy and biomechanics nut so I love talking that too.

This week we learned more about the Core of the body. This includes the pelvis, chest, head and spinal column. Here's a review of what we went over. I had a friend record this one, so after some editing I'll post it for you on facebook so you can watch the workshop segment.

Focus: Core of the Body. Intent: better understanding of the anatomy of our core so we can condition it for better wellness.

1)      Skeletal Anatomy of Core:

                Pelvis: basin, sacrum, tailbone, crest of hip, hip socket

                Chest: ribcage, sternum—sternum aligns above pubic bone

                Head: heavy body weight, sits and is cradled by the top two vertebrae of the spine (atlas and axis), like a golf T

Seattle is in the throws of a massive storm. Rain, wind, thunder, lightining and even hail. We were brave to venture out last night to take my 6pm Nia class. With a few in attendance the call for "something special" came up. Not only in my mind but also in my body that is valiantly fighting a head cold. And the others contributed to the energy of "relaxing to renew". Have you ever felt like you needed to relax, renew and yet actually sitting is not what your body wanted? I had spent the day in front of my computer, though my body wanted to relax and unwind, it didn't want to be still any longer.  Of course, Nia has the perfect remedy--the Five Stages of Self Healing. I love the 5 stages. Flat out nothing heals my body in a shorter amount of time than the 5 stages. Going through the 5 stages is movement meditation for me. It takes place of sitting and mediating. I get to move, connect, release and feel transformed in a matter of minutes.  So for class we indulged ourselves in the an hour long 5 stages buffet.  And by the end, the room was humming, my body was signing and my mind felt open and serene.

Interested in learning more about the 5 Stages? You can also find the description in The Nia Technique Book on page 306.Or grab me in class and we can review!

That's enough typing, I'm off to roll around some more.

Jill

Just in case you are interested in the teachings from my series Nia:Up Close & Personal I'll be reviewing the information here on my blog. The 3-class series started today and is held every Tuesdaya at 10:45am at Allstar Fitness in West Seattle. There are two more sessions left on Nov. 10 and 17th. You can drop in for $15. The first 20-minute we review the Nia topic and then integrate that in a traditional, classic Nia class.

This first week we began the exploration of deeping our relationship with our body by looking at the tools: Sensation, Awareness and Tweaking for more joy. As a review, Sensation is the experience our body is having--we are experiencing and receiving information that is coming from our body.  Awareness is the use of our mind to "pay attention". For our purposes this morning we chose to pay attention to the sensations of our body. By paying attention to what our body was saying to us we are able to deduct if our body or certain areas of our body are in a state of pleasure or pain (and the continuum along that line). Then, in order to get closer to pleasure we "tweak" our movement or body position to whatever degree we need to inorder to "up the pleasure" . This constant state of sensing, being aware of the body's messages and choosing joy over pain is Nia in the classroom and can be taken outside the walls and into our daily life.