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Showing posts from December, 2009

More Good Words About Nia

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I received the following email from a Nia student this morning. I thought I'd share it's wonderful message: Jason I feel tremendous joy and aliveness when moving in a Nia class. I tap into an inner strength & passion & fiery nature that lies dormant when I am not in class. Also my negative body image ( feeling overweight) seems to magically disappear when I feel the rush of energy go through all my body parts. Being an artist, and having had a dream of being a dancer since I was a child, the creative aspects of Nia are a powerful outlet for me, and I get to fulfill my dream of being a dancer. The excitement that my whole being feels is what keeps me coming back. Often dealing with art materials, the materials or th e fear of the materials become an obstacle. When the body is your instrument, there are no "materials" there, just your body as pure instrument where instinct can manifest itself.I might add that I also feel a sexual vitality through Nia- combining

Another Happy Nia Story

I just found out about a blog one of my Nia students wrote last year. Here is the link to her blog: http://fromhiptohousewife.com/2008/10/14/nia-for-me-a/

How I Fixed My Body (injury update #2)

In November 2008, I had just gotten fired up by yoga. I was determined to study and practice yoga in depth. In January 2009 I had some photos taken of myself demonstrating the sixteen yoga poses that I was going to be working with, so that I could chart my progress for the year. Well, about two weeks after that photo shoot, I injured my shoulder. And suddenly my life became about something else. Dealing with pain, Loss of function. Starting over. I went from doing over 200 pushups, to not being able to do a single pushup. I could barely put on a shirt. In March I started to feel a bit better and wanted to be buff for a show I was doing, so I started to lift weights again. I was pushing them around as best I could do. And I was smart to start light and build incrementally and slowly. And I warmed up well and stretched afterwards. But the pain came back. I also noticed I was building my body incorrectly. I was building asymmetry and imbalance by using compensatory movements to ma