Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

 As Nia teachers we like to be impeccable about our speech. To that end, we have a few words that we carefully stalk the use of: namely “Try" “Because" and “Hard”.  All three of these words have a weakening effect on our speech and our psyche as the speaker and as the listener.  We have declared these words as dangerous because of the messages sent by their use. “Try" is giving ourselves permission to fail. Instead of saying “I’ll try” we suggest saying “I’ll do it”   Saying “i’ll try” is almost the same as saying “I’m not going to do it.”  And we know how important it is to set our intention.   So we use this word VERY carefully, and for the most part, avoid it altogether.  “Because” can easily be abused in many ways. It often wastes time explaining ourselves when just the answer is sufficient.  For example, “I’m going to invite my sister because she’ll enjoy this.” Would be more impeccable as simply “I’m going to invite my sist...

AMAZING is the name of a Nia routine I'm going to be offering in 2016. Here is the story of how it came to be. First, a little background: I'd been holding between two and fourteen weekly Nia classes on a regular basis in Seattle, Tuscany and/or New York City, without missing more than a week, since I first became a White Belt in 1996. In 2010, I was living in New York and signed up to attend a yoga event in Santa Monica. I decided it might be fun to see if I could also arrange to sub some classes in the area while I was there. I made some phone calls and ended up booking gigs all along the coast. I flew from New York to LAX and did the entire trip on public transportation; planes, trains and rented automobiles. I took a few busses, too. I taught a newly created Nia routine of mine I called Bond Girls in Santa Barbara, Eugene, Portland and Seattle, and stopped to visit several old friends (I grew up in California and lived for many years in Seattle.)  It was so much fun. ...