Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

The idea behind my Human Movement program is that consistency of movement is the most important aspect. Intensity isn’t as necessary as regularity. Skills are not required to get benefits from daily movements. Twice every day, I set aside at least ten minutes to move my body. Over the years I’ve embarked on many structured fitness or movement practice programs and have discovered that no matter what movements I’m practicing, I see results after I’ve been practicing consistently for several weeks. The problem is that I get bored of repetition or if I’m learning new skills, I progress to a certain point and then plateau and lose my motivation. My solution is non structured daily recess time. I usually put music on for my sessions, and sometimes I dance to the music. But every time I practice Human Movement I am doing what my body wants. Some days I have a lot of energy and do a longer, more vigorous session, and other days I need gentle nurturing or healing and move accordingly tha...

Jag’s Body Shop is a laboratory and a healthy playground for movement. The purpose is to enjoy being in a body and to explore our human potential. A very important aspect of Jag’s Body Shop is called Human Movement.  Not structured or protocol driven, it is movement done for fun and pleasure and can also be used to facilitate loosening, stretching and strengthening, improve balance, flow, and energy and develop graceful coordination by learning and practicing simple skills. It uses little to no equipment and is meant to be practiced anywhere at any time that’s convenient. Jag has been practicing this technique since he created it out of necessity following a bad shoulder injury in 2008. And starting May 2020, he is making it possible for you to practice Human Movement with Jag online. Human Movement begins by putting on music (if desired) and just starting to gently explore whatever movement you feel inspired to do that day. It is important that you pay attention to how each mo...

The Spirit Bird routine was created by JAG with the spirit of collaboration. As JAG describes it, "I feel like I gave this routine a few sparks in the community and created the space for this routine to manifest itself. A strong 'bird' motif showed up as I created the playlist and then the concept of 'flight' in our movement naturally followed." Spirit Bird is an empowering and freeing routine focused on the Ground in order to give our bodies Flight. The focus of the routine is on The Sensation of Grounded, which is an awareness of the relationship between the foot and the earth. The intent is to use the power of the Ground to find Mobility, Strength Agility, Flexibility and Stability. It is a lovely opportunity to explore the Three Planes of Movement and a great chance to use awareness of your Levels One, Two and Three to find a relaxed powerful flight. Flight can be described as feeling heavy on the outside but light on the inside. Or magnetically attach...

Saturday - Sunday, April 27 - 28 "Men of Nia", classes and playshops @ Soma Ranch 10176 Pooles Rd. Montgomery, TX _____________________________________________________________ Wednesday, May 8 10:30 am "Blue Earth" Nia routine @ Health Within 8226 196th Ave. NE Redmond, WA ___________________________________________________ Thursday, May 16 9:00 am "Blue Earth" Nia routine @ Embody Movement Studio 115 S Tower Ave Centralia, WA _____________________________________________________ Saturday, May 18 10:00 am "Blue Earth" Nia routine @ Just Move Studio 35859 Hwy 58 Pleasant Hill, OR ______________________________________________________ Monday, May 20 10:00 am "Blue Earth" Nia routine @ Shine Collective 578 Searls Ave Nevada City, CA ______________________________________________________ Thursday, May 23 10:00 am "Blue Earth" Nia routine @ Ace Dance Academy 1825 Mt Diablo Blvd Walnut Cree...

This is a list of scheduled stops for my 2019 Road Trip. It's a list of places I'm sleeping and has nothign to do with where I'll teach and or visit during the day. Most nights I'll be at Motel 6 with a few exceptions as noted. Visit this page to see what routines I'll be bringing this year: And visit this page to see what teaching gigs I have set up . WASHINGTON Centralia - Wed, May 15 (Embody Studio teacher loft) OREGON Portland - Thur, May 16 Springfield - Fri, May 17 Medford - Sat, May 18 CALIFORNIA Marysville - Sun, May 19 San Rafael - Mon-Thurs, May 20-23 Santa Barbara - Fri, May 24 - ? (Aunt Dorothy’s house) Orange County tbd Twentynine Palms - Thur, May 30 ARIZONA Kingman - Fri, May 31 Sedona  - Sat, June 1 (Alba’s house) NEW MEXICO Santa Fe - Sun-Mon, June 2-3 Albuquerque - Tues, June 4 Santa Fe - Wed-Sun, June 5-9 TEXAS Amarillo - Mon, June 10 Dallas - Tues, June 11 Houston - Wed, June 12 San Antonio - Thurs-Sat, June 13-...

Doing this show was a whirlwind incredible experience. I consider myself, for the most part, retired from show business and now only pursue acting for the love of the art and the joy of practicing. I only occasionally look at casting call websites and am not interested in 95% of what I find there. But this particular notice for Ghost Light caught my eye for many reasons. Tod Rainey's ad introduced him as an award winning theater artist from NYC who had worked with Alan Menkin and Public Enemy and on the Sleep No More project. He didn't describe the Ghost Light script except to say that he was interested in doing an immersive thing similar to Sleep No More. If you don't know what Sleep No More is, I urge you to look into it as it was one of the most memorable evenings I have ever spent immersed in a theatrical production. So I put together a monologue really quickly and went to go meet Tod. Tod's energy was distinctly "New York"and I felt a connection right...

The two new routines I have for 2018 are Blue Earth and Spirit Bird. Blue Earth is a collaboration. It was created through a project I initiated on Facebook so that I could co-create with Nia teachers all over the world. What we put together is a wonderful routine, with a focus on the Sensation of Feet Touching Earth and the intention to both Relax into and Generate Power from the Steps and Stances. I have also used a focus on Feldenkrais Technique with the intention to invite Ease and increase Range of Motion.  It uses great music and fun movements, some familiar and some new. Further descriptions of the Blue Earth routine are here.  Spirit Bird is a routine that I created on my own, except that I included two songs that were created in Choreography Playshops. This is my newest creation and I'm sure it will grow and change as I teach it more. But at this time, the focus is on the Low Middle and High planes with the intention being to Sense Grounded Flight in our mo...