Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

JAG Energy Flow builds holistic fitness. Using basic, body weight movements to build strength, flexibility, coordination and agility. JAG Energy Flow burns fat and tones muscles. You feel stronger, and more at peace because you don't have to do any jarring, repetitive, boring movement for your cardio. There are four segments to an Energy Flow Class 1) The class begins warming and preparing your body by moving through the Five Stages of Human Development. Embryonic, Creeping, Crawling, Standing and Walking. This practice alone is one of the best exercises you can do for yourself. By moving your body through these five stages, it basically realigns your body every time you do it. If you learn this practice from this class and do it every day on your own, you will be amazed at the way your body responds. You will notice a freedom and an ease in your movements. 2) Then Energy Flow moves into HIIT. High Intensity Interval Training means that you take your heart rate up high for short pe...

Any time you come to a Nia class, you have the opportunity to heal yourself. In Nia we are very aware of the power of Attention. So, we make a conscious choice to pay attention to our own self-healing, and that's what makes Nia such a profound form of therapy as well as fitness. By the way, when I say "healing" I'm referring to any act of consciously making yourself feel better. Healing could stimulate or relax you physically, mentally and/or energetically, strengthen your muscles, increase your flexibility, reduce or remove your aches and pains ...etc. As long you feel better after you do the movement, you have self-healed. Scratching an itch is a simple example of an act of self-healing. So is rubbing your cold hands together until they are warm. Some other examples could be squatting down deeply enough to stretch that tight hip muscle, or throwing your arms open, looking up to the sky and taking a big deep breath of fresh air. The carefully composed movements o...

October marks ten months since that fateful day I went too far in the gym and injured my shoulder. I rarely feel pain anymore. It's been about four months since any of the pain was present. Although, after a particularly vigorous workout, I do experience some pain in a similar pattern as the progression of the first time: the insidious ache that starts in the middle back near the inner edge of the scapula and moves deeper in towards the head of the humerus and finally becomes a spasm in the belly of the pec minor. But that only lasts for a few days at a time. I've regained a lot of my symmetry and my shape, but I'm still a bit asymmetrical as you can see in the photo. My right shoulder, arm and chest are slightly smaller than the left. It takes a discerning eye to see, though, because it's much better than how I was in June. Click here to see Before Injury pictures and how I looked in June and then compare to how I am now. This shot was taken in September 2009: Durin...

Yay! Go Nia! " Last February, I just got off the couch and decided to come back to Nia after 3 years of not doing any exercise. I showed up to your Sunday class and instantly felt comfortable and accepted. I found myself coming back each Sunday really focused on your opening "intention" for the day and feeling better already. Once the music came on, I simply responded to the joy of movement to music. I didn't ask myself to do more than what I could and the atmosphere was welcoming and non-judgemental. Three months later, I had an "a ha" moment a block away from my apartment. It happened after work, right after I left Gourmet Garage carrying 2 packages and a shoulder bag; I wanted to get home and the Broadway light was already green. I just ran across the street and made the light! I didn't even think about it until I had crossed Broadway. The old, lethargic me would have stood at the corner to wait for the next light. The new me didn't ...

“Most people decide they want to get in shape, so they either hire a trainer or join a gym to work on their own. But they do way too much work and not enough balanced lifestyle adjustments, so they burn out from all the hard work and get discouraged because they’re not seeing the changes they want. They just want to be ‘toned and fit’ but they’re doing the workout of an elite athlete. And they’re not supporting it with a fitness lifestyle. Even if they do get results, they often decide that it’s not worth all of the hard work, and eventually drop the gym, the trainer and/or the lifestyle. If instead, they took small, comfortable steps toward fitness they’d not only get fit easily but they’d enjoy doing it and maintain it forever. As your trainer it is my role to teach you how to become your own trainer. I specialize in helping people take control of their bodies.” -Jason Alan Griffin JAG Fitness You don’t need to live at the gym or even have a membership! You don’t have to have a...

As a personal trainer, I spend a lot of time and energy with my clients on the importance of accepting yourself as imperfect. I’m adamant about always applying yourself 100% to what you’re doing and always trying your best. But these things must go hand in hand with the ability to love yourself just the way you are, first. Having the ‘imperfect’ mindset is like having wings or like having your shackles removed. You will find yourself fearless and courageous and able to undertake any task bravely as soon as you can own the fact that you’ve got flaws and that’s OK. It is stated beautifully in a song called “Anthem” by Leonard Cohen: “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” If you can’t do a particular exercise or if you find a movement challenging, just do what you can do and eventually you’ll improve and soon you may even master that movement. Or if you fall off of your diet or ...

I recently sent out an email asking everyone if they had any questions about their hips as I was embarking on a deep study thereof. Here are some of the questions and answers published for anyone who is interested. **** Q: Hi - I have had severe muscle spasms in my neck, shoulder back diagnosed as arthritis in my neck and narrowing of C6 vertebra all related to aging - (inevitable) I would like to strengthen my body - CORE - and these areas as well As you know i am not very flexible and always have been this way. What would be the best direction for me to go - Yoga? Pilates? Stretching? Strength Training (that's what started my problem) A: Well, I have to mention that I know many people older than you who don’t have this problem and in truth, many people will never develop it. Your body responds to what you do with it. It's not that you reach a certain age and suddenly you have arthritis in your neck. You most likely have a simple physical habit or pattern that dev...