What you said makes sense. When in the bow stance the foot with the heel up should be vertical. Good description.

I was also trying to inform people that when doing a routine it might not be possible to get into the “perfect” bow stance because sometimes it is quick or we are moving in other ways.

I have not done Aya. I have done songs from it, but not the whole routine, but what you described sounds like a move in one of the Global Unity songs, but that could be just because I probably am just thinking of that.

Thank you for reading and commenting!

I’m interested to learn more about how you used WordPress to search terms. Perhaps that could be a private conversation between you and I?

The bow stance: one of my favorite stances and one that took me YEARS to learn. I feel that I have a fairly good grasp of it now mostly due to the increased flexibility in my feet…I didn’t used to be able to put the ball of my foot down and have my heel come up very high. When I do a bow stance now, and am on the ball of my foot, I am able to lift my heel so that the rest of my foot is vertical (if that makes any sense).

I’ve been teaching Aya recently. Aya is a new routine by Carlos AyaRosas. One of the songs has the bow stance in the choreography — stepping back onto the ball of foot in a bow stance lifting both arms, coming back to center, then stepping back on the opposite foot. Then turning to the left and stepping back on the ball of the foot, and the turning to the right.

I really love this sequence — the mobility, the agility, the BALANCING!! All the things you’ve mentioned in your Blog make the bow stance a great movement. Another move I like to do with the bow stance is to bring the back foot up into a full balance on one leg (the “Cat Stance”).

Thanks for spreading the word about the fabulous movements that make up The Nia Technique!!!