Nia and Self-Healing
Posted by terrepruitt on September 22, 2009
I believe that positive thinking can go a long way in helping someone get better. I also believe that “happy” and “positive” can assist with improving someone’s heath and/or keeping them healthy to begin with. I believe there are a lot of things people can do to be responsible for their own health and make themselves better. But I didn’t use the term healing or self-healing. So when I first heard Nia using that term I thought, “Uh-oh, what is this?”
But it is not meant as a proclamation that any or all ills will be cured with Nia. It really is “self-healing” as in feeling better. There is always room for improvement and even just a little better is still BETTER.
More and more people, and even the medical field, are realizing that the body has its own intelligence and sometimes we need to listen to it. One BIG thing that a lot more people are paying attention to is things like “a cold”. I have recently experienced a larger number of people realizing that when they get a cold it is their body saying, “Whoa! Slow down. Rest.” And yes, most of the time that is very difficult but these people are saying, “I better take one day to rest because if I don’t it is going to be worse.” And they exercise a little self-healing, by taking one day and then taking it easy for a few more days and it seems like they can “heal” themselves faster. And taking one day off, can work out so much better than having to take a week.
See? That is self-healing? Our bodies will basically heal themselves.
Yes, there are illness and situations where we need medical attention. But there are a lot of things that we can do to feel better/self-heal.
For example: One thing I did to “heal myself” years ago was stop talking on the phone with my shoulder and head holding the phone. I used to get terrible neck aches and I talked on the phone at work a lot. It got to a point that I could no longer hold the phone like that as much as I needed to so my employer got me a headset. Ahhhh! I felt a little better. Then I realized I needed a headset for home. Ahhhhh. Totally better. Now I don’t talk on any phone holding it between my head and shoulder. Voilà! Self-healed.
So . . . Nia uses the term, self-healing, a lot because it is believed that movement is a healing act. Nia used to say: “Through Movement We Find Health”.
One of the incredible tools that Nia has (and there are many) to assist in self-healing is the Nia 5 Stages. It used to be called the Nia 5 Stages of Healing. I recently took a two day training so that I can now assist people in self-healing with the Nia 5 Stages.
I am confident that living in the Bay Area with San Jose, Mountain View, Cupertino, and Santa Clara having so many great technologies around us I can easily add the technology of the body to the Silicon Valley.
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
Jill Campana said
I’m so proud of you for going through the 5 Stages Certification. It’s powerful stuff. Great blog Terre.
Self-healing can be a mere change of attitude, or it can be of a physical nature like your own example. I remember noticing how my right foot would splay out when I walked. I never correlated my aching hip with my foot. One day my chiropractor told me to “be conscious of turning my foot in” when I walked. Voila’. Self-healing. I now catch myself immediately (and my sweet husband also lets me know) when my foot starts to turn out.
Self-healing happens when we begin to love our own bodies; when we allow our bodies, hearts and minds to open to the natural movement of life.
Thanks for a powerful blog Terre.
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terrepruitt said
“Self-healing can be a mere change of attitude”
Thank you so much for that reminder. It is so true. Again an example of “self-healing” but maybe a different way of thinking about what “self-healing” means. Thank you so much.
Thank you for stopping by and commenting. Sometimes when I post I hit “publish” and I think “I hope Jill sees this and comments”. Or “I wonder what Jill will say about this, I can’t want to see.” And the second I ready “Self-healing can be a mere change of attitude” I was very happy because I would have never thought to mention that. THANK YOU!
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Foodie McBody said
I’d love to hear more about this 5 stages training. Is it something that you will now incorporate into the classes? Or something that will allow you to do more one on one training or coaching? I don’t think I totally understand what it is.
I am all about the self-healing, or have been since January, anyway. 🙂
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terrepruitt said
It is something that CAN be incorporated into a class. It is something that one would benefit from seeing first, so at this point I would not incorporate it into my classes because most of my participants are not familiar with it and at this time my classes are only an hour. (With some classes there are classes after so we have to be done-ding!-on the dot!) But eventually I would like to put it in as a warm up or cool down type of movement. Either when I have more than an hour to work with or after I have held a few Nia 5 Stages classes so that the participants of the Nia Movement class know what to do.
It is both and all—just like Nia is so much—it can be done one-on-one, it can be presented in a workshop format (longer than an hour), or in an hour long class format. It is very versitle.
It is something that you can do on your own, but also is very wonderful as a suggested movement (like in a class or workshop) . . . .meaning that someone is talking while you move . . . not necessarily guiding you, just making suggestions or providing imagery (“Move as if you were in a bubble. Round, soft . . .”)
Debbie Rosas has a Nia 5 Stages class every Saturday. Like a Nia workout the 5 Stages class can have a focus so that you are accessing a different sensation each time.
Here is a little more information (on my site): http://www.helpyouwell.com/nia5stages.html
It is somewhat a body conditioning class. Assisting in getting you more flexible, mobile, and stronger in some cases.
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Jill Campana said
Hi Terre!
I sometimes use the 5 Stages to start classes — maybe just a minute or two with each Stage as a warm up, ending of course with the “Walking” stage and moving right into the Stepping In cycle of a Nia class.
Just a thought if you were looking to incorporate or introduce the 5 Stages during a regular hour long class. I’ve used the first song in one of the routines for the music when I haven’t wanted to look for something else.
Love,
Jill
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terrepruitt said
Yes, I would love to be able to do that eventually, but as I had somewhat mentioned to Foodie, I believe that people need to have seen it or be familiar in order to work it into an hour class. So after I have a Nia 5 Stages class or a workshop I could work it in. I am not yet at the point where I would like to take up a large portion of the workout/movement class demonstrating and having people do it, unless there were notified in advance. But things change so we will see.
It is in my tentative plan to one day incorporate it into a class.
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Jill Campana said
Me again…
And let me add though that I have also taken the 5 Stages in reverse, too — started with Walking slowly around the room, going to Standing, then Crawling, Creeping and ending with Embryonic.
Love,
Jill
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