Archive for the ‘Nia’ Category
Posted by terrepruitt on February 11, 2010
Nia has been around for 26 years now, and I believe it is a company and a practice that will be around for a long time to come. Companies that survive they survive by changing, by growing and by adjusting. Nia is in a big adjustment phase right now.
They have adjusted the Nia White Belt Principle #11 from “Business and Marketing” to “Creating A Sacred Livelihood”. This adjustment is to help principle number 11 be more in alignment with the body centeredness that is the core of the White Belt.
But even though the name might sound a little different than other current courses of business that have surfaced recently, its not. It is pretty much in keeping with the trend that is right now. That is one thing I love about Nia. It really is not anything new, so it is not as if you are having to accept a handful of new ideas and “woo-woo” thinking, it is pretty much the same stuff that all “authentic” “live your truth” marketing people are preaching at this time.
Ya know, have a philosophy and a purpose. Know that your purpose is alive so that is will be allowed to flex, change, and grow.
In addition there is the “social purpose enterprise” aspect . . . believing that we are contributing to a higher purpose.
Its the way Nia packages things is that help make it unique. With this adjustment to the principle we are taking “Business and Marketing” and making it more personal. The woman that came up with this, Karri Winn, spent over 4 years doing so. And from the video* made of the presentation it is evident. She is so comfortable talking about it and sharing it, you can tell she has lived with it for a while. She connected business to “me”, which assist with goes right back to the body centeredness, as I mentioned. Making it about “me” as in my life is an extension of my body is how it relates to the body-centeredness. Then using Nia to help us achieve our purpose. And with all of that together we will be able to create a livelihood.
Pretty exciting stuff!
As I said in my last post, for me, Nia is a journey.
Here is an article on the Nia Now site regarding Creating A Sacred Livelihood. (The article is no longer available on the Nia site.)
Posted in Nia, Nia White Belt Principles | Tagged: body centered, Business and Marketing, Livelihood, Nia, Nia White Belt, Sacred Livelihood | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 9, 2010
Nia is a workout, and a great one at that. It is fun and interesting. We get to play and move our bodies and work our muscles. Our exercise consists of all types of movements.
Presently I teach at two facilities. I teach in San Jose at a dance studio where I rent time by the hour. And I teach at a city recreation department. Here is a picture of my class. This is my San Carlos City Park and Recreation class. This is not all of them, but the ones that were there a few minutes before class.
I took this picture because I wanted to document this. I am posting it on my blog because I want to document this and share it.
For me, Nia is a workout, but it is more. It is a journey. I am learning a lot with these ladies. I am learning a lot with this space. I am learning a lot on this particular path of my journey and I wanted to have record of it.
I asked for permission to post this, but I didn’t get anything signed so I will not be naming anyone, but we are having fun. These ladies are on a Nia journey with me too.
We are starting a new session next week, and I have agreed to do more after that, but this one is special because it is the first one. The first one for me, the first one for San Carlos, and the first one for a lot of these women. I have been contacted by some men and hope to have them in our future sessions, but for now it is just us girls.
I am posting this to remember and honor these wonderful women who are on a wonderful journey with me. Cheers to us!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: muscle exercise, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia journey, Nia San Jose, Nia studio, Nia workout, San Carlos, San Carlos Workout, San Jose Dance Studio, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, teach Nia | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 6, 2010
Nia is a technique that starts with fitness and ends with comprehensive healing of the body, mind, spirit, and emotions.
Nia is to exercise what holistic medicine is to health care. It has many different components that help many different conditions such as asthma, depression, and pregnancy. Nia is movement as medicine.
Nia is an advanced form of fusion fitness—the combining of classic movement forms. It encompasses the martial arts. The healing arts (including yoga), and dance. The combination creates a synergy that no isolated technique can match.
Nia is a cardiovascular program that uses whole-body, expressive, grounded movement, rather than repetitive jogging or lifting.
Nia is adaptable to every level of fitness, every age and type of body, even those with special limitations.
Nia is a worldwide fitness movement with more than twenty six years of technical advancement.
Nia is a non intimidating way of appreciating your body—indeed yourself—in class, or in the privacy of your own home.
Nia is effective and fun.
Nia is the Body’s Way, a new way of being and living in your body.
This information is taken from The Nia Technique book authored by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas
Posted in Nia | Tagged: body's way, Body-mind, dance, health care, holistic exercise, Nia, Nia Dance, Nia fitness, Nia Technique, Yoga | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 4, 2010
I always get questions about the Nia Routines. Are teachers given the routines? Do teachers make up their own routines? How many routines are there? And more. In this post I’ll just cover those three questions.
At the time of this writing there are 18 Nia routines showing on the teacher website for purchase. I know in the 26 years that Nia has been around there have been a lot more. I believe back when Nia started having routines, music rights and all that big business part of music was not an issue. Now, I think, that portion of life has affected Nia and the routines. I think they had to remove some from sale.
A routine is group of songs. I think 8 to 10 is the average, but it depends on the length of the songs. An average Nia workout class is about 55 minutes, give or take a few minutes. At the time of this post Carlos and Debbie were the creators of the routines.
As a teacher, we purchase a routine which includes a DVD disc, a music CD, and an information pamphlet. It is an amazing piece of educational material. This post is not about the fabulous package of material we receive or about learning the routine, it is just general information about Nia routines. But whenever I talk about the Nia routine packages I feel compelled to exclaim how wonderful they are. I will save the explanation of them for another post.
Teachers are encouraged to use their own creativity when leading a routine. Nia routines are very well thought out and put together. It is my understanding that with higher belt levels choreography is discussed, but with White Belts, Nia encourages them to use the routines that Nia has created. But at the same time we are encouraged to do the katas to different music than we are given.
With the encouragement of using our own creativity, I believe comes the impression that we can do things in Natural Time and to me, that means we can adjust routines. A kata might be less aerobic, but if we want to help make it more so we can add cha-cha-chas in place of a regular step, or just do fast side steps instead of a grapevine.
In addition to changing simple steps we are empowered with all of the different Movement Forms. When we employ the energies of the different movement forms they can change the routine dramatically.
I do mix up the katas from various routines to “create” new routines. To me this gives the participants a feeling of doing something new, yet at the same time they are moving to familiar patterns. Or once, I had an out of town friend attending my classes, after the first class, she admitted she couldn’t do turns. Well, if she were going to be my student for any length of time, you know I would put those in and work with her on them, but since she was only going to be in one more class, I put together katas that didn’t have turns so she would enjoy her workout more.
When I do mix it up, I make certain I adhere to the seven cycles of Nia. I also try to make it a well-rounded routine. I love it when I put something together and afterwards the class says, “Ahhh, I really liked that routine, what was it?”
I hope this helped to answer some of the questions about Nia routines. Please let me know if you have other question.
I am going to continue to you invite you, my reader to a Nia class. If you are ever visiting the San Jose/South Bay Area or you are local to me, please, come to one of mine :-). If you are not local, look up a class near you and try Nia in your area.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: aerobic class, aerobic exercise, Carlos AyaRosas, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, kata, Natural Time, Nia Belts, Nia choreography, Nia class, Nia Natural Time, Nia routines, Nia San Jose, Nia teachers, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, Nia workout class, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, seven cycles of Nia, White Belt, workout class in San Jose | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 2, 2010
Weighted Hand Gloves from Beachbody
I have heard people ask about this a few times. Sometimes people want to wear ankle weights or wrist weights while in a Nia class. I personally would strongly recommend against this. Nia is not like other types of movement forms, where you can wear weights. In Turbo Jam for example, Chalene Johnson is wearing weights in one of the workouts. And her crew is wearing them in other workouts but the movements in the Turbo Jam workouts are different. They are very linear. When you move in lines the chance of injury is less. Chalene’s workouts are designed to be done with weights and even then she cautions on using the correct weight and using them carefully. In Nia we move in spirals, circles, we bend, we stretch, we practice falling off balance in order to practice catching ourselves. With weights added to that it could be dangerous.
In Nia we do have punches and kicks which are linear and could possibly be done with weights, but in our routines right after a punching sequence we might have a spiral spinal movement where we use our hands to help activate our spine and this is the type of movement that could easily lead to injury if there were extra weight on our hands/wrists.
I also think since Nia is so body centered weights would interfere with the connection to the body. While you could sense the sensation of weight on your wrist it does not seem the same as connecting to your own body without the added weight. I believe one of the purposes of Nia or one of the exciting aspects of Nia is that we strive to learn to sense what our body’s messages are. What does our body FEEL like . . . not our feelings, but our sensations. And if we add weights to that is could be distracting. It could keep us from being able to truly sense the different energies that we are bringing into the workout.
As an example, and I have stated something like this before, if you move your arm gently you could say it is energize with Duncan Dance or Modern Dance. If you do the same movement, but apply the energies from one of the Martial Arts the sensation would be entirely different. Yet with a weight attached to your wrist it might be difficult to go back and forth between the gentle and the strong. The message being transmitted from the limb would be very different with a weight attached. To me it would seem as if the connection was to the weight and not my body.
So, my conclusion and recommendation when it comes to using weights and Nia is: don’t do it. The risk of injury is too great, plus, I believe you would miss out on one of the fundamentals of Nia and that is connecting to the body . . . . YOUR body.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: ankle weights, body centered, Chalene Johnson, Dance Workout, Duncan Dance, martial arts, modern dance, Nia, Nia class, Nia workouts, Turbo Jam, Turbo Jam workouts, weights, wrist weights | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 30, 2010
One thing about a blog on WordPress, I can see search terms. My blog statistics show me terms used in a search that led people to my blog. One thing I noticed was bow stance came up a lot in the search terms. People want to know what it is, how to do it, what is it for, etc.
So I thought I would post another post on the Bow Stance. I am familiar with the stance from other exercises and other exercise classes. It is not unique to Nia, but Nia includes it in the Nia 52 Moves. I feel it can be compared to a lunge.
The bow stance is one leg bent with the foot flat on the ground, the other leg is bent and out behind with the heel lifted and the ball of the foot on the ground. The feet are not aligned, so if you were to bring your back foot forward it would not collide with the foot in front. Can you picture it? It is kind of like a lunge.
The Nia Technique book states that the benefits are conditioning for walking and dealing with changing levels as the body’s center moves up and down.
My feelings about the bow stance are that it is great for working out the lower body and for practicing balance.
The bow stance can be done with many variations. The typical bow stance is that described above, but, when the feet are place wider apart as if on two railroad ties the stance actually becomes more stable, but if you add moving arms to that it become less stable. If you were to raise and lower your entire body, it changes the dynamics yet again. If you were to add motion to the hips, it changes it again. If you were to place the back foot further back it changes it again. Another way to challenge the muscles is to change which foot holds the weight, leaning the weight to the front or to the back.
This stance is used a lot in Nia routines and I imagine that is because it is such a great exercise and it can be used so many different ways. It fits into many different songs and adds to the dance. Sometimes we move in and out of it quickly, sometimes we stay and play. It is a great movement.
Previously I mentioned it being good for the lower body that is because you can see how it is very good for the feet and ankles too. When the back foot it resting on the ball of the foot, it helps with both strength and flexibility of the foot. When movement is added to the stance it helps with both strength and flexibility of the ankle.
So we answered the question originally stated:
—the bow stance is somewhat like a lunge
—one foot is in front flat on the ground, the other is in back with the heel up, both legs are bent
—it helps with strength, balance, and flexibilty
I hope that helps. If you have anything to add or ask, please do so. And, as always thank you for stopping by. If you want to see how the bow stances is added to a dance workout and you want to try it yourself, join me in a class.
Posted in 52 Moves (of Nia), Nia | Tagged: balance exercise, Bow Stance, Dance Workout, exercise class, flexibility exercise strength exercise, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise class, Nia routines, stability exercise, The Nia Technique, Wordpress blog, workout class | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 23, 2010
As you might now be aware Nia includes elements from three disciplines from three different arts. From the dance arts, we borrow from Duncan Dance. Duncan Dance was brought to us by Isadora Duncan. Isadora believed in the freedom movement. She did not care for the stucture of ballet opting for movement of a more natural flowing nature.
Duncan Dance, like Modern Dance, helps bring freedom to Nia. For me I think of “child-like” when I think of Duncan Dance in Nia. It encourages us to skip, run, do somersaults, jump, hop, giggle, growl, laugh out loud, kick balls, jump rope, catch a balloon, and just release our adult contraints and enjoy movement for the sheer joy of moving. We are not moving to get to one place or the other. We are not moving to build a muscle or burn calories, in this modality we are moving because it is fun. Because, like a child we have so much engergy inside we need to skip-run-jump-hop-hop-hop across the floor. Then, while we are having so much fun we will be moving our muscles and burning calories, but we don’t THINK about that. We imagine we are chasing a balloon and trying to catch it. We imagine that we are playing kick ball or blowing bubbles and chasing them, we imagine we are having fun and we end up having fun. We let out our inner child that gets tucked away during our normal busy day.
While infusing our workout with this energy one might notice their ankles joints and spine opening and moving more freely. With the “child mind” one might tend towards being more “open”; standing tall, reaching up, reaching out, and standing on tippy toes. With these movements come exercises in balance, while standing on tippy toes reaching for your red balloon you are not even going to notice that you are having to balance. With being more “open” physically it sometimes helps with being more open mentally, this can assist with releasing the stress and tension of the our adult lives.
The form also encourages spontaneity, like that of a child. With less stress and tension you might find yourself giving in to your inner child and you might find yourself racing across the floor. Nia encourages it!
I think with all of the different ideas, concepts, movements, and energies that are woven together to form Nia, there is something for everyBODY.
Please note: The photo is a portion of the “Nia Energy Type Questionnaire” in The Nia Technique, by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas.
Posted in Movement Forms of Nia, Nia | Tagged: ballet, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, Duncan Dance, exercise, Isadora Duncan, modern dance, Nia, Nia Energy Type, Nia exercise, Nia Technique, Nia workout, workout | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 21, 2010
With every Nia routine there is an original focus and intent. On the Nia DVD either Debbie or Carlos* explain the focus and intent that was originally intended for the routine. With the routine Sanjana Debbie explains the focus as being Dynamic Ease.
I remember Dynamic Ease as being Dynamic and Ease. It can either be a stretch as one might do in Yoga or could be the sensation of the muscle squeezing the bone as in an isometric contraction. When I do the routine with Dynamic Ease as the focus I often borrow Debbie’s words and explain it as: “the energy moving out as in flexibility or the energy packing against the bone as in strength”.
The way we play with this is that we do a lot of the moves with one quality then the other. So while we are moving arms upward we could be calling upon the dynamic energies of strength and really squeezing the bone with the muscle. And the next time we can move our arms up with a big stretch move the energy out. A punch could be done strong as if we were really punching something or could be done more like a stretch.
The ease is just moving in a relaxed yet ready type of way. When moving arms upward, as mentioned above, we can change the quality to a nice flowing easy movement. Or a “punch” could just be the arms moving away from the body in a soft motion. Its fun to play and try any exercise with the different energy qualities.
We can do the same moves all three ways. Practicing going back and forth between these qualities assists in both balancing the energy in the body and balancing the body itself. An isometric contraction calls upon big muscles and small muscles and the combination is what is used in balancing.
I believe that it helps with the flow of fluids and energy in the body. I know that it leaves me feeling very energetic. I did this routine with this focus twice this week, once for my San Jose class and once with my San Carlos class and both times I felt very great energy afterwards. In addition to the energy I feel it brings me, I think dynamic ease can serve to add another element of challenge to the Nia workout. Dynamic Ease is one of my favorite foci for this Nia routine.
*Debbie Rosas (Stewart) and Carlos Rosas (AyaRosas) the creators of Nia
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Carlos AyaRosas, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, Debbie Stewart, Dynamis Ease, isometric contraction, muscle contraction, Nia DVD, Nia exercise, Nia routine, Nia workout, San Carlos Nia, San Carlos Nia class, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, San Jose Workout class, San Jose Yoga, Sanjana | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 16, 2010
As you might now be aware Nia is a wonderful mix of elements from three different movement forms from three different arts. Martial Arts is one of the art forms. Aikido is one of the movement forms from the martial arts.
According to the Nia White Belt Manual that I received during my Nia White Belt Intensive Aikido was the martial art that Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas enjoyed the most. The spirit of it that was added to Nia was the translation of “the way of harmony”. Conflict is resolved lovingly. During the intensive I remember the idea was mentioned of using the opponents own weight and energy to take control of the situation. While in Nia we don’t have opponents or enter into competitions with each other, the example was intended to express the idea that a blending of energies makes it easy to move. Aikido in Nia is the notion of a peaceful warrior.
As with all of the art forms that have been studied in order to create Nia, it is ideas, concepts, and moves that have been integrated. All of the movement forms are understood to be something that takes practice and maybe even years of training. That is respected when we talk about forms being added to Nia.
Aikido brings grounded energy to Nia. We practice spiral swirling motion blending the energies outside with the energies inside. Focusing on our center, the hara, we practice grace. We also exercise our awareness and embrace the moment. We hone our skills of moving from lines into spirals and spirals into circles with the energy surrounding us.
Aikido somewhat reminds me of Nia itself, they are both a blending of energies and movements.
Posted in Movement Forms of Nia, Nia | Tagged: Aikido, Aikido energy, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, martial arts, Nia, Nia energy, Nia exercise, Nia Movement, peaceful warrior, spirit of Nia | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 14, 2010
Recently I had a brief conversation with one of my Nia buddies regarding a routine. She had asked if it was easy to bar. I admitted to her that barring for me was difficult, but that some songs were easier to bar than others.
Later that same evening I was listening to music from a routine I have not learned yet. I found myself stopping what I was doing and starting to do the dance that was associated with the song that was playing. I laughed because I realized that I was ready to learn the moves to the song. That is how it is with me. I will listen to the music over and over and over again. When I find myself saying, “What? What is this song? There is a kata to it?” When I don’t even recognize the song, then I know I am no where near ready to learn that set of movements. So I keep listening to the music over and over. When I find myself stopping what I am doing to do the moves or at least going over the moves in my head as the song is playing then I know that is when my body, my brain, and my spirit is ready to learn the moves. Otherwise it is a struggle for me.
It is so much easier to learn the routine well, when you can sense the moves. It is like you already basically know them and all you have to do is map out the music and put the moves on the paper where they actually belong. Doing the workout to the routine DVD over and over is one of the steps in the first set of steps in learning the routine. And I see why. Listening to the music over and over is one thing that is recommended too. And I see how these two things are important in learning a routine.
I also have learned that not only do I benefit from listening to it over and over, it helps to listen to the music on a variety of devices. I teach in two different facilities and the sound system at the Park and Rec building in San Carlos is very different than the sound system at the studio in San Jose. It it almost as if I need to learn different musical clues for each facility because the systems are so different.
As I said some music is easier for me to learn than others, but when I stick to learning it when I sense it, when I am ready to learn it, it works for me.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: barring, barring a routine, barring music, kata, Nia, Nia DVD, Nia facility, Nia Music, Nia routine, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, San Carlos Nia, San Carlos Park, San Carlos Workout, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia Studio, San Jose Workout | 2 Comments »
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