blissful fitness

Sense your body. Really dive in. ~ ~ ~ Immerse yourself in it. Go deep. ~ ~ ~ Check it out. ~ ~ ~ What do you sense? ~ ~ ~ Begin to activate your joints. Simply begin to move your ankles… then knees… No need to rush. Hips… wrists… elbows… shoulders… and spine. ~ ~ ~ Allow movement to be your medicine. ~ ~ ~ Move so that your body says “Ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh, right there… That’s the spot… Yep, just like that… Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.”

Gooooooooooood morning! Today, our Nia classes are all about celebrating your ALIVENESS!!! Here’s how…

1. Dance, dance, dance!!!
2. Sense your a~l~i~v~e~n~e~s~s by tapping into your body sensations
3. Celebrate the yummy, tingling, buzz-creating, juicy-ness that is your body and your life!
4. Shimmy, yahoo, and repeat!

Many people are alive but don’t touch the miracle of being alive. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Hello! Today we will be focusing on connecting to and sensing the nourishing benefits of “non-doing.”

One of my absolute f-a-v-o-r-i-t-e Nia Principles is Nia White Belt Principle #5: Awareness. Principle #5 is BIG and it has drastically changed how I experience my body and my life! And I’ve only begun to tap into it’s depth…

Today we are going to explore one aspect of Principle #5, Awareness, and that is: living meditation. Living meditation refers to paying attention to and sensing moments of “non-doing” in our body. Sensing these moments of rest, relaxation, calm, ahhhhhh, and p-e-a-c-e helps to balance out all of the “doing” of the day, nourishing our body, mind, emotions, and spirit!

read more about today’s focus on living meditation

“When walking, walk. When eating, eat.” -Zen Proverb

Today…

When dancing, dance!

Today is an adventure in single-tasking! Your *soul* mission (should you choose to accept it) is to stay present to dancing your dance. Nothing else. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Just d~a~n~c~e!

read more about today’s focus

Good morning! Today our focus is all about seeking p~l~e~a~s~u~r~e as we move.

Stop exercising. Start moving. Follow the pleasure principle. If it feels good do it, if it doesn’t stop. ~Debbie Rosas and Carlos AyaRosas, Nia Co-Founders

In psychology there is something called the Pleasure Principle. It basically is about how our bodies have a positive feedback mechanism that motivates future actions. This mechanism is often connected to basic biological drives that contribute to survival (e.g., eating, sex, exercise, avoiding hot stoves, etc.). Pleasure = we want more. Pain = we want to avoid it.

We can experience this same feedback mechanism as we dance in class (and through life). We want to dance and kick and punch and twirl… and then, to hear the feedback our body gives us, we want to listen… we want to pay attention to our body sensations…

read more about today’s focus

Good morning! Today our journey is an exploration of empowerment.

Now I Am = Awareness
We begin by adding on from yesterday… click here to read yesterday’s post about Awareness

Awareness = Choices
The more aware we are of what we sense, think, and feel, the easier it becomes to make conscious decisions that support our health and well-being of our body, mind, emotions, and spirit. The more aware we are of the now, the easier it is for us to create the moment (hour… life…) we desire. read more about today’s focus

Nia (pronounced ‘knee – uh’) has been associated with many acronyms… When Debbie and Carlos first kicked of their shoes and stopped jumping (~1983), the name of the class was actually titled “Non-Impact Aerobics” (NIA). Over the years, as Nia continued to transform and became more sophisticated in it’s mind-body approach, the name evolved into “Neuromuscular Integrative Action” (NIA). Now a days, as a body-mind-emotions-spirit fitness and lifestyle practice, Nia stands on it’s own two (bare)feet! Nia is simply… Nia!

Another acronym I love that is often associated with Nia (just for fun) is “Now I Am…” This is quite fitting as Nia is all about being in the NOW… staying present… being aware… being conscious moment to moment. It’s as though we could repeat this mantra over and over all class long… “Now I am stepping with my heel…” “Now I am sensing my upper back…” “Now I am exploring the low plane…” “Now I am dancing my elbows…” “Now I am sensing Joy…” “Now I am in Bow Stance…” “Now I am sad…” Now I am confident…” “Now I am energized…” “Now I am tired…” “Now I am tense…” “Now I am relaxed…”

It’s about being here… Now.  read more about today’s focus

Ok peeps… have I got a treat for you tonight! I will be debuting the brand NEW faaaaaaabulous Nia Routine: Alive, created by Nia Co-Founder, Carlos AyaRosas!

Our focus is all about sensing your aliveness…

“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive…” ~Joseph Campbell

It’s about… stopping the busyness… turning off autopilot… waking up… quieting our minds… returning to our senses… listening to the music… dancing with the NOW… being fully present… and experiencing what it feels like to be blissfully ALIVE!

As if that wasn’t enough… we have exciting new rhythms and melodies to be seduced by AND delicious new movements to explore!

Are you drooling yet? Well, tonight is the big night! Come out to play!!

Something magical happened this morning: our internet was down.

I love the internet…. and lately I spend A LOT of time on it. A LOT. The internet is so amazing and mesmerizing to me, that I can spend hours sitting, captivated by it. I can completely ignore my posture, my hunger, my thirst, my thoughts, my feelings… totally spellbound by the pretty pixels. I want to know it, watch it, read it, hear it all…NOW.

This morning, however, I couldn’t… I had from 5:00am-11:30am to do anything BUT emailing, facebooking, twittering, youtubing, blogging, wikipedia-ing or googling. Nada. Zip. Zilch. read more

Good morning! We are going to continue through the nine movement forms today by focusing on one of Nia’s healing arts: the work of Moshe Feldenkrais. One aspect of the work of Moshe Feldenkrais is that there exist three states of being: Asleep, Awake, and Aware. The first two probably don’t need explanation, but what did he mean by Aware? Let’s explore… read more