Finding Healing Through Nia


 
My energy is so high, I can feel the static electricity standing my hair on end.  Preparing myself for the “Passion” routine my partner and soul sista, Kacey and I have been working on for our upcoming Friends and Family Workshop, I feel exhilarated at the prospect of joining a community of people together for some creative mojo.  Teaching people that Nia is so much more than a “fitness program,” it is a lifestyle practice - a soul stirring, heart thumping, body pumping experience that ignites fire and passion deep down in your soul.  How else can this incredible practice be described?  To think that South Hampton Roads has no idea what this beautiful practice is, it’s like eating ice cream all along without the whipped cream and cherry!  Come on, how can you NOT KNOW?  That is the incredible feeling you get when you enter this practice for the first time and think “I am not sure what this is all about but I think I like it!”  The first time I set foot into a Nia studio was in Summit, New Jersey in 2010 with my first (and incredibly bubbly, energetic teacher, Lori Lynn Meader).  I had tried it out briefly at a demonstration and just knew I had to find out where the nearest class was.  It was different, like nothing else I had ever experienced.  The movement was fluid, not rough, not hard or pounding.  My body just moved my way, there was no right or wrong way.  The pearls Lori Lynn used were interesting I thought “hot feet,” “draw a rainbow,” “grapevine…”  All descriptions used for movement forms.  It was artful, creative and it reached my soul on a deep level.  Almost a primal, emotional level I had never felt while doing any other fitness program.  Every class is started with an intention and we “step in” to our practice, leaving the outside world and problems there – outside.  The music, OMG, did I mention the music?  Nia has its own record label and wow – you cannot help but want to move, listen, explore, feel, vibrate and settle into the music.  Usually at least 10 different songs make up a routine that start off with slow, flowing movements warming the body up and allowing the heart to start dancing and pumping in preparation for the whole middle of the practice and ending with a cool down.   Who would have thought that fusing three Dance Arts (Jazz, Modern, and Duncan), together with three Martial Arts (Tae Kwon Do, Aikido and Tai Chi) and three Healing Arts (Yoga, The Work of Moshe Feldenkrais, The Alexander Technique) would come together so beautifully to create this one practice?  The best part is that this practice is adaptable to any age, fitness level and body type, is a great cardiovascular workout and promotes self-healing through pleasure which is the primary motivating force.  For me, not only was this part of my physical, emotional and spiritual healing - the effects go way beyond that.  I decided to become an instructor and accomplished my White Belt certification in November, 2012.  The feeling of “ah, I did it” gave me goose bumps when my white belt was handed to me standing there with my other White Belt friends.   The inspiration was so great that I was able to finally leave the corporate world and enter the world of healing using Nia as a vehicle to heal many souls along the way.  Again, I used the “I AM” principle in my life and am proud to say that “I AM a Nia White Belt Instructor.”  Nothing is impossible!   Nia’s moto is “Through Movement We Find Health."