When I first took a Nia class I really wasn't sure it was for me. Are you shocked?! Is this the place where I'm only suppose to say the right thing - boy have you got the wrong girl!
Ok, I was beating the hell out of my body every time I worked out. I am a mesomorphic body type so not only did I get strong but I grew muscle like crazy. I could re-shape my body by lifting insane weight at safe and not-so-safe angles - AND if I performed 8,000 reps I wouldn't bulk up (I am truly one of the women who can put on muscle size). No Nia didn't feel right. Nia didn't hurt and it didn't demand that I move through the class ignoring my poor screaming knees (and other parts). Nia and my first Nia teacher, trainer Stephaney Robinson invited me to listen to my body. "Invited" me to what?!? Oh, hell no, if I listen I hear the screaming - no no noooooooo!!!! Then I won't have this beautiful body - noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I told Stephaney no, thank you, she smiled gently and replied, "when you're ready".
That was around 1998. In 1999 I took my Nia White Belt Intensive. For anyone who has talked to me, I have told you that I took my WB in 2000 - I was wrong! I ran across my certificate tonight and 'look at that', 1999!
When I returned from WB I told anyone who would listen that it had changed my life.
I began to teach Nia in 2004. I can be extremely hard-headed and stubborn so I began to teach Nia after going back to teaching Step for about 3 months!
I have been teaching since 2004 and just completed my Brown Belt intensive (and a FAB [For All Belts] for good measure) and Nia continues to change my life.
I am no longer just a body in motion and Nia is not just a physical fitness program. I am a whole being; I move through Body, I move through Mind, I move through Emotions and I move through Spirit. I move with a pleasure I could not have imagined. I move in Joy as a sensation. I move consciously and with awareness. And there's rarely any screaming! I am still healing the enormous damage I have done to my body but the point here is I AM HEALING...
Healing at many levels. Nia has also changed my life. I'm almost 60 (in 55 days to be exact, but who's counting) and I feel more alive...or perhaps it's more conscious...now than I did at 33 (my favorite birthday).
ReplyDeleteI do dance through life...Nia's principles (52 of them, 13 for each Belt level) run through every aspect of my life. For me, Nia is not an exercise program...it is a spirited lifestyle disguised as a kick-ass cardio dance-based movement practice. And one that I have been passionate about for 10 years now.
Thanks for another beautiful post Catherine.
Jill