Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you have all had a wonderful day. I taught two Valentine's Day classes yesterday with a mixture of music and steps from different routines. My students were wonderful as usual and dressed up in red and pink to set the mood. What a great way to celebrate this holiday instead of doing the same old things. It was great to celebrate the gift of a body and what it can do for us and to offer a little love to ourselves for a change. We had a great play list of music that really set the tone for the class using songs by Alanis Morissette, Sarah McLaughlin, Phil Colins, Savage Garden, Sinead O'Connor, Eurythmics and many more. We danced and shook our tail feathers~ We were smiling and sweating ~ We shared a little bit of ourselves with each other ~ We left feeling great, having done something positive for our Body, Mind, Emotions and Spirit. What better gift to receive on Valentine's Day! It is not about what we can get from others but what we can give to ourselves.


I hope your day was as great as ours,

Lisa

It's Official

I am officially going to Brown Belt in Portland at the end of June! I am so excited and jumping for JOY! My first two Nia trainings were here in Canada and even within British Columbia, so I did not have to travel far from home. Both were such a wonderful adventure for me, allowing me to spread my wings and do something for ME. This time my journey takes me a little further from home to the USA and it will be both my first trip out of Canada and to Nia HeadQuarters.

There are many Nia teachers I have been chatting with over the last two years and going to Brown Belt will give me a chance to meet some of them in person. I am really looking forward to this opportunity and making connections with teachers I have not had the chance to meet yet. I have a feeling this is going to be a very exciting year for me with a lot of changes and new ways to explore the world of Nia!

Wow, what a ride.......

Lisa

The Power in Relaxation

One of the concepts we work with in Nia is that of Dynamic Ease, which is basically defined as the ability to move without effort. It is the sensation we experience any time we learn a new skill. Think about when you first learned to type, ride a bike, skate and so on. At first the body feels awkward and uncoordinated, movements feel choppy and disconnected. Attention is focused and often any distraction breaks concentration. After we practice this skill we are so determined to master, magic happens! We type with flow, we ride a bike with ease, skates seem to glide by their own force. What is even more incredible is now we can do these skills and multitask! Think of all the things you can now do along side of typing. This is the sensation of Dynamic Ease - the movement just happens. We are in a state of relaxation.

Recently there has been incredible weather up North with snow that would never seem to end and then suddenly shifts to above zero and raining. This has caused many of our streets to turn into skating rinks. I was out walking my dog yesterday and thinking about Dynamic Ease as I tread across the ice. If we separate the two sensations, Dynamic is the action of infusing what you do with energy, the sensation of muscles hugging against the bone. Ease is the sensation of relaxation. That doesn't mean we turn to mush! Consider riding that bike....very dynamic movement but the essence of relaxation- the magic of synergy. As I walked across the ice, I noticed how relaxed my body felt and how comfortable my body seemed to move across the ice. I walked at a normal pace without fear of falling but knowing my body was ready to spring to action if need be. I switched into the average "ice walking mode" with a tense body, tiny shuffle steps as if walking with the intention to keep myself erect. Amazingly enough, I felt more unstable in this walking mode and saw how this was defeating its own intent. If my muscles are already tense, contracted and ready to "fall" what is left to do when my footing does slip? Chances are probably falling. My body has no way to react anymore to keep me standing. My body was "falling" long before I ever hit the ground. When walking with a sense of ease and relaxation, I felt the power of this sensation knowing that should I slip, my body is ready to engage and do what it needs to do to hopefully keep me standing.

I encourage you to experiment with this the next time you are out walking. If you are fortunate to live somewhere where there is no ice, then play with the sensation during any activity. Tense your upper body and type and then relax and notice how the sensation changes. Which is easier? Does it restrict your ability to perform the task?

Feel free to share your findings with me. I would love to hear about it.

Sense the power of relaxation....

Lisa

Time for Natural Time in 2007

Wow, where has the time gone! The start of a fresh new calendar year full of potential. With Nia, one of our main Principles is that of Natural Time which in our terms, means finding your own way of moving. This allows us to stay connected to sensation defined by our own individual movement and pace, an experience which isn't governed by mechanical time.

So what is mechanical time? In everyday life it is the mechanical clock and Monday through Sunday calendar. In fitness terms it is the concept of everyone moving in the exact same way, to the same beat with no sense of uniqueness or individuality. Have you ever been to a fitness class and really enjoyed a particular piece of music and felt the need to groove or spice it up? Did you actually feel you could comfortably do it in that particular time and space or did you feel you would stick out like a sore thumb and refrained from doing it? This tends to be the sensation with mechanical movement. The impression that we must all color inside the lines and anything else would just be "weird". I personally think weird is good.

Within the framework of Natural Time, not only can we embrace the opportunity to move the way our body needs to move, we can be expressive while we do it. If the class 'zigs' and you 'zag', we go up- you go down, who cares! The world will doubtfully end because of it. If it is what your body requires from you in that particular moment, then it is exactly what you should be doing. It is moving with natural flow and rhythms.

Wouldn't it be great if the entire world operated like this? The Mayans believed it did and still many people follow their philosophy. The 13 Moon Calendar is an ancient calendar which follows a 13 moon cycle. The following info is from http://www.tortuga.com

Did You Know?
... In one year the moon circles the earth 13 times?

... In the current global standard calendar,

a month doesn't correspond to one natural cycle?
... The word "calendar" comes from the Roman word, "Calends",

which was the name of the account book,

the book recording monthly debts and bills to be paid?

... Time isn't money?
... September means seven, but is the ninth month?

... March is named for Mars, the Roman God of War?

... July and August are named for Julius and Augustus Caesar?

In contrast, every moon of the 13 moon calendar is exactly 28 days.
This type of calendar, a 28 day-calendar, was actively supported by the

International Chamber of Commerce in 1931. The calendar change was

supported by people such as Eastman Kodak and Mahatma Gandhi.
The 28-day calendar makes accounting easier and means that any day

will fall on the same day of the week, year-after-year.

Each year, the 13 Moon Calendar remains constant.

The first moon, or New Year's day, always begins on July 26.

So if that is the case then our new year celebrations are still 7 months away! The entire concept is a great read and who knows maybe it will inspire a little Natural Time to your schedule.

Live to color outside the lines,

Lisa

Happy New Year! What's Your Resolution??

What better way to kick off a new blog than to see a great year out and a new one on the way in. It has been a fantastic holiday season thus far and the goodies have been pretty good too! While I maintain the belief that eating healthy is essential, it is also essential to be able to enJOY life and eat those goodies without all the guilt. Guilt makes food taste gross if you ask me ;)

So what's your resolution? Ahh, the dreaded resolutions. So easy to say and difficult to keep. There will be a mass stampede to the local gyms and sporting goods sections in the next month or so and then those expensive treadmills become even more expensive coat racks and gym memberships are not much use when the only part that sees the gym, is money from the bank account.

There is something about the start of a new year that will prompt us to make changes and start fresh. This includes making a New Year’s resolution. But why do they never seem to work? More often than not, these wanted changes are made in response to something negative. Impulses such as losing weight, are ranked as one of the top choices made. When resolutions are motivated by negative thoughts, it is more difficult to maintain the forward momentum. In order for change to happen, there has to be a desire to continue on your new found path. There is a saying “If you keep doing what you've always done, you're going to get what you've always gotten.”

There is no need to make resolutions a punishment. We do not have to torture ourselves with boot camp, some infomercial “Buns Machine” or food we swore would never pass our lips. Resolutions can work if we make choices that we can live with long term. As we put those choices into action on a regular basis, we will not only achieve our goals but we will feel good doing it and stay motivated. That is why I love what I can achieve with Nia. It is so much fun that it is easy to forget I am even working out (and what a workout it is! It IS possible to sweat AND smile!!) Fitness should be fun. If I feel like I am forcing myself to do something, it is sure to backfire very quickly. Choosing an activity that you enJOY is one of the first steps to success.

If we think of our resolution like planting a seed. That seed then needs to be nurtured and cared for on a regular basis and the process needs to be respected. It will follow natural time to achieve the transformation. There is no "overnight" and when it arrives, we need to be willing to continue what we have already been doing for the long haul.

This year consider your desired ‘seeds’ and ask yourself what the motivation is behind the choices. Make choices out of love. Choices for health and wellness for body, mind, emotions and spirit. Keep all four realms a part of your plan to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle.Plant seeds for a new LIFE resolution. Honor the process and marvel in the daily changes regardless of big or small. Live in the moment. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift ~ that is why we call it the present.

Happy New Year everyone and good luck with those resolutions!

Lisa