5 Fitness Sensations of Your Body!!

I'm back from a fabulous weekend in OK city with my fellow Nia Trainers Adelle and Shannon Mairs (from Dallas) where we taught weekend classes, introducing Nia to a new community.  Expanding JOY, expanding community, expanding Nia!!  Our focus was on the 5 Fitness Sensations of Nia:  Flexibility, Agility, Mobility, Strength and Stability (FAMSS).  Yummy!!  So let's continue the focus this week. There are many benefits in developing body awareness of the 5 sensations of flexibility, agility, mobility, strength, and stability in your workout and in your life.  Each unique sensation is necessary for keeping your body physically fit and energetically balanced.  Integrating all 5 sensations in your dance keeps muscles relaxed, highly charged and ready for action over longer periods of time.  Your muscles can work with greater efficiency when they are allowed to move and rest as they go from one sensation to another.  When one sensation is overused, grace and power are always diminished, resulting in muscle and energy imbalance and unnecessary chronic tension that can lead to the inefficient muscle and poor alignment. 
FLEXIBILITY is sensed as energy moving out.  It is a feeling of releasing power. Flexibility feels like a warm lengthening along the bone that stretches the belly of the muscle. Flexibility relaxes and never tenses the body.  Sense this…Stretch your arms out and reach for the stars.   The sensation that you feel is the sensation of flexibility!

AGILITY is sensed as energy starting and stopping.  It is a feeling of pulling and pushing. Agility feels like a playful tug-of-war action, changing; stop-now GO.  Sense this...Act as if you are reaching out and catching a fire fly, then another and another.  The sensation you feel is the sensation of agility!

MOBILITY is sensed as energy in constant movement, a continuous energy flow in a wide range of motion – a constant and varying excitation of the nerves around the joints, engaging the muscles, bones and joints.
Sense this… Move all 10 fingers simultaneously and act as if you are tickling someone.  The sensation you feel is the sensation of mobility!

STRENGTH is sensed as energy moving inward, like squeezing or packing energy against the bone.  It feels like a warm power moving along and into the bones.  Sense this… Clench your fist softly and draw power into your body through your fists and arms.   The sensation you feel is the sensation of strength!

STABILITY is sensed as energy moving from the center out in all directions.  It is the feeling of harmony and peace, combined with readiness for action.  Sense this… Balance on one leg, and in slow motion, move your free leg and both arms. Stability is what keeps you from falling, even as you move.

So let's train our body's to activate all 5 sensations and see what happens!  See you on the dance floor!
My Nia classes this week:
Monday and Thursday at 5:30 pm
and Saturday at 9:30 am all at http://www.thesynergystudio.com.

Learn more and go deeper into the connection with you body and your life by taking a Nia White Belt Intensive.   Our next intensive is coming up on October 5th. Sign up and receive pre-training materials! http://www.nianow.com/joanie


Go to my link & get 40% off of Nia clothing, music & much more!!  Look for the 40% off purple button:  http://nianow.com/joanie

Love & Light,
Joanie Brooks,  Nia Training Faculty, Nia White Belt Trainer, Nia 5 Stages of Healing Facilitator, Journey Dance Facilitator, Mindful Change Coach
http://www.joaniebrooks.me/

Awareness of Our Beautiful Knees!!!

Hello Friends!
How are your knees today?  Do you ever ask your body that question?  As a Sensation Scientist, a person living in constant awareness of sensation, it is a good practice to do. One of the ways I say hello and check in with my knees is by activating my 13 joints every morning after I wake up.  This simple exercise let's me know how my knees are doing as well as circulating energy throughout my whole body.  Good morning knees!! 

Your knee joint is the largest joint in your body and is uniquely designed to carry most of your weight.  Practically everything we do throughout our day engages our knees.:  walking, sitting, running, dancing...the list goes on.  It's important we bring awareness to our knees so we can keep them strong and healthy in order to move efficiently and comfortably - no matter what our age is. 

Before Nia I ran, as well as participated in many aerobic activities.  I did not pay attention to my knees and the impact I was putting on them, which resulted in crunching noise and pain in my knees.  Through Nia and awareness, I have healed my knees and I move in ways that continue to support my dance of life.  Here are a couple of things you can do to care for your knees:
- If you sit or stand for extended period of times throughout the day, rub your knees, shake them, bend and extend them so you can bring circulation into your knees as well as your ankles.
- Avoid locking your knees by keeping them spring-loaded.  This sensation is like you are on the edge of a diving board getting ready to jump in.  They are loose and relaxed which allows synovial fluid to flow and keep your knees lubricated. 
- Using a foam roller made a big difference for me!  I rolled the sides of my thigh which relaxed the connective tissue and muscles that were pulling on my knees.  
- Notice how you are walking.  Are you engaging your hips and ankles?  Remember, everything is connected so if we engage the joints above and below the knees, our knees will be more relaxed and function the way they are designed.  When sitting, release your hip joints and really sit back into your chair so you knees can "exhale". 
- As I mentioned above, activate your 13 joints, which includes your knees, every morning.  I also practice the Nia 5 Stages of Healing every morning which is excellent for your knees and your whole body.  Talk to me more on this if you are interested.

Ahh...our beautiful knees.  Let's dance this week with awareness and love for our knees and see what happens.  You can read more about the knees from last month's Nia newsletter that includes tips from my fellow Nia trainers to include our lovely Adelle!  Go to:  http://www.nianow.com/story/2012/08/awareness-of-knees-sensing-opening-and-closing

My classes this week:
Monday (today) and Thursday at 5:30 pm
and Saturday at 9:30 am all at The Synergy Studio
 
Learn more and go deeper into the connection with you body and your life by taking a Nia White Belt Intensive.   Our next intensive is coming up on October 5th. Sign up and receive pre-training materials! http://www.nianow.com/joanie


Love & Light,
Joanie Brooks,  Nia Training Faculty, Nia White Belt Trainer, Nia 5 Stages of Healing Facilitator, Journey Dance Facilitator, Mindful Change Coach
http://www.joaniebrooks.me/

EveryBody Dance Now!!!

Good morning my Nia Friends!!  I'm in Austin with my best friend from high school and the person who introduced me to Nia 18 years ago, and I'm preparing for a day of teaching and dancing at Lake Austin Spa and Resort.  This week has been declared "Dance Week" at the resort, and today I'm teaching Nia and introducing JourneyDance!   EveryBody Dance now!!

Dancing is such a part of my life that I cannot imagine a day without dance.  If I'm happy, I dance.  If I'm feeling low, I dance.  I could not survive without dance.  Dancing is for everyBody, and anybody can dance and enjoy the benefits of self discovery, emotional expression, spontaneous movement and pure FUN!!  The benefits of dance are endless and the potential for healing and conditioning our body, mind, spirit and emotions is endless!!!  Dancing heals the soul.   Have you ever noticed your fellow dancers while he/she is dancing?  What do you see?  I see radiant smiles that are pure, natural and beautiful.   I see honest movement and expression.  I see grace! 

Right now put in "benefits of dancing" in your Google search.  You will find hundreds of articles on this subject and I invite you to explore these possibilities for yourself!  Dance came to Nia when Carlos Aya Rosas co-founder of Nia, asked the question:  "Where is the fun?".  Adding dance to Nia was revolutionary and a bit scary; however, by asking this question and listening to their bodies, Debbie Rosas and Carlos brought dance to Nia, creating the Dance Arts of Nia, which has helped many bodies reclaim fun, passion, freedom, electricity, expression and healing.

“Dance is the hidden language of the soul” - Martha Graham

EveryBody dance NOW!!   Nia and JourneyDance offer us the opportunity to be the dancer that is alive in our hearts and our 75 trillion cells.  So let dance!!!  Enjoy this video & dance with me:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12VUjgYMm1U
 

My classes this week:
Monday Nia at 5:30 (Adelle is subbing for me..thank you!)
Thursday Nia at 5:30 pm,
Friday, JourneyDance at 6:45 pm
Saturday Nia at 9:30 am
Sunday Nia at 4:00 pm all at http://www.thesynergystudio.com.

Learn more and go deeper into the connection with you body and your life by taking a Nia White Belt Intensive.   Our next intensive is coming up on October 5th. Sign up and receive pre-training materials! http://www.nianow.com/joanie


Love & Light,
Joanie Brooks,  Nia Training Faculty, Nia White Belt Trainer, Nia 5 Stages of Healing Facilitator, Journey Dance Facilitator, Mindful Change Coach
http://www.joaniebrooks.me/