Sensing and Dancing The Curves of Your Spine!!

Hello My Dancing Friends!

Our spine consist of 26 vertebrae and provides structural support for our entire body.  Did you know your spine has four distinct curves: cervical (neck), thoracic (upper back), lumbar (lower back), and sacral (pelvis level)?   The curves and their specific shapes are very important for supporting the body’s weight, and if one curve is misaligned, the rest of the curves (and body) will be affected.  At birth, our spine was C-shaped. As we developed, learning to creep, crawl, stand and then walk, our spine shaped and adapted, becoming flexible, mobile and strong.  When we were about 10 years old our lumbar curve fully assumed to its adult shape, which has natural curves that form an S-Shape.  Close your eyes and visualize this S along you back and sense the curves!  This magical structure gives you the ability to lean sideways, twist, vibrate, undulate, rotate, flex, stretch and move effortlessly through 3 planes of movement.  The curves of your spine also support the weight of your body, work like coiled springs to absorb shock, and helps you maintain balance.  It is amazing!    

 

So lets dance and sense our curves this week in class.  Your spine loves joyful movement and when your spine is healthy and happy, your torso is healthy, flooding your arms and legs with rejuvenating energy!  I like to visualize my spine as an elegant string of pearls that curve through my body, giving me strength and resistance; and no matter what type of movement I do, what shape I create, it will magically go back to its inherent shape and be even stronger!!  See you in class as we dance to an older Carlos Nia routine called Girls Night Out!  This is such a fun and spirited routine that is charged with the jazzy sounds of Candy Dolpher.  Snap, crackle, pop, sassy and alive!! Bring your CURVES!!!

My classes this week:

Monday, and Thursday Nia at 5:30 pm

Friday JourneyDance class at 6:45 pm

and Saturday  Nia 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 in December...a split weekend. 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 Coachhttp://www.joaniebrooks.me/


 Nia - Somatic Education for EveryBody.  Nia is an expressive movement form & lifestyle practice that uses The Body's Way to achieve physical, mental, emotional & spiritual fitness & well-being."   

75 trillion cells in your body…Play with them all with Nia!

The Rhythm of Life...Do you Feel it?

Hello friends!

“To live is to be musical, starting with the blood dancing in your veins. Everything living has a rhythm. Do you feel your music?”
                                                                        Michael Jackson

Everything in life flows with its unique rhythm...the sun comes and goes down each day as part of the rhythm of the Universe (not our mechanical clocks), the seasons fflower and change, and the moon flows from full to new.  In your body, you can feel your unique rhythm though your heartbeat, your breath, the blinking of your eyes, the beat of your internal organs, the flow of you blood and water...everything flows.  Even your laughter has a unique rhythm.  Go ahead and laugh right NOW and notice how each HA (the beat of your laugh) is exactly spaced.  It's amazing!!   Rhythm is the driving force that holds our lives together!

In Nia we honor the rhythm of every Body through a principle called Natural Time.  Natural Time (NT) is fluid, non-linear, and centered in the NOW; and it reconnects us to the rhythms of nature and he rhythms of all life forms. NT invites us to move in our own time, at our own pace and discover our own unique way of moving so we can make choices intuitively as we sense our body.  NT is a way for us to be in touch with the Universe, and have a deep and rich relationship with our body.  NT invites us to dance to our unique beat.  Our bodies love to move, and when we move in NT, our body becomes fluid with the rhythm  of life. 

So even though today the mechanic time has changed, stay connected to your rhythm, your natural beat.  Honor and trust your flow..it is uniquely you and it is perfect!  Do you feel it...Rhythm!!  See you in class!! 
My classes this week:
Monday, and Thursday at 5:30 pm
Saturday at 9:30 am
and Sunday at 4:00 pm
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 in December...a split weekend. 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/

 Nia - Somatic Education for EveryBody.  Nia is an expressive movement form & lifestyle practice that uses The Body's Way to achieve physical, mental, emotional & spiritual fitness & well-being."   

75 trillion cells in your body…Play with them all with Nia!

Dancing Your Pelvis!!

Hello My Friends!
This week we will focus on sensing our pelvis in all our movements - Dancing Our Pelvis.  Movement of the pelvis strengthens the abdominal muscles, releases tension in your lower back and increases spinal flexibility.  When the pelvis is free, the spine is free.  As you step and dance through space, move your pelvis as though you had a long tail. When you involve your pelvis in every movement and move it freely in all directions, you will become strong, toned and healthy.   The word "pelvis" means basin and we like to call our pelvis the container.  Think about it...your pelvis CONTAINS your reproductive organs, digestive organs, and your bladder, so YES it is a container!  Every time you move your pelvis you are massaging these organs.  So swing, sway, circle and do hip bumps with your pelvis and sense how much better you will feel!!  As you dance through life, take opportunities to dance your pelvis...while you are cooking, circle your pelvis.  As you walk, act as if you are wearing a skirt (yes even if you are a man), and sense how relaxed your lower back feels.  Jump up from your desk and move your hips side to side to get the energy flowing in your spine!!!  

So let’s dance from the inside out and seek ways of moving that keep your pelvis loose and agile, strong and stable.  Our dancing this week will be powered with the music of Sacred Earth Drums.  We will move our bodies to the sounds of drums, flutes, guitars, birds, and water.  Grounding with earth and unleashing our creativity.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention your pelvis is the container of Chakras One and Two.   HEE HEE...Let the magic begin!  See you in class.
Start your dance with this treat to one of the Sacred Earth Drums songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzDvtqws49s&feature=relmfu

My classes this week:
Monday, Thursday and Friday (subbing for Adelle) at 5:30 pm
Saturday at 9:30 am,
and Sunday at 4:00 pm
all at The Synergy Studio. 

Read more about the sensation of your Pelvis in this month's Nia Headquarter's newsletter.  See what Debbie Rosas and 3 fellow Nia Trainers suggest to keep your pelvis healthy and bring more pleasure in your life!   http://www.nianow.com/story/2012/10/awareness-of-the-pelvis-sensing-grace-and-power!  You can also download a student handout here:  http://www.nianow.com/public/student-handout-awareness-of-pelvis-october-2012

 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 in December...a split weekend. 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/ 
Nia - Somatic Education for EveryBody.  Nia is an expressive movement form & lifestyle practice that uses The Body's Way to achieve physical, mental, emotional & spiritual fitness & well-being."   

75 trillion cells in your body…Play with them all with Nia!

Pelvis with the Distanceby Georgia O'Keeffe

Our Dancing Eyes..Awareness of Sight!

Hello My Friends! One of our most incredible gifts we have is the gift of sight. Of all of your body’s five senses, the sense of sight is considered to be the most complex. They are designed to receive and process light, rays and beams of light, and bounce off objects, giving you information about color, shape and texture. Have you ever stopped during your day and acknowledge the sights that are being taken in by your eyes?  From the moment we wake up to the time we go to bed, our eyes are busy taking pictures and sending them to our brain for analysis. Our brain is in business with our eyes!  Take a moment now and look around.  What do you see and what are you perceiving you see?  Nia asks us to be aware every moment, and as we look out into the world, to change our perception of what we see to make it pleasing - Life As Art.  Pleasure. 

Our eyes are about the size of a table-tennis ball and they work just like a camera.  The numerous muscles in our eyes work together to allow our eyes to move in all directions:  up, down, around... taking pictures of our world!  Did you know that out of all the muscles in your body, the muscles that control your eyes are the most active?  You blink about 12 times every minute, and every blink lasts about 1/10th of a second!  BUSY! 

In a Nia class we use the Head and Eye movement (one of Nia's 52 moves) to condition our eyes by looking around.  When we follow our hand with our eyes or act as if we are following a butterfly, we engage the whole body.  As I've said before, Nia is a WHOLE body workout, including our eyes!! 

I have listed below 7 things you can do throughout your day as you Dance Through Life, to keep your eyes healthy.  Happy SEEING...and SEE you in class this week.  Note there is a JourneyDance class on Friday...WOOT!

My classes this week:
Monday, Thursday and Friday (subbing for Adelle) at 5:30 pm
Friday at 6:45 a JourneyDance class,
Saturday at 9:30 am,
and Sunday at 4:00 pm
all at  http://www.thesynergystudio.com/. 

1.  Breathe deeply. Your eyes are situated far from your lungs and heart, and shallow breathing will deprive your eyes of the essential nutrients they need to stay healthy, fit and well. Every hour, consciously take 30 seconds to “smell the moment,” drawing a deep breath in and letting out a full sigh, lengthening the time of your exhale.
2. Relax. Stress reduces the flow of blood and oxygen, starving your eyes of the fuel and nutrients they need to stay healthy. Make a conscious effort to relax your body and face, softening your eyes and jaw.
3. Check your posture. Avoid thrusting your head forward by releasing your lower jaw, allowing your head to gently float up.
4. Take a time out. When you sense your sight becoming blurry, distorted or strained, stop and take a time out. Relax and release by vocally sounding sustained vowel sounds of, “A-E-I-O-U”.
5. Thank your eyes. Each day, in the morning, noon and night, thank your eyes by saying, “Thank you for sharing the world with me”.
6. Exercise your eye muscles. Look left and right, up and down, around to the left and around to the right, and diagonally, sensing the muscles of your eyes stretching.
7. Avoid staring and blink. For every five minutes you have to look in one direction or at one point for extended lengths of time, stop and look out into the distance and take in everything. Move away from your computer screen after 20 minutes and look around. 

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 in December...a split weekend. 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/

  
 Nia - Somatic Education for EveryBody.  Nia is an expressive movement form & lifestyle practice that uses The Body's Way to achieve physical, mental, emotional & spiritual fitness & well-being."   

75 trillion cells in your body…Play with them all with Nia!

Nia... A Gift That Lasts A Lifetime!!!

Good morning my Friends!

"If you remember anything about Nia, remember this: the soul of Nia is  the Joy of Movement."  Debbie Rosas and Carlos AyaRosas, co-founders of Nia.  

What a fantastic cool morning.  I've been outside appreciating the coolness of the morning against my skin and gazing at the beautiful moon.  Its Magical!  I'm excited this week as Adelle and I prepare for a Nia White Belt that starts this Friday.  We have a wonderful group from our dancing community and from Mexico.  I love delivering this work!  The Nia White Belt focuses on the foundation of Nia through 13 principles that guide you to place your attention on yourself, on your body, and on physical sensation.  The intent of these principles are to assist and inspire you to celebrate your body and your human potential.   The Nia White Belt is designed for people of all shapes and sizes, and teach you about sensory-based movement as a pleasurable way to achieve lasting health, wellness and fitness.  It is truly a gift that last a lifetime, and goes beyond the class into life!! If you have been contemplating this gift, there is still time and room to sign up!  Go to http://www.nianow.com/nia-training/24/nia-white-belt-training.  And make sure you come to the Nia classes during the white belt as we dance and focus on the principles of the white belt!  

As a "kick-off" to the upcoming White Belt I will be focusing on principle 1 of the Nia White Belt, The Joy of Movement.

The Joy of Movement teaches us to connect to Joy by choosing sensation through all movement.  As you sense your body, you invite Joy in.  No matter what your circumstances are, you have the capacity to live and move in Joy, which is more than an emotion; it is a way of being in the world.  This principles invites us to use Joy and Your Body's Way to fall in love with your body and your life.  It is also a tool you can use to shift your dance, your attitude and your life. It's the first step of becoming a Sacred Athlete.  Right now you can consciously choose this energy.  What a gift!!!  See you in class this week!

My Nia classes this week:

• Monday and Thursday at 5:30 pm
• Friday at 5:30 pm with Adelle 
• Saturday at 9:30 am with Adelle (shifting focus to Principle 2, Natural Time and the 9 Movement Forms of Nia)
• and Sunday at 4:00 pm with Adelle (shifting focus to Principle 5, The Base of the Body) all at http://www.thesynergystudio.com.

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 Coachhttp://www.joaniebrooks.me/


 Nia - Somatic Education for EveryBody.  Nia is an expressive movement form & lifestyle practice that uses The Body's Way to achieve physical, mental, emotional & spiritual fitness & well-being."   

75 trillion cells in your body…Play with them all with Nia!

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/