Dancing Through Life!

Good morning Dancing Friends!

I hope you are having a JOYous holiday.  Mine has been full of family, friends, laughter, dance and love!  I am so grateful for everyBody in my life, including you, and I look forward to continuing our dance of life together into the New Year!  Dancing Through Life reminds each of us that no matter what we are doing, we can turn the experience into the sensation of dance AND bring healing to our body, mind and spirit.  I love this quote from Carlos AyaRosas, Nia co-founder, about Dancing Through Life:  "Your body is dancing when you go to the floor, get up, walk, wash your hands, say hello to your child or a loved one; when you garden, shop or try on clothes. Dancing is life, living. Skin, joints, environment and measuring are all sensations you can use to tap into and dance through life."   So join me this week in dance...at the studio and on the streets!  Nia classes are back in action TODAY!  My class schedule for this week is below plus read further on  a new class coming your way, New Year's Day Nia, a JourneyDance of New Beginnings and vision board event, and our next Nia White Belt. 

My classes this week at The Synergy Studio:

Thursday (today) at 5:30 pm

Saturday at 9:30 pm

Sunday at 4:00 pm

New Year's Day Nia - Year of Gratitude:  Join Adelle and me at 4:30 pm on New Year's Day at The Synergy Studio.  I'm starting my New Year with things I LOVE to do like dance!  I will be joining the New's Drumming Circle at 2:00 and then ready to dance with you at 4:30 pm as we set the tone for the new year...Year of Gratitude!!

New Weekly Class - Somatic Awakening starting Jan. 8th:  Moving and dancing on the Earth is one of the best ways to start your day.  I do it everyday!  Combining elements of  Nia FloorPlay, Nia 5 Stages, Nia FreeDance, JourneyDance, Yoga, Breath, Guided Imagery, Laughter and Play, Somatic Awakening will energize your day while conditioning your body, mind & spirit. Adelle and I will be sharing this weekly class and it is guaranteed to make you feel youthful and awaken your inner child.  This class will be every Wednesday at 6:45 - 7:30 am at The Synergy Studio! 

A JourneyDance^TM of New Beginnings on Jan. 11th:  Dream~Vision~Manifest:  Join Jan Braun and me in a dance of New Beginnings where we will unleash the boldness of your DREAMS in 2014 through movement and VISION boarding, opening the path for MANIFESTATION.  This is going to be a great dance and vision setting, and we hope you can join us.  The cost is $35 and includes your vision board and supplies.  Sign up before Jan. 4th and the cost is discounted at $25!!! This event is Saturday, Jan. 11th, from 2-4:30 pm at Total Harmony Yoga Studio.  Register by contacting at brooks.joanie@gmail.com. 

Interested in the Nia White Belt Intensive?  It is 7 days dedicated to you, your body and your life.  You go deep into each one of the 13 principles of the Nia White Belt where you create a loving relationship with yourself and your body.  In this intensive you learn tools for managing stress, enhancing your relationships,  and creating a work/life balance. I invite you to explore techniques using your body, voice, intent, mind, emotions and unique spirit to master getting into and living in your body.  Empower yourself, open up to your potential and step into your greatness! Check out my trainings at: http://www.nianow.com/joanie#trainings.  Next one is in February 21st at The Synergy Studio!

Love & Light,
Joanie Brooks,
http://www.joaniebrooks.me/
Nia Training Faculty, Nia White Belt Trainer


Nia 5 Stages of Healing Facilitator, Journey Dance Guide, Mindful Change Coach and Laughter Yoga Leader


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 Dance of Blending

Happy Holidays Dancing Friends!!Blending: Harmony/Healing/Happiness. Inside, Outside, Universally.  This busy time reminds me how the art of blending with others creates harmony.  I'm all for that!  As we step into the holiday season of Christmas and New Year's, I invite you to use this blending triad of Harmony/Healing/Happiness...on the dance floor, in your car, in the store...Everywhere!  And take time to come and dance which is the best gift to give yourself during the hustle and bustle.  A great time to connect to the sensation of Blending!  In class we will use form and freedom as we blend one movement to the other, one body part to another, blending circular and linear movements and blending the size of our movements.   Beyond the physical we will blend with the space and each other!  The art of Blending will help each of us sense harmony, which promotes healing in our body, mind and spirit, and creates a happy person!! 

See you on The Synergy Studio dance floor. Practice patience as you blend with people around you...use the Shuni Mudra hand mudra, known as “the seal of patience.” Formed by placing the tip of the middle finger on the tip of the thumb.

My classes coming up at The Synergy Studio:

• Thursday at 5:30 pm - Dance to the Nia routine Leap of Faith where we will use spiral energy to BLEND our motions with emotion, power and grace.
  

• Saturday at 9:30 am - Winter Solstice in San Antonio is at 11:11 am Saturday.  The December solstice occurs when the sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, it is when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun.  WOW.  We are celebrating and dancing to the Nia routine Mandala.  BLENDING drums, electric guitar, silence, sound!!!!

• Monday (12-23) at 5:30 pm - Christmas music BLENDED in our dance!!!

Interested in the Nia White Belt Intensive?  It is 7 days dedicated to you, your body and your life.  You go deep into each one of the 13 principles of the Nia White Belt where you create a loving relationship with yourself and your body.  In this intensive you learn tools for managing stress, enhancing your relationships,  and creating a work/life balance. I invite you to explore techniques using your body, voice, intent, mind, emotions and unique spirit to master getting into and living in your body.  Empower yourself, open up to your potential and step into your greatness! Check out my trainings at: http://www.nianow.com/joanie#trainings.  Next one is in February!

Love & Light,
Joanie Brooks,
http://www.joaniebrooks.me/
Nia Training Faculty, Nia White Belt Trainer


Nia 5 Stages of Healing Facilitator, Journey Dance Guide, Mindful Change Coach and Laughter Yoga Leader
Go to my link & get 40% off of Nia clothing, music & much more!!  Look for the 40% off purple button:  http://nianow.com/joanie

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 Dance of Balance!

Hello Dancing Friends!

BRRRR!!  I hope you are staying warm.  There is much talk and articles about bringing more balance into our lives, especially this time of year.  Work and life balance, balanced nutrition, balance within relationships, balanced workout, etc.  Balance is a very personal matter and different for everyBody. For me it is a dance, and balance is ultimately a state of being where I feel in harmony with my body and my life, and includes all aspects of my being.  That is why I love my practice of Nia.  Nia is a fitness & lifestyle practice that is based on the design of our body, and our body likes balance - in fact demands it!!  How do I know this?  Besides the obvious of 2 arms, 2 legs/feet, 2 eyes, 2 ears, etc.; I can sense it in my body.  Whenever I am getting a massage and the therapists is working on one side of my body, the other side is constantly talking to me..."don't forget me!!".  When I stretch one side of my body, the other side says "Hey my turn!".  Nia knows this!  In a Nia class we incorporate movements from the Martial Arts, Dance Arts and Healing Arts, offering movement variety that creates a balance within our body, mind and spirit.   It is a dance of masculine and feminine, big and small, fast and slow, up and down, left and right, back, front and diagonal, linear and fluid, form and freedom, lose and tight, silence and sound, giving and receiving, contraction and expansion!!!  I ALWAYS leave a Nia class with the yummy sensation of every part of my body being moved in a variety of patterns, where my mind has been engaged in new and fascinating ways, and where I have been able to express my uniqueness.   I sense balance, and this creates harmony.  AHHH.

The real dance of balance happens though in life, and as I mentioned above, Nia is a lifestyle practice.  These same tools I use in class, I get to use in life.  The balance within my relationships...do I always receive more than I give, use masculine energy and not enough feminine?  What about the balance of silence and sound in my communication?  Do I always do things one way, very linear, or am I fluid and willing to release and let go?  Do I need to slow down, at work, home, while eating?  Am I tight about things in my life and need to loosen my mind, and open to the possibilities of life?  Do I get unbalanced - you better believe - and you can ask my family, friends and work relations - HA!!  And I sense this unbalance, no matter what it is, in my body.  My body reflects who I am. 

So I am choosing to stay with the dance of balance, in class and in life and I invite you to dance with me this week and every week. I have a hand mudra that I will be using to remind me of this dance.  It is called the Maatangi mudra which is a hand mudra of inner harmony.  The technique is to interlock your hands, holding your hands at navel level, and then have your 2 middle fingers (power finger) straight and touching.  This mudra affects the hypothalamus which is a part of the brain, and the seat of the autonomous nervous system, which can establish a state of balance within the body.  Join me!!!

My classes this week:

Monday and Thursday at 5:30 pm
and Saturday at 9:30 am

at The Synergy Studio

I invite you to take this path deeper by taking the Nia White Belt Intensive.  It is 7 days dedicated to you, your body and your life.  You go deep into each one of the 13 principles of the Nia White Belt where you create a loving relationship with yourself and your body.  In this intensive you learn tools for managing stress, enhancing your relationships,  and creating a work/life balance. I invite you to explore techniques using your body, voice, intent, mind, emotions and unique spirit to master getting into and living in your body.  Empower yourself, open up to your potential and step into your greatness! Check out my trainings at: www.nianow.com/joanie and click on "My Trainings".

Love & Light,
Joanie Brooks,
http://www.joaniebrooks.me/
Nia Training Faculty, Nia White Belt Trainer


Nia 5 Stages of Healing Facilitator, Journey Dance Guide, Mindful Change Coach and Laughter Yoga Leader
Go to my link & get 40% off of Nia clothing, music & much more!!  Look for the 40% off purple button:  http://nianow.com/joanie
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!

Exploring Connections!

Everything in our body is connected through a continuous network of connective tissue from our head to our toes. I love the sensation of this and knowing that through all of my movement I am continually conditioning my connective tissue and shaping my body for what she needs NOW. My body is dynamic and is internally supported by a connective system that is fluid, allowing my body to mold and fold, sending messages to my brain in the form of pain and pleasure. I like to visualize my connective tissue as this beautiful piece of fabric that weaves within my body, surrounding my organs, bones, muscles and cells with a protective covering that makes me feel loved and safe. As Linda Hartley in Wisdom of the Body Moving so eloquently states: “When we move in the spaces between the organs, bones, muscles, blood vessels, or cells, we are moving through the connective tissue sheaths. This movement is sensual, internal, flowing, and elastic, like the luxurious stretching of a cat. It flows on and on, rebounds and flows again. It gives vital support to the integrity of the whole in both movement and stillness.”

I was brought into a heightened awareness of my connective tissue and her role in my body’s shape a year into my healing from a cervical spine surgery that was brought on by an accident in 2008. Focused on my healing of my neck and head, I didn’t notice the imbalance on the left side of my body, until the tension manifested as pain in my left knee. I went for months where I was not able to bend my left knee without pain.  Later that year I was at a fitness conference with Debbie Rosas (co-founder of Nia), told her my story and asked her if she would observe my movement and give me feedback. After the session, she came up to me and said “It is your connective tissue. Focus there and you will heal.”  This simple message lead me on a path of discovery and learning, reading and exploring, movement and magic. Through my Nia practice and conscious movement, Nia’s 5 stages of healing, and directed therapy I was able to restore fluidity to my connective tissue and “unglued” my iIliotibial (IT) band (a thick connective tissue that runs from the outside of your hip to the outside of your knee). The pain in my knee vanished and I regained 90% range of motion in my knee. The exploration and healing continues!

Everything is connected. The structure and function of all parts and the body as a whole are supported by connective tissue, that is dedicated to giving me form and freedom of movement as I Dance Through Life. It is a dance of loosening and tightening, sound and silence, mobility and agility, strength and flexibility, opening and surrendering, volume up/down, fast and slow, sinking and rising, hard and soft, masculine and feminine, Martial Arts, Dance Arts and Healing Arts; and it is through awareness that I discover where there is pain and pleasure so I can play with theses dynamics to bring my body to homeostasis. Stability and Peace. I move on this earth with dynamic ease knowing the potential I have for unlimited ways to shape/reshape my body through my awareness of the connections inside. 


As I explore the connections inside, I am awakened to the rhythm of the connective tissue of my thoughts, emotions and spirit. Each of these voices connect to my body as a sensation, and I am connecting in loving ways that bring healing, pleasure, and connection to my purpose in life. 

And then there is the connection between you and me, and all of life.  The connective tissue of life that makes us a part of a Universal connection.  We are all connected.  See you in class this week!! 

EnJoy this video with Gil Hedley on connective tissue:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FtSP-tkSug
It is graphic!!!!

My classes this week:

Monday and Thursday  at 5:30 pm
Saturday at 9:30 am

Sunday at 4:00 pm

at The Synergy Studio

I invite you to take this path deeper by taking the Nia White Belt Intensive.  It is 7 days dedicated to you, your body and your life.  You go deep into each one of the 13 principles of the Nia White Belt where you create a loving relationship with yourself and your body.  In this intensive you learn tools for managing stress, enhancing your relationships,  and creating a work/life balance. I invite you to explore techniques using your body, voice, intent, mind, emotions and unique spirit to master getting into and living in your body.  Empower yourself, open up to your potential and step into your greatness! Check out my trainings at: www.nianow.com/joanie and click on "My Trainings".   P.S.  Ask me how you can save $500 on our intensive in Portland on May 24, 2014!!

Love & Light,
Joanie Brooks,
http://www.joaniebrooks.me/
Nia Training Faculty, Nia White Belt Trainer


Nia 5 Stages of Healing Facilitator, Journey Dance Guide, Mindful Change Coach and Laughter Yoga Leader
Go to my link & get 40% off of Nia clothing, music & much more!!  Look for the 40% off purple button:  http://nianow.com/joanie

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!