Dancing into who we are meant to be for MLK Day

Today, the day before MLK Day, we danced to Moodfood, an oldie but goodie Nia routine which features the Joy of dancing to part of the "I have a dream" speech. I invited everyone to imagine the best version of humanity we can imagine, perhaps all people living together in peace and harmony, caring together for our earth. Then, holding that dream or image in our hearts and minds, step into it, own it, and dance it together, playing with the idea that past-present-future are all here now. Every human that ever lived has contributed to this moment we are continually stepping into. They are all here now. The intention we are holding for humanity is our future, and we create the future NOW. We are the culmination of every human who has ever lived. We are manifesting the new human, the best version of humanity, right now, this is who we are. We were all born to live in these times and elevate humanity to its highest purpose. Let's keep stepping into our highest aspirations for humanity - it is in our DNA. Everybody zip up your earthsuit! We are on the ride of our lives!

Theme for stepping in to the new year... Letting go without rejecting anything

Most, if not all, of the tension we hold in our bodies, minds, and emotional states is secondary to our interpretation of what happened in the past. We carry past injuries, our compensatory adjustments to injuries, our judgements about ourselves and our bodies, and our concerns about not measuring up to other's judgements and expectations, in our bodies as patterns of holding, and in our minds as anxiety or even depression. Our holding patterns are anchored in the past, and prevent us from being in the present, where joy resides. Each time we trigger a memory (happy or sad, makes no difference) the memory of the past changes, because the person experiencing the memory is not the same one who experienced it previously. As we grow in understanding and compassion (a result of life's bumps and bruises) our memories change. We never store the same memory twice. Our Nia practice can be an avenue for gently changing the way we carry tension, and the way we hold our memories in our bodies.

Dance invites us to shake up and shift our customary patterns of holding (which can cause injuries and pain) and enjoy being in our bodies in a different way. The nine movement forms of Nia, from dance, martial arts, and healing arts help us access different movement styles and energies that free us from the prison of our tension patterns: the dynamic precision of taiqwando vs. the playful lightness of Duncan dance vs. how-I-normally-move-through-the-day. Dance connects us to the joy we can only find in the present, and the more we engage in it, the more joy we access, and the more freedom we find. While joyfully moving to music we can easily recognize that we have everything we need in this moment, the essential truth that there is nothing missing in this moment. 

So, while stretching and beginning to move, notice your aches and pains, some may have been with you for a long time, and greet them as friends. Ask them what they need, and always treat them with gentleness. What can you learn from them? How do they ask you to move? Notice how you feel while moving, and at the end of class. Each time we dance, we effortlessly slip out of the mask of everyday tension, without even thinking about it. We subtly change the way we live in our bodies, without forcing or rejecting anything. As we find our joy in movement, our bodies (and minds) change of their own accord.

Sacred Immersion beginning this week...

It's curious that my last blog, from the summer, was Moving while recovering from injury or illness, and I now find myself needing to follow my own words very closely. Two weeks out from a hysterectomy, I'm allowed to come back to class, as long as it is VERY LOW IMPACT. This means I will demonstrate small and you can choose to intensify the movement until you find what is right for your body. Rather than bring in familiar routines, this seems like a good time to experiment with a new one. As some of the movements are new to us, we can take it smaller, focus on tiny details, and add intensity with increasing familiarity. (I find when teaching at full volume, the small details can get lost.) Consider the next couple of classes a workshop on a new routine. Hopefully, we can all develop a deeper level of intimacy with these new 'katas' - as we like to call the specific movement combinations in Nia.

The new routine, 'Sacred', incorporates beautiful world-flavored music with some interesting and playful movements and sounds. The original focus for this routine is 'dancing the bones,' and as I (minimally, in my condition) move and listen to this work, it takes me to any number of places: dancing our body, mind, emotions, & spirit; awareness and healing; dancing the three body weights: pelvis, chest, and head; and the power of dedicating our dance to something we hold sacred. We will visit each of these foci (described below) as we learn the routine 'Sacred.'

We define 'focus' in a Nia class as "what you place your attention on." You might notice me say in a particular class that we are focusing on the sensation of stability, in order to feel more peaceful. That is an example of a focus, followed by the intention. The focus always leads us to something we would like to experience. You can always bring your own personal focus to any class.

Dancing the bones comes from a Nia principle called "X-ray anatomy." X-ray anatomy involves sensing from the inside, or observing the form in the mirror to check for proper placement of bones (which benefits ligaments, muscles, and tendons). When focusing on dancing the bones, I notice a sense of lightness and ease, less resistance, or more playfulness when practicing a resistance move.

If you practice Nia, you know that you are a multidimensional being. Our workout integrates the body, mind, emotions, and spirit, feeding every part of you. When your being is fully fed, your motivation comes from within, we don't have use pounding beats as an external driving force to push you to move harder and faster. Music can stimulate joy, passion, and playfulness in your workout. You can practice from a place of inspiration, rather than needing to be driven to work out.

Awareness (which includes self-healing) is one of the basic Nia principles. Awareness allows us to tune into sensation - the language of the body. Pain lets us know to stop and assess what we are doing, make corrections so that we can move safely, and heal. Pleasure says, 'yes, more of this.' Awareness teaches us to be mindful of our thoughts and emotions, heal misperceptions, and speak our truth, when necessary. In the spirit realm, awareness allows us to sense our connectedness, and heal feelings of isolation.

The three body weights, the pelvis, chest, and head, make up the core of the body. As we focus on the three body weights, we learn to find a natural alignment, that alleviates holding patterns that cause pain and discomfort. We build strength, flexibility, and stability in the core for more comfort and ease in dancing through life.

We can dedicate any dance to an attitude or concept that we hold sacred to get a profound sense of well-being. The nondual teacher David Hawkins says that we can use just one spiritual tool, such as kindness or forgiveness, and pursue it with intensity to its ultimate end to free ourselves from the bonds of the ego. We can apply this to our dance, as well, to fully embody that which we hold sacred.

No matter what focus you apply to your dance, remember that laughter and playfulness are also sacred. So come to Nia and enjoy an immersion in 'Sacred.' Beginning this Tuesday Oct 10 (at Timberhill Athletic Club - 6:45pm), for the next 2 weeks, or so. I'll be starting 'Sacred' at Chintimini next week on Monday Oct 16 at 11:00am.

Moving while recovering from injury or illness

Group exercise classes bring an air of fun and comradery to our workouts. The expressiveness of dance brings smiles, while the deep relaxation at the end of class allows us to let go of our daily worries and struggles. Are you feeling sidelined by an injury or recovery from an illness? No need to let the fun pass you by, you can learn to participate in group fitness classes in a way that supports your healing process. Nia and Fit for Life both provide opportunities to engage with the joy of dance, the stimulation of interesting or uplifting music, the relaxation of a deep breath and stretch, and the fun of working out with positive people. Leela cues both of these classes with varying levels of intensity and modifications for situations you may be healing. Here are some attitudes that can help you make the most of class while learning to adapt the moves to fit your healing process.

• Go easy on yourself – practice ‘beginner’s mind.’ Consider these classes “movement practice” – we come together to practice, not to be perfect. We are learning what works for us right now, at this time in our lives. Let go of what worked twenty years (or six months) ago and be present with where you are right now. No need to ‘try hard’ or ‘figure it out’ – find the movements that feel good. Keep the focus on the sensation of pleasure.
• Listen to your body. Start small and work up to greater intensity over time, only when your body says you need more (ignore the ‘shoulds’ in your head – listen to the body). Never push into pain! If any movement hurts – don’t do it. Pain is body talk for “stop that!” Listen to your body. Just because a movement works for others does not mean it will work for you, right now. Modify your moves to find pleasure in your dance or stretch. Over stretching or overdoing any movement can cause injury or set back your healing process. The more you listen to your body, the more intelligence you will find.
• Let your instructor know about your concerns, she can direct you towards alternative or smaller movements. Keep your focus on what’s working, what feels good, and move towards pleasure. Anxiety about pain produces greater pain. If you are in a lot of pain, you need medical care, not exercise. If you are not in extreme pain, you may find that shifting your focus to what feels good actually reduces the pain you do feel.
• Be consistent in your practice – show up for yourself! Those who start and stop, and start and stop tend to give up before they establish the exercise lifestyle. If you over-did it one time – don’t stop – show up and find out how to avoid making the same mistake again. There is no shame in having to work smaller or slower, it’s all learning.
• Notice that you are surrounded by some of the nicest people in the world. Your classmates are welcoming and willing to offer helpful tips to newcomers. Some of them have even been where you are right now. Don’t be shy, and if you are – that’s OK, too.

Don’t let an injury or healing condition keep you from finding the joy of movement. You can learn to take your movements down a few notches to a place where you can practice in safety and develop greater body awareness, along with all the other physical, mental, and emotional benefits of exercise. 

Colonoscopy musings

12/17/15

Colonoscopy today. Very uncomfortable prep last night. I farted around on facebook, waiting for a whole lot of nothing (not even gas) to happen at the other end. As it got later, I began to get frustrated with the waiting. So, I decided to watch how my thoughts were causing the frustration. I practiced breathing, relaxing, and shifting perspective: allowing the thoughts to take up less space and the space around the thoughts to expand. To pay attention to the space, and disengage from the thoughts. It made the all night long task of prepping less frustrating, and more just being with the experience. Just a task. Now this. Now this. Now this. It was still wearisome, tending to the situation and not getting the sleep I desired. And it was doable.

I requested no sedation, so I could watch the show during the procedure. Apparently, it is rare for Americans to have colonoscopies without sedation, but it's standard practice in other countries. (We have the right to feel NO PAIN, it says so right there in the constitution under life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.) There was some discomfort/pain from the scope going around corners, the gas expanding the space at one point, and the contraction/cramping of the colon as the scope was being removed. And, I could breathe through it. And what's left now is not a memory of pain or discomfort, but wonder at the beauty of the blood vessels, the smoothness of the walls, the cuteness of the cecum (which looks like a bellybutton), how tiny and perfect the snowy villi were at the end of the small intestine, and what a cramp looks like from inside the colon. There is the joy of seeing what my healthy colon looks like, and gratitude for the miracle that it all works!

My dad died of colon cancer, and while it is one of the cancers that can have a genetic component, the fact that he lived to be almost 81, would suggest that his cancer was not genetic. Our risk for colon cancer can be greatly reduced by eating healthy foods (LOTS of vegetables, fruits, and fiber, and less red meat than the standard American diet), regular exercise, not smoking, and not drinking in excess. Also, colonoscopies can help determine if you have other risk factors, such as polyps, or colon disorders that can be monitored to prevent or catch something in the early, treatable, stages. So, if it is time for your colonoscopy, don't hesitate, you can actually find joy, learning, wonder, even humor. (I neglected to tell you about the colonoscopy humor that you only get when you are awake – you just have to be there.)

Power of Posture: The Reach Nia Routine

One of the very first things we notice about others on a subconscious level is posture and body language. We form impressions about people we don't know, often without conscious understanding of how we arrived at those ideas.  An example of how I came to notice this: when I first started dating my partner, Austin, I went to the O'Henry Pun-off in Austin, Texas and noticed him up on the stage performing the role of moderator.  I sat in the audience a little irate that he did not mention he was doing this.  (What's up with that guy?)  After a while, I realized that the guy on stage who looks and sounds a lot like Austin, was probably his brother.  Now that I know his brother, they look nothing alike, except for the same mouth, his brother is taller, has curly hair and more of it, their eyes look nothing alike. I was picking up on posture and body language - and it was screaming at me - this is the guy!  Now that I am familiar with both of them, I can't see the body language similarities the way I did when the relationship was new.

Our posture lets others know our habitual states of mind:  are we upbeat? Are we chronically depressed or worried?  Do we move with grace and vitality, or do we drag ourselves through life?  Are we optimistic, or do we tend to look for things to go wrong?  Our physical presence is constantly broadcasting messages to others, whether we care to or not.  Having been on the planet long enough to observe how others age, one thing I have noticed about postural deterioration in aging is that working out with weights, or even various forms of ethnic dance do not prevent the hunching or gait issues I associate with less-than-graceful aging.  At a recent yoga workshop I attended, the instructor said something along the lines of, "forgive yourself for your posture, it's not yours."  We get it from our parents, our culture, our lifestyle habits, and from our mental and emotional habits.  Improving posture requires diligent, but relaxed, practice.  We can't force ourselves into "good" posture, we relax our patterns of holding (body/mind/emotions) and ALLOW an upright, comfortable posture.

Nia is a movement and lifestyle practice and a lot of the postural cuing I use in my classes comes from Alexander Technique, one of the movement forms the Nia Technique is based on.  "Sensing yourself being lifted from the top" or "being drawn up like like a plant towards the sun" offers a sense of lightness and ease in sensing our way into a comfortable, upright posture.  Other cues you hear me say might be"lifting your heart" and "allowing the shoulder blades to slide down the back." What does any of this have to do with the Reach Routine?

This week we are learning the Reach Routine, developed by my first Nia teacher and trainer, Holly Nastasi.  Reach is designed to help release holding and tension around the shoulder girdle.  We think of the shoulder girdle as the scapula (shoulder blade), the humerous (upper arm bone), and the clavicle, the small bone that rests at the anterior top of the rib cage and connects the humerous to the sternum.  True freedom in the shoulder girdle allows for full range of motion, lots of space between the shoulder and the ear, and an open-hearted posture (the shoulder blades can relax down and back, and the shoulders do not hunch forward).  We will be moving in ways that promote flexibility, mobility of the shoulder joints, and stabilizing the shoulders by building more strength in the core muscles that support the arms and shoulders.  I hope to see you in class (either Timberhill Athletic Club, or Chintimini this week.  See my schedule in the sidebar.

What kind of messages do you want your posture to send out to the world?  Open-heartedness? Happiness?  Ease?  Freedom?  Uprightness?  Your steady, diligent, relaxed, gentle movement practice can get you there.

For a little more on posture see The Science Behind Posture and How it Affects Your Brain.

The Power of the Punch! (or block, or kick)

Someone recently brought up feeling uncomfortable with the more 'aggressive' moves in class.  And I thank her so much for acknowledging and voicing the concern.  I have observed that some (mostly women) have a difficult time with the TaiKwanDo moves and stating "no."  I have also observed that some women, in particular, find a lot of enjoyment/relief/gratification (not sure exactly) from the same moves and sounds.  It's like they've waited their whole lives to freely express.  Some of us (myself included) have had to sit on our energy a lot in order to be socially acceptable.  Our culture has a lot of judgmental labels for women who are strong, passionate, and stand for something.  (Example: the way Hillary was bashed for talking about health care in the '90s!!!!)  Blocks are always about boundary setting.  Sounding, for me, is about owning my voice.  A lack of respect for women's boundaries pervades our culture.  (The entire abortion 'debate' is about who gets to control women's bodies.)  Often women who have been abused have difficulty with this whole issue of setting and protecting their own boundaries, and the practice of owning and voicing boundaries can be one of the most healing things we do in a Nia class.

Another aspect:  there are things in this world that are not OK.  It is not OK for criminals to steal over 300 girls and the whole world to just stand around twiddling thumbs (while they continue to steal more girls).  We have the technology to have done a lot (particularly at first) and we didn't.  It is easy to be angry about those things and have no where to put it.  So, I have my own outrage, and I express for those who can't.  No!  This needs to stop!  Owning my outrage and having an expressive outlet for it feels healthier than shrugging my shoulders and feeling powerless.

Another part of it is:  we can never truly say yes when we cannot truly say no.  Saying no and yes are powerful statements.  This is where I put my energy, this is where I won't.  So many of us have obligations all over the place and they drain energy.  We often take things on with a sense of joy and hopefulness, then get overloaded and frazzled.  So, stopping and noting:  this feeds me, this doesn't, and rearranging priorities helps.  Yes to this, no to that - frees energy and passion.  It can happen in class - you are just saying "No" (because its in the choreography), when the thing you need to say no to (and haven't, yet) shows up.  Some of us have had very stressful jobs at times, and going to Nia and sounding yes!, no!, and HUH! can be a safe outlet for frustration arising from work or family problems.

Yet another way to look at it is:  it's all energy.  It's neither masculine or feminine.  Would you mess with a cute bear cub if you knew it's mama was around?  Mama bear energy looks dangerous and aggressive.  Sometimes there is a reason for that energy that is neither negative or positive - it just is.  And we are wise to be aware of it. 

Now, I love the feeling of aliveness, freedom, and connecting to passion that I get when I make those powerful sounds - yes! no! huh! and movements - punch, block, strike, kick.  I get so much joy from sensing the power of the stance (my legs), my core, and my voice.  Come to Nia and celebrate the raw power of your own physicality.  RAH!  Own it!  It's YOURS!  

Do you have any insights to share about your experience of these energies in class?  If so, comment below.

Cultivating Compassion

I end each Nia class with a few statements from a lovingkindness meditation.  This is not a part of The Nia Technique, it is something I bring to my Nia practice.  Many years ago, I was a volunteer facilitator of a support group for adults with chronic and life threatening diseases at the Austin Center for Attitudinal Healing (based on the work of Jerald Jampolsky, MD).  One of the most profound activities we did in group was a version of the lovingkindness meditation by Stephen Levine - and we practiced this periodically.  When we are healing anything in ourselves, extending lovingkindness - happiness, our wish for others to be free of suffering, and to be liberated takes a load off our own hearts.  It expands the space for us to relax and allow our own healing.  The longer meditation that we used in group extended lovingkindness to ourselves first, then out to others, the planet, and the most healing part was extending lovingkindness to those we have issues with.  Lovingkindness practice is an opportunity to unbind the heart.  Once in a while, I do a class with lovingkindness as the focus and we do a longer version (by Jack Kornfield) at the end.

Lovingkindness practice has its origin in the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Tong Lin.  Here is a link to a short video of Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron explaining Tong Lin, with an invitation to practice for a minute.  Studies on the effects of "compassionate meditation" conducted by neuroscientist Richard Davidson (using functional magnetic resonance imaging) at the University of Wisconsin found that Buddhist monks who had practiced what I might call lovingkindness meditation for many years could maintain and extend compassion when shown a series of disturbing photos.  Images that provoked fear, repulsion, or 'fight or flight' dynamics in untrained control subjects drew the monks into a deeper state of compassionate meditation as they extended lovingkindness towards the suffering they witnessed.  One possible conclusion I submit might be that practicing lovingkindness increases emotional resilience, it improves the likelihood that we can keep our hearts open in the face of suffering of our fellow beings on planet earth - and continue to extend lovingkindness.

Dancing Nia opens our hearts, cleanses our bodies and minds, and promotes fitness and self care.  Including lovingkindness in class is an invitation to expand the heart around suffering of any kind, our own, or someone else's (instead of contract in fear).  If I offer a reminder to hold the the girls in Nigeria, or the families of a victim in a school shooting in our lovingkindness - know that your heart is big enough to expand around and hold their perceived suffering in a state of love.  We work to that end in every class.  We're big - our lovingkindness embraces the whole planet.

Healing Structures

This week in my own practice, I have been focusing on releasing structures that inhibit healing:  thoughts, emotions, judgments, familiar patterns that may not serve me.  It's easier to see those structures in other people:  the rounded shoulders and sunken chest of depression, the shoulders hugging the ears of fear or anxiety, the head forward and fast gait of someone lost in thought or worry.  And, it can often surprise me when I catch a glimpse of myself passing a window and realize how I am holding myself.  It's a potent reminder of how the thoughts in our heads manifest as physical structures in our bodies.

We latch on to these structures of thought and feelings that are reflected in our bodies as a means of protecting ourselves, maybe from a situation or relationship that happened in the past.  And, sometimes those structures cause pain - physical or emotional, or make it difficult to heal physical conditions for us now.  Coping mechanisms that helped us in the past are rarely appropriate now.  Sometimes we carry a structural pattern that we learned from our parents - it provided safety for them or their parents, but not for us now.  So, I use my awareness of movement in class to help correct unhelpful structures in my body and mind, and carry that awareness into the rest of my day.

There are many different ways to become more aware of physical/mental/emotional structures - notice what happens when you shift your posture, lift the sternum or gaze.  Another way we sometimes use with the routine Mystere is to move like somebody or something else.  Let go of moving the way you move.  Be somebody else.  With Mystere, we have the magic and mystery of the Cirque du Soliel soundtrack and the inspiration of the acrobats we've seen to play with, as well as the cue of 'exploring with the eyes.'  Sometimes I invite you to wear something different, something you would not normally wear to class, a costume, or a skirt (if you don't usually wear one), a scarf - as an awareness tool.  When you notice this unusual thing, it's a reminder to alter your movement, ever so slightly - to break out of what is customary for you.  You can practice this awareness any time, in class, in daily life, or in extraordinary situations.  Have fun releasing limitations and building healthy new structures!

Dancing with the spirit of Maya Angelou

So many of our cultural heros/heroines over the last century have been humanized to death, knocked off their pedestals by gossip about their vices and short-coming, that I often tend to live as though there are no heros/heroines, assuming we have to blaze our own trail to truth and wholeness.  Then someone like Maya Angelou dies and, "oh yeah, there are people who have inspired me with their example," they've lived and died among us.   Fortunately, Maya Angelou left so much of herself in those of us who have been inspired by her life, that in a sense, her passing back into that space from which we all arise, has made her that much bigger.  Bigger than life:  that's what we expect from a heroine, isn't it?

Maya Angelou danced, sang, and spoke her truth without apology.  Her voice was thick and rich as molasses, full of earth, sweat, sexiness, and sassiness.  It took no prisoners.  Did it offend some?  Probably.  Did it bother her?  Who knows?  She lived as though it did not.  She lived openly and freely.  Nothing for gossip mongers to latch on to and knock down.  She turned her suffering into precious jewels and shared them with all of us.  And so we danced - to fully acknowledge the gifts we have received from this great lady:  truth, beauty, sassiness, sexiness, the power of our unique voices, the joy of expression, the joy of connection in our admiration for her and her gifts.  And we danced to send her off in love and to celebrate a life well lived.

We danced Moodfood with a couple of extras:
Still I Rise
People Get Ready

Talk on Nia: Life as Art - Tuesday April 29th

I will be presenting a class Life as Art: An Exploration of Movement, Meaning, and Mindfulness at 9:30am on Tuesday April 29th, 2014. This is for the Academy for Lifelong Learning in Corvallis. It will last 2 hours, or a little less. I will be deconstructing a Nia class and illuminating many little details about what goes into each part, the value and purpose of many of the things we do in Nia. Basically, things you pick up as a student over a long period of time, but would not know as a new or even fairly new Nia student. Lots of little juicy details that make Nia such an extraordinary practice. First Congregational Church, 4515 SW West Hills Road, Corvallis.  FREE!!!

2014 One Billion Rising Flashmob!

Here's our flashmob!  April 19th, 2014 at the Farmers's market.  Why it matters: One Billion Rising is an international organization dedicated to ending violence against women. While violence against women has been institutionalized for millennia, NEVER in the history of humanity has there been a rally this big (planetary) to break the chain of violence. We are creating history. Changing our story. And as cultures learn to appreciate women and stop treating us like things, we change the way we relate to our MOTHER - Earth. It's all related. HAPPY EARTH (MOTHER) DAY!

One Billion Rising Flashmob this Saturday April 19th 10:15am...

At the Corvallis Farmer's Market.  We'll huddle at the fountain at first and Jackson around 10:00am.  If you can't make it to the huddle, join us for the dance at 10:15am at 1st and Jackson.  We'll be on Jackson street.  Please don't block first street.  The introduction will be done by a child, Cleo, then we will all join when the rhythm picks up.  We'll be wearing purple, the color of domestic violence awareness.  If you forget, or don't have purple, no problem, come as you are.  If you feel shy, join the dance later - during the freedance or the last chorus (we repeat the chorus move 8 times).  It's the first outdoor farmer's market of the year and you won't want to miss it.  You'll be there anyway, so might as well dance!

What does Nia do for you? From Timberhill Athletic Club Newsletter

As a long time student and instructor of the Nia Technique, a body/mind fitness class at Timberhill, I can say that it gives me vitality, well-being, fitness, joy, a passion for living, and it keeps me connected to my heart and my highest purpose.  I often feel like a broken record trying to describe what it is to those who have not done it – and, like chocolate, it must be tasted – it can’t be adequately described.  So, I invited some of the Nia regulars to tell you what they get out of class and here are excerpts from some of their comments.  (A heart-felt THANK YOU to all who participated!)  You, too, can experience the joy of moving and being in your body, no previous experience necessary.  Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7:00pm and Sunday morning at 11:30am.

I love that Nia has the power to make me forget I'm exercising, because it's so fun. Nia is based on a variety of movement traditions, including martial arts, yoga, and modern dance, and I feel that my body and spirit receive a wide range of benefits, from stretching to strengthening to cardio.  Nia is exploration through movement--it never gets boring! ~ K.M.

Nia provides regular practice of awareness of my body in space and is gradually allowing me to move with more freedom and awareness in all of my life. ~ C.S.

Nia class is perfect for my physical level with enjoyment.  When I do Nia I can release tension and feel peace of mind.  ~ M.K.

This class is an excellent combination of aerobics, muscle training, coordination training and stretching.  It also helps me relax mentally. ~ S.N.

After trying a variety of classes over the years, I've found the one that gives me strength training, agility and flexibility work, and cardio benefits like no other.  It's a fun fusion of dance, martial arts, and healing arts with great music!  There's no strain for perfection in a Nia class.  You'll find a variety of dancers of different body sizes and fitness levels smiling as we move through our own personal adaptation of the moves trusting ourselves as we make each hour of exercise our own. ~ L.F.

In one word answers : Joy,  release,  balance.  A low back injury forced me to let go of running,  Zumba,  belly dancing,  and several other activities through which I'd previously found fitness and peace of mind.  When I dance Nia I feel confident that I can choose the right level of intensity to take care of my back, and still experience fitness and cardiovascular wellness. ~ C.F.

I enjoy Nia because it's fun to dance. Out of all the classes I take at Timberhill I think I smile the most in [Nia] class. ~ GA

I’ve enjoyed the flowing movement of the Nia class that prompts you to listen to your body.  The instructor is a role model and very supportive in class.  For those who have said to me, “I can’t do the Nia class because you have to be bare foot and I have flat feet”, I'll say to them, it’s o.k. to wear shoes, I do! ~  P.N.

I would love to share what I get from NIA. I tell people it is my church. The most open hearted, uplifting, emotional, mindful congregation I have experienced. My body feels more flexible and elastic, including my organs. And joyfully, my mind. Setting new patterns and intentions. ~S.S.

I love Nia because it improves my strength, my energy and my flexibility all at once and absolutely painlessly, without any drudgery, without having to memorize drills or movements, and it lifts my spirits. I can come to class feeling tired, depressed and/or stressed, and I leave loosened up and full of joy and energy. ~ C.S.

I love Leela's Nia class because no matter what my mood is at the start, I feel light and happy by the end of class.  Also, it is exercise but feels like fun, not work, the time flies by. ~ S.K.

Nia is a freeing, gratifying experience that is so much soul-soothing fun you hardly realize you're also getting a great workout.  ~ M.W.

Nia gives you physical and emotional strength to help you in your personal journey through life.  I have health issues that have become easier to overcome since I started Nia.  I highly recommend the class to everyone who wants to enjoy creating a healthy workout program for your body and soul. ~ V.B.

I notice when I do Nia I move through the world more gracefully for days afterward, lighter in body and spirit. It's amazing for the body and helps lift the late winter doldrums! ~ G.W.

Nia is the best "full body" workout I've found. It's energizing and aerobic, yet gentle to my old injuries. I really enjoy the variety of music exercise routines. Leela is a fantastic instructor!  ~ M.F.

Nia is like yoga for my mind & spirit; I feel looser, more flexible at work and I feel like dancing around the kitchen at home.  It's cool that it incorporates Martial arts moves and concepts. Nia is powerful and playful- a fun and challenging practice for me. ~ K.M.

The movements, music and directions of Leela during the class, stimulate positive thinking and helps you start feeling more confident, happy and hopeful. Every time I go to classes I feel more positive about myself and others…. Sometimes I am dancing but at the same time I am praying and sending love and strength to my loved ones. I am very grateful and feel very lucky to have met Leela and Nia. It is not just a class - it is a way of living. ~ M.I.S.

Here's the Newsletter article.  Please feel free to add your comments below.

Cultivating Creativity Through Movement: a free workshop

If you have attended my classes, Nia or Fit for Life, you may have noticed we start off differently than most fitness classes.  Most classes start out with a fast, boom-boom warm-up.  I tend to start out slow.  There are physical reasons to start out slow:  check out your body, the condition of your joints, discover where you need more or different movement (what feels good?) as well as what hurts, or where you need to modify movements to find more comfort or avoid injury.  Decelerating, or slowing down also helps us to slow the mind and enter a different brain state than we normally walk around in.  This brain state can help us learn movement easier, it stimulates relaxation, and it expands our creative horizons – if we choose to go there.

On Saturday, Feb 15^th at 4:00pm I will be presenting a workshop called Cultivating Creativity through Movement at the Symposium on Transformation without Apocaplypse:  How to Live Well on an Altered Planet.  We can’t solve the problems of our time in the same mindset that created them.  Movement, music, and specific exercises can help us enter into an expanded state of connectedness, mutual inspiration,  and open us to seeing things in novel ways - connecting the dots differently.  Curious about brain states and how you can use your time in class more creatively?  Perhaps even dream up an out of the ordinary solution to a problem you are working on?  Check out this FREE workshop at the symposium.  More about the symposium at the LaSells Stewart Center here.  It features a lot of great keynote speakers, including Ursula Le Guin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Kathleen Dean Moore, and Sarah Van Gelder.  It will be an inspiring weekend (including the flashmob on Friday evening).

Rise! Dance! Strike! One Billion Rising

We're doing the One Billion Rising Flashmob again this year.  However, the V-Day event is now postponed because of impending flooding, deluge, etc.  It will be rescheduled for a much nicer day in April at a wonderful location.  I've been waiting to hear if something might happen indoors V-Day - but no word.  So, unless you get an emergency email - it's off for Friday 2/14/14.

One Billion Rising is an international organization dedicated to ending violence against women.  While violence against women has been institutionalized for millennia, NEVER in the history of humanity has there been a rally this big (planetary) to break the chain of violence.  We are creating history.  Changing our story.  And as cultures learn to appreciate women and stop treating us like things, we change the way we relate to our MOTHER - Earth.  It's all related.

The links you need to participate:
To sign up and find out about group rehearsals and any changes - and make your presence known!
To follow on facebook
Choreography tutorial
See last years flashmob

Where's the Gift?

Dawn came up after class with the most beautiful, touching insight – that I just had to explore it a little more than we could in the moment.  She said that she was thinking of her excess weight as stored energy (not a new idea to her) and wondered – since it is energy – how could she use it to make a contribution?  How could she make a gift of this energy?  [As opposed to thinking of it as something to get rid of.]  She acknowledged that in an agricultural society, people did physical work and used most of their energy, and that this is no longer the case.  As she was puzzling over ideas to appropriately use that stored energy, she thought of biking out to visit the father of a friend who is home-bound.  The thought of making sacred, or making a gift of something that we may be accustomed to seeing as a bother or a problem intrigues me.

Just that morning, I found out that a zumba class had been scheduled at the same time as my evening Nia class, only a half hour earlier – a more desirable time.  This is a worrisome situation for me.  I love my classes so much that I feel grief when I think that my classes may be cancelled because people prefer the better time or other class.  I longed to make a shift that would allow me to see the gift in this – so Dawn’s insight came at just the right time for me.  (Amazing how that happens – thank you for sharing it, Dawn!)  It seemed so easy and natural to her when she told me about it.  And, we set ourselves up for insights by showing up, setting the stage with positive expectations (like we do in wellness coaching), and practice – like we do in class or meditation.  So, I’m guessing Dawn has a number of ways she sets herself up for such a happy insight.

So, techniques I can use to see things differently are:

•  Choosing love (instead of fear).  The classes are so sweet that it is easy to see the love there.  If the classes were to end soon, did I love as much as I could, as deeply as I could, and appreciate everyone as much as I could?  None of us knows how much time we have left.  Will we leave any love unexpressed, anyone unacknowledged?  What can I do to share my love and appreciate more.
• Teach every class as if it were the last.  Again, we never know.  If I knew that this would be my last day on earth, how would I want to show up?
•  Practice being at home in the unknown instead of worrying about what might, or might not happen.  When my mind wants to dwell on the potential loss, stop and celebrate what I have. 

Dawn’s insight adds purpose and meaning to something loaded with negative feelings for most people.  I’m guessing it allows her to live with a greater sense of peace and the joy of making a contribution.  By giving her gift of energy – she becomes the gift.  I’m hoping my strategies will help me live with greater peace, love, and passion through this potentially challenging transition. 

How could you transform the way you look at a challenge in your life to find a greater sense of peace and purpose?  Feel free to comment.

Notes About Posture

If you attend my classes with any regularity, you have probably noticed that I cue a lot for posture.  (And I can never say everything I want to express about it, not even in this blog.)  Our posture determines how comfortable we are in our bodies.  It even predicts how comfortable we will be in the future.  As a tall child, I was often told to "suck that tummy in and stick your chest out" by folks who never modeled that behavior themselves.  As a result, I copied what I saw, not what I was told.  This could be true for you, too.  We learn to walk from modeling mom's posture, if she was the primary caregiver (eventually, boys may try to copy dad).  So look at your mom's or dad's posture and see if you notice a similarity.  Given that these postural habits predict where we hold tension or pain, is any similarity something you prefer, or not?

We live our lives walking, standing, sitting, and lying down.  Pretty much the same way day in, day out.  Our posture creates patterns of holding which become stuck over time as connective tissue shrinks to fit our posture and becomes more rigid.  The beauty of a practice, such as dance or yoga, is the way it encourages us to stretch and move beyond our habitual patterns.  Dance allows our movement to flow, it introduces grace, fluidity, and increased mobility.  It gets us unstuck from our postural habits and allows us to develop new ones.

Some of my postural cues are: lift your heart, lift your sternum, allow the shoulder blades to slide down the back, float the chin, relax the jaw, sense yourself suspended from the top of your head, allow the spine to dangle or flow down from the top of the head, bend the knees slightly, palms up - opens the heart, and many more I can't think of right now.  The cuing, the flow of the dance, the beauty (or fun) of the music, the joy of being surrounded by other dancers, all allow us to just be - differently - in our bodies.  A lot of the theory the cues are based on comes from Alexander Technique (moving from the top), and Feldenkrais (awareness through movement and sensation).  Both of these healing methods involve gentle changes in alignment, nothing radical -- like tuck your tummy and stick your chest out!  It seems to be working because I have witnessed tremendous postural changes in those who have come to class regularly (and practiced) for several years.  The ultimate goal is to dance out of class and into the rest of our lives, pain-free, with the same grace and ease we practice in class.  It's not just an exercise class - it's about how we live in our bodies, how we feel in our bodies.  When we lift our our hearts, we feel better.  When we feel better, we're more willing to be generous and contribute to making the world a better place.  (Oh-oh, the secret agenda is out!  And you are allowed to think it is just an exercise class, if you want.)

Why do we do it barefooted?

The Nia technique was designed for bare feet. We move differently than we do in shoes. Using the whole foot in our dance creates more strength, flexibility, and awareness of sensation and proprioception in the feet. 'The foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, and over 100 muscles, ligaments, and tendons' (from the Lin article below) - in other words, feet are made to move, as with any muscles you don't use, certain muscles in your feet will atrophy when immobilized most of the time.  I practiced Nia in bare feet for about 13 years without any problems with my feet or knees when I began teaching zumba - with shoes. I immediately noticed knee pain, from hitting the ground harder in shoes than I would in bare feet. The fast, lateral movement aggravated the problem. I found that I had to slowly adapt my zumba to my body in order to avoid pain. So, my zumba class was different than most.

The Nia step comes from tai chi, which is traditionally practiced without a lot of padding on the feet. Even as the music and movement heats up, the contact with the floor remains light and easy. I like to tell my classes that we feel the power primarily in our thighs and core, not by slamming the floor with our feet. That said, some students come into Nia with preexisting foot problems, and their doctors recommend shoes, or they may have diabetes, or neuropathy. You can dance Nia with shoes, there is no pressure to take them off, and, you might consider taking them off during the cool-down to build better balance and stability.  Feel free to start slow with bare feet (maybe just walking around at home or in the slow part of class.   From the Christine Lin article below on exercising in bare feet: "essentially, you're renewing all the neurological connections you formed as a toddler but have lost since you learned to tie your shoelaces."  Welcome home to your body!

For a great story on the benefits of working out in bare feet, see:  http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/  The article has amazing artwork, to boot!   

Another interesting article:  http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/08/20/213882836/golden-arches-human-feet-more-flexible-than-we-thought?sc=ipad&f=1001

And yet another very interesting article (Christine Lin):  http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/117003-doctors-orders-take-your-shoes-off/

Soul Nia workshop -

Join us for a couple hours of deepening our relationship to the 52 basic moves of the Nia Technique.  Here is how Nia Technique describes the music of Soul:  Earthy and raw, this routine blends the percussive, live instrumentation of Native American music with thick electronic beats, awakening the primal dance within. 

Saturday, August 31

2:00 – 4:30 PM

Downtown Dance

223 NW 2nd St., Corvallis

Cost: $25 by August 25

($30 thereafter)

•  Learn the basic moves we do in every Nia class
• Practice and build confidence and comfort with the moves
•  Learn ways to modify the moves to meet your needs
•  Learn how you can increase intensity for a more dynamic workout
•  Learn how you can decrease intensity to heal a physical challenge or if you are just beginning your exercise program.
•  Learn a new Nia routine ~ SOUL ~ which incorporates the 52 basic Nia moves. We will be doing this routine in our regular Nia class for the following week, so you can feel grounded in the moves and in the routine.

Come to class or contact me to reserve your space!