Return to Nia!

[qos]

Tonight I went to my first Nia class since my knee injury sidelined me. (I got the permission of my physical therapist first.)

It was great!
In fact, not only had I forgotten how pleasurable it was, I was delighted by how quickly the moves came back to me. I had a bit of trouble with a combination step, but other than that, I remembered both the techniques and the patterns/rhythms.

Now I'm feeling pleasantly sweaty, with my whole body stretched out and alive.

Can't wait for next week!

Here's a video that does a good job capturing what a class can be like. Tonight's routine was much slower than most of this.


I'm also working on adding tai chi to my schedule. I like trail walking, but I'd like to get involved in more activities that get my whole body involved in a systematic way.

Now for a late, light supper and then some Buffy with Wolfling.

Comments

[watcher457.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. I've never actually seen Nia before. I miggt very seriously have to look into this.

[qos.livejournal.com]

http://www.niaseattle.com/drupal-5.6/

I go to the class at the Redmond Sr. Center.

[watcher457.livejournal.com]

There's classes at Nia Underground on Capitol Hill that I might try to start attending on Mondays starting in August. Is it hard to just jump in?

[qos.livejournal.com]

The first couple of sessions can be a bit tough, depending on how much cuing the instructor does. Mine didn't do any the first couple of times I was there. I had to just pay attention and do my best -- but because of the nature of Nia, there was no pressure to keep up. After the third or fourth session, I found that I had picked up the basic movement vocabulary and the rhythms of the routines.

If *I* can learn to do it, anyone can.

[qos.livejournal.com]

One of the basic tenets of Nia is that you only do movements that feel good. It makes Nia very different from any other form of exercise or dance that I've done.

[tamnonlinear.livejournal.com]

That looks like a wonderful and interesting form of exercise. I might find classes near me.

[qos.livejournal.com]

You'd probably really enjoy it. :-)

[neversremedy.livejournal.com]

That looks like a lot of fun, but they say it's a new way to get fit, yet it looks like a very old way of it to me. It's rather like the dance I do in my own living room when I'm not worried about choreography (which, since I graduated from high school is pretty much never). It seems to borrow from the free style dancing I've seen from decades of dance style evolution, starting from Isadora Duncan (my style has been compared to being similar to her own, although I would argue that I'm less likely to run in an arch around the stage). Of course, I don't dance every day anymore ... or even every week. So I'm curious, where is this taught? Do they have all ages classes?

[qos.livejournal.com]

I have no understanding of dance history, so I'm not equipped to assess which parts of Nia are new and which are not. They do make a point of saying that they borrow moves from several styles and disciplines, plus martial arts and yoga (the latter being in the cooldowns that I've done).

The URL for the local area is here: http://www.niaseattle.com/drupal-5.6/

I go Redmond Sr. Center on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6-7pm.

There are daytime classes as well.