I love this move for how it allows me to rotate my knee and my hip gently out and back in.

This move can be performed with power and speed. 

Meditation:  Speed can be the illusion of mastery.  Moving too slowly can create false security. I'm talking daily living here.  Don't be fooled by EITHER a speedily produced end result or an end result that took longer than necessary.  I blogged recently about stepping out of the comfort zone. Sometimes we need to slow down if our tendency is to rush, rush, rush and sometimes we need to just pull up the anchor and speed things up a bit.

Do you have a particular tendency?  My tendency is to multi-task and get a lot of things done in a short amount of time.  My husband is the same way.  We both are learning to slow things down just a bit, so that we can enjoy more of what life has to offer in the moment.  

The same thing can be said about moving too slowly -- one misses out on what life has to offer since it's always about the game of having to play "catch up".  

We all need to find the place where there is neither the illusion of mastery by moving too fast nor creating a false security by moving too slowly.

Our minds and bodies get to reap the rewards when we find that "perfect pace".

This move may look and sound easy, but alternately lifting the toes and balls of the feet is a work out!  I like noticing the difference between Squish Walk and Duck Walk and the adapting my body has to do to perform each of these moves.  Both of the moves work my abdominals, however, in Duck Walk I find my tendency is to lean forward a bit more. Interesting!

Meditation:  The Art of Playfulness is something adults seemingly have to relearn.  As children, playfulness is part of one's being.  As we mature, playfulness has a way of moving into the background.  We lose our spontaneity, and when we do find ourselves spontaneously playful, the ego mind tells us we're silly and advises us to stop.  

There are so many ways to bring playfulness back into our daily living.  Laughing, giggling, rolling on the floor, or quacking like a duck as we practice our Duck Walk!!! We can dance and be playful, we can sing and be playful, we can paint and be playful. The Art of Playfulness is not so much in WHAT we do, but the SPIRIT in which we do it. I can be playful AND do just about anything.

There are two fitness practices that invite playfulness.  The first is Nia...a joyful dance (thus the name of this blog).  The second is Ageless Grace which has 21 simples tools for lifelong comfort and ease.  One of the tools is called "Saving Face" -- we make silly faces, squinch up our noses, purse our lips, stick out our tongues, lift and lower our eyebrows like Groucho Marx -- all done to work the muscles of the face and neck.

You can find out more information about Nia by checking out www.nianow.com.  For more information on Ageless Grace go to www.agelessgrace.com.  You can also contact me for more information -- I teach both of these marvelous, magical fitness practices.

So go ahead...be playful today.  Smile for no reason.  Snicker.  Giggle.  Laugh. Guffaw. Purse your lips and offer the world a kiss of your playful spirit!!

Quack, quack!!

I love Squish Walk.  It can be practiced in Closed, Open, A or Sumo Stances.  It can be practiced at any speed.  I love the sensation of the muscles in the backs of my legs, and articulation of the ankle and my heel raises and lowers.  I also love the image of squishing a lemon under my heel as it comes down -- lemonade is one of my favorite summer drinks! Squish Walk improves balance, posture, range of motion and stability in the feet and ankles.

Meditation:   When and where are you willing to go beyond your comfort zone?  I'm not just talking with Nia.  Principle #7 of Nia's White Belt is "The Three Planes of Movement and the Three Levels of Intensity."  Nia allows for going beyond your comfort zone through using this principle when you're in class, but how can you utilize this principle in everyday activities and daily living?  It's the beauty of Nia -- it's not just a cardio fitness program...it's a lifestyle practice.  

Guide your exertion level in any activity by consciously choosing to use a smaller range of motion and the least amount of exertion or consciously choose a broader range of motion which requires more exertion.  The choice can be made in any moment based on one's physical capabilities, emotional and/or mental stability and one's own ability for unique creative expression.  

Go ahead...step out of your comfort zone today.  It doesn't mean you need to go completely hog wild -- the governing factor here is to "consciously" choose your thoughts, your words and your actions.  

Step into your greatness...squish that lemon and feel the juicy-ness of life being lived to your highest vision!

Keep the Upper Extremeties loose and knees relaxed as you rock back lifting toes, rock right shifting weight, rock front lifting heels and rock left shifting weight - make this one fluid motion as if balancing and rolling on top of a ball.  Be playful!!  Change directions.

I just did it ... perfectly!  WOW!  That's a treat!  I've never felt very adept at doing this move; however, I've discovered that it helps to follow the instructions for the performing the move! In the past, I've always started with my toes lifted and then rocking around...this never felt very balanced at all.  Now that I've actually read HOW the move starts -- lifting the heels first -- and I've practiced it a number of time...HA!  Easy schmeasy.  

Go ahead, do it!!  Make sure your feet are LESS than hip width apart -- I found that "less" is better for my body.  Lift your heels, then rock around to the right (clockwise) sensing the edges of the your feet -- the toes really just naturally lift as the rocking around continues.  I also found that if I thought about it too much the move became a challenge.  If I just went with the path of least resistance and left my feet doing the rocking around the clock, my body just naturally knew what to do.

Have I told you how much I love Nia?

Meditation:  We make things more difficult in our minds than is really necessary. Often we just need to let go of how we think things should be, and let them take their natural course -- the path of least resistance.  

Can you think of a circumstance in the past that if you had let go of how you thought it should've been and followed the path of least resistance, the outcome might have been more pleasing?  I can.  There are plenty of examples in my past where my need for control, my need to manipulate the situation resulted in something not very pleasing. There are also many examples in my past where I have let go -- where I have not thought about how something should work, where I have trusted life -- "rocked around the clock" so to speak, without a hitch.  The result?  Joyous, mahhhvelous, enchanting, magical...

Is it possible for you and are you willing to consider something current in your life -- that you either have thoughts about how it should be or someone else told you that it should be -- and see it with new eyes?  Let go...follow the path of least resistance and see where it leads.  Often it leads to exactly the right outcome.  Life is amazing when we let it live us.

Day 10 of 52:  Releve' - Practicing Releve' improves agility, speed and whole-body coordination.  Begin to take a step forward or at an angle, leading with the heel, roll up on to the ball of the foot.  The Core (pelvis, chest and head) is relaxed, as are the Upper Extremeties (arms, hands, fingers).  Use Releve' to develop a sense of lightness.  

Releve' is different from "Ball of the Foot" (where the move is to step onto the ball of the foot).  In Releve', we lead with the heel and then roll up on to the ball of the foot. It's specific, precise.  I find my tendency is to want to go straight up onto the ball of my foot rather than leading with the heel first.  When I lead with the heel there are so many more muscles, tendons and bones used!  I am amazed when I move in slow motion with Releve' how much more aware I must be of balancing.  I am more aware of my quadriceps and my knee when performing the Releve' move.  My Upper Extremeties are engaged in Releve'. Until I started practicing each of this move, I was not aware of how much my arms and hands had the sensation of lightness in Releve'.

Meditation:  A certain heaviness surrounds the affairs of the world.  Fear, anger, separation, war, judgment -- the news is full of these heavy laden emotions.  The choice (free will) is always present to become identified with the heaviness or to remain identified with the Lightness of Being.  When identifying with the affairs of the world, Accusation, Blame and Criticism are prevalent. We begin to find fault in ourselves as well as others (those closest to us and those we don't even know).  However, when we remain identified with the lightness of being, the affairs of the world are manageable, tolerable.  The affairs of the world become secondary to expressing the Truth of Being.

I'm not a religious person.  I do not go to church, but I do live my life knowing and loving my connection with God.  I've heard and I've read the quote "my yoke is easy and my burden is light" since childhood.  It has only been in the last 10 years though that I've come to understand the truth of it. My burden is not "light" as in not heavy, but "Light" as in radiance.  How heavy can radiance be? The song "He's Not Heavy, He's My Brother" has a whole new meaning to me.

Our "yoke" is to be of service...our "burden" is to shine our light.  

Let love radiate!

This is such a fun move for me.  When I was younger, and worked in the corporate world, I wore high heels -- oh, come on, let's be serious -- I wore SPIKE heels and I loved them, they made my 5' 3" frame look tall and I felt very graceful.  

I don't wear high heels anymore (let alone spike heels), however, I am able to re-create that sensation of gracefulness by using the "Ball of the Foot" move.  Although it sounds simple, it takes a bit of practicing to press into the ball of the foot and really lift the heel. That's why I love the image of "walking in high heels."  

So go ahead.  Stand as if you were in high heels, keeping the heels off the floor.  Keep your toes relaxed.  Begin to walk around on the balls of your feet.  Using this move can definitely improve posture!!

Meditation:  I'm enamored by the term "grace under pressure."  It's a sensation for which I strive every day.  Living in this crazy world is a journey...more like an adventure.  There is pressure everywhere.  I once had a mentor of mine tell me to "welcome pressure."  If we're always looking to avoid pressure, then we never really get to see what we're truly made of. We need to be able to move quickly, we need to be flexible, we need to yield where it is required, and we need to stand rock solid on the balls of our feet (or in our spike heels) when necessary, too.

When I'm under pressure, "grace" would not be the first word used to describe me, but I am learning to manuever more gracefully in times of stress and I'm enjoying the journey.

Today, let go of any feelings of constriction, welcome spontaneity.  See the unexpected (like 5" of snow when it was just supposed to be a dusting) as your invitation...an opportunity to welcome pressure.  Release limitations and allow the energy of "grace" to move you.

The chart above indicates the "reflexology" points and what part of the body is stimulated when massaging the foot.  My husband gives me a foot massage almost every night.  I'm indeed a lucky Nia dancer...

I invite you to stand in Closed Stance (big toes touching, heels slightly apart), then move into Open Stance and "A Stance".  Sense "Whole Foot".  Now step in Bow Stance -- the front foot is Whole Foot, the back foot is rests on the ball of the foot with the heel up. Move back into "A Stance" and then create Cat Stance.  The supporting leg has the Whole Foot sensation for grounding and balance.  Walk around using Whole Foot (not Heel Lead).  Feel your feet as drums on the earth.  

Meditation:  I was reading the other day from a publication entitled, The Pulse of Spirit. In it was this passage talking about the difference between being "spatially oriented" and oriented in time.  

"It is important, if you have a piece of equipment that you’re trying to operate, to know where all the parts are and how they fit together. And it might even be important to know the names of the various parts.

The spatially oriented part of the operator’s guide is important, but it may not be enough. Because even if you know where all the parts are and how they fit together, you have to know the steps to take to operate the equipment. You have to know how the equipment operates over time. So there is probably step number one, step number two, and so on. The instructions take you through time and the process by which the piece of equipment works."

I began to consider an analogy using this information on how we go about loving our bodies.  In Nia, we talk about "The Body's Way (TBW) -- moving the body the way the body was designed to move.  To do this, it's helpful to know the parts of the body and how they fit together and what those parts are called.  Most of us know that there is a head, usually two ears, two eyes, a mouth, two arms, two hands, 10 fingers (including the thumbs), a torso, two legs, two feet and ten toes.  Obviously there are many different formations of the human body, but those are the basic parts of the body.  

Do you know how many muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments and nerve endings are in each of those body parts?  Do you know how they are put together and how they're designed to work?  Unless you study anatomy, you probably don't know the answer to those questions.  

We were not given an Operating Manual when we were born.  Most of us have aches and pains, many of us have injuries related to not knowing how our body parts are put together and how they're designed to work.  Over time, we do begin to understand how our body works (or doesn't work).  It takes some discipline and effort to bring OUR Body's Way a little closer to the design of THE Body's Way.  

Ingredients:  Self-Love (Acceptance of what is); Desire (Passion) to Change.  

What other ingredients are necessary to Manifest the Changes you want in your life? (Hint:  It's not Ego)

Love Your Body, Love Your Life.

As you take a step forward, sensing the heel lead -- stop for a microsecond as you lift your toes. Notice the sensation in both legs.  In the leg that is leading forward, I sense the "dancer's muscle, anatomically known as the "gastrocnemius" muscle, and my achilles tendon activated.  I also sense a definite strength and stability in the other leg. It's so interesting to isolate all of these sensations.  I love Heel Lead -- it's one of the most natural for me of the 52 Moves of the Base.

Meditation:  Changing one letter, Heel Lead becomes Heal Lead.  As I manuever through my daily living, I have the opportunity to allow "healing" to lead the way. During the period of my "great purge" (toward the end of 2011), even though my body, my mind and my emotions were all experiencing great discomfort, the "I am healing" mantra of Spirit was ever-present.  

Our inner dialogue, the way we talk about ourselves is so important to our healing and transformation.  The next time you find yourself dishonoring the magnificence of your own body, mind or emotional realm....STOP.... and allow these words to penetrate through the armor:   "I am beautiful, I am healing, I am whole and complete."

There really is nothing else to say.

Day 6 of 52:  Cat Stance - Practicing Cat Stance improves balance which improves the ability to move at various speeds (agility).  Standing in place resting into one foot, balance yourself much like the photo above of the Karate Kid; however, you can press the foot that is up against the supporting leg.  Keep the knee and hip joint of your supporting leg soft and spring-loaded and keep your hips level.  This develops the agility for all of the movements that are required to balance on one leg.  Go ahead...do it and see what I mean!  Keep your elbows down and your hands and arms engaged.

I've always had a sense of balance -- in the physical sense.  It comes easy for me.  Not so for others.  Many of my Nia students do not feel they have a sense of balance.  I invite them to find "the sensation of balance" perhaps by touching the toes to the floor rather than lifting the entire foot up.  Balancing requires a quiet mind and a deliberate focus.

When I am practicing Cat Stance and actually find I am able to balance, my mind says, "YES!"  My emotional realm says, "YES!"  The physical sensation is "Ahhhhhhhhh, yessssss".

Meditation:  Balance is missing in the affairs of this crazy world.  There's not alot of "yes" that I hear.  It's mostly "no".  The ABCs of the world are Accusation, Blame and Criticism.  Sides are taken, lines are drawn, fingers are pointed and opinions are more important than expressing  

My mantra is "The ways of the world are not my ways".  The less time I spend in finding fault or wanting to blame and criticize something (or someone), the more time I can spend on finding Balance in MY world.  THE world may be out of balance and marked by fear and hate, but MY world -- and the things for which I am responsible -- can be one marked by love.  That is my choice in every moment.  Love or Fear?  It's your choice, too.

What does the physical sensation of balance feel like to you?  What does the Mental sensation of balance feel like to you? Again, list a few words or expressions that describe this sensation.   What does the Emotional sensation of balance feel like to you?

 Take a moment to jot down a few words or expressions that answer each of those questions for YOU personally.  If you feel that you have not had the experience of balance in the physical, mental or emotional realms, "imagine" it.  Describe it. And then manifest it.

You can do it.  Bring balance into your living.  If you don't do it, who will?

Day 5 of 52:  Bow Stance - Stand in Open Stance (feet hip width apart), then take a step back onto the ball of one foot.  Feet should still be hip width apart, as if standing on two separate railroad tracks.  Maintain balance by keeping knees slightly bent and back heel high.  Bow Stance builds powerful strength and agility in the legs and feet.  The 3 Planes of Movement (Principle #7 of Nia) are available with Bow Stance -- High, Middle and Low. Practicing Bow Stance is excellent conditioning for walking and for delaing with changes in levels, descending and ascending, changing the body's center of gravity.

Bow Stance can also be achieved from "A" Stance and Sumo Stance.  Stand in either "A" Stance or Sumo Stance and take a step back onto the ball of one foot.  My preference is Bow Stance from Sumo Stance.  The wider base makes it easier for me to descend and ascend.  There is more mobility in my pelvis and hips.  My range of motion throughout my body increases.  

Like Sumo Stance, I really love Bow Stance...my body has learned to descend and ascend easily in Bow Stance.  This was not always the case.  Rigidity moved into Flexibility and Mobility.  Experience and practice has allowed my body to adapt to the rising and lowering -- the changing of my body's center of gravity.  

Meditation:  One of my favorite aspects of Nia is it's adaptability to any body type, any size, any weight, any level of experience.  Adaptability.  I notice that my cats adapt to whatever changes occur in their environment.  It takes a little time and most cats are more comfortable with a set routine; yet they adapt to change very easily.  

Do you resonate with change?  I find that human beings actually do resonate with change, they adapt quite easily when the change is something they already want or desire.  When the change is sudden, unexpected, or if the person is being asked to change an attitude or a behavior, the adaptability tends to go out the window.  Change is the only constant in this world.  We can depend on it, so why is it that we tend to fight it?  

What changes are you willing to make?  Make a list.  Start with the small stuff -- the changes with which you can resonate.   Notice any resistance that appears as you continue to make a list of areas in your life where changes might be necessary -- food, exercise, addictive attitudes and behaviors.  

Change...adapt...change....adapt...