Nia ~ The 9 Movement Forms
Posted: Feb 9, 10:18 PMMartial Arts
Tai Chi
Nia moves inspired by Tai Chi focus on developing a relationship with your slow dance and learning to move from a lower center of gravity in the body, called the tan-tien – located two inches below the navel in the center of the pelvis. Moving from this center it is possible to develop sensory awareness and a nourishing energy relationship between your body and the world around you.
A Nia Tai Chi experience involves circular, elegant and soft movements, reminiscent of swimming in water. This fluidity gives definition to the body without the use of external weights and slowly and gently increases your range of motion. Coordinating arm, eye, and hand motions with the whole body creates graceful systemic movement without causing strain to the skeletal system. Moving slowly provides conditioning for the legs and increases flexibility. The energy of Tai Chi maximizes efficiency by using the basic locomotive move of leading with the heel and shifting body weight rather than dropping it.
Tae Kwon Do
Nia moves inspired by Tae Kwon Do place an emphasis on precision and on developing organic skill, the perfect balance between moving naturally while mechanically perfecting your technique.
A Nia Tae Kwon Do experience includes arm blocks, punches, thrusts, kicks, hand techniques, and the use of sound. Circular movements become powerful, directed, linear actions in an instant. Speed changes challenge quick and slow twitch muscle fibers and improve your strength, agility, mobility, stability, and overall coordination. The martial art stances, kicks, core, and hand and arm techniques are a cornerstone in the foundation of Nia choreography that makes it possible to receive cardiovascular benefits without repetitive jogging and jumping up and down. Learning to work from a place of dynamic control and balance, you benefit from the energy that flows and directs your body with internal physical, mental, emotional and spiritual power.
Aikido
Nia moves inspired by Aikido follow the path and way of harmony, as in harmonious spherical motion. ‘Ai’ means to meet, ‘ki’ meaning spirit and ‘Do’ meaning the way – in other words, the way of harmony.
A Nia Aikido experience encourages you to energetically blend your body with space, music, breath, time, with other people… with everything! You learn to focus and consciously direct your energy, which allows your energy to flow freely and your whole body to move more powerfully and elegantly.
Dance Arts
Jazz
Nia moves inspired by Jazz encourage fun, showmanship and spontaneous self-expression while balancing muscle strength and flexibility, making it possible to move quickly while isolating joints and body parts.
A Nia Jazz experience encourages body symmetry while isolating individual body parts. Moves from Jazz, such as the cha cha, shakes, the shimmy, and hip bumps make the Nia experience fun and sensual.
Duncan Dance
Nia moves inspired by Duncan Dance seduce you to move in free-spirited ways that integrate both graceful and beautiful full-body expression.
A Nia Duncan Dance experience encourages an unrestricted and uninhibited flow of emotion and motion. Attention to up and out energy flow balances the downward pull of gravity, which helps to keep the posture of the body aligned and balanced. Leg strength is built through the integration of the relève, lyrical momentum, and pauses, creating a unique conversation with the space – rising to the sky and surrendering back to the floor. Calf and leg muscles develop a beautiful shape through the gentle mechanics of opening up the front of the ankle, groin and torso on rising motions.
Modern Dance
Nia moves inspired by Modern Dance creatively get you to play in space with your body, creating shapes in space, falling on and off balance, and being dramatic and elusively emotional.
A Nia Modern Dance experience provides the space to play and create within the Nia moves, tapping into body language that is both physically and emotionally satisfying. As you learn to play and create body shapes in space your body becomes more comfortable at being on and off balance. Free expansive movement leads the way for increased strength and flexibility in the whole body. Changing directions keeps the vestibular system healthy, making it easy for your brain to give you information about your body movement and help control your balance and equilibrium.
Healing Arts
Yoga
Nia moves inspired by Yoga take the emphasis off of muscle and place it on creating comfort by sensing bone and joint alignment.
A Nia Yoga experience teaches you to maintain volume and space inside by positioning bones and joints so that the body is continually encouraged to open up and free itself of unwanted tension. Opening the body becomes a way of making space in and around the joints. Lengthening and feeling the sensation of flexibility – your energy moving out and along the bones – teaches you to stretch in a way that respects muscle attachments. Looking inward, sensing your body as you move, enhances an ongoing awareness of purposeful bone alignment that makes moving into most any yoga posture a natural process.
The Work of Moshe Feldenkrais
Nia moves inspired by the work of Moshe Feldenkrais focus on connecting to body sensations, in motion and in stillness.
A Nia Feldenkrais based experience focuses on moving slowly and quickly while noticing sensations and feelings with the whole body. Awareness of your movement is how you help create permanent changes in your body that improve function and pleasure. You learn to place your conscious and sensory attention on breath, voice, circulation, sight, smell, sound, touch, taste, orientation to space, time and rhythm, as well as physical feelings associated with emotions.
The Alexander Technique
Nia moves inspired by The Alexander Technique focus on redirecting your movement from the top – the head – to help shift stereotyped response patterns that create inefficient postural habits.
A Nia Alexander Technique experience gives you the power to change the way you move and hold your body by redirecting the use of the head in a ‘forward and up’ relationship to the neck and torso. Proper use of the head and neck is primary in developing integrated body movement. The practice of allowing the back to lengthen and widen, and learning how to move as a whole person are just some of the self-healing techniques inspired in this amazing body of work.
