When we step into Nia as a path of sacred embodiment, we step in as not only a student, but also as a practitioner. As a student we are learning technique, form, and physical & energetic listening skills. As a practioner, we feel an affinity or a pull to the devotion, a commitment, to practicing what we learn in order to deepen our own unique expressions that come to life.

One of the first areas of focus we turn our awareness to when learning Nia routines, is the Base. The feet, the legs, moving up toward the pelvis. When we realize that our entire posture & alignment begins with the feet, and that the back of our body, is a continuation of the soles of the feet, we see the uber importance of the feet.

Learning how to repattern how we live ‘on our feet,’ our knees, and the hips, happens simply through correct placement of movements that apply to our base, given to us in the 52 Move, the Language of Nia. For healthy feet & base alone, Nia integrates up to 23 movements!

The Body’s Way is the natural anatomical design & function of the body. It is how our bodies are built & for what purpose each part of the body serves. Nia supports the strength, balance, flexibility, agility, stability, mobility, through technique & choreography. Where there is imbalance in design & function, we can relearn to inhabit our body closer to The Body’s Way, through intentional patterns & sequences of movement, which is the choreography.

Your Body’s Way is the organic expression of how you live in your body & your how your life experiences, emotions, thoughtforms, have influenced the physical structure of the body. This expression can be the result of many things such as age, habitual postures, repetitive motion, emotional tension & stress patterns, or injury. Our physical body takes on the expressions of our life, lived.

In Nia, each person is guided to listen & follow, Your Body’s Way, through the practice of connecting to sensations in your body. This means that any habitual patterning, let’s say for example, a foot that turns out or feet that roll either to the inner or outer edges, can cause issues in structure or balance, and can cause pain elsewhere in the body.

Nia offers the possibility for self-healing, via self-care & deeper awareness, as we practice bringing the body back back into it’s design & funtion, through intentional movement, via sensation. By being aware of the habit, dancing in a way that honors the current expression of Your Body’s Way, AND simultaneously, praticing technique or choreography that supports The Body’s Way, we have the potential to self-correct, self-heal through honoring the body and it’s history, and gently guiding it into its expression of wellness, going forward in life.

To expand for a moment into the holistic realm of emotional & mental components of Nia. Nia always includes the energetic subtlties of imbalances in the body … the issues are in the tissues, as they say.

One of the reasons I really appreciate a focus on the Base in classes, is that more often than not, people aren’t fully in thier body ~ embodied. Most of us have scattered energy, for a myriad of reasons, and if we aren’t anchored (down to the feet) in our physical form, it can be challenging to feel a true sense of safety, stability, security, or centeredness in our life.

If I don’t feel or haven’t felt emotionally stable or balanced in my life, this is communicated to the body & vice verse.

Imbalances in our body, can be reflected in through our emotions & thoughts. When our feet are not firmly on the ground, in a healthy way, there is physical & energetic imbalances. Part of my work with private clients is to help them identify this connection.

For the last two decades, after I first fell in love with Nia & then followed a different path for a while, my purpose/service has been as a Spiritual/Soul Guide, with a focus on Sacred Embodiment & Self-Love. My work has included teaching a sacred feminine path from Shakti Yoga lineage and Meditation, shadow work, & energy healing. My skills & mojo are in the intimate, deep subtlties spoken through the wisdom of the body, communication of Soul connection, and honing the psycho-spiritual world of energy.

Nia offers a vehicle for my passion and purpose of ushering those who feel called, into Sacred Embodiment, Self-Love, and nurturing the most important & intimate relationship we have … the relationship with our body. Emotional, mental, & spiritual realms intrinsic with any embodiment practice.

Though I love all of the background science of what we do when we dance, and I wear the glasses of my healer path, the beauty of Nia, for me, is that you don’t have to know any of this (unless like me, you love to geek out! ) Otherwise, you simply show up, step into a Nia practice, have fun, feel great in the body, & over time everything repatterns with ease & grace!

As we become a practitioner in Nia, we evolve into what is called, a Sensation Scientists. We step into our body as a sacred vehicle that communcates with us through the language of sensations. Nia invites us to follow sensations, feeling for both pleasure & pain, then choose the pathway of pleasure. Through a holistic movement path and deepening awareness, we gain greater wisdom to the voices of the body, and to love our whole being as we are in this present moment, as we embark on a journey of always deepening health, vitality, joy, & pleasure.

Through Movement We Find Health ~

With Love,

Lotus