Nia: Moving With Purpose

The Practice of Nia

Practiced in bare feet, Nia uses diverse dance movements, free expression, and sensory awareness techniques to experientially create a sense of fitness and wellness. The Rosas describe Nia as incorporating "rejuvenation, celebration, recreation, play, meditation, and rest," and say that it integrates many different processes working in cooperation, including:

• The physical process—which is personal, natural, and experiential
• The mental process—which is conscious and guiding every action and thought in natural time
• The emotional process—which uses creativity and expressiveness to release blocked energy
• The spiritual process—which is not religious in the traditional sense, but is a process inclusive of all belief systems and connects students to themselves and to a greater whole outside of themselves
• The learning process—which is the embodiment and integration of Nia and is personalized, internally directed, loving, and organic. As the physical experience deepens, a connection is made to the soul and spirit body, allowing students to access their pure potential.

"In Nia classes, we punch, kick, reach for the stars, paint rainbows, chop wood, blow with the wind, root into the earth, and surrender into gravity. Moving through space, turning, sinking, rising, and vibrating are just some of the dynamics presented in an hour-long class," says Holly Curtis, MEd, a Nia black belt and trainer and the owner and director of NiaSpace, a mind-body fitness study in Austin, Texas.

According to Curtis, "Fitness training guidelines from the exercise sciences are superimposed throughout [the practice of Nia] to insure cardiovascular health benefits, muscle toning, and enhanced flexibility."

A Variety of Techniques

Nia, which incorporates stances from various martial arts, is taught at three levels, beginning with smaller movements and progressing to larger, more aerobic exercises. The focus is on enhancing balance, posture, and kinesthetic awareness while completely eliminating repetitive jogging and jumping up and down.

Nia instructors strive to create a safe environment and a sense of community that can be both embracing and freeing. Through the use of imagery techniques, participants are encouraged to connect with their innermost feelings as a way of facilitating emotional expression, healing, and spiritual growth. Guided visualizations might include envisioning a sea of clouds gently drifting past or reaching up to pluck a juicy red Macintosh off a leafy apple tree.

Images such as these help people to become more in touch with internal body sensations, says Robyn Maltz, LICSW, a certified Nia instructor and a clinical social worker who has been teaching Nia classes and workshops in the greater Boston area for more than six years. She notes that moving freely and spontaneously is a pleasurable experience that many adults haven't engaged in since childhood.

Breathwork techniques are used to both energize the movements and to promote relaxation. Areas of tightness in the body may be an embodiment of fears or anxiety, says Maltz, who points out that Nia can often aid in resolution of deep-seated issues, thereby promoting a feeling of inner peace.

The "Pleasure Principle"

The "pleasure principle" is an important component of Nia, supporting an atmosphere where people are encouraged to more fully enjoy each movement and moment. Pleasure replaces punishment, and participants are gently guided to a place where sensations of comfort, balance, and joy can be experienced. Music, ranging from Latin rhythms to classical music to new-age sounds, is used to enhance the overall experience.

"Unlike traditional exercise programs based on the "no pain, no gain" philosophy, Nia utilizes carefully choreographed routines that integrate strength training, aerobic activity, breathwork and stretching. Nia encourages participants to focus on the wonderful sensations that nourish self-awareness and facilitate the mind/body/spirit connection," says Maltz.

Who Can Use Nia?

Accredited by the American Council on Exercise, there are more than 500 certified instructors practicing Nia in the United States and abroad. Nia can be adapted for people of all ages and fitness levels and is currently being used in a number of settings, such as prisons, drug rehabilitation centers, cardiac rehabilitation programs, traditional health and fitness clubs, wellness centers, and martial arts centers.

As a mind/body approach for the enhancement of physical and emotional well-being, Nia has been used alone and in conjunction with other treatments for various population groups, including children, teens, and senior adults; victims of sexual and physical abuse; people with eating disorders; people with disorders and diseases such as Down's syndrome and cancer; and people with mental illness.

Maltz, who has a special interest in the connection between body image, self-esteem, and Nia as a healing modality, points out that Nia, like yoga and other mind/body approaches, is a practice that deepens over time, leading to both internal and external changes. She says that "as they begin to work from the inside out, people become better able to move into their bodies' inner sensations, learning to understand and appreciate the ways in which their bodies speak to them on both an energetic and metaphoric level."