Damn Hippies

Hello all.  I know it's been awhile, but we have had a whirlwind of visits the last few months and just have not got a chance to sit down and share what's been happening.  So, here I am, ready to share.  The first thing I have to share on is a yoga experience I had this week.  Now, back home I would probably be considered somewhat of a liberal "hippie-ish" person; here not even close.  This was especially apparent during a yoga class I attended this week with my friend Jeannine.  The class was called "Nia" and here is a brief description:

"Nia is a sensory-based movement practice that leads to health, wellness and fitness. It empowers people of all shapes and sizes by connecting the body, mind, emotions and spirit. Every experience can be adapted to individual needs and abilities. Step into your own joyful journey with Nia, and positively shape the way you feel, look, think and live. Nia draws from disciplines of the martial arts, dance arts and healing arts. Every class offers a unique combination of 52 moves that correspond with the main areas of the body: the base, the core and the upper extremities. Stiff beginners and highly fit athletes alike can adapt Nia to meet their needs. We believe every person can discover, explore, unleash and enhance their individual potential to live a fulfilling and meaningful life – by engaging their senses and listening to their bodies."

I'll admit, the description made me kinda wary, but it was one of the only times we could go and, you know, I like dance, I like martial arts, and I like healing, we'll give it a shot.  We got there and it seemed to have a pretty good following, lots of different ages, men, women, seemed like a regular yoga class.  And then the instructor started talking.  The discussion was of how our cells embody the four elements.  The first 5 minutes or so was standing with our eyes closed, trying to get in touch with our bodies and have a discussion with our cells on which would be more "healing" to focus on during our practice, earth, wind, water, or fire.  And thus the theme of our class.  Our cues during what could only be described as small intermittent parts of instructor lead group kick-boxing/zumba type exercise with looonnnnnnggggg bits of interpretive "free dance" where we were told to "know let your feet feel air,  and this is what it looked like:

now fire, and this is what it looked like:

now bring water into your arms, and this is what it looked like:

And during class, we were encouraged to "play with our voices" which led to people making intermittent animal, grunting, loud exhaling, and other very awkward noises.  To top of the whole experience, during the last 5 minutes of class, we vibrated (which is exactly what it sounds like) our hands over our bodies to, I don't know, cleanse our auras or something, I never really figured out what the purpose of that was, but it didn't include more voice exploration.  I have learned from this experience that while I do consider myself "in touch" with my body and my inner voice, I am not on the same level as some, and I left the class feeling confused, awkward and not at all relaxed.  But hey, if your local yoga studio starts offering Nia classes, definitely go try one for yourself, it definitely gave me lots of giggles in my head and smiles on my face, which then made me feel guilty because the instructor kept seeing me smile and that only encouraged more verbalizations about "letting your inner joy out through dance."  More to come.......

PS: Google pictures of Nia Yoga if you would like to see actual photos, it's very interesting.....