Session #292 Debbie Rosas Nia Music-Movement-Magic August 14, 2014 2:00 3:50 PM About Nia Nia is the original and most advanced form of fusion fitness that combines martial arts, dance arts, and healing arts to create a powerful synergistic workout no isolated exercise technique can match. Safe enough to be practiced in bare feet, Nia classes provide holistic fitness and self-discovery benefits. Nia s somatic teaching methods are rooted in a sensation science based on the design and function of the body. The iconic Nia class experience combines music and movement to evoke a dynamic health sensation in the body. Musical sonic landscapes are designed to stimulate the brain s tonotopic map and condition the nervous system. 52 movements address every part of the body to holistically improve function and movement skill. For the last 31 years Nia has provided quality body and life education to teachers and students. Today, over 2400 teachers share Nia programs in 50 countries to a diversity of cultures, ages, and levels. Classes are offered in dance studios, universities, PE departments, schools, hospitals, prisons, drug/alcohol/abuse rehabilitation facilities, senior centers, traditional gyms, spas, and wellness centers. Teacher certification training is offered worldwide. Workshop Overview Music, through sound resonance and vibration, provides a canvas upon which choreography is created to move the body and engage the mind, emotions, and unique spirit of the student. Movement, a language combining 52 moves influenced by martial arts, dance arts, and healing arts provides holistic conditioning for the base, core and upper extremities of the body. Magic is the conscious awareness of self-knowledge. In Nia, self knowledge arises as people are given the time and space to connect with their body, music, and movement. Learning Objectives Listen with every cell in your body Recognize how sound impacts all parts of you on a kinesthetic level Understand the science and somatic approach to the Nia experience through music, movement, and magic Personalize your movement experience to enhance physical conditioning Sense holistic body-mind-emotion-spirit conditioning in your body Reference Materials The Nia Technique: The High-Powered Energizing Workout That Gives You a New Body and a New Life, Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas, Broadway Books, 2005. ISBN: 0-7679-1730-8 The Thinking Body, Mabel E. Todd Anatomy of Change, Richard Heckler Emotional Anatomy, Stanley Keleman Listening To The Body, Robert Masters PhD and Jean Houston PhD Body Mind, Ken Dychwald Body Learning, Michael Gelb Body Stories, Andrea Olsen An Alchemy of Mind, Diane Ackerman This is Your Brain on Music, Daniel Levitin The Mozart Effect, Don Campbell 1
MUSIC The music seemed never to push from behind, but rather to pull forward. It challenged without threatening. Melodies seemed to add color to my world, while beats and rhythms provided movement. Rather than 'This is the way it is,' the music seemed to say, 'This is one of the ways it can be.' The music never told us what we 'should' do, or 'why' we should do it. It was never about 'shoulds' or 'whys.' It was about change, energy and vibrations. Ortiz Ph.D., John M., The Tao of Music: Sound Psychology The sound of music is one of the most powerful underlying creative forces in our universe. It is considered to be one of the oldest healing forms used by the Greeks, Chinese, East Indians, Tibetans, Egyptians, American Indians, Mayans, Incas and Aztecs. Music is tangible! Sound vibrates your nervous system and creates sensation in your body. The physical resonance of sound in the body triggers chemical responses that can have both positive and negative effects in people s bodies, minds, emotions and spirits. Music and sound can create healing energy and vibrations that motivate movement, promote relaxation, guide choreography and connect you to divine essence. Sound vibration is one of the most powerful forces for moving the body s more than 50 trillion cells. Musicians spiritually understand the power of music. Silence and sound are their muses. What they create, geometric patterns of vibrations and resonance, are translated in our ears and nervous systems into what we know as sound. These patterns become our dance. Music vibrates the whole body. Sound is felt and perceived through the bones, organs, and skin as waves, as a sea of energy that engulfs you. Sound and music induces systemic, whole body resonance that echoes throughout the body. It is this precise patterning that relaxes, stimulates, motivates, or harmonizes. Science When you listen to music, the vibration of sounds displace air molecules, causing them to vibrate, reaching the eardrum and making your eardrum wiggle in and out. The main parts involved with auditory perception include the pinnae, the fleshy part of your ear, your skull, and the eardrum, which is a membrane stretched across tissue and bone. Sound waves impact your eardrum and pinnae setting off a chain of mechanical and neurochemical events, which the brain recognizes as an internal image called pitch. Pitch is the mental representation of the frequency of sound. Pitch is the primary means by which musical emotion is conveyed. All the information your brain receives about pitch comes from the vibrations in the eardrum. Your inner ear and brain must analyze the motion of the eardrum to determine what vibrations are out there. After sounds enter your ear, they pass by the basilar membrane, where hair cells fire in unique ways depending upon the frequency of sounds. This membrane acts like a motion detector, such as the kind you might have in your garden. When there is activity in this membrane, it sends an electrical signal up to the auditory cortex, where there is something called a tonotopic map, which is an area of the brain that performs a topology of acoustic frequencies. Through the eardrum you are able to identify what you hear by way of a process of feature extraction, followed by another process of feature integration. Essentially, what goes into the ear comes out the brain! Just as we learn to speak the language of our culture, our brains learn a kind of musical grammar specific to the music we hear often. Craft Listening, dancing, and working out to music involves receiving sound and silence. This means investing cognitive and sensory attention in the music to appreciate sonic details within a song. While you are using your body, listen to music and allow sound and silence to impact you on a kinesthetic level. Allow your body to instinctively respond to music. Rhythm is the beat or pulse. It stimulates primal, physical energy. Melody is the rhythmically organized sequence of tones that produce a distinct musical phrase. It stimulates relaxation, expansion, and yin emotions. Harmony blends two or more sounds. It stimulates an interaction between elements. Measure groups units and consists of any number of beats. It stimulates timing. Meter is the number of beats per measure. It stimulates regular, symmetrical, irregular, and asymmetrical resonance. Tempo is the speed of 2
the music. It stimulates moving off beat, double time, slower or faster. Phrase creates themes. It stimulates the beginning and end. Accent notes the beginning of a phrase and is usually louder than the rest of the notes. It stimulates change. Syncopation is what occurs when an accent is placed on a beat other than the first one. It stimulates variety. Rests provide space. They stimulate moments of waiting. Mood is the attitude or personality of the music. It affects emotions, coordination, speed, agility, strength, flexibility, and balance. Art Music gives you the opportunity to be stimulated and touched by sound. Developing an artistic relationship with music allows you to move differently as you feel and express yourself in unique ways. Voice of Sound To your physical body, I touch you through resonance and vibration, creating geometric patterns that flower into a dance of light. As you listen to me, I awaken the ears of your skin, music as sensation felt by your body. I leave an encoded imprint of sound in your cells. I have a physical structure, a form, and a function. My individual parts work together just like your body parts work together to express the whole. My parts are resonance, vibration, tone, frequency, note, rhythm, melody, harmony, syncopation, beat, rest, and silence. To your mind, I provide a system to track sound. I provide a mental grid on which to visually record the geometric patterns of sound. I transcribe sound into space, on paper, through bodies and minds. Connect to me, work with me and relax your thinking mind. With me you enter deeply into listening as a way to enhance your dance, create, guide, and teach others to feel. To your emotions, I trigger the release of energy from deep within you. If you listen to me, if you use me to move you, I can awaken you to deep-rooted feelings and emotions that are waiting to be released and expressed. My resonance and vibration can trigger anger, joy, love, peace, hate, rage, seduction, boredom, nurturing, and agitation. I take you on a healing energy ride. To your spirit, I give rise to the unique personality of every song. Allow me to move you and help you play with the sound and feeling of music. I stimulate and motivate sound to express itself through your body in an organic and alive way. I am multi-gendered - male, female, goddess, and warrior. I can become anything you wish. Play with me and discover endless personalities within you to release your creativity and expressive self. 3
MOVEMENT Science Adaptability is key to conditioning. Nia workouts blend structured and unstructured exploration with four kinds of conditioning: aerobic, anaerobic, reflexive, and voluntary to deliver flexibility, mobility, agility, strength, and stability. Movement is supported using somatic language designed to keep students in their bodies, connected to sensation, and out of their heads. All movement is internally directed, which foments a strong mind-body connection, a sense of relaxed mindfulness. Nia s movement forms, moves, and method of following the body s design results in enhanced movement skills and purposeful fitness. Craft Attention is on you, your body s way, and the experience you are having in the moment. All movement is monitored and guided by noticing sensations of pain and pleasure. Pleasure is the tool you use to guide all choices and decisions. Three developmental stages support the student s learning process to gain selfknowledge and to improve movement skills. The core thrust here is isolate to integrate, a holistic learning methodology. In Learn the Move, attention is placed on developing proper technique. Next, in Move the Move, attention is placed on systemic movement. And third, in Energize the Move, attention is placed on activating desired conditioning results. Art The art of movement is enhanced by three main arts. Martial arts incorporate intent, precision, power, and mindfulness. Dance arts provide grace, fluidity, self-expression, and spontaneity. Healing arts integrative practices that guide you toward functional and efficient movement. Martial Arts Tai Chi: The slow dance. Heel leads, lower center of gravity, slower movement, relaxation, circular motions, shifting and transferring body weight. Become water, wind. Embrace the moon. Tae Kwon Do: Dance of precision. Arm blocks, punches, thrusts, kicks, hand techniques, sound, stances, focused intent, dynamic ease, chi, and internal power. Become the warrior. Aikido: Dance of spiral lines and circles. Circular movements, spiral moves, blend, harmonize in and out. Use energy to move matter, ground, center, move from the Hara, and sense energy all around you. Dance Arts Jazz Dance: Fun and showmanship. Combine isolations, rhythm steps, syncopated body motions, expression, patterns, and fun. Become the entertainer. Duncan Dance: Free spirited honest movement. Extensions, body alignment, arm and hand expressions, releve, pause, grace, and elegant posturing. Become free-spirited. Modern Dance: Creating shapes in space. Free, expansive movement, creative visualization and play, geometry, directional changes, fall/recovery, contract/release, and movement planes. Healing Arts Yoga: Conscious alignment of bones and joints. Align bones, open, lengthen, create counter movements, and sense posture in stillness and in motion. The Work of Moshe Feldenkrais: Conscious awareness of sensation. Sense dynamic ease in the entire body. The Alexander Technique: Movement from the top. Directs movement from the head, the top. Body awareness and alignment, body sensitivity, and self-healing by not-doing. IDEA World 2014 4
MAGIC The body is designed to move the body s way, that is according to its natural design. Moving in your body s way is how you personalize a workout and turn on the body-mind connection. Each body is unique and experiences the sensation of sound differently. The personal experience is the magic of the workout. Science Immune System. Nia uses the power of positive suggestion to trigger the autonomic and endocrine systems that help to improve the immune system. Positive language and reinforcing a relationship to pleasure strengthens the immune system. (Ornstein, R and Sobel, D (1989) Healthy Pleasures Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Reading, MA) Body Image. Mind-body communication and healing are mediated by body image. Nia integrates left and right hemispheres of the brain to help break negative and rigid attachments to body image. (Achterberg, J. (1985) Imagery and Healing. Boston: Shambala) Emotions. Nia encourages creative expression, which changes the molecular structure of proteins within the brain that are associated with learning. This stimulates the creation of new cell assemblies. (Kimball, D. (1965). Learning, Remembering, and Forgetting. Volume I, The Anatomy of Learning. Palo Alto, California: Science and Behavior Books; Hebb, D. (1963). The Semi-Autonomous Process, Its Nature and Nurture. American Psychologists, 18, 16-27) By personalizing the experience, and by expressing their emotions, students positively affect the endocrine and immune system. (Alexander, F. (139/1984). Psychological aspects of medicine. Originally published by Psychosomatic Medicine. 9(1) Reprinted in 1984 by Advances, 1(2), 53-60) Thoughts and Beliefs. There is a direct correlation between what we think and believe and the autonomic nervous system, which directly affects the results we receive. What we believe has a profound effect on our health. Nia reinforces a positive attitude by providing a developmental process where students of any level of fitness can successfully find a way to achieve results. (Cannon, W. (1942). Voodoo death. American Anthropologist, 44(2), 169-181, and ibid (1963). The Wisdom of the Body, 2nd edition, New York: W.W. Norton) Brain. Nia encourages the student to keep seeking change, new sensations, and stimuli because what is novel and fascinating heightens brain activity. Nia incorporates language that stimulates the left and right sides of the brain and deepens the somatic connection. (Shands, H. (1969) Integration, Discipline, and the Concept of Shape. Annals of New York Academy of Science, 164(2), 578-587) Craft The Body s Way thrives on Yin and Yang energies. Yin Yin is defined as free flowing, melodic, flexible, soft, inward directed and graceful. Yin provides a foundation to experience dynamic ease by coaxing the body to open up and move freely. Visually expressed in circular, fluid lines, Yin represents wind. It is cool and receptive and moves along the path of least resistance. Fuse Yin into your movement by Relaxing the body s main 13 joints Sensing flow and continuous motion Using the senses to maintain a connection to energy flowing from inside out and outside in Yang Yang is defined as strength, agility, and rhythmic energy directed outward. Yang is expressed in more forceful starts and stops. Yang represents fire. It is assertive, aggressive, and expands outward. Yang takes you beyond where you thought you could go. IDEA World 2014 5
Fuse Yang into your movement by Using your voice to sound words like, yes and no, with emotion and intention Conveying action and precision with no hesitation Applying mental intent and focus Art The art of creating magic using music and movement comes from your ability to listen to the music, dance to the music and share. Share refers to your ability to remain connected to the music, to your body, and to your emotions. Respecting what you feel and sense keeps you simultaneously connected to others and your body. In Nia we believe health, unity and wholeness begins with each one of us feeling, sensing, and expressing a new way to live, move, and be in the body. Expressing passion and power, fitness, health and well-being comes from feeling one s emotions and from being connected to one s spirit. Responsibility. Nia shifts the growing edge from using what is wrong into what is possible. Spirit. Nia uses the idea of spirit as a tool to connect a person to that which is unique about their body and any experience or thing. Personal Growth. Students acquire personal information and knowledge on their own, in their own time, and in their own way, discovering more about themselves as they explore their body. Magic Tips Listen to the music and infuse every motion with emotion Move using your eyes to integrate your head into whole-body movement Let music initiate movement Use music to increase and decrease intensity Combine small movements with large movements to condition intrinsic and superficial muscles Through Movement We Find Health Prepared by Debbie Rosas Nia Technique, Inc. International Headquarters - 918 SW Yamhill, 3rd Floor Portland, OR 97205 (503) 245-9886 (800) 762-5762 www.nianow.com IDEA World 2014 6