Category: Nia

Be The Change… CELL-ebrate!

Good morning Friends,

I write a lot about BEing the change. Today, I read the following excerpt from Madisyn Taylor, of DailyOm, about The Ripple Effect. THIS is BEing the change.

I am anticipating the release of the new Nia routine CELL-ebrate on Friday, June 30, 2017. I choreographed this routine with the intention and courage to ‘BE the change’ in my heart.

I believe we can each BE the change that we want to see. Mahatma Gandhi was wise beyond this world.

Connection to others, BEing of service in community, with the courage to BE the change will shift the energy.

Read on and have a BEautiful day!

Adelle

The Ripple Effect

BY MADISYN TAYLOR

The impact you have on the world is greater than you could ever imagine, and the choices you make affect the whole.

In a world of six billion people, it’s easy to believe that the only way to initiate profound transformation is to take extreme action. Each of us, however, carries within us the capacity to change the world in small ways for better or worse. Everything we do and think affects the people in our lives, and their reactions in turn affect others. As the effect of a seemingly insignificant word passes from person to person, its impact grows and can become a source of great joy, inspiration, anxiety, or pain. Your thoughts and actions are like stones dropped into still waters, causing ripples to spread and expand as they move outward. The impact you have on the world is greater than you could ever imagine, and the choices you make can have far-reaching consequences. You can use the ripple effect to make a positive difference and spread waves of kindness that will wash over the world.

Should the opportunity arise, the recipient of a good deed will likely feel compelled to do a good deed for someone else. Someone feeling the effects of negative energy will be more likely to pass on that negative energy. One act of charity, one thoughtful deed, or even one positive thought can pass from individual to individual, snowballing until it becomes a group movement or the ray of hope that saves someone’s life. Every transformation, just like every ripple, has a point of origin. You must believe in your ability to be that point of origin if you want to use the ripples you create to spread goodness. Consider the effect of your thoughts and actions, and try to act graciously as much as possible.

A smile directed at a stranger, a compliment given to a friend, an attitude of laughter, or a thoughtful gesture can send ripples that spread among your loved ones and associates, out into your community, and finally throughout the world. You have the power to touch the lives of everyone you come into contact with and everyone those people come into contact with. The momentum of your influence will grow as your ripples moves onward and outward. One of those ripples could become a tidal wave of love and kindness.

 

The Magic of Connection Over the Ocean and Beyond!

Good morning from Rome, Wales and San Antonio, Texas!

When choosing the music for the upcoming release of  the new Nia routine CELL-ebrate, over a year and a half ago, I heard a double CD by James Asher called Drum Travel. In my first peruse of the music, many of the songs went into my ‘possibilities’ playlist. One song in particular, Hey Wanaina, was hauntingly beautiful, with a Native American woman singing in her language. It was drawing me in over and over, and yet I did not know what she was saying. I decided to write to Jame’s website and ask, knowing that we have to be careful with our universal language and not get into a bind with offensive language when choosing music for Nia routines.

I heard back from the ‘website’ that same day, and it was James himself! He wrote… “I have no idea what the words mean. I do find when combined with music, there is a language resulting, which transcends literal meaning. I invite you to enter a similar space where reaching beyond literal words, we achieve an attunement to the heart where we can leave such details way behind.” Best Wishes, James

I knew at that moment that the song was a go for me. It was also the beginning of a deep friendship across the ocean. I chose 4 songs from Drum Travel for CELL-ebrate, along with other artists, and began the process of getting the songs in line for licensing approval.

Captured right after filming CELL-ebrate in Portland. September, 2016

Jump ahead to last September…

While absorbing the magic of the Black Belt with Ann Christiansen and Debbie Rosas, and anticipating the filming of CELL-ebrate, I mentioned to Debbie about the correspondence with James, and my desire to use his words in the routine booklet. She encouraged me to write him for approval. I decided to take that step forward, and wrote him hours later. Within 15 minutes, I received a response, “Adelle, would you be so kind as to give me your cell phone? I would like to speak to you.” Best, James

I nervously gave him my number, not knowing how he was going to respond, and my phone rang a few minutes later. Standing in the bathroom in Portland, we had a 45 minutes conversation about Nia. Even though he knew we had licensed his music before, he knew nothing about what we teach. It was beyond my imagination, explaining Nia to someone who had never even seen a class. His intrigue with ‘katas’ and how they were choreographed to his music was encouraging… and he asked if we could Skype when I returned home to ‘show him the katas!’ Over the next month, he called several times a week, as we planned our Skype meeting, asking more and more questions about Nia.

In anticipation of meeting visually, he mentioned a dear friend who he wanted me to meet, Arthur Hull. Not knowing who he was at the time, I looked him up and discovered that Arthur had written many books, and had the distinction of bringing the ‘drum circle’ to many cultures and countries, especially the US. He had been training people all over the world to facilitate drum circles, bringing people together with the power of music and rhythm. We planned our virtual rendezvous, and I was ecstatic!

James turned out to be a very quiet, introspective Englishman, and Arthur a boisterous hysterical American. Our skype meeting was lengthy, informative and FUN! Many stories later, Arthur revealed that he was one of Gabrielle Roth’s original drummers at Esalen, when she was creating the 5Rhythms. He had never heard of Nia!

I spontaneously decided to film CELL-ebrate the next morning, with me dancing in the studio, and send it to them to ‘see’ how the magic of music inspired the movement katas. I sent them the visual choreographed 8BC’s, for them to see the patterns and how we map the music + choreography. They received it, and stayed up all night drinking wine, and discussing the intricacies of the music + choreography map.

Arthur emailed me the next morning, saying that they were very inspired. He and James were off and running… creating the beginning of some music pieces.

I received 4 songs a few months later, with explanations of how they began, what inspired them, and the other artists that contributed to the creation. The email James wrote me immediately brought tears of gratitude… for the connection across the oceans. The connection of Nia Movement with Music. The alchemy of Magical connective tissue! M, M, M indeed!

Thank you James!

Jumping many months, I found myself in late April in Wales, preparing to teach CELL-ebrate with James Asher accompanying me on drums. He arrived with CD’s in hand, one he created called AdelleSphere, some of his favorite songs!

The following weekend Joanie Brooks and I taught  a Nia FreeDance weekend experience, spreading more Nia magic out into the world. We had one person participating who lives in England. She had her first Nia experience with me at The Synergy Studio in San Antonio. It was at a Transformational Breath® Training where I offered Nia every morning, cueing only with breath. She was thrilled to connect again!

Connection with dear friends in Rome! Adelle, Antonella, Ananda and Joanie

This is connection.

This is community.

This is love.

Smiles of anticipation! A GREAT Nia FreeDance weekend on the horizon! Adelle and James

This is the connective tissue of healing.

James Asher (unbeknownst to me) not only stayed for the entire Nia FreeDance weekend, but he accompanied Joanie and me when teaching both public classes, as well as the somatic exercises that included music. It was amazing to see an artist in RAW, picking up rhythms and syncopation, subtleties and expressions, even to songs that he had not heard before. It was truly magical!

James stayed with us at Fiona’s house, so the connection through many conversations, walks, silence + sound continued.

A walk in the country with James Asher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to the connection with James, the woman who first found Nia when she attended a Transformational Breath® training at The Synergy Studio in San Antonio, brought two friends who had never even taken a Nia class. One was magically transformed, and her words of wisdom and reflection in beginner’s mind were profound.

The other participant and her experience are beyond words to describe. She had been in a terrible accident that left one side of her body in disarray, including her eye on that side. With encouragement from Joanie, me and others,  she danced Nia for the first time… with shoes, standing and moving in her way, as well as dancing in a chair. When it came time for her to have a chance to teach, on the 2nd day, she jumped right in and gave the focus, intent and explanation of Nia FreeDance to the entire group, as the leader.

James and Adelle prepare for the CELL-ebrate class!

WOW is all I can say!

Tears of gratitude for this amazing practice that we all love so dearly, and for each of you who are making a difference one person, one body, one soul, one heart at a time.

Sending love from Rome, Wales, and San Antonio, Texas!

Adelle

PS. Joanie and I have shared many pics and short videos on FB. They are fun and tell a visual story.

Patrick, Adelle, Fiona, Joanie and James in Wales!

Wales Nia FreeDance DJ’s! Fun is in the house!

Roma Nia FreeDance DJ’s! Where’s the fun?!! Here it is!!!

 

 

 

 

Lovely!

Lovely bluebonnets from this last weekend!

“You look lovely today.”… “That flower is lovely!”… “What a lovely thing to say.”… “How lovely!”… “Lovely weather we are having today!”

Lovely… a beautiful word. Notice how you feel when you use the word, saying to yourself, “I am lovely!”

White Belt Principle #5, Awareness, is at the top of my list of favorites. I use it daily, as I am dancing through life, practicing living meditation, and seeing life as art. All part of living as a sacred athlete.  All part of recognizing life as lovely.

I invite you to use ‘lovely’ at least once in your conversation every day this week. SEE how it changes your perspective, as you SEE life as art… as lovely.

I’ll SEE you in class lovely ones!  Adelle

Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls… Lovely!

Nia: Tuesday 6:45am, Wednesday 9:15am, Friday 9:15am, Sunday 4:00pm

Nia FreeDance: Thursday 9:15am

Yoga: Thursday 12:00pm, Sunday 8:45am

joy bubbles and the big ‘J’ Joy!

Do you analyze your unhappiness in order to find the triggers and make improvements? How about your happiness, when you are feeling content and Cameron Louisa Adelle Hats Funconnected to a joy-filled emotion? What a friend of mine coined ‘joy bubbles?’

Recognizing how the emotion of joy feels in my body, either in the moment or in reflection, I can notice the choices I make that bring on the bubbles. For me, it is definitely a combination of my actions… smiling, laughing, singing alone or with a friend, kissing the check of my grand baby, sharing a tender moment listening to another… as well as the code that is embodied in my cellular system, a code in Nia we call the big ‘J’, Joy. It is a principle that is the foundation of Nia, White Belt Principle #1, Joy of Movement.

When I recognize that my body wants to move, wants to rest, wants to breathe, Samba Hat, Wig, Glasseswants to sing, wants to laugh and wants to heal moment to moment, I can sense a universal Joy that is present even when things around me seem discombobulated, or emotionally unsettled.

I can re-create the joy bubbles and Joy-filled moments in my mind by bringing them to the dance floor of life, giving thanks for my body’s ability to show up and support me as my best friend and greatest companion.

I hope you will join me in class this week. Bring your body, mind, emotions and spirit and get ready to turn on the joy bubbles. The big J, combined with the emotion of joy… yum. Bubblicious!

I love you!

Adelle

ps. I’m presently sitting on the tarmac in Oklahoma City, waiting on the storms to pass in Houston. I’ve missed my connecting flight already, but trust that there will be another sometime today. Joy bubbles are a choice! :)… OH… Just took off! Now in the air! hahaha!

My classes this week:

Nia:  Tuesday, 6:45am,  Wednesday 9:15am,  Friday 5:30pm,  Sunday 4:00 pm

Nia FreeDance:  Thursday, 9:15am

Yoga, Slow Flow:  Sunday 8:45am

Cameron, Sarah, Adelle Happy Norman Day

*Pics are from my fun weekend in Norman, Oklahoma with my                             children…and a great shot of one of the cooliest dogs EVER, Ms. Samba. 🙂

 

 

 

Dancing Through Life, Living Meditation, Life as Art


Red Nia A Design System for Systainability in the Body

Dancing Through Life, Living Mediation, Life as Art

What does it mean to be dancing through life? To know the presence of living meditation? To see life as art?

 

The ‘big enchilada’ White Belt Principle of Nia, Awareness, is at the top of the transformative tools that support me daily. Sensing every movement as a beautiful dance of life while appreciating my body’s amazing design system of sustainability. Aware that complimenting every movement is a place of non-doing, a place of stillness where my body is being touched by clothing, by the earth, by my hands, by another, and where I can take a breath and send my energy to those places, and relax into meditation. Knowing that I can look and SEE the world through the fresh eyes of a child, without filters, and see all of life as an art piece.

THIS is the exilir of life… Awareness… and with every precious moment that I have, I can make a conscious choice to live it to the fullest. The conscious dance of awareness. The conscious breath of awareness.

Let’s activate our Awareness together this moment, this day, this week, this life.

Join me in class!

Nia: Tuesday 6:45am, Wednesday 9:15am; Friday 5:30pm                                               Nia FreeDance: Thursday 9:15am                                                                                       Yoga for Lunch: Thursday, 12:00pm… all at The Synergy Studio!

*I will be filming BREATH on Friday, to send to Debbie in advance of filming it for Nia HQ in September… I hope you will join me! 🙂

Breathing with love, Adelle

Joanie and I just returned from an amazing weekend, training 23 people in Nia FreeDance: Art of Conscious Dance. They were ALL excited about taking this work out into the world! We have trainings coming up in Pittsboro, NC; Ventura, CA (LA area) ; Samammish, WA (Seattle area); Boulder, CO… and more on the way! Spread the word and sprinkle the magic as we open the world to this new offering of Nia!

Nia FreeDance Debbie, J, A Edwardsville

Nia FreeDance Edwardsville Illonois

 

 

 

How do you experience Joy?

Nia! A Joy-filled experience of living in your body, connected to sensation moment to moment!

Nia! A Joy-filled experience of living in your body, connected to sensation moment to moment!

Take a breath, Smell the Moment, and say “AHHHH! Joy!”

As I was driving to the studio yesterday to take Christi Messer’s Pilates class, I noticed how my head and eyes were moving around, looking at the beauty of the landscape, the signs on the street, the people walking. The movement of my head and eyes? Joy.

As I stepped out of my car, and walked through the door, I sensed my joints opening and closing, oiling all the stiffness out in preparation for class. The movement of my joints? Joy.

With her amazing knowledge of anatomy, Christi instructed us in class to engage certain muscles for improved posture. The movement of my muscles? Joy.

In Nia, we experience Joy as a physical sensation, which encourages us to embrace our body and life, and move in ways to experience Joy and pleasure. Joy of Movement (JOM), the 1st Principle of Nia, is a physical sensation experienced through our body. Our body is the source of JOM. To experience JOM, we simply need to consciously choose to sense Joy- and it is there!

The Body is designed to move. YOUR Body LOVES to move. The BIG J… Joy of Movement. 🙂

This week is a JOY-filled week, as Joanie and I introduce the new Nia routine named JOY! JOY, created by Ann Christiansen, Nia‘s Master Trainer, is a magical routine, filled with life and love, and FUNtastic music. Join us in classes and in a Nia Playshop, where you can learn the moves of the routine.

Check out the JOY picture that I took at our recent Nia Trainer’s Summit in Portland.

Nia Trainer's living their Joy!

Nia Trainer’s living their Joy!

I added the Nia logo, and posted it on Facebook. It has been shared all over the world. Note the Joy that is expressed in each face, and in the hug of our Nia male trainers in the background. We had just arrived, preparing for a week filled to the brim with Joy!

There is also a link at the bottom to a short YouTube video of Ann Christiansen, Joanie and me in Portland. A short clip from Ann to YOU, about JOY!

See YOU my Joy-filled friend on the dance floor!

Dancing with Joy, Adelle

  • This week at The Synergy Studio!
  • Nia: Tuesday 6:45am, Wednesday 9:15am, Sprinkling bits of JOY routine in our dance!
  • Nia FreeDance: Thursday 9:15am, Body/Emotions/Mind/Spirit Joy filled to the brim!
  • Friday at 5:30 pm:  Team-teaching JOY routine with Joanie
  • Saturday at 9:30 am:  Team-teaching JOY routine with Joanie
  • Sunday at 2:30:  Nia Playshop – Learn the Moves of JOY.  Register HERE!!  It includes the 4:00 pm class.
  • Sunday at 4:00 pm:  Team-
  • teaching JOY with many of your favorite Nia teachers!!!  It’s a JOY Nia jam!

Link to YouTube Video of Ann speaking to YOU! Click here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnOJKM-I9to&feature=em-upload_owner

Announcing the launch of Nia FreeDance!

 

Nia FreeDance!

Last weekend, I was thrilled to be a part of the training staff for Nia FREEDANCE, a new class that Nia is launching, and I’m sooo excited to bring it to the studio starting in September!

I will be adding Nia FREEDANCE on Thursdays at 9:15am. My first class will be Thursday, September 3rd, 9:15am.

Mark your calendars, and join me for this GREAT new addition to the wonderful practice we call Nia. Below is a description of the Nia FREEDANCE class. Wear comfortable clothes and bring an open mind, ready to explore!

Below is a description of the new class.

I love you all so much, Adelle

 

Nia FREEDANCE, the class, is designed to help people move freely and expressively, bringing them closer to the source of their authentic dance where their spirit, body, mind, and emotions unite to create an artful movement experience.

Nia FREEDANCE is unique; different from a Classic Nia Class with Routine Choreography. This is an “open” class intended for the participant to Move|Explore|Create through FreeDance to the Music and Movement of 4 Stages, 7 Cycles and 5 Sensations!

 

A more detailed description about Nia FREEDANCE,

Nia’s contribution to the Conscious Dance Community . . .

FREEDANCE is a barefoot 60-minute conscious dance movement class designed to awaken the movement artist within, and to stimulate the body, mind, emotions, and spirit. The result is the art of movement creativity. Students are guided to explore their own movement, and to dance in their own way, and in their own time to soul-stirring music, eclectic sonic landscapes that provide cellular resonance to evoke self-expression, and to unleash movement creativity via the art and integration of the body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Facilitated by a Nia teacher, 4 parts, with a unique focus and intent support students in creating a body of work in each class: the art. This class is open to all levels. No experience necessary.

 

 

Stability- Energy Resting… Yes!

Hola Amigos! El domingo bonito!
As I’m watching the beautiful sunrise, drinking coffee, and quietly awaiting a morning of ecstatic dance in Austin, I am sensing energy at rest in my body.
What is stability and how do I nurture it?
Stability is a vibration that I can physically recognize as relaxation and balance… a feeling of letting go that naturally and dynamically engages muscles, bones and joints, creating a perfect action between contraction and release. Dynamic Stability… the perfect balance of all the sensations… sensed as powerful peace.
I’ve been exploring sensations in my back, and will continue to focus on the back this week, as we bring awareness to the dynamic stability that it provides us.
Many emotions are held in the back, and sensed as pain, tension, anxiety, joy, stress, sorrow, happiness, tightness. How would you move differently if you softened into the stability of your back, noticing ways you hold back, hold in, hold out, instead of letting go?
We will explore the wonderful sensation of stability this week, an energy that is always present no matter what we are doing. Noticing stability in our back, of our back, through our back.
I’ll be sprinkling more pearls and nuggets of the new routine Beyond in my Nia classes, as we prepare for its full debut on Sunday, March 25. I hope you will join Joanie and me at 3:00 on March 25th, as we learn the moves, move the moves and then energize the moves of Beyond in our 4:00 class. If you sign up early, you can receive the great music and be freedancing its rhythms!
Our Journey Dance on Sunday at 10:00 will be in honor of Xelena’s birthday, as she brings her drumming group to gift us with live drumming in class! We will go on a journey of connection… connection within, without and beyond as we focus on our 7th Chakra… the all-knowing, the unknown, the divine. Live drumming… Woot!
It will be a great week! See you on the dance floor!
Love, Adelle

My Nia classes this week: Tuesday 6:45am, Wednesday 9:15am, Friday 5:30pm, Sunday 4:00pm
Journey Dance: Sunday at 10:00am for Journey Dance with Live Drumming!
As Joanie and I prepare for upcoming White Belts, we are very excited to offer a retreat at Mar de Jade in Mexico! Come to enJoy, take Nia classes, and if you are inspired, join us for the White Belt!
Watch this video as we rock into the next adventure!

Adelle and Kevin in Beyond

Adelle Brownlee Brewer
Owner, The Synergy Studio
Black Belt Certified Nia Trainer
Journey Dance Facilitator; Professional Fiber Artist
San Antonio, Texas
www.thesynergystudio.com
www.nianow.com/adelle
www.journeydance.com

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