Meet the Brewer Clan! Emily and Austin, Louisa, Cameron and Sarah, and Tyler… my precious babes. I was so blessed to have them all for Thanksgiving! Abundance indeed… love!
As many of you know, last Thursday evening Joanie and I started a Nia White Belt Intensive. We have 4 wonderful and enthusiastic trainees, 2 from our San Antonio Nia Community, one from our sister city Laredo, and another from our sister state Oklahoma. This Nia intensive is a split weekend, and together we dove deep into the first eight principles of the Nia White Belt.
The Nia practice is deep and rich….I love this work!! We continue with the intensive on Friday morning with Principle # 9, The Upper Extremities, our arms, hands and fingers…Creative Arm and Hand Expression.
Thank you Joanie for our shared focus this week :)…
Expressing ourselves with our upper extremities is a natural part of living in a human body—we do it all the time! Our arms, hands and fingers express joy, pain and pleasure; intimacy, protection and excitement.
Expressing ourselves with our upper extremities is a natural part of living in a human body—we do it all the time! Our arms, hands and fingers express joy, pain and pleasure; intimacy, protection and excitement.
They are truly the messengers of our heart.
When we are hurt, our hands reach for our injuries. When we are deeply moved, our hands reach toward our hearts. When we are excited by our achievements, our arms burst up to the sky, toward unlimited possibility. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are always communicating our thoughts, feelings and emotions through the movement of our upper extremities.
Tuning into your upper extremities—your arms, hands and fingers—allows you to tap into your full range movement and expression, naturally healing and conditioning your body by simply interacting with the world. This is The Body’s Way, and 18 of Nia’s 52 moves are dedicated to these lovely body parts. They add so much to our dance!!! All of a sudden a bow stance is your dance in flight as you imagine your arms as beautiful white wings of light; a heal lead is an opportunity to paint the space around you with your fingers; and stepping onto the ball of your foot is a determined reach toward your dreams with your hands!
Right NOW give yourself a hug and receive the healing touch of your hands on your skin. I then invite you to give that hug to someone and allow them to sense your healing touch. It might be the best gift they have ever received!
So this week as we prepare and step back into the Nia White Belt intensive, we will focus on Principle #9 of the Nia White Belt – Creative Arm and Hand Expressions, in my Tuesday and Wednesday classes. As you Dance Through Life pay attention to the movements and sensations of your upper extremities throughout your day.
– Notice how you use your arms and hands to express your thoughts and feelings in every environment.
– As you walk, allow your arms to swing freely with relaxed shoulder joints.
– As you work at the computer, set reminders throughout the day to notice the sensations in your neck and shoulders. Then, consciously relax the muscles of your neck, shoulders and upper back as you type. Use Creepy Crawlers to stimulate movement of your joints in your hands.
– When you finish working for the day, practice Palm Directions to release your shoulder joints and stretch the front of your chest.
– To release tension and stretch your hands, integrate Webbed Spaces into various activities in your day, such as when walking from your car to the store, as you wait in line, etc.
I love this work…see you in class!
Madisyn Taylor nailed it for me again… now is the time. A reminder to hold dreams, reach for the stars, and manifest moment to moment by living fully without hesitation.
If, when, but, could have, would have, should have… all words that do not resonate with me or the present moment of living into my greatness. Many times I get distracted by my dreams, fantasies and wishes, yet they are there to inspire and excite, not hold me back from living. Gentle reminders of the presence of living every moment to its fullest knowing there are no guarantees keeps me grounded, and loving my body.
Joanie and I are starting a Nia White Belt training this evening with beautiful souls from San Antonio, Laredo, Oklahoma and Canada… ready for the next step of growing, learning and living in their body. It all starts with the Joy of Movement.
The Joy of Movement, Principle #1 of Nia’s 13 White Belt Principles, is what Nia is based on and all other principles grow out of the Joy, with a big J. It is a universal energy that is encoded in our body, always present no matter the circumstances, and no matter the emotions and thoughts that are rolling around inside. My Body… Your Body… The Body was born to move, to heal, to dance through every moment of life… to live fully and completely… grounded and founded in love.
Love your body, for your body loves you, and your body is your oldest and best friend, your closest companion, someone who has never left you. Live knowing that Joy is always present, encoded in your cells, ready for activation, stimulation and sustainability.
I guarantee you will experience a transformation.
Loving you and the dance of life, Adelle
ps. Read on… Madisyn’s wise words that inspired my writing today.
Now Is the Time
Bloom Where You Are Planted
The time to blossom is now, not sometime in the future when you believe the stars will be aligned for you.
Having a vision for our future that differs from our current circumstances can be inspiring and exciting, but it can also keep us from fully committing to our present placement. We may become aware that this is happening when we notice our thoughts about the future distracting us from our participation in the moment. We may find upon searching our hearts that we are waiting for some future time or situation in order to self-actualize. This would be like a flower planted in North Dakota putting off blooming because it would prefer to do so in Illinois.
There are no guarantees in this life, so when we hold back we do so at the risk of never fully blossoming. This present moment always offers us the ground in which we can take root and open our hearts now. What this means is that we live fully, wherever we are, not hesitating because conditions are not perfect, or we might end up moving, or we haven’t found our life partner. This can be scary, because we might feel that we are giving up our cherished dreams if we do not agree to wait for them. But this notion that we have to hold back our life force now in order to find happiness later doesn’t really make sense. What might really be happening is that we are afraid to embrace this moment, and ourselves, just exactly as we are right now. This constitutes a tendency to hold back from fully loving ourselves, as we are, where we are.
We have a habit of presenting life with a set of conditions—ifs and whens that must be fulfilled before we will say yes to the gift of our lives. Now is the time for each of us to bloom where we are planted, overriding our tendency to hold back. Now is the time to say yes, to be brave and commit fully to ourselves, because until we do no one else will. Now is the time to be vulnerable, unfolding delicately yet fully into the space in which we find ourselves.
Thank you for being in my life and sharing your gifts with me.
We have a wonderful person and a dear friend of mine, coming to San Antonio tomorrow. Toni Bergins, creator of Journey Dance, will be here all week, sharing her heart, her soul, her emotions, her spirit with us. You are invited to attend any or all of the 5 classes she will be offering during the Journey Dance Teacher Training Module 2. We are soo blessed to have an amazing community of movers, shakers, dancers, shape-shifters, and fortunate to share our community with leaders like Toni.
Please join us this week… it will be magical!
I will teach my 6:45 class in the morning, and then my other classes will be shared with Toni and Journey Dance. Please check the online schedule to see the shift in Nia/Journey Dance classes, and take advantage of every moment on the dance floor!
Journey Dance classes this week… just for YOU!
Wednesday 9:15am
Thursday 5:30pm
Friday 5:30pm
Sunday 10:00am
Sunday 4:00pm
Our big focus this week is on love… for all emotions come down to love. We will dive deep, go the distance, and access what is real and true… our authentic self.
I received the following from a fellow blogger… beautiful words from the mouth of babes. 4-8 year olds were asked, “What does Love mean?” Read their answers. They brought tears…. for love is indeed what weaves our lives together and the purity of these babies answers is innocent and powerful… deep, wide, tall and broad.
Know you are deeply loved by me.
See you on the dance floor… Adelle
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” Rebecca – age 8
“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Billy – age 4
“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” Karl – age 5
“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy – age 6
“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Terri – age 4
“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny – age 7
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby – age 7
“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.” Nikka – age 6
“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.” Noelle – age 7
“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” Tommy – age 6
“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.’ Cindy – age 8
“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” Elaine-age 5
“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.” Chris – age 7
“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” Mary Ann – age 4
“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” (what an image!!) Karen – age 7
“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” Jessica – age 8
The winner was a 4-year-old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”
“Spirit is not a mystic concept. The spirit of a person is manifest in her aliveness, brightness of his eyes, in the resonance of her/his voice and in the ease and gracefulness of her/his movements. These qualities are related to and stem from a high level of energy in the body… Sensing the harmony between the internal pulsation of our body and that in the universe, we feel identified with the universal, with God.
We are like tuning forks vibrating at the same pitch (Alexander Lowen,1995)
We are like tuning forks vibrating at the same pitch (Alexander Lowen,1995)
In this day and time, we hear a lot about ‘mind, body, and spirit.’ It seems easier sometimes to identify with the mind and body then it does the spirit. Do you ever stop your body, calm your mind, and ask your spirit what she or he desires? The answer many times comes auto-magically… all we have to do is ask, acknowledge our uniqueness, and honor the request.
Bring your body and mind to class this Thanksgiving week, and honor what your spirit is desiring. Even if you don’t have an answer, its all in the dance… the dance of life. Spread your wings and set your spirit free to explore!
Joanie and I are team-teaching a special Thanksgiving day Nia class at 8:00am. Come move your body in gratitude and thanksgiving before the family joins you for a feast! I will also be teaching my class Tuesday morning at 6:45am, Wednesday at 9:15am, and Friday at 5:30pm.
Have a blessed and beautiful Thanksgiving!
With love, Adelle
I left San Antonio early yesterday morning, a beautiful 75 degrees on its way to 82 by the afternoon. Two hours later, I landed in Denver, Colorado. It was 40 degrees and dropping. As we drove from the airport, I watched storms roll into the mountains, the sky darken and heavy sleet and rain begin to fall. The snowflakes started, and two hours later I was in Stoney’s bar at the largest University of Oklahoma football watch party outside of Norman, Oklahoma. It was surreal as we sang the fight song, 300 people cheered on the team from 14 televisions, and snow blanketed the earth. And it was 22 degrees outside!
I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland, truly wondering where I was! As I was lying in bed, I inhaled deep breaths of gratitude for my somatic-based practices that ground me, and remind me that my home is my body, no matter where the world lands me. As I crawled out from under the down covers, placed my feet on the earth and stood up, I felt deeply appreciative of my base and the awareness of my legs’ stability and strength. I was home, with a deeply rooted sense of connection.
Do you sometimes feel yourself surrounded by chaotic movement and change, wondering where you are and where you have been?
Take a moment to notice your feet, your legs, your knees, your deep hip joints, and sense their stability, strength, and resilient design.
Thank the base of your body… and bring it to class this week to show your appreciation and gratitude for deep roots that connect you.
Your base… your body… your home.
See you on the dance floor!
All love, Adelle
Do you sometimes feel yourself surrounded by chaotic movement and change, wondering where you are and where you have been?
Take a moment to notice your feet, your legs, your knees, your deep hip joints, and sense their stability, strength, and resilient design.
Thank the base of your body… and bring it to class this week to show your appreciation and gratitude for deep roots that connect you.
Your base… your body… your home.
See you on the dance floor!
All love, Adelle
My classes this week:
Tuesday Nia at 6:45am
Wednesday Nia at 9:15am
Friday Nia at 5:30pm
Sunday JourneyDance at 10:00 am
and Sunday Nia at 4:00 pm
all at The Synergy Studio!
Adelle Brownlee Brewer
Owner, The Synergy Studio, San Antonio, TexasNia Black Belt Teacher; White Belt Trainer
Nia Training Faculty
Journey Dance Guide; Professional Fiber Artist
www.thesynergystudio.com
www.nianow.com/adelle
www.journeydance.com
Learn more and go deeper into the connection with you body and your life by taking a Nia White Belt Intensive. Our next intensive is coming up in December…a split weekend.
Read more about upcoming opportunities to take the White Belt: http://www.nianow.com/adelle
I looked in the mirror today, and saw somebody different. I was intrigued… I knew I hadn’t changed from the day before, yet who I observed was someone new.
Do you ever take the time to look at yourself and notice the beauty of your body, your emotional expressions, your inner spirit, your human-ness?
I was inspired by the words of Madisyn Taylor this morning when she talked about how many of us don’t take the time to notice and acknowledge how beautiful we are as humans. After reading her words, I stopped and reflected.
200 bones, 700 muscles, thousands of sensory receptors, countless possibilities for shape shifting, evolving, and appreciating every moment in union with our divine spirit, our deep emotions, our sacred vessel… our body.
Does each day bring change? Absolutely. Sometimes the change is not what we want, or desire, but it is the only constant of life. We all have a beautiful light that shines from within, no matter how much we change or how others see us. When we cut through preconcieved notions of how we should look, and simply appreciate our inner light and beauty, we free up so much energy.
Take the time today to look at yourself in the mirror and see your inner soul… see yourself in the pure light of love.
Divine love.
Come dance this week with your inner eyes turned on. We call it x-ray anatomy in Nia… seeing the potential of your beautiful self.
For you ARE beautiful.
Adelle
My classes this week: Tuesday 6:45am, Wednesday 9:15am, Fun Friday 5:30pm
Adelle Brownlee Brewer
Owner, The Synergy Studio, San Antonio, Texas
Nia Black Belt Teacher; White Belt Trainer
Nia Training Faculty
Journey Dance Guide; Professional Fiber Artist
www.thesynergystudio.com
www.nianow.com/adelle
www.journeydance.com
Learn more and go deeper into the connection with you body and your life by taking a Nia White Belt Intensive. Check out my trainings with Joanie Brooks at: http://www.nianow.com/adelle
Touching… one of the 52 moves of Nia.
I’m sitting in bed surrounded by my pups, touching the keyboard with my skin, my precious cottage home with my eyes, the cool air with my breath, and the sounds of the early morning with my ears as the world wakes up.
The power of touch to heal, soothe, sense… touching space, oneself, a loved one. Are you a ‘touchy, feely’ person? I am. I love to touch and be touched. So much connection, expression and love can be expressed through touch. There is a beautiful energy exchanged in a hug, a smile, a hand, a kiss, a voice.
I got home last night from an amazing week of connection, support and hard work. I buckled down with fellow Nia trainers from all over the world, as we produced and filmed four new Nia routines for teachers and students to grow in their practice. I dove deeper in relationship with my colleagues as we spent time together sweating, smiling, laughing, and crying. It was especially touching to spend quality time with Sabine and Philip, two trainers who reside in Auroville, India. They found each other through Nia nine years ago, and their deep love and appreciation for each other was shared in their new routine Awake. The routine Fly was choreographed by four younger trainers, focusing on the FAMSS and is fantastic fun. Soul is to Native American music. Touch was crafted by two fellow trainers in Portland, a beautiful body of work that uses four touchstones as a focus… skin, eyes, breath and sound.
So many ways to touch and be touched.
We will focus on touch this week, using the four touchstones, with the intent to connect to living meditation… places where our body is in stillness.
I put a playlist together that includes two songs of the new routine Touch… come get a preview!
I am very happy to be home and can’t wait to see you!
The week has arrived… we will have Dave Stringer performing in the Laughter studio on Sunday evening, November 4 at 7:00! If you haven’t purchased a ticket, go online to get one… it will be an incredible evening of song and dance, as Dave and his full kirtan band touch us with his explosive talent. The Sunday Nia class is being moved to 3:00pm this week, to accommodate the band’s load in, set up, and sound check. Get ready for a memorable evening!
Touched deep in my soul, Adelle
My classes this week: Wednesday 9:15am, Friday 5:30pm, Sunday 10:00am for Journey Dance and note the class time change for this week… Sunday 3:00pm for Nia!
Life is rich. So many choices moment to moment. In the magic of living, the only choice is love. What an amazing time to be experiencing!
I made the choice this last weekend to be with my fellow trainers at Soma Ranch in Montgomery, Texas. I experienced the gifts of four Nia male trainers sharing their wisdom, experience, and love, along with many others.
From there I made the choice to fly to Portland, to be with my dear friend and master trainer Ann Christiansen, sharing the amazing energy of the Brown Belt training. 45 people from all over the world shining and now on their Nia Brown Belt path. I am still here, absorbing the moment to moment magic of co-creation, preparing for the long days of video production so that others can make the choice to learn, grow and shine their gifts on the world.
When I arrived in Portland, I received a text that Gabrielle Roth, creator of 5Rhythms and beautiful raven spirit, had transitioned… dancing into her next life. That night, 60 of us moved with Gabrielle in our hearts, sensing her wings, her heart, her choices that came from love. 
Below are words from Gabrielle and also reflections of the teachings of Carlos Rosas…. two shamanic lights who chose to share their gifts with others, to turn the world onto dance, and create magic with the choice of love.
I will see you on the dance floor Wednesday!… it IS all love… Adelle
“In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions. When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?” ~ Gabrielle Roth
Choice is the Gateway to Awareness … In January 2010 at a meeting discussing the future of Nia education,I asked Carlos AyaRosas, the co-creator of Nia, how we could teach other people to evoke the shamanistic element that he brought to Nia classes. What he told me changed my life and I hope that it will change yours!
He told me that at one point he simply realized that he could choose to become his own living legend in his natural time! He simply shifted his identity to becoming the storyteller of his life by choosing.
Carlos never chose to be a shaman or some kind of spiritual icon in his classes – his relationship with Nia was a path of awareness. And yet, this very path led him to the watershed understanding of being his own living legend, which was the very quality that had potent transformational capital for his students. Indeed, the tools of the shaman are story, dance and ritual.
The definition of consciousness is embodied awareness. Embodied awareness is sensation. Awareness is a phenomenological gestalt of living with intent. In a living human being body sensation happens only in the present moment. Consciousness is a phenomenon of the present moment where the body is experienced in its sensory totality – a sacred union of mind, emotion and spirit.
Nia’s first principle, the Joy of Movement, teaches people to connect to the sensation of life force energy in the body simply by choosing to be aware. Life force is the inherent vitality that we invest in every moment through our choices (mind, emotion, spirit realms – the light body) and actions (physical realm – the material body).
The presence of our life force makes all movement possible. Choice is the gateway to awareness; it is the portal to consciousness.
Choice occurs only in the present. The present moment is the unifying force of the whole universe – it is trans-temporal, it includes the all that is past-present-future.
The legend of our lives is NOW. Choosing to tell our story, with each step, each gesture, each word and feeling is the ultimate act of awareness where we become both the unfolding delight of the kaleidoscope and the actor turning the kaleidoscope’s wheel!… Karri Winn
Choose the Joy of Movement… Choose Love – the moment is NOW to embrace movement, pleasure and being in your own skin – see you in class!!
Adelle Brownlee Brewer
Owner, The Synergy Studio
Black Belt Nia Teacher; White Belt Nia Trainer
Professional Fiber Artist
San Antonio, Texas
www.thesynergystudio.com
www.nianow.com/adelle
www.journeydance.com
Like mother, Like daughter…
Ms. Bella Brewer is featured as the cover puppy on the
2013 Yoga Puppies Calendar! She surprised us all!
Her mother Lilly was the featured cover dog for 2012. 🙂
Three cheers for my precious Bella!
