Loosen up Your Shoulder Girdle

I often sense discomfort in my shoulders and neck area. My body's way of coping with stress is to shrug and I often feel tense in my neck and shoulders. I often hear from people in my life that they also struggle with pain and discomfort in their shoulders. 

 

Debbie Rosas, founder of Nia Technique says:

 

"By design, the shoulder girdle includes two groups of bones: two clavicles (collar bones) and two scapulae (shoulder blades).

 

These bones work together as one unit. The muscles of the shoulder girdle attach to and move these bones. Two horizontal "S" shaped bones, the collarbones, form one set of bones. 

 

These bones lie on the front of your body between your shoulders. Touch them and sense their horizontal, fluid shape. Your shoulder blades, the two flat triangle-shaped bones, your "wings," lie on top of your upper back and float over the first seven ribs." 

Here is a practice for you

Draw your elbows behind you to sense your wings coming closer together and away from your back. Hold the squeeze for five seconds and then release, reaching your arms and hands out, moving them freely in space to sense freedom in your shoulder girdle.

What is holding you back from exercising and moving (on) in life?

What is the reason that you are not exercising or practising some sort of movement on regular basis? This question is for You, and I want you to be really honest with yourself, there's no point coming up with excuses to yourself, is there?

I've seen this so often (including myself), getting excited about starting to exercise, it could be dancing, badminton, swimming, anything really and then we stop! 

 

Ask yourself - what was the reason that you stopped? Listen to your answer and then ask yourself the question again, and be really, really honest with yourself. 

 

Be curious, look into it, like a detective, what is the reason that I'm not exercising any more, or haven't started yet?

 

I posted this video a little while ago and you might have seen it already, but I think it's worth watching again and and seeing what it would take for you to get this man's courage and inspiration to "move on"

 

Remember: Important changes to Nia classes

From last week there will only be Wednesday classes. I'l let you know as soon as I start new classes. 

  

In this week's classes the Focus is: Being Spontaneous

 

Wednesday 27 March 10:00 - 11:00 

 

All my classes are at the First Dance Studios in Woking.  

  

I'm looking forward to moving and dancing with you. 

 

Cim* 

 

To register for a class: 

e-mail: cim@rediscoversparkle.com

When the Sparkle goes - what to do

When I have my Sparkle going - I feel inspired, content and generally feel like life is fun. But recently, I felt that my Sparkle was going, and when it started to happen, at first, I didn't know what to do about it. 

 

Then I remembered that this is what I "do", help women to reclaim their Sparkle, and I realised that this applies to me too. If your Sparkle is going the first thing I would recommend you to do, is to do some sort of movement, walking, running, but mostly I would suggest to dance. 

 

So I did some Nia of course. Movement is healing. 

 

In the spirit of healing and the joy of movement, I want to share this clip with you.

When the Sparkle goes - what to do.

If your Sparkle is going the first thing I would recommend you to do, is to do some sort of movement, walking, running, but mostly I would suggest to dance.  So I did some Nia of course. Movement is healing.  In the spirit of healing and the joy of movement, I want to share this clip with you.

Important changes to Nia classes

From this week there will only be Wednesday classes. I'l let you know as soon as I start new classes. 

In this week's classes the Focus is: Body Awareness

Wednesday 20 March 10:00 - 11:00 

All my classes are at the First Dance Studios in Woking.  

I'm looking forward to moving and dancing with you. 

Cim* 

To register for a class: 

e-mail: cim@rediscoversparkle.com

If it doesn't work - Tweak it!

If something you are doing doesn't work for you - a small or big - tweak it!

 

The first principle of Nia Technique is the 'Joy Of Movement', which means to move your body in a way so you experience Joy.

 

If you don't experience Joy when you move, the Nia principle teaches that you to tweak it, that is, slightly change what you are doing - the way you move: a smaller step, a bigger step, or stop the move completely, whatever.

 

Have a go with this when you walk, for example. Does your body sense Joy? If not, tweak it! Walk a bit faster, or try a bit slower. Take bigger steps, or maybe smaller steps work better for you. Tweak it! Adjust until you find something that works better, until you feel the Joy.

 

You can take this principle into other parts of your life. If you discover something that is not working as well for you as you'd like, what tweak can you make to shift it to get you to a more comfortable place?

Get in Your Body to get better Relationships

I want you to meet one of my teachers and inspiration, Debbie Rosas, who is one of the founders of Nia Technique. Here is what she says about why you should "get in your body":

 

"I'm excited to share everything you ever wanted to know about getting into the body with you. Why? When you Get In Your Body, you have better sex, you feel better, you eat better, you look better, you live better, and your relationships are better too".

 

That is exactly the reason I practice Nia. I love for women like you to experience more of the above. Here is a clip with Debbie being interviewed by BBC Radio 2's Janey Lee Grace (who also teaches Nia).