NIA FITNESS
RESEARCH
"NIA"
- Fast Facts
- Nia was created in 1983 by Debbie Rosas and Carlos AyaRosas
- Since 1983, Nia has helped more than 100,000 people get in their body
- Nia is a non-impact movement practice based on the idea that through movement we find health
- Nia combines movements and philosophies from martial arts, dance arts and healing arts
- Nia practice is done barefoot and set to diverse music from around the world
- Classes are taught in more than 45 countries - there are currently 2500 licensed Nia teachers
- Becoming a Nia teacher involves taking at least 1 intensive training. Once completed, Teachers may attend three additional trainings that teach a total of 52 somatic principles for physical health and lifestyle well-being
- Nia Trainings are offered in countries around the world by an international training faculty
WHAT IS NIA?
The Practice
Combining dance, martial arts and mindfulness, Nia tones your body while transforming your mind. More than just a workout, Nia is a holistic fitness practice addressing each aspect of your life - body, mind and soul.
We believe every person can discover, explore, unleash, and enhance their individual potential to live a healthy and meaningful life by engaging their senses and listening to their bodies.
Nia is based on the intelligent design of the body. Each workout brings mindfulness to your dance movement experience leaving you energized, mentally clear, and emotionally balanced.
Nia cardio-dance workouts combine 52 simple moves with dance arts, martial arts, and healing arts to get you fit in 60 minutes - body, mind, emotion, and spirit.
Nia is non-impact, practiced barefoot, and adaptable to individual needs and abilities. Nia classes are taught by licensed Nia teachers.
Combining dance, martial arts and mindfulness, Nia tones your body while transforming your mind. More than just a workout, Nia is a holistic fitness practice addressing each aspect of your life - body, mind and soul.
We believe every person can discover, explore, unleash, and enhance their individual potential to live a healthy and meaningful life by engaging their senses and listening to their bodies.
Nia is based on the intelligent design of the body. Each workout brings mindfulness to your dance movement experience leaving you energized, mentally clear, and emotionally balanced.
Nia cardio-dance workouts combine 52 simple moves with dance arts, martial arts, and healing arts to get you fit in 60 minutes - body, mind, emotion, and spirit.
Nia is non-impact, practiced barefoot, and adaptable to individual needs and abilities. Nia classes are taught by licensed Nia teachers.
Company Story
From 1972 to 1983, Debbie Rosas operated an exercise business in the San Francisco Bay Area known as the Bod Squad. In 1983, a series of sports related injuries prompted her, and one of her trainers, Carlos AyaRosas to research and develop an alternative method of aerobic exercise and strength training aiming for safe, non-impact, bodymind based movement. This led to the establishment of the Nia Technique.
She met Carlos AyaRosas at one of her fitness aerobics classes. He was hoping to get fitter to gain an edge in his upcoming tennis tournament. After taking a few classes, he approached Debbie about a job – teaching was what he had always wanted to do. Debbie gave him a routine to learn. Five days later, he came back ready to throw in the towel on his tennis pro career. The entrepreneur inside of Debbie told her she should hire him – so she did.
One day, out of the blue, Debbie decided to call a friend who was a martial artist, in the hopes of learning more about the belt system. He invited her to the Dojo where he practiced his craft. Excited and not sure what to expect, she asked Carlos to join her.
From that day on their lives changed dramatically. When they arrived at the dojo the martial artist asked them to take off their shoes. He then told them to "move." As they began doing jumping jacks and leg lifts, he shook his head. "That is not moving. You have forgotten," he said.
It was through martial arts that Debbie realized she could incorporate new energy patterns and movements into class. From that day forward she never wanted to put her shoes on again to workout. She also took on the radical idea that working out didn't have to hurt to get excellent results.
At that time, the widely accepted health mantra was, “no pain, no gain.” Together, Carlos and Debbie rejected that notion and defined a new approach to wellness – one that broke away from high-impact aerobics, repetitive movement and mind-body separation. They spent the next 13 years creating Nia together.
This catalyzed a tremendous shift towards fusion fitness. Rather than obsessing over physical results, Nia tuned into the needs of the body, mind, spirit and emotions. Athletes, dancers, casual exercisers and gym-haters alike began to embrace the movement lifestyle because it felt good. It was exhilarating, not guilt-driven; expressive instead of one-dimensional. Healing, not exhausting. Nia ultimately forged the category known as mind-body fitness today.click
NIA TV
Training
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White Belt
Focus: Art of Sensation | Intent: To embody the foundation of Nia
Nia White Belt Training takes you on a journey of self-discovery by exploring the art of sensation. Beginning with the Joy of Movement, you learn 13 principles for body-centered awareness. Each principle teaches you a variety of somatic skills for connecting to physical sensation in your body. Through the science, craft and art of sensation, you will learn Nia's body-centered approach to health, wellness and fitness. Crafting with sensation is the starting point for all Nia teachers. The Art of Sensation is what brings magic to the Nia class experience.
Art of Sensation is rooted in Nia's philosophy of The Body's Way. Sensation guides you to create health and vitality by moving your body in ways that feel good. Nia White Belt teaches you to develop body literacy - the ability to listen to your body, making choices that lead to health and total body well-being.
Nia White Belt teaches you the Art of Sensation through five core areas of study.
- Movement - the study of moving, health + potential
- Anatomy - the study of body parts + systems
- Science - the study of body awareness, health + vitality
- Music - the study of sound, health + expression
- Philosophy - the study of the body's inherent wisdom.
Green Belt
40-Hour Nia Teacher Training
Learn to Teach with Somatic Knowledge, Skills and Confidence
Now Accepting All Levels of Nia Belt Graduates
Green Belt is a Nia teacher training designed to give you a full set of knowledge and skills to teach Nia in markets and facilities interested in providing body-mind-spirit movement programming for all ages, levels, and ability.
Program
The Nia Green Belt “Art of Teaching” is a somatic teaching, teacher-focused training program that began in 2008, with a focus and intent to help Nia belt graduates become extraordinary Nia teachers. All Nia Green Belt Trainers are graduates of the entire Nia Belt curriculum program, and part of the Nia Training Faculty. Green Belt trainings occur over five days, and varied schedules are offered throughout the U.S. and in Europe.
The ultimate goal of Green Belt is to condition the Nia teacher’s body, brain and nervous system to provide a path to dynamically listen, dance, teach and share Nia with ease and relaxation. The training approach, individual and community-oriented, emphasizes the importance of creating healthy relationships with everyone, your trainers and your peers. At the Green Belt training, you will have plenty of time to practice teaching and to learn how to make the experience of sharing the joy of Nia joyful.
Blue Belt
Focus: Art of Communication | Intent: To create intimacy through somatic relationships
Blue Belt, the second level of Nia education, explores how to create healthy relationships through body-centered communication. This intensive introduces the next set of 13 Nia principles, which focus on the 4 realms of body, mind, emotions and spirit. While the White Belt curriculum focuses entirely on awareness of physical sensation, Blue Belt applies these skills to explore internal sensations as perceived through – but distinct from – physical sensations in the body.
Blue Belt Principle #1: The Joy of Being in Relationship, integrates the sensation of Joy with the awareness that Joy is something outside the self, which we can invite into our physical experience. As a result, we begin to deepen our ability to listen with clarity and sustain awareness of details outside our body.
Brown Belt
Focus: Art of Perception | Intent: To live as an energetic being
By the time you reach Brown Belt, the third level of Nia education, you have developed a proficiency in sustaining awareness of your physical body and paying attention to the sensory details of the four realms: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. This level of training explores the experience of living as energy beings, as every experience of sensation in the body is an energy experience.
Brown Belt Principle 1: The Joy of Movement in the Zone, introduces "The Zone," a place of no thinking, a universe unto itself. The Zone is a state of heightened sensation inside and out, from which you can think with both the logical mind and the intuitive parts of your being. In The Zone, energy fields are tactile and readily available to you; Brown Belt teaches you how to tap into this energy to make positive changes in each of the four realms of your life.
Black Belt
Focus: Art of Creativity | Intent: Conscious Transformation
Black Belt, the fourth level of Nia education, invites you to let go of all you know and enter the River of the Unknown, a place of infinite and endless creativity.
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