Nia, an internationally acclaimed practice for over 30 years.
Nia is now taught in 49 countries around the world. Awakening the senses, Nia teaches you to love your body and your life. Here in Australia, Nia is shared with enthusiasm by a lively community that has grown organically since 2004.
Check out the Events page for the latest workshops, gatherings, retreats and trainings Australia-wide. Explore the Blog below for community news and stories.
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5th December, 2019 in Community News, Nia Practice
COMMUNITY MEMBER SPOTLIGHT SERIES: DEB CANTRILL – SA
Name of Nia teacher/community you dance with most regularly:
Tracy Bastian Adelaide Hills/ Bridgewater & Mt BarkerOccupation/profession:
Self employed biodynamic Orchardist /educator and Natural fibre artist. Trying to retire may have reached sort of semi retired state at present.If you were to describe yourself in one word, what would that word be?
Resilient -
STALKING WHAT STEALS YOUR JOY & HOW TO GET IT BACK
Find out what brings you Joy and do it more often…
Stalk what steals your Joy and give it less attention.
Sounds simple enough. But the way our brains are wired… we tend to focus on the negative. Our “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous systems are being flooded daily by external and internal stressors, real and imagined. There’s so much going on in the world that is beyond our control and these are troubling times for our planet and many who are suffering and struggling.
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1st November, 2019 in Nia Practice, Nia White Belt Training
REFLECTIONS FROM A Nia WHITE BELT GRADUATE
I was introduced to Nia less than two years ago. I have the pleasure of both practicing Nia as a student and also representing Nia as a client. My role is to manage Nia Australia’s social media and email marketing and assist in their overall marketing strategy.
I knew that I wanted to attend the White Belt Training quite quickly into my journey with Nia, but I was also conscious not to rush into it.
For me, it was important that the time was right.
This simply meant that I was ready to immerse myself fully into the training so I could receive what I needed to receive.
Today I want to take you on my journey.
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4th September, 2019 in Nia Practice, Nia White Belt Training
IS FEAR STOPPING YOU FROM TEACHING Nia?
I know you! I know who you are.
You’re the student in class who teaches in your mind. You already have a class behind you. And in your imagination, you are there teaching them.
And you love to dance! “I could do this”, you think.
Then that other little voice comes in. It plants a seed of doubt.
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5th August, 2019 in Body-Mind, Nia Practice
WONDERING IF Nia IS FOR YOU?
In a society that generally promotes an image of health, fitness, beauty and power that is air-brushed, ageless, homogenous and unattainable, Nia says, ‘Come as you are, in your glorious wholeness and imperfection, learn to listen to your body’s wisdom, be kind to yourself, and dance like no one’s watching.
No more apologies, guilt, comparison or shame.
What if ‘Health’ was about choosing Joy and expansive self-love…
What if ‘Fitness’ was measured as your capacity for pleasure playfully expressed…
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1st July, 2019 in Body-Mind, Nia Practice
Nia welcomes us at the door and says come as you are…
We all know, pretty much, what it takes to be healthy.
Good food, exercise, plenty of sleep, meaningful connections – bonus points for happiness, fulfilment and joy.
But in our modern world, it takes a gargantuan effort to keep up with all these ‘to do’s’ especially with so many other things blaring at us for attention.
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LOVE THE SKIN YOU ARE IN
Love the skin you are in!
It’s a simple statement filled with gratitude for the body that you have now. Yet as simple as it may seem, the embodiment of this statement is sometimes easier said
then done.For as long as I can remember, I have been experiencing the ups and downs of the relationship I have with my body. On some days I feel confident and completely at ease with my body. While other days I look down at my body with displeasure and frustration, spending the day avoiding mirrors, for I know I will not like what I see.
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4th February, 2019 in Body-Mind, Nia Practice
Nia IS CREATIVE EXPRESSION
The term creativity refers to the ability to produce something both new and valuable in an innovative way. Related to this is self-expression where you infuse your personality, feelings, and opinions even down to clothing and how you “wear yourself!”
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Nia WHITE BELT TRAINING – A TIME FOR CONNECTION TO YOUR BODY
Nia White Belt offers a 7-day immersion into the Art of Sensation for self-discovery, self-healing and self-mastery.
The Training is an internationally recognised course of somatic (meaning body-centred) education. Yes, you will move a lot but it’s not all high energy cardio dance class. This is embodied learning, a well-crafted balance between cognitive and experiential journeying … Listening to your body … learning from it … consciously tracking pain and pleasure and then choosing to be kind to your body, to move with the joy of movement and feel the power of your aliveness.
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FROM SELF-DOUBT TO CONFIDENCE & CLARITY – A Nia TRANSFORMATION
How to transform your body and life in a pleasurable way that just gets better …
I fell in love with Nia straight away, the music and moves got under my skin and my teacher’s vivacity drew me in. Back then I had no inkling of the changes to come, even if someone had told me I wouldn’t have believed. Lucky for me, Nia has worked its magic softening edges and removing inhibitions until confidence and clarity quietly replace self-doubt.
All this from a movement practice you ask? Yes!
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1st October, 2018 in Body-Mind, Nia Practice
TODAY I CHOOSE JOY!
“Turbulence and divisiveness can distort our minds, leaving us susceptible to the contagion of fear. Like the common cold virus, fear is all around us….and none of us is immune.”
The easiest way I know to build immunity against fear (and the cold virus!) is to raise our vibration with Joy, individually and collectively. Nia’s foundational principle, Joy of Movement, is more than just feeling happy. This Joy is an expansive life-affirming energy that can sit beside any emotion.
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2nd August, 2018 in Body-Mind, Nia Practice
MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE – WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU?
When we think about Medicine we often conjure up thoughts of bottles of pills, prescriptions, potions and many other things prescribed to us to make us feel better, to heal from an illness or prevent us from getting sick.
What about if we switched the concept of medicine as we know it and think about how movement can heal our bodies, mind and spirit.
This is precisely why the theme for this year’s National Playshop – Movement is Medicine. At this Australia-wide event we will be guiding those participating to sense “movement as medicine”, experiencing the healing and conditioning power of moving your body in ways that feel good to you.
To explore this concept a little deeper we asked our teacher community what Movement is Medicine means to them. We have broken their thoughts into a few key areas:
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4th March, 2018 in Nia Practice, Our Stories
This is for YOU – Nia is for Everybody
It’s Fun.
It’s Fitness.
It’s unwinding from the day and simply moving to beautiful music.
It’s Exercise without Pain.
It makes you feel grounded, relaxed, free, joyous, refreshed, happy, energised, centred, connected, feminine, strong, confident and inspired.
It’s Nia and it’s for Everybody.. Read More > -
Universal Joy connects our global Nia community
Imagine finding a movement practice that spans the whole world and connects you to a global community. A fitness class that speaks not one singular language, rather a universal dialogue of the body. A mindful workout that opens your eyes to each moment as a possibility of seeing new aspects of yourself. For me the image of an exercise class that encompasses all those qualities became a reality in the form of Nia. And it continues to expand as I travel the world taking classes, connecting with communities and experiencing the ever present Joy of Nia.
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Blue Belt – Art of Communication
Blue Belt, the second level of Nia education, explores how to create healthy relationships through body-centred communication. This intensive introduces the 13 Nia principles (that follow the White Belt’s 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.
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16th August, 2016 in Body-Mind, Nia Practice
Health, fitness, beauty + power
In a society that generally promotes an image of health, fitness, beauty and power that is air-brushed, ageless, homogenous and unattainable, Nia says, ‘Come as you are, in your glorious wholeness and imperfection, learn to listen to your body’s wisdom, be kind to yourself, and dance like no one’s watching.
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16th October, 2015 in Nia Practice
Music, Movement, Magic
Many of our Nia students come from the medical and physiotherapy professions. As a barefoot practice, grounded in increasing the movement options available to the body, Nia creates pathways to optimal well-being and is adaptable for all. Mandi Cavallaro, was recently interviewed by one of her students, a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, to explain a little bit more about Nia for the new student…
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30th August, 2015 in Nia Practice
Awareness – A Parable
Once upon a time …
there was a little girl who loved to sing, dance and frolic through the fields gathering brightly coloured flowers, warm stones that twinkled in the sun, and any other treasures that interested her curious little mind.
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15th July, 2015 in Nia Practice
The 7 Cycles of a Nia Class
All Nia workouts use seven cycles. Each cycle has a unique purpose, and each is designed to fulfill specific student needs to ultimately deliver holistic conditioning. The Body’s Way reminds us that to maintain harmony and balance, we must move through these cycles.