Nia featured in Sunday Times  

Love Your Body
Love Your Life

A sensory-based movement practice that leads to health, wellness and fitness.

Nia draws from disciplines of the martial arts, dance arts and healing arts.

Classes are taken barefoot to soul-stirring music in more than 45 countries.



Dance to Good Health

by Lorna V, Sunday Times, 31 July 2011

When the manager of my gym cornered me after Pilates and said I might like Nia because I love yoga and dance, I wasn't sure what to expect. The leaflet mentioned "holistic movement for body and soul" and "an expressive movement practice promoting fitness, creativity and wellbeing". It sounded like new-age mumbo jumbo, but within minutes of starting a class, I was excited. Here was a cardio workout, fusing dance with martial arts and yoga, that got the body strutting, sweating, and stretching. Hours later, a welcome calmness set over me. And it lasted. Once Nia is on your radar, you'll start spotting classes in that way you see the hidden independent cafe differentiating itself from the pack.

If Nia is a secret coffee place, then Zumba is the Starbucks of fitness: omnipresent, buzzy and very popular. Last year Michelle Obama made Zumba fans love the clubby atmosphere of packed classes, the upbeat party music and the uncomplicated yet aerobic dance routines.

However, if you also want to find yourself with a dance-style routine, Nia is for you. This is meditation for the superactive. "Nia isn't about repetitive, mechanical movement," says Nefra Canning, a former professional dancer and a green-belt Nia teacher. "The counts for the movements allow for the breath, which means there is space to connect the movement to the body." The Nia guru Debbie Rosas says: "Everybody wants the highs of the endorphin experience. But that high goes away. With Nia, it lasts; it becomes a core part of who you are.'