Lesley Tinker's blog

$200 raised to help persons with breast cancer

Lesley Tinker — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:20:08 -0500

This morning's class was richly fueled with awareness, hope, and healing. Motivated primarily towards breast cancer, we further invited hope and healing for all in need, including ourselves. We raised $200, which was donated to Northwest Hope and Healing, a West Seattle-based non-profit dedicated to helping persons newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

As it is with Sunday mornings, we started with 2 minutes of meditation to music and silence. We then stepped into the class to the inspiring music and lyrics of India.Arie's I Am Not My Hair followed by her beautiful enheartening Strength, Courage, and Wisdom. From there we tasted awareness, hope, and healing from a variety of Nia songs that sent us shimmying, tail-wagging, and scintillating into our peaceful warrior ninja selves. We finished with three more of India.Arie's songs: There's Hope (jiving through our bodies as we cooled down), This Too Shall Pass (moving silently integrating breath, body, and community, through a movement kata of the Warrior Series from the book Yoga for Your Spiritual Muscles), and finally 1-1/2 minutes of Outro: Learning (resting into the earth simultaneously receiving and giving).

Our raffle added delight and donation. Many thanks to Shari Sewell from Northwest Hope and Healing for donating a gorgeous healing basket from Northwest Hope and Healing full of delights including peach lotion, teddy bear, pink mittens, and other delicacies. Janet held the winning ticket for the Healing basket. Fran won the rink ribbon lingerie, and Heidi won the tote bag with the breast cancer awareness insignia.

We're alread planning for next October's Breast Cancer Hope and Healing Nia Class -- stay tuned!

Sending healing wshes to all,
Lesley

How do you dress yourself?

Lesley Tinker — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:25:52 -0500

Yeah, I know...shirts, skirts, pants, shoes. That's great for outerwear. What about innerwear? No, not underwear, innerwear! What's your innerwear wardrobe? My personal favorite is to fill my arms and ankles with bangles, drape a flower garland around my neck, put lots of glimmery eyeshadow and mascara on my third eye, and say goodmorning to the dancing dakini that lives in my heart. Who'd know? But I know, and so no matter what I'm doing, no matter what comes my way, the inner sparkle keeps me light, strong, engaged, and in contact with the richness of the day.

What's your innerwear favorite? Would love to hear!

Love, Lesley

Sunday's Blast Off!

Lesley Tinker — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:48:48 -0500

Today, 20 beautiful rockin' bodies came to move, came to enJoy Nia! What a fall kick-off with a record number of Sunday Nia'ites. New friends (6 new to Nia!) and longer time friends gathered at Youngstown. And...the guys were well represented, numbering 3, that's 14% of the group. Three cheers for the three guys! Three more cheers for us all!

In Jill's beautiful blog, "Inside the Mind of this Nia Diva," she wrote of being inspired to take us all beyond Nia and with Nia. Well, I was sure inspired and felt that today's class was exactly that -- beyond and with Nia.

For me, my heart beats and my being is nourished on potential, connectedness, and community. With those, I thrive; without those I wilt. Potential -- that richness inside us, a constant vein of gold, or maybe more like a deep pure water spring of bubbling new riches. Connectedness -- to ourselves, each our 75 trillion or so cells; to each other; the billions on the planet; and to all life forms -- we are connected. Community -- the manifestation of coming together in shared space and experience. Relishing in our similiarities and differences to the point that who's to say which is which! Yep, that's what it's all about for me.

So, today, as we glittered and shimmered, danced, shouted, made shapes, and got fit, my spirit was nourished in potential, connectedness, and community; I hope that yours was, too!

With sincere gratitude dear friends!

Love, Lesley

Lesley's Summer, sending gratitude

Lesley Tinker — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 12:11:40 -0500

Today, the last day of August, inspires me to send summer greetings, replete with gratitude for the gifts received. When Jill and I chose to take off July and August from teaching Nia, it was with the desire to refuel our bodies and reinvigorate our business and thus more fully bring Nia to you in the fall.

Jill and I so look forward to reconnecting with you with Nia starting this week at Youngstown Arts Center with three free classes: Thursday, September 4th (6-7 pm with Jill ), Saturday, September 6th (10-11 am with Jill), and Sunday, September 7th (10-11 am with Lesley).

May all be received with inspiration for you also to reflect on your summer's bounties.

Green Belt -- Nia teacher intensive training5 days in Portland OR at Nia Headquarters with the cofounders of Nia, Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas. The Green Belt is a new belt level expressly designed to deepen the clarity of a teacher's presentation of Nia through in-depth study and practice of Nia's music, movement, methodology, anatomy, and philosophy. There were 17 of us, at varying belt levels, giving many opportunities for feedback.

The result for teachers and students is to experience even greater joy in movement, greater connection to our body's way and the body's design, and thus greater fitness. I am extremely excited about the material presented in this belt and bringing the benefits to Nia classes.

Disneyland -- the ultimate Nia-enriching experience

A 4-day birthday extravaganza from 7 a.m. 'til midnight (with 2-3 hour afternoon siesta), nearly non-stop every day. It had been nearly 20 years since my husband Don and I had been to Disneyland, and we were way overdue.

Arriving during a southern California heat wave, we cooled down amidst laughter and screams (full-bodied sounding!) through multiple rides down the aptly named Splash Mountain. We hung out in New Orleans Square, rode Pirates of the Caribbean over and over again, enjoyed a birthday dinner at the Blue Bayou grotto, and even had a chat with Captain Jack!

We spent just a few hours in California Adventures, across the way from Disneyland -- Soaring Over California is a must - the feel, the sensataion enriched by awareness through Nia, of being in a hang-glider soaring over the scenic California coastline, wine country, Golden Gate Bridge, and southern California orange groves.

Back to Disneyland, watching Tinker Bell do her nighttime spin around the castle to the tune of Wish Upon a Star sent me unexpectedly into tears of kinesthetically remembered childhood delight from my first trip to Disneyland -- the amount of embodied emotion and wisdom that is buried in our beings astounded me; the potential of the human body and spirit are boundless.

Blue Electric Storm -- welcoming in the natural time new year, the Nia way

3-days in Houston with one of the gloriously energetic certified Nia trainers, Helen Terry, plus a potpourri of Nia teachers and students from distances near and far. Blue Electric Storm was named from the 13-moon natural time calendar, a calendar whereby the year rotates on 13-month cycle overlaid onto the 12-month calendar many of us are habituated to.

The 13-moon natural time year starts each July, and this year is the year of Blue Electric Storm, a year guided by Abundance. Coincidental with the start of Blue Electric Storm on July 26 is Helen Terry's galactic birthday and the start of the Nia Technique's 25-year anniversary celebration.

The 3-day celebration of "Blue Electric Storm" in Houston emerged with play-shops, classes, parties, and a Nia jam of over 100 people! All was with a focus on experiencing the sensation of the joy of movement and how this sensation, this way of moving, deepens fitness and pleasure in body, mind, emotions, and the unique spirit of ourselves.

And, talk about joy, at Blue Electric Storm. I and others were introduced to Kombucha, a probiotic drink, and other probiotic foods, thanks to Chef Joe, also known as Tio Pepe. These probiotic foods and beverages immediately grounded my body in feeling oh so vital.

5-Stages of Self-Healing

2 days in Sammamish WA with Nia cofounder, Debbie Rosas, plus pre-training and upcoming post-training. Self-healing is defined as the physical sensation of feeling better than before -- it's not about curing disease--important distinction.

The 5-stages of self-healing, primarily done on the floor, take us movement-wise through the five development stages we naturally experienced as infants, toddlers, and youngsters: (1) embryonic with the fluidity of non-thinking movement; (2) creeping with the beginning of linearly moving forward and backward; (3) crawling with the development of cross-lateral travel; (4) standing/crouching with the development of verticality; and (5) walking with the integration of self. By moving through these stages, even 5 minutes a day, benefits may include an increased sense balance, flexibility, agility, mobility, strength, stability.

Jill and I have brought you the 5-stages during Nia classes. This particular training took the practice deeper by providing a template for a complete classes and workshops. Look for more with NiaDivas later in the fall.

It is with humbleness and joy that I thank each one of you for the gifts of the summer. I hope that your summers were equally and even more gratifying.

Sincerely,

NiaDivas' Lesley Tinker

Certified Blue and Green Belt Nia Instructor

Smile to get more out of your workout!

Lesley Tinker — Tue, 06 May 2008 09:14:35 -0500

Want more out of your workout? Smile!

The act of smiling releases tension in the jaw and neck, two of the greatest tension holders in the body. Not only do the jaw and neck hold tension, they stimulate tension throughout the entire body. In small doses, there is nothing wrong with tension, in fact small doses of tension are healthy. But, in this day and age, tension has become our normal way of being -- so much so that we often do not realize it! Take a quick check -- how is your jaw? Tight or loose? How is your breathing? Shallow or full? Tight jaw and shallow breathing are signs of chronic tension.

By releasing tension, we enter into relaxation, the place from where a good workout starts. The pulsing between muscular relaxation and contraction stimulates blood flow, which brings oxygen and nutrients to our muscle cells and takes CO2 and waste products away. We get more out of our workout and we can work out longer.

The word, Smile, starts with the letter "S," which depicts what in our body’s chemistry is called an allosteric or sigmoidal or S curve. At the bottom of the "S" we are in relaxation. At the top of the "S" we are in tension. In the swiggle between the bottom and top of the "S" we are in dynamic ease, that magic place of flow between relaxation and tension where our bodies work most efficiently and derive the greatest benefits.

Watch and listen to Nia co-founders Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas discuss relaxation on their NiaNow website video by clicking here.

The Five Sensations of Nia for conditioning, balance, and harmony

Lesley Tinker — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:04:50 -0500

As our ability to listen to our body increases, we fine-tune sensations and call on them to access flexibility, agility, mobility, strength, and stability -- FAMSS for short. In Nia, we often refer to FAMSS the Five Sensations. Together, FAMSS provide functional fitness and conditioning, which lead to balance and harmony throughout our bodies. What do these sensations feel like? And how do we access them?

Flexibility is sensed as energy moving outward along the bones. There's an elastic quality of muscles and joints, and a feeling of warmth. If we lose flexibility, we tend to feel heavy, rigid, stiff, cramped, or tired. We can access flexibility by invoking a sense of lengthening from the center of our bodies. Yawning with our whole body is a natural way of stretching and inviting flexibility. Without even moving, we can sense flexibility by connecting our mind with our body in the imagination of muscle along the bone.

Agility is sensed as a feeling of pushing and pulling, a shifting of dynamic tension, a sense of yin (feminine) and yang) masucline. It's sensed as the moment of starting a movement and the signal to stop a movement. The opposite of feeling agile is a sense of losing response, speed, and control. We can access agility by playing with sudden starts and stops, and with changes in speed of movements.

Mobility is sensed as energy in constant motion, range of motion around the joints. By playing with mobility, we can feel that "mojo flow", the magic of our body being in tune. Lack of mobility may be sensed as a tightness, discomfort, or loss of power. Like a gyroscope that fluidly changes direction while staying in motion, we can call on the sensation of mobility.

Strength is sensed as muscle hugging the bone, energy in. There's a feeling of sustained power, a vibration of positive tension in the muscles. Losing strength may be sensed as quivering of the muscle uncontrollably, pain, fatigue, a lessening of balance and coordination. Access strength by progressively alternating tightening and relaxing of muscle groups. One place that often stays tight (and uncomfortable) is our jaw. How's yours? Dynamic strength is a balance of power and grace, sensed as relaxation more than tension.

Stability is sensed as a calmness in the muscles combined with readiness for action. Stability is the base from which we move. Dynamic stability is sense as a balance of opposites, a powerful peace. Loss of stability may be sensed as weakness, loss of balance, or loss of support. The amazing thing is that stabile stances involved the whole body, not just the legs. One way to access stability is to start with movement, a gentle swaying back and forth from an open- or A-stance -- let the whole body be involved, then letting the sway become smaller and smaller until stability is attained.

In Nia, we cultivate flexibility, agility, mobility, strength, and stability through sensation and consciousness.

More information about FAMSS can be found in these resources:

All Things Nia on this website. Click here.
Book, The Nia Technique. Click here.
Online video, Helen Terry, Nia Trainer, demonstrates the Five Sensations. Click here.

EnJoy,
Lesley

Feet - Kiss or Pound?

Lesley Tinker — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:03:28 -0600

As a Nia student, you will often hear Jill or I advise you to "Let your feet kiss the ground" or "We'd like to hear the silence of your feet connecting with the floor" or "Use soft strength when placing your feet." You will never hear us say, "We'd like to hear the pounding of your feet on the floor!" The reason is that pounding our feet, especially when dancing barefoot, can result in injury. "Kissing" our feet to the ground inspires conscious, aware, and safe foot placement.

"Barefoot, we could feel the exact impact of all our movements, and it forced us to stop pounding our feet into the floor as if our skeletons were made of steel." write Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas in The Nia Technique book.

Each of our feet has 33 joints, 26 bones, more than a 100 ligaments, 19 large muscles, several small muscles, and 7,000 nerve endings! Most at risk are the metarsal bones along the ball of the foot, which is a primary reason why stepping forward in Nia is guided by the heel lead and why we encourage soft sure-footed movement.

As our whole-body conditioning and awareness build, we can add jumping in Nia. At this stage, we are highly conditioned, know our bodies, and are able to jump and land with our entire being in safety. Until that point, it's best to let our feet kiss the floor. Let awareness be your witness to grow and enjoy Nia injury-free.

Why so much emphasis about the feet? It's because I have a personal injury story about repetitive jumping (pounding on my feet). Completely unrelated to Nia, as part of the tradition of Buddhist practice I follow, one may start deepening practice by engaging in sets of 100,000 repeating mantras or prayers often accompanied by full body prostrations. Eight years ago, I started prostrations. With all the up and down, it was much easier to do prostrations barefoot, and so I did. I got to the point where I could do 100 full prostrations within 20 minutes by jumping back onto my feet while rising. Well...after a few months, I felt a tweak in my foot, but being stubborn, I ignored the tweak and kept going <<Ooop-la -- stupid on my part).

Three weeks later, still doing prostrations, but barely able to walk, puzzled by the whole situation, I went to the doctor, got an x-ray, and learned that I had a compound fracture of my third metatarsal! Clearly, it didn't start as a compound fracture; I would have felt that immediately. But the stress fracture started by pounding barefoot, and compounded by ignoring my body. No more pounding for me! And, much more awareness and honoring of my body.

Today, after doing Nia for nigh on three years and teaching 3-5 classess weekly for the past two years, I happily report that I have had no injuries, I am more fit than I have been in years, and all of this has come through working The Body's Way, my way, with my feet kissing the ground thankfully with every step.

Wishing EveryBody the Joy of Nia, of movement, sustained and injury-free.

With appreciation and with happy feet,
Lesley

P.S. I did finish the 100,000 prostations, with much more awareness, still with the speed, with feet kissing the ground on the rise, and with much more awareness, joy, and confidence.

Tight Shoulders? Blocked Energy?

Lesley Tinker — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:21:50 -0600

Tightness in the shoulder area? Blocked energy? This is for you! Watch Debbie Rosas, co-founder of the Nia Technique, demonstrate upward blocks. See the craft, practice the craft, and listen to Debbie explain how upward blocks can help loosen the shoulders and release blocked energy.

You'll find this video and a lot more in the newest release (Vol 3, Issue 1) of the NiaNow online newsletter.

Sultry Sensuous (yet STRONG) Moodfood Routine

Lesley Tinker — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:17:32 -0600

In today's Nia, we did the routine, Moodfood. With the focus on the feet, and all those sensuous sultry lyrics, WOW! We started with rolling our feet back and forth and "rocking around the clock", we drew our attention to sensing our feet and letting the sensation travel up through our bodies and 13 main joints. This routine brings us several Nia moves, cross-behind, cross-front, cha-cha-cha, kicks, stances, blocks energized with Tae Kwon Do, Aikido-like harmonizing spirals, soul-based Duncan dance, and shape-based modern dance.

Along the way, the lyrics to two of the songs vied for our attention! Rainsong and Spiritual High. Click Lyrics If you'd like to see the lyrics. Click Moodfood by the MoodSwings to see more about the music CD.

More about the moves used during the routine can be found in The Nia Technique book, available for purchase before or after NiaDivas classes at Youngstown Arts Center.EnJoy! Lesley

Earthsong -- you gotta experience it!

Lesley Tinker — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:31:12 -0600

Today, in Jill's Nia class, Jill led us in Earthsong. WOW! Focusing on the one-point, the center of our body movement and grounding, this routine is one you've got to experience! The one point is slightly below or around or belly button and interior, sometimes referred to as our center point. The music and moves and Jill's teaching of Earthsong led us to play with expanding and compacting from the one point. This gave us the ability to expand the edges of our boundaries 360 degrees in body, mind, emotion, and spirit.

Connected, whole, controlled yet free, free yet stable. The body secure in the one-point moving in and out of its limits effortlessly and with joy. It's as if I could see for miles with senses other than vision as I moved in and out of places known and unknown. Even better, the whole group of us were moving in and out of movement from the one-point. It was palpable and delicous.

Lately, I've been reading a book that my loving husband (Don, Nia Diva's webmaster) gave me, The Intuitive Body, Aikido as a Clairsentient Practice by Wendy Palmer. Aikido is one of the martial arts forms that feeds into Nia, and I'm hungry for all things Nia, all things embodiment! Anyway...in the book, the author talks about the physical center of the body being "the part of us that remembers we belong to the universe." Beautiful, isn't it!

Today was the first time I've done Earthsong, and I'll be back for more!

Sending hugs of harmony,
Lesley