Throughout a Nia class, you'll hear Lesley and I refer to "every body sense your___(body part)___." We are inviting you into your body's sensation.  Out there in the "regular world of fitness", you won't hear the word Sensation much. You may hear the word "feeling" more. For example: "feel the burn...feel the muscle contract".  There's certainly nothing wrong with using the word "feeling".  In many ways, it's just semantics. We are all striving to connect to what we are noticing in our body in the moment.  Noticing, to me, is another way to say awareness.  In Nia, we encourage you to become aware of sensation which is just another way of saying "hey, notice what your feeling in your body". 

And this begs, the question...Why do I want to notice(become aware of) my body's feelings (sensations)? For me there is both a beauty in becoming aware of sensation and there is a benefit to it. Which is exactly why I'm writing a series of articles entitled: The Beauty and The Benefit of Nia.  Lesson One: Awakening to Sensation. We're going to have these articles on our site for you to download and read at your leisure. And I'd love to hear if the information and the experiential tip is of value to you. And if so, in what way?

Okay, so  back to the question: Why do I want to become aware of Sensation  (read: notice what I'm feeling in my body)? For me, it's because nothing speaks to me with more honesty and more perfection than when I quiet my mind and listen to what mybody is telling me. Not what my mind says my body is saying.....that's different, that's an opinion of what I think my body is saying.  What I'm talking about is putting yourself in the place of not judging, not thinking, and instead listening-- without the history, without the stories, without being a victim or attached what's being said-- instead  breathe, empty out, relax your body, be alert in your mind and reap the benefit of just waiting for the voice of the body. Listen with the alertness as if you were "next in line at the drivers license bureau after a 3 hour wait". Be in the moment of now and listen to the solitary voice of the most miraculous and mysterious machine ever created. 

Why do this? Because, no one will ever say to you what your body will say to you. And you may never know what is has to share with you until you listen for it.