Filling and emptying the lungs, breathing, helps keep the shoulder halo open, and the shoulders and neck relaxed. You can sense your shoulder halo as "stuck" or "agile." A long exhale, accompanied by making sounds (sounding) helps align and loosen the shoulder halo and the neck. By placing the tip of the tongue on the ridge of the upper palate when breathing, the diaphragm is engaged. This type of breathing helps with power moves such as kicks, blocks, and punches. Adding sound, "Hey", with the breath into the power moves helps the body breathe in an organic way.

The topic of this evening's Nia TeleCourse led by Debbie Rosas (co-founder Nia Technique) was the shoulder girdle (or as Debbie refers to it, the shoulder halo) and breathing. The shoulder halo is comprised of the clavicles (collar bones) and the scapula (shoulder blades). The clavicles are separated by the sternum. The shoulder halo functions to connect the arm bones to the axial skeleton and to provide points of attachment for muscles that power arm and elbow movement.

If you sense tension when breathing, the inhale and exhale are out of synch. If you become light-headed, your breathing is out of synch and your chemistry is out of balance. Play with the rhythm of your breathing to choose pleasure. Do not follow someone else's breathing. Spending more time on the exhale can help -- that's also why vowel sounds are sustained. When the exahle expands, the inhale can get bigger and fuller on its own.

Daily Tips
1. Sense a fuller in and out breath at least every 30 minutes. Use a reminder system, such as colored tags placed on your computer, or table, or kitchen counter. When you see a colored tag, that's your reminder to breathe fully.
2. When waiting in line, engage palate breathing (tip of tongue on roof of mouth).
3. Choose pleasurable breathing.
4. When you feel emotional, sound!
5. Incorporate sounding into your Dance through Life.
6. Practice each of the 52 Nia moves with their suggested sounding. See the book, The Nia Technique for a description of the 52 moves (also check the links below). "Ha!" in a riding or sumo stance. "Wooooo" in a cat stance. "Cha cha cha" with --you guessed it -- cha cha cha. "Pow" with a front kick. "Laughter" with creepy crawlers. Vowel sounds, a, e, i, o, u, with a shimmy.

To listen to the audio for this TeleCourse, please start here. Nia TeleCourse calls for the public are typcially scheduled on the first Monday of every month at 5:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Pacific.