Jayne Mielo

I have been taking NIA for a while now at the Westside YMCA. It is basically holistic dance movement. I take classes from Jayne Mielo and she is truly wonderful on all levels: a great and generous instructor, a peaceful person and a friend. I think the whole group just loves following her. I am big on choreographed movement yet there is a lot of free-flowing self-expression in NIA which takes me out of my comfort zone. The whole thing is therapy - physical and mental- for me. And I have Jayne to thank for being such a light on this.

I take Afro-Jazz and Zumba as well and in relation I call this "Berkeley Hippie Chick" dance because I think I am out at People's Park just grooving to my own vibe. It is truly wonderful.

So in today's post I celebrate my instructor Jayne who gave us such a great class tonight.

Here is some further info:

Dancing Through Life: The Nine Movement Forms of Nia

Martial Arts: T’ai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido
Dance Arts: Jazz Dance, Modern Dance, Duncan Dance
Healing Arts: Yoga, Alexander Technique, The Teachings of Moshe Feldenkrais®

NIA

I got back to NIA class tonight. This is a dance/movement technique that isn't religious or political, though like everything else lately, it feels like it could go that way sometimes. But truly it is time away from health care rage, and the president is a Nazi, etc. If I may, I think the US is no longer about free speech, but about rage. And this class is time away from rage. For me it is therapy both physical and mental + joy. Mixed in with another craze, perhaps. But what the heck, it is fun and a good workout.

I had never heard of NIA before I was told about it at the Y. I see it as groovy, Berkeley hippie chick dance, but it is really defined as this:

Dancing Through Life: The Nine Movement Forms of Nia

Martial Arts: T’ai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido
Dance Arts: Jazz Dance, Modern Dance, Duncan Dance
Healing Arts: Yoga, Alexander Technique, The Teachings of Moshe Feldenkrais®

My teacher, Jayne, is amazing. She just has the goods and the kindness and the groovy energy that gets everyone going. I find that it is hard to "let loose" in public, but she just "allows" you that and I have been a devoted follower ever since! (Oooh, there is that word "follower"!!)

She even took extra time with me because of my vertigo and gave me some yoga techniques to try.