Emma's Exercise Experiments: Nia

I'd never heard of Nia until it was suggested to me on a fitness forum. A very kind Canadian lady offered to send me some Nia DVDs to try. I accepted her offer and pretty soon a package of 2 class experience discs turned up through my letterbox.

JD and I had no idea what to expect when we started our first Nia session, only that it's a mix of dance, yoga and pilates.

The principles of Nia are appealing to me. Its all about being mindful as you exercise and listening to your body as you move to notice what feels good to do and what is too much. They suggest you go barefoot and wear any comfortable loose clothing.

This was the first time this year we'd tried doing exercise at home and it was pretty much a disaster. It's so hard to motivate yourself to put on an exercise DVD compared to going to a class. I never felt like doing the Nia so had to set a definite time to do it as if it was a class.

Also without the other people around us also doing the exercise I turned into a sulky child. I don't want to do this part, this part is too hard, have we done enough yet. It seems I really respond well to a class enviroment when other people might be judging me.

The exercise itself is quite good. We both felt sore after doing a 30 minute session. It's a lot of stretching movements, flowing movements and moving to music. It feels good while you're doing it and the people on the DVD seem to be having a great time.

Several parts of the DVD made us laugh out loud, the woman leading the class has a very breathy voice and in Nia you alternate between doing Dynamic movements (tensed muscles) and Ease movements (relaxed muscles). So as you move she keeps saying DYNAMIC and Eaaaaase. You had to be there, but, oh god :D

I've learned two things from trying Nia:

One, Nia isn't for me. It's just a little bit too spiritual than I'm willing to go.

Two, DVD exercise is no good for me, I like a more organised class because the TV is barely ever free in our house let alone free at the same time I'm motivated to exercise.

If anyone is interested in learning more about Nia, this is the official site - https://nianow.com/

 Previously on Emma's Exercise Experiments:

Gym 

Yoga

Bootcamp

Boxing 

Pilates

Tai Chi 

Pokemon Go 

Aquafit

Outside Gym 

Salsa Lessons

Other Activities