Moving to Heal


Moving your body is something you already know how to do. Movement is also one of the simplest things you can do to help heal illness or pain, and regain a sense of harmony. No matter what the disease, most often you’ll always see “movement and exercise” as part of the prescription.

Nia’s philosophy on healing has grown out of experience, as well as trial and error to arrive to Body Literacy; the ability to read and interpret the sensory messages of the body. Sensory IQ is the result of gaining body-literacy. It is achieved when we learn the way of the body and when we learn to sense what is healthy and unhealthy. Some people just don’t know the difference because what they do, their habit, feels right. With the right kind of somatic education, overtime their ways of doing and perceiving what is healthy change. Bad habits are replaced with good action and function and what they used to sense as healthy, they realize was limited. Through the process of creating changes to “heal” they function better, feel better, and look better.

Creating movement allows a person to sense, feel, and listen for what is perceived as the “right” answer and the right way to establish healing. Ultimately, one must develop a deep sense of trust, love and respect for their body and for themselves.

In some cases self-healing can be defined as “to cure.” However, in Nia we don’t use the word “cure”. We talk about making people feel better and more comfortable during their healing path. The idea is to become more adaptable in life by improving function. This is a critical point to remember.

Consider this: The body is coded to heal. If you fall down and skin your knee, you might say that you are hurt, yet as soon as you skin your knee the body instantaneously mobilizes to heal itself, Cells in your blood called platelets begin to seal off the injured area, and white blood cells move in to stave off infection.  Instead of saying, “I am hurt,” consider the option, “I am healing.” By being proactively aware of what is happening in your body you are now focusing the body, mind, spirit and emotions on healing instead of hurting. That focus aids in the healing process.

Self-healing is a choice to make a difference in your life, bringing awareness to what is going on in your body, and choosing a new way of experiencing what is happening. It is a process that is unique to every individual. It requires patience, energy, love, attention, and trust in something outside your self.

The beginning of Self-Healing can be the moment where you become elated and motivated by new information that encourages you to never return to where you were, never to repeat the same painful, old pattern. The experience of pain can also be the beginning of Self-Healing - the pain of reliving a habituated response to life can drive you toward change and healing.


Healing and The Body's Way

Sensation is the voice of the body. Pleasurable sensation is medicine for the body, for your spirit and your soul. In the process of dealing with short and long-term illness your body wants and needs you to feel in order to heal. It needs you to be physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually present, to be in relationship with it, even though you may feel it has let you down. It wants you to help it heal and live, now, today, and into the next experience, fully.

A relationship with sensation is a way for you to participate in your on-going self-healing process. It is a way for you to notice pain as a signal that change must occur. It is a way for you to notice pleasure as a signal that what you are doing is helping you to heal. Below are three Nia exercises you can do at-home. Sensing precisely how you feel at any given moment is a superb way to become your own best healer. Sensing can tell you exactly how to adjust, move and be so that you feel better, calmer, and more at peace.

Feeling to Heal: 3 Self-Healing Exercise

1. Read and Receive the Language of the The Body

Before you move and dance, direct your attention your mind. Take time to reflect on what you are sensing. Always move with the intent to cultivate more and more pleasure. You want to finish and feel relaxed, balanced and connected to the experience of self-healing. As you dance and move, stay with one sensation until your body says, “I am ready for more, let’s move onto another sensation”. Start moving and recognize the unique presence and sensation of each one of the five sensations: strength, flexibility, mobility, agility, stability.


2. Pick Your Healing Sounds-The Music You Dance and Move To

Choose a piece of your favorite music, something your body feels inspired to move to. Pick sounds that you feel will stimulate you to breathe, to move freely, expressively and in ways that will nourish you. Moving to sounds you love is a way to receive the healing resonance that sound offers. As you move, verbally repeat out-loud, “Now I Am healing, self-healing.” If tears well up, let them flow. If emotions surface let them flow. Use vocal sounds and your breathing to help move your body with breath energy, and to help emotion, the feelings of fear, grief, and love.

3. Dancing to Feel and Heal

Put on the music and begin to move slowly, consciously and with love. Invite one of the sensations in, to dance with you. Keep using the pearls and the language provided to self-activate the energy of each sensation. Recognize its presence and dance in ways that give you pleasure. Use your breathing, skin, muscles, bones and joints to monitor the presence of each sensation and to maintain the presence of physical pleasure. Keep moving and repeat, “Now I Am self-healing.”

Medical Disclaimer

This class/workshop is for people already in recovery from grief and loss. If you have questions about your ability to participate in a group, movement process, please consult your doctor before beginning signing up for this program. The instruction and advice presented are in no way intended as a substitute for medical and or psychological counseling. While this program is designed for people of all levels of fitness, its creators, producers, publishers, and distributors disclaim any liability or loss in connection with the exercise and advice contained herein.