Indulge for the holidays and with Nia too! 
Holiday indulgences are fun! Enjoy the festivities! And while you're at it why not amp up your Nia classes? Nia can be as delicious as hot apple pie with ice cream or as intoxicating as your second glass of champagne! And guess what? Nia has longer staying power! Just one class can make you feel lean and fantastic all day long! And you can have as much you like! Two a day is awesome! Dance in the morning then go about your day and then take an evening class - go home, clean up and strut your stuff on the town! 

I am inviting you to enter 2015 in a body that feels fantastic, fit, and fluid dancing in your sexy New Years Eve outfit! Here's what we'll be focusing on through the end of the year! 

My belly - it's alive, soulful, expressive, complex, and it dances!
As we get ready for our ritual of holiday feasts, let's engage our bellies and celebrate with Nia 

 
Tis the season of shorter days, crisp temperatures, animal coats getting furry and Thanksgiving...a time of gratitude and gathering with loved ones. Another year is wrapping up!

As I enter my 12th year teaching Nia, this time of year is one of my favorite times of year to focus inward - on my own well-being and fitness, nutrition, self-care and nurturing. Nia is a big part of my daily routine. And what I sense when I focus inward is my very center, my belly!

So, I am setting a focus to the end of the year of dancing with our belly muscles - from the inside out! Moving, breathing, sounding and laughing our alive and central muscular system will stimulate conditioning of the spine that can radiate out to all of your core muscles and to the rest of your body. 
  
To get a better visual and more understanding of the structure of your belly muscles I created a graphic, below showing the anatomy of our belly muscles. 


 

Please join me in all of my six weekly Nia classes to make this the most healthy 

and fit, happy belly-laughing holiday season you have ever experienced!


Undulate, Shake, Sound, Shimmy and Sweat!  

Ho, Ho, HA!



Tips for bringing more awareness to and activating your belly muscles during Nia classes - more fun and beneficial than sit ups!
  • Imagine the sensation of 'chewing' with your belly, around your belly button and use 'hand pumps' to inspire more 'chewing'.
  • Sense a 360 degree movement massage throughout your belly muscles as you dance shimmies, undulations, spinal rolls, pelvic circles and chest isolations.
  • Imagine a giant flame dancing through your core.
  • Allow your movement to originate from your center and let the rest of your body be danced by your belly.
  • Consciously use more breath in and out as you dance, and sense your diaphragm as you belly breathe. 
  • Add sounds like "Ha!" or "Ho!" to your exhales when blocking, punching, kicking to engage belly muscles.
  • Allow range of motion arm movements to release, elongate and stretch your belly muscles in all directions.
  • Put one hand on your belly as you use sound to sense how your muscles engage, even when laughing.
  • Explore the sensation of zipping up your pants as you engage the lower belly muscles.
  • Imagine sewing your belly button tightly to your spine like a button in the center of a big dancing pillow.
  • Contract your belly muscles when you bend forward to protect your spine.
  • Use the image of massaging your spine from the inside with your belly muscles dancing sensations of strength, flexibility, agility, stability and mobility.
  • Let your belly muscles hug themselves like a corset or "Spanx" top as they dance your body.
  • Make a fist with your belly muscles sometimes then release it.
  • Create a party in your belly - happy, frenetic, moving in all directions.
  • Imagine your belly button as an eye looking as you spiral and twist at your waist.
  • Use head and eye movements to create more spiraling movement in your entire core.
  • Allow your belly to "yawn" in all directions.
  • Imagine your belly as an oscillating fan, radiating energy in all directions, sometimes in and sometimes out. Try with your lower belly then middle and your upper belly.
  • Release your belly muscles fully between the contractions and isolations, let them relax, hang and swing at intervals as well. 
  • Shimmy to engage your chest muscles and activate your upper belly muscles.
  • Use pelvic circles and chest isolations to sense movement in your belly muscles.
11th Annual Thanksgiving morning Dance & Donate to end domestic violence at Blue Heron Studio
Nia Thanksgiving Week with Randee Fox
Hello Nia Community! 
This coming week we have seven Nia classes for you to enJOY for the holiday week.

Saturday November 22, 9:30 AM 
Blue Heron Ranch - Classic Nia

Monday November 24, 12:15 PM 
Belleuve Family Y - Classic Nia

Tuesday November 25, 9:30 AM
Blue Heron Ranch - Classic Nia

Wednesday November 26, 12:15 PM
Belleuve Family Y - Classic Nia

Thursday November 27 9:30 AM 
Thanksgiving Day Blue Heron Ranch - Dance and Donate for New Beginnings - Ending Domestic Violence

Friday November 28 12:15 PM 
Belleuve Family Y - Black Friday Fun! 

Saturday November 29 9:30 AM 
Blue Heron Ranch - Classic Nia
I am especially thankful for you, dear Blue Heron Ranch Nia community, Bellevue YMCA Nia community, NiaSeattle community and the global community of trainers, teachers and students at large. Thanks for your friendship, for showing up in classes and for 
guests' special events, for taking playshops,White Belt trainings, Nia & Horses� Education with me and sharing your dance and your soulful and positive energy. It has been an incredible year. I never take you for granted and I appreciate your commitment to your own health and in making our dancing community vibrant and healthy.
 
Happy Thanksgiving! 

With warmest cheers,
 
Blue Heron Ranch Moving Arts
425-868-3475, 206-427-7010
http://www.nianow.com/randee-fox
COMING SOON FOR 2015  
Nia & Horses� 
The Art of Somatic Communication
A three-day journey of self-discovery and connection with horses with Nia Faculty Trainer Randee Fox

Nia White Belt Intensive 
The Art of Sensation
July 2014 Nia & Horses� White Belt trainee Judy Gribble and Soleil share a special moment together. 

   
In Memory of a great woman 
Maya Angelou, born 
Marguerite Annie Johnson (April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014) was an American author, poet, dancer, actress and singer. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees.



A Prayer for Thanksgiving
By Maya Angelou

Father, Mother, God,
Thank you for your presence

During the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence
During the bright and sunny days
For then we can share that which we have
With those who have less.

And thank you for your presence
During the Holy Days, for then we are able
To celebrate you and our families
And our friends.

For those who have no voice,
We ask you to speak.
For those who feel unworthy,
We ask you to pour your love out
In waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain,
We ask you to bathe them
In the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask
You to keep them company.

For those who are depressed,
We ask you to shower upon them
The light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless
Sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the
World that which we need most - Peace.