Thursday, December 12, 2013

Back to Nia

I have been a Nia fan since first finding their original VHS at Walmart about 14 years ago.  I then bought all of their VHS then DVDs up to and including Unplugged, Sanjana, and Opal.  I hesitated to get Passion and Vibe till they were gifted to me because I just cannot get into Nia without Carlos who retired after Unplugged.  The descriptions of Passion and Vibe are misleading because Carlos is not participating.  Passion is actually led by a gal other than Debbie (Debbie is in the class) and a guy who led the Awareness of Bones (Kevin).  I do like Kevin alot but still miss Carlos.

Nia Class Video - Awareness of Bones | Nia | A sensory-based movement practice that leads to health, wellness and fitness

The Passion and Vibe DVDs offer a music only option which makes them more appealing than the online classes.  However, the camera angles on Passion, some of which I did this morning, were as awkward as their online classes.  I really wish they would do the camera angle just from the back to follow like in the class or just from the front for a mirrored effect.  Switching back and forth makes following very confusing.  The Music only option enables me to use whichever side I am using instead of being confused even more by the cuing.  Passion worked well on both the bungee and ball.  The music was mostly jazz which isn't my thing as much as their New Age music but the moves were easy to follow if not anal about working the sides equally.

All Nia online classes are listed here:
Keep MUving *Just Right*: Nia Online

I tried to get permission to share clips but Nia wants the traffic for their online classes counted on their sites and do not want to worry about music copyrights for their older OOP routines.

ETA 12/13:
This morning I did the rest of Passion which was probably the best part of the class for me. Music was lively as was Kevin and the Cooldown was pleasant.   Then I did the first few songs in Vibe. The camera angles shifting prevented me from getting into it.  I got so frustrated that I actually stopped trying and just watched.  Will try it from the next song but if Debbie had ever tried to follow her own class on DVD before releasing it for sale, I think she would have realized it was just ridiculous to follow.  I do not mind the frustration nearly as much when the class is free online.  If I followed the dvd mindlessly, I would wind up working just one side most of the routine.  I was even thinking of trying to edit it to make sense but realized it just wasn't worth the effort.
To prove it wasn't just my mood, I did the upper body from Gin's Swing Yourself Fit with my own MUsic and really enjoyed it!  I still have DOMS from her Lower Body routine done a couple of days ago. No Buyer's Remorse fo getting this DVD but I did it all with my own MUsic :)
Then I did some of the cardio from Jessica's Shape Black Friday Fitness week2 to which I had also added MUsic and enjoyed that as well.
I may actually watch some of the Nia online classes again and just create clips of routines I like enough to revisit.

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