Nia Brings Healing, and Passion for Life

Denise Medved  

Nia Black Belt Teacher & Trainer | Hendersonville, North Carolina, United States

My journey with Nia was sparked one day in 1986, when I received an enthusiastic phone call from my dear friend who said that she had discovered something that combined the things I loved – movement, spirit, and fitness — and was a perfect fit for me.

“Denise,” she said, “You’ve got to do this class called Nia! It’s everything you enjoying doing all in one class! It’s tai chi, and yoga, and jazz, and dancing, and breathing! You’re going to love this!”

My friend had just danced Nia with Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas, the founders of the then new body-mind fitness practice called Nia. I was so compelled by my friend’s enthusiasm for Nia that within a couple of weeks I was in the Nia White Belt Intensive–even though I had only seen Nia on a video! I took a leap into the unknown based on my intuition that Nia was going to be a perfect fit for me – and I’ve never looked back, I’ve just kept spiraling upward!

At that time, I was a partner in building a resort retreat based on well-being, and the connection of the body and mind. Nia seemed the ideal fit for our philosophies on the body-mind connection and how it can affect all realms of our being and the way we walk through life.

At first I thought I was doing the White Belt training just to have the understanding of the body of work that is Nia in order to apply it to various aspects of the wellness retreat. Yet, I soon found it was a personal growth tool that served me well though many challenges in life. I also found that to sharing Nia with others as a Nia Teacher brought me great personal joy. I saw changes in my body and in my life as I taught Nia. And, I saw changes in the bodies and lives of my Nia students.

When I discovered Nia, I was also in the middle of a 29-year career in corporate marketing and community relations, with lots of stress and tension and deadlines, and lots of people around me who were also stressed out and tense. I began teaching Nia for myself, as an outlet of stress. Soon, my colleagues began attending my classes. Not only did we all feel better doing Nia, but also we functioned better mentally and emotionally, and our interactions with each other changed to a more positive dynamic. It was a transforming experience in personal ways, and in our workplace.

Along with the personal growth and fitness that I gained with Nia, I also experienced the healing power of Nia first hand and in a big way.

I was in a dramatic car accident where a drunk driver going 90 miles an hour slammed into the passenger side of a car I was in. I was the passenger. I walked away from the accident thinking I was unscathed…without even going through a medical examination. Nearly two years later, I began to develop acute neck pain, numbness in my right leg, and pain and numbness in my right arm and hand. I went to doctors and chiropractors who told me my spine was so severely pushed to the left that I might never be able to correct it, even with a series of surgeries. Several surgeries were suggested, along with a few other radical treatments and many admonishments that I might never be able to turn my head to the right again, or that I might only be able to temporarily alleviate the pain and needed to learn to live with it.

I began to see a chiropractor, a Chinese medicine doctor, and acupuncturist – and I began to practice Nia diligently five to six days a week. When all three the medical practitioners had completed their work and had seen all the improvement everyone thought possible (and I had improved a great deal), I continued to practice Nia. I observed quite dramatically that when I didn’t do Nia for a few days or a week, I once again experienced acute pain and stiffness, and began to feel numbness in my right arm and hand. After doing a week or two of Nia the pain was alleviated 90% or more.

Over years of practice and experimenting with my Nia conditioning, I have fully healed my neck and spine. In the process, I’ve also gone from being a person who dedicatedly worked out with machines and in aerobics classes five times a week as I gritted my teeth through it all because I knew it was “good “ for me, to someone who joyfully anticipates my next Nia class because of the way it makes me feel inside and out — even after 20 years!

As one of the Nia Education Trainers, I’ve taught many thousands of classes over the past two decades – and with each class, each studio venue, each White Belt training, I see the same results — when people practice Nia they experience changes in their lives and bodies, they experience greater joy, comfort and ease in life, and they make commitments to themselves and for themselves that become life practices. And, when my students take the Nia White Belt training for personal growth or because they, too, want to share Nia with others as a Nia Teacher, I am always struck by how their lives are deepened and enriched by the Nia experience in ways that can be observed and sensed by others.

The healing power of Nia cuts across all ages, all cultures, all abilities, and all situations. I have taught people in wheel chairs, women in abuse shelters, children at camp, cancer patients, joint replacement support groups, students with Alzheimer’s or dementia, golfers and tennis players, men who “hate” to dance, battered children, patients with fibromyalgia. I see the same results over and over again. Regained personal joy. Rediscovered physical freedom. An outlet for self-expression. A tool for self-healing.

Nia is a small stir in my soul. It is a whispered purpose in my body. Nia’s teaching of “Now I Am” is a mantra that plays in my mind as I walk, jiggle, flow, strut, sway, ooze, twirl, float, spin, melt, thrust, and pulse from my body as I dance thorough life. I am empowered daily by the choice I make again and again to truly LIVE my life in this body that is such a magnificent home to what is Divinely me!

Come make the choice with me! What are you waiting for?