Zumba vs Nia

yes yes yes I'm SO overdue for updates on ALL my blogs :p Today I'd like to just blog a little bit about the two main dance-type exercise class thingys that I do to keep myself moving to replace the treadmill / ellipital machines and step aerobics type sessions.

First up: ZUMBA
This is essentially Latin-based dance moves and music... the first time I tried this out I felt so utterly stiff, I can't (read: "don't!") wiggle my hips that way, ugh, so I went through the whole class essentially doing masculine/dynamic moves because that was pretty much all I knew.

After a while I started to remember the routine for each song, and once I learned the moves, I could kinda relax into them a little bit more... but the overall spirit of the class is pretty controlled: "these are the moves, in this specific order, if you don't follow them then you are out of step with everyone else and you might just end up lost!"

See these two vids for examples of Zumba songs/routines (shot right here in the Springfield IL YMCA Walnut Room! No, I'm not in the crowd, this was a few months before we joined):







Compare this with NIA:



See the difference in energy? See the smiling faces? See the fluidity in movement?

One of the key elements to Nia is to learn the move, then DO the move, and then energize the move ... play with it ... enjoy... feel the joy in movement...

It was only after starting Nia (or, to be more specific, after I started taking Nia classes with a lady who also does bellydancing!) that I slowly gave myself permission to 'play'... and that has translated back into more fun Zumba for me, because while yes I keep up with the 'expected' routine, I usually throw in a lot more hand movements... I make it a point to follow my hands with my eyes when we're going those "two steps to one side while punching/punching out" moves, for example, or not caring about how I might look as I try to swivel my hips around as I pretend to salsa, LoL!

A RELATED ASIDE: There is also a Hip-Hop class that's pretty good. It's MUCH better than Zumba in its energy; each song being much longer, with lots of repetition of the same set of movements so it's easier to get through the learn-do-energize sequence within each song. My only beef with it is it's such a crowded class I can barely see the instructor and therefore struggle to get the movements down (and I'm not a fan of crowds!). So I've been skipping the last few weeks of this... maybe I'll gather the energy up again this weekend? :p

In the meantime, I find Zumba more than I Nia, but *only* because I can only catch a max of 2 Nia classes a week, while Zumba is available almost daily at the Y ... but Nia is slowly infusing me: I find myself starting to dance through life, adding arm and hand movements, even swaying my hips, as I walk around the apartment, as I go through my massage class, and before you know it I'll be the crazy lady dancing in the street? LoL!

If you have the opportunity to experience a Nia class, please do so! :) Here in Springfield Terri tries to hold a free class for first-timers every month or so, and/or your first class is free, so you can experience what Nia is all about. I hope to see you there!

April 7th: more Chipotle

My Resolutions for April are two-fold: weekday daily exercise, and raw/barely-processed food consumption. Here's the report for April 7th:

Exercise:
Due to the weather when I woke up, and considering how things didn't go as planned last week, I decided to forego the Zumba class at the Y in order to pick the hubby up from work at 6:15am so he wouldn't have to walk back in the rain (even though it has stopped by the time he was ready for pickup!), and to just go to my Nia class at 9am which I missed last week because I didn't feel like doing that after the Zumba class. My Nia instructor was missing her iPod so the session was essentially just free dance. Sweated a lot, don't know how much of it was from the dance vs dancing in a really stuffy studio! (I'll expound on Zumba vs Nia in another post)

Food:
Early morning snack: a mug of a Chinese herbal tea with a spoon of honey. This was the first time in YEARS that I'd fixed myself this drink: glad I pre-emptively added the honey, it helped dull the 'thick' taste I remembered, which I used to be able to palate easily enough, way back when. It's supposed to be good for general wellness, though for me it was recommended to reduce my 'heaty-ness', the ubiquitous bane of everyone in Asia, it seems, LoL! What with my loose bowels, and flare-up of my face (I wonder if it's Rosacea), I figured it wouldn't hurt to have this drink once a week or so.

Breakfast: A half cup of oatmeal in a half cup of warmed milk topped up with hot water. It needed something sweet, but wasn't going to go back to the kitchen just for sugar/honey. Also had banana chips, and water.

Lunch: a cup of Greek yogurt

Dinner: a barbacoa salad from Chipotle (smothered with sour cream, oops!), followed by an unnecessary amount of pistachios! More water.

From never having had anything from Chipotle, I've now been there twice in one week! It's not that great food-wise, and $7 for that salad seemed a bit expensive, but since they are more responsible about the source of their ingredients than most other food places, I think I'll shift my default go-to fast food option from McD's to Chipotle.