"TOTO, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore"

This is my year to step outside my comfort zone, to try things that scare me, or make me anxious, or intimidated, or challenged. Just as pushing ones body beyond where it is comfortable to get fit, facing what makes us uncomfortable/anxious/scared is how we evolve emotionally.

This is why I do NIA. Just once a week, but that's enough, TRUST ME. I go to get out of my head, or rather, to attempt to. I thought I was very aware, very connected, very in tune with my body. I thought I would pick it up quickly... but while attending my first NIA class I realized I was sorely mistaken. The teacher says 'step with right foot' and I moved left. She moved forward with her right arm raised, I moved forward with my left. Of course, it never fails that just when I think I have it, she changes the tempo or God forbid, she starts to shimmy AT THE SAME TIME as coordinating her hands and feet, arms and legs: I always try to 'get it' but sometimes I look so hideous I just stand and giggle.

I don't have a lick of rhythm in my bones [unless, well, I'm fairly inebriated...and that is a rare occasion indeed] and despite what people say, you do need to have an inherent sense of rhythm to do NIA. Wait, before I piss off die-hard NIA groupies with that statement, let me clarify: You need rhythm TO LOOK GOOD doing NIA. 

I look like I have two left feet and straight as an arrow arms. 

My hips do not 'shimmy' and my shoulders do not 'shake'. 

I move like the tin man. 

And it is UGLY. 

I am not a 'natural', not by a long shot. I may be the 'most athletically fit' person in the room but I am BY FAR the most clumsy/ awkward/ out of sync: This is and has been very hard to accept. I tend to pick up things quickly; This NIA thing though? Well, it's taking some time. And because I just don't seem to 'get it' yet, I'm finding it taxing, not just rhythmically but mentally/emotionally as well. 

But I go. 

Why? Because I know just as a forest fire destroys the old wood, it creates opportunity for new growth...

What is NIA? Check out the website and these YouTube Videos. The promo video is a RIOT. Seriously.  It's long, 10 minutes, but it's a jem. And really, picture me doing this stuff WILLINGLY: It's comedy, no doubt.