100 days, really, to get to a new me?  Every cell, every neuron in my body is shouting “You’ve got to be kidding, Ana! OMG, it”s simply not enough time!”

My name is Ana Edwards.  I was never a really athletic person. As a child I was the kid who got picked last as a team member on the playground. You know the type: crooked bangs cut by mom, pigtails, incipient acne, klutzy – I could never climb ropes, or do the 50 yard dash quickly enough to please the draconian gym teachers. When I got out of college and stopped taking regular gym classes (for those phys ed credits), I gained 15 pounds.  When I had my two children, I gained another 10.  According to weight charts on the internet, for 5’2″, 135 pounds was still within my weight range.  During the child-rearing years, running after the kids at home (or on the soccer field) kept my body from falling into total flab, but after I hit my 45th birthday, I sensed changes in certain parts of my body that were not pleasant. When at work, my knees started swelling up in the afternoons especially when I ate at my desk. My hips started getting stiffer. And, my derriere was becoming flat!

As I approached my 50th birthday, I started going to Jazzercise classes, but my feet would always cramp in the shoes.  Water aerobics gave me shin splints.  My kids stopped playing soccer, so I stopped being a referee. (For all soccer moms, I heave a sigh of relief in your honor).  It seemed my body was yearning to be barefoot and to move in a way that didn’t involved bouncing up and down on a step, or wearing ankle weights. My kids had noticed I was developing a wattle and started tugging on it and calling me “Basset Hound.”  They also loved to squeeze my washboard forehead (acquired by raising my eyebrows in astonishment at their antics) and then my title was “Sharpei.”  In tiny increments, the me that I was comfortable with was slipping into geezerhood.

Then I found Nia.

What is Nia?

The Nia Technique® is a fusion fitness that combines movements inspired by dance, martial arts and healing arts.  It is done barefoot.  There are only three requirements.  

  1. Enjoy music.
  2. Can take a step (or two).
  3. Like to move.

Nia offers conditioning in 4 realms: body, mind, emotions and spirit (your own special spark). The theory is that by looking inward, the body work will be deeper and more beneficial.

Back to 100 days . . .

Over the past 6 years, I have practiced Nia 6 times a week.  Three years ago, I became a certified Nia teacher. In the early spring a good friend, who is also a Nia instructor, and I wrote a scientific proposal to study the effects of doing Nia 3 times per week as compared to walking for an hour 3 times per week.  We will measure some basic physical parameters such as body mass index, waist circumference, heart rate and blood pressure.  However, what interested the Primary Care Pilot Project reviewers most, was measuring what I like to call the happiness factor. Does doing a Nia workout make us feel happier?  Does it make us want to do it again and again?

So here am I, waiting for our University to give us an IRB approval that states that our study is safe and effective for humans.  We will do 8 weeks of Nia and walking, roughly 60 days.  I figure I have 40 days to prepare for 60 participants. Then we will pass through the eye of the needle together. I will review my training  (The 13 foundation principles of Nia found in the White Belt Intensive training manual, and augmented in layers in Blue Belt), prepare the Introduction to Nia workshop for the 32 randomly selected participants that will receive the intervention, and plan the classes.  Throughout this 100 day process, Nia will reveal something new each day. The effects of Nia are like a drop of water striking the surface of a perfectly still lake. The ripples vibrate through the entire body of water, changing it forever.