Take Appearance Out Of Compliments

A whole lot of learning begins with unlearning.   That’s what I’ve been doing for the past year or so. Learning about body positivity/acceptance by unlearning what I’ve been taught about bodies and their worth.   This is why I don’t comment on other’s bodies. I have personally experienced the pain of having my body…

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Embrace your jiggly bits

  For one week in May of 2020, I was privileged to be able to take a virtual crash course in human dissection with Gil Hedley.  Today I reviewed my notes that chronicled Gil’s dissection of Margaret* as many of us watched from all over the world. I was viscerally moved as I recapitulated the…

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Jenn Drakes Arrays of Living

I was so grateful to have the opportunity to be in conversation with Jenn Drakes a couple of weeks ago on her show “Arrays of Living“. We discussed my favourite topic, Nia, and also about being kind to ourselves. At 4:12 Jenn & I discuss what Nia is At 6:50 we connect on the benefits of…

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My healing was ignited through joyful movement

Since I started teaching Nia in 2006, I have been in a process of recovery. Healing from adult onset anorexia and an exercise addiction was not easy. But it sure helped that I had the medicine called “joyful movement” through Nia. Now, almost 15 years later, I have been teaching Nia through a body/fat positivity…

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How to be authentic when you move your body

“Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else.” ― Judy Garland     Authentic Body Movement If I said  “Let’s be authentic in our movement” or “Move your body your way” or “Don’t follow me, just allow yourself to move freely” would you freeze? Would you…

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Wake up! How I learned to feel more alive through Nia Technique

Have you ever been insecure about your cognitive abilities?  If you have, then you’ll know that it’s really, really stressful. For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt like something was a little “off” with my mind.  Like I needed to simply wake up.  I felt that way about school, music lessons, sports, social…

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My body is bigger and I’m a better person now because of it

As my body has grown and changed, I have become a better person for it.   That’s right – gaining weight has made me not only healthier physically, but it’s given me mental clarity, emotional ease and confidence. Lots of it.   When I was a kid, I was so physically awkward, clumsy and shy.…

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How I feel is more important to me than my appearance

When I focused on how my body looked, my appearance was all I could think about. I was deeply anxious and solely focused on what others saw. Nothing else mattered – my appearance took priority over my mental well being, my relationships and my ability to engage in anything other than maintaining how I looked.…

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Fourteen

It’s been fourteen years this month since I started teaching Nia. I still remember my first class back in August 2006. It was in a dirty little room in a run down community centre. One student came. I could have been disappointed, but I wasn’t.  I was over the moon with the fact that I…

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