Prasad!
Dear Dancing Friends!
One of the English translations of the Hindu word Prasad is Gift or Offering. I love this word, and for me it translates to the many gifts Nia has given me throughout my 23 years of practice and teaching, with music being one of the most prolific. Nia has opened my ears to a vast world of music that deeply touches me, and has made me aware of its power and the ability it has to transform people’s lives. The power of music to create magic within my dance! A gift...Prasad...WOW!
Magic is what happened when I re-connected after many years to the music of Enigma, and with the re-connection my heart and mind were filled with my first Nia experience. The first time I heard Engima was in my 1994 Nia white belt, and I was intrigued and mesmerized. I had never been exposed to this genre of music, and it rocked my world!
Creativity ignited during my dance with Engima and birthed my offering of a body of work I call Prasad, that has the focus of Yoga, one of the 9 Movement Forms of Nia we call the Dance of Conscious alignment of bones and joints. The intention of the routine is to "Dance Your OM", sensing the light and sacredness within you. Yes Yoga is a dance! Yoga is a beautiful inner directed dance of awareness that connects me to my unique spirit, and reminds me I can make every gesture and posture a dance that is sacred, filled with my light, and aligned with heaven and earth! The routine music is all from the work of Engima.
Along with my 100 hour trauma-sensitive Warrior yoga certification, this summer I will also complete my 200-hour Yoga alliance training, a gifted journey which started after I stepped out of my 30 years of corporate life, and fully stepped into my purpose. I love all the gifts (mudras, chants, sutras, meditation, asanas, pranayama, Sanskrit, etc.) my Yoga practice and teachings give to me and to my students. Yoga has also created a pathway for me to go deeper into my own healing. Nia is my first and true passion, and when you take my Yoga class, often you will experience a class infused with Nia and dance!
My hope for Prasad is for you to find JOY in your Nia dance, to find JOY in your Yoga, and to receive the gifts when the 2 are united in dance. I also hope you Dance Your OM! The beautiful form and freedom of Nia in Prasad is charged with breath, and filled with with dynamic and playful asanas like Dancing Warrior, Dancing Sun & Moon, and Dancing Down Dog.
Give yourself the Gift that is Prasad.
I send out a special thanks to Jan Braun who named this routine. I initially called it Prism of Life; however, when Jan danced the routine she invited me to call it Prasad. She said that she received many gifts from this Nia movement experience. I accept her gift.
Namaste ya'll!
Joanie
Check out my teaching schedule HERE!
