Rachael R. Resch, MS PT/LMT, is a Nia Black Belt, and physical therapist with over 30 years’ experience in movement
In the spring of 1995 I walked into my first Nia class by chance – and my life changed forever. I was totally disabled by asthma, a physical therapist unable to work and a dancer unable to even cross the room to answer the phone. I could barely breathe and had no business being in a cardio class. But Nia is no ordinary cardio class.
Nia gave me the medicine of awareness and the medicine of The Joy of Movement that allowed me to discover my body’s way to heal. Through Nia, my breathing improved until I was eventually off all medication. Today my respiratory function is 130% of normal.
The Joy of Movement is a practice that is the foundation of the entire Nia body of work. Nia teaches us to cultivate the sensation of joy — the sensation of the life-force energy in the body — irrespective of circumstance. The life-force energy is available to us to sense at all times. Not just happy times, not just in strong times, but in grief, loneliness, pain, illness, frustration, fear, anger, goofiness and wonder.
My Philosophy is that the body is sacred. The bones are sacred, the muscles are sacred, the brain is sacred, everything is sacred. This philosophy guides my life and my work. My purpose is to help people remember that their bodies are sacred.
ORANGELILY 