Today, on the eve of turning Super Sixty, our focus in the Nia class was the 13 joints, moving our main joints ( ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, shoulders and spine) in comfortable ways with the intent to feel good as we age, to have ‘age-ility’. This led to an interesting discussion at coffee afterwards, where we agreed we are all aging, most of our lives. I remembered reading that the Bogalusa Heart Study found we begin to age at 8 years old!

We were happy to pat ourselves on the back acknowledging all the benefits of Nia dance/fitness, how it is so good for the brain as well as the body! Not to mention the emotions! I know some Nia students come for the ‘feel happy and joyous’ factor, saying the benefits to the body are a nice side-effect.

Rather than use the term ‘anti-ageing’, we played with other terms.

I later looked up the word ‘aging’ and had a giggle at these synonyms: Crumbling Declining Developing Fading Fermenting Maturing Mellowing Slumping. Slumping made me laugh!

Then I found some amazing terms fellow Nia teachers were exploring to inspire students and promote Nia to the older population:

Ageless Resilience

Aging Well

Aging Gracefully

Lifelong Vitality

Optimal Longevity

Aging Young

Youthing

Successful aging

Age-defiant dance

Vibrant aging

Pro-aging

Active Wisdom

Which one speaks to you? Any new ones to add?

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