First, a disclaimer. This may not make perfect sense. These are notes I wanted to make into a blog and left as a stickie on my computer desktop while getting quite busy.... but if you are up for a bit of a ride, read on.

I wrote this blog this past saturday....

I am at the Inner Idea Conference in Palm Springs... a phenomenal gathering of 450 leading edge body-mind-spirit fitness practitioners meeting to share the latest information in seminars, classes and presentations. Inner Idea is the mindbody wing of the largest fitness organization in the world called IDEA Health and Fitness Association. I've been having lots of fun exploring this new community lately and really wanted to come learn, absorb and network. It was quite a mind-blowing experience to get back from Burning Man, do the laundry, and pack again for this conference and a mini tour around California directly afterwards! But here I am. The resort is sprawling grass with fountains and 40 pools and acres of bungalows surrounded by rocky gorgeous dry desert and mountains.

It was 120 degrees when I arrived. So all my hopes and prayers for warmth and solar radiance were answered quite generously!

I started off immediately with a Nia class from Debbie and Carlos. What can I say? It was amazing. "The Body's Way: Bringing Anatomy to Life" was the topic. In this event, we mindfully built up our awareness of our bodies and and our ability to visualize with our mind's eye as sacred gifts. We started with the 5 stages of healing. Then, Debbie explained we can use the awesome power of our imagination to energize and mobilize our bones within our body. In Nia, moving form the bones is emphasized over moving from the musculature because the bones give us a solid foundation and their shapes can teach us about how they are designed to be moved. With a full size skeleton, Debbie and Carlos would point out several very specific parts of the human skeleton and then ask us to intuitively geuss what that meant about how the body is naturally designed to be moved. Then, we energized these ideas through visualizations, imagining that each bones was actually some other visual object easy to relate to.

First was the toes. We played with the idea of our little toe bones being nipples and explored the sensation of squishing out milk while taking steps. We played with emphasizing heel lead walking and how it makes a difference to walk with the big toe leading in or out. We walked around exploring how our movements changed if we imagined our feet to be massive in size. We also worked with the balls of the hips, walking as if we were trying to mobilize those balls, or hold them rigid. While swaying the hips, Debbie reminded us that the woman's entire pelvic basin fundamentally differs from men's because it's shape is designed to work from the bottom up, whereas men's is designed to work from the top down. She said that women often complain about their asses, saying they are too big, but that these powerful muscles are our strongest mobilizing force, similar to a horse and it's powerful haunches. She emphasized instead of growing a big butt, we can energetically expand it using our imagination. So we walked around imagining we all had these massive powerful haunches and it was thrilling for me to notice how that caused my shoulders to sit back and my hips to move forward so I was no longer slouching. These are the ongoing mini miracles of Nia... these microadjustments in posture and movement which lead to naturally healing reorganization of the body. So amazing.

We played the image of a massive feather growing out of the back of our necks and brushing the clouds above and walking around that way for a while. Astounding to see how that opened up my posture even more. Imagining headlights at thr front of my pelvis and walking with palms open and forward facing also created a sense of energetic availability. She asked us to consider if we naturally looked down or straight ahead while walking, encouraging us to really look straight ahead, make eye contact with others and take everything in. We played with the tip of our spine (which is actually located between the eyes at the third eye), and Debbie mentioned how important it is to mobilize the head while moving so the entire length of the spine is articulated.

We did this for over an hour and I have to say my whole body was tingling and walking in a powerful, majestic way afterwards. As I walked, I imagined different parts of my body bigger, or specific visual images for certain bones, and I found when I let my mind's eye participate in the movement, it changed the very nature and range of the movement. Really for me, this is why I use so much imagery in my hoop classes... the visual can help break me out of habitual movement patterns.

In Debbie's words, we built new "energetic connective tissue" around our bodies so we could expand our energetic selves and become more confident and powerful.

Another thing that Debbie mentioned which I totally jived with was the fact that Nia is a life practice, not a "workout". I really do feel the same way about hooping. She mentioned a workout is something you can do and leave behind you, where as a life practice becomes the substance of your lived experience... hoopdance is that way for me. So interesting to feels all this clarity.

Following this class I went to the keynote address by Pamela Peeke, MD, MHP, FACP. All I can say is WOW. I was not expecting to be completely blown away, but this woman did it. Her remarkable achievements in medicine and fitness are astounding, her presentation was witty, hip, provoking, original and full of shockingly important information. And she was just darned cool. There is no way I can convey her moving personal anecdotes about spirit here... so much was in how she delivered it, but I can share some of her cool information.

The topic was integrative fitness -- the new field of fitness which incorporates the physical, mental, spiritual, environmental and holistic self care aspects. This field has three fundamental tenants. First there is no mind body connection because the mind is the body. Second, the bodymind is changable throughout life -- not static as was once thought. We can actually build a better brain. This is called neuroplasticity. Third, healing is a constant and continual process right up until the moment of death (a process called, neurogenesis). The following are some notes I took because it was so darned inspiring.

A psychosomatic network of 75 trillion cells makes up the bodymind. It is called psychosomatic because cells can actually communicate and change their structure based on our psychological states. Stress hormones flood the body instantly when one experiences a stressful situation, and natural killer cells can be repressed. In other words, stress squishes our protection (duh!). While this may not be new news, the detailed stores Pamela shared made it seem like a fresh and very real revelation. Just getting miffed at loosing ones keys can immediately effect our chemical balance within and effect our bodymind.

Also, interestingly enough, it has recently been proven that fat cells are an active and dynamic endocrine organ which can effect hormone release, thereby causing inflamation in the body. Since inflamation is the leading cause of most disease in the human body (cancer, heart disease and anything that ends with "itis") this is a cause for concern! Basically, stress and fat can change our bodies in ways which are literally self destructive.

Exercise, on the other hand, is proven to create a stronger, faster brain. The hippocampus is the part of the brain we most want to preserve since it is associated with brain function, memory, etc, and those who regularly exercise 3x per week have 2x the blood flow to this area, demonstrate regular significant brain growth and students have better test scores.

Also, the ability to constantly APAPT and ADJUST to whatever life throws our way helps maintain chemical balance and health. Pamela repeated these two words many times, because they were the hallmark of those who have lived long healthy lives ... those with the ability to simply change their ways of reacting and simply adjust seamlessly to life. In short, positivity reduces inflammation.

You can create a new neural pathway in the brain by doing a new activity for one month. No one is stuck being the person they are because everyone has the ability to create new habits.

The importance of a new fun concept with a playful name, called Withinity was introduced. Taking time to connect to the infiniate within.... a sense of inner spirituality. It was quite sweet....

I met lots of amazing pioneers and had great discussions.

I spent a lot of time solo contemplating.

For me, the highlights of Inner Idea were all the Nia Classes and the introductory presentation. Other Nia classes introduced concepts of Self Coaching and the Sacred Athlete... phenomenal hoop-related topics I will write blogs on when life slows down... but they were deeply transformative and super fun. I am so grateful to have had this experience! I can't wait to share some specially crafted mind-body hoop classes with this community next year!