Co-founder of the Nia Technique
by Renée Tillotson
* In 1983, Debbie shook the fitness world with her two tiny, size 5 ½ feet. When she and her business partner Carlos arrived at the IDEA World Fitness Conference back then, they made eyes pop. Here was this beautiful, remarkably toned, lythe woman showing up BAREFOOT to demonstrate her new approach to movement: the Nia Technique. Every other instructor, coach or personal trainer in the cavernous conference hall wore the de rigueur footwear of the industry: densely padded workout shoes designed especially for high-impact aerobics. Not Debbie or Carlos.
And as the conference attendees watched, jaws agape, Debbie and Carlos began moving in ways that didn’t match the aerobic exercise programs of the day. They were combining martial arts and yoga with their more dance-like movements. Nobody had done that before!
Starting with the simple act of removing their workout shoes, they had found ways to increase their heart rate and breathing without the body-punishing high-impact aerobics that Debbie had previously been teaching to make her living. Their Nia moves were now softer on the joints, included lots more movement variety, and used the body in a much more natural, organic way. And they were fluidly transitioning between standing moves to on-the-floor moves and back up again.
Debbie Rosas was a phenom!
And not without her critics. Debbie remembers enduring the rolling eyes, stifled laughs and open snickers when she would appear barefoot, doing moves that were quite out of the ordinary for the highly regimented fitness empire. Knowing that she was onto something important for truly improving people’s health at a deep level, Debbie soldiered on.
As Debbie continued to develop Nia with Carlos and then onward after his retirement, she was making more and more mind-body connections, emphasizing awareness of body sensations from the work of Moshe Feldenkrais. She began freeing Nia students from the notion that they needed to move like the teacher or anyone else in the room and instead taught them to listen to what their own bodies were asking of them.
Nia began to also include softer, slower moves from tai chi, incorporating attention to the subtler energetics of the hands, for example, or the more expansive possibilities of using the eyes. Debbie added guided meditations to the ends of her classes. Nobody was doing that in standard fitness studios and gyms.
The 2023 IDEA World Fitness Conference honored Debbie for her 40 years of contributions to upgrading our notions and practices of fitness.
Debbie attended Still & Moving Center’s 1st birthday celebration in 2012 and provided both a Nia White Belt and Green Belt intensive training at the studio over our early years. What a marvelous injection of Nia juice into Hawaii she’s given!
Including my first Nia White Belt training in 2003, I had taken a dozen intensive Nia trainings with Debbie, earning my 2nd Degree Nia Black Belt from her in early 2019. And I continued to study with Debbie via video during the pandemic and beyond. And now at the Self Care MELT/Nia retreat in Costa Rica, I was finally catching back up with Debbie, after a six-year drought with no live Debbie in my life!
Dancing in person on the same floor as Debbie Rosas, I was in seventh heaven!
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This post is also available in: 日本語 (Japanese)