Nia...then and now
Nia Founders: Carlos and Debbie Rosas, Studio Nia, Portland, Oregon in the 1980s
Nia started in the 1980s in California with the founders Debbie and Carlos Rosas seeking a new way for fitness. They spent 13 years on the foundation of Nia researching and experimenting with principles and ideas from martial arts, dance influences and therapies and practices; of these Yoga is one, but also included is the Feldenkrais method and the Alexander Technique. A further 12 years of refinement and extension brought Nia to its current unique body of work, becoming even more than fusion fitness.
Today Nia is more than the sum of its parts; it is a fitness class, practice and lifestyle in its own right. Nia HQ is in Portland, Oregon. Co-Founder Debbie Rosas is now 64, still C.E.O. and still teaching, travelling worldwide, improving and innovating! Carlos Rosas has now retired. Debbie visited us in Scotland last July (2015), when we had a class experience with her and a teacher party! A faculty of international trainers travels the world educating and inspiring teachers and students (i.e. ordinary class members) alike, with 7 day intensive trainings (Belts), workshops, playshops and class experiences for all. In Scotland trainers visit Burntisland in Fife, several times a year and with the culmination being a two-week series of training and public events in July.
4 yearly trainers Summit, Portland this year 2016, Debbie pictured centre.
This is the Nia training faculty, who teach class and also train teachers; many of them travelling worldwide to teach, inspire and train.
