Fitness and fun do go together

Is one of your New Year's resolutions to get fit? Would you like a fitness class that is fun, energetic, dynamic and works with your body structure to improve strength, agility and aerobic capacity? A new, innovative fitness class called BodyPlay is being offered at Club Sierra Fitness in Grass Valley that will awaken your potential.  Its designer, Jackie Mason, combines movements from several disciplines including Tai Chi, Yoga, QiGong, and Brazilian dance along with hula hoops, jump ropes and sticks to teach you how to move and play with the ease of a child again.

The class uses a brain-based approach that allows your brain to inform you whether a movement is optimal by how it feels to move. As awareness improves there will be less muscle usage which actually increases movement leading to better fitness, flexibility, balance, coordination and reduced injury.

Each class is organized around a theme such as increasing awareness of rib movement, balance or how to release the feet and lower legs for jumping. The warm-ups are dynamic movements that teach you how to release muscles which gives your body a chance to reorganize and use only the muscles it needs for each activity. The diversity of movements and music stimulate students to be imaginative in creating fun, new ways to move. Hula hooping is a great example, offering an endless array of ways to hoop using arms, legs, ankles, torso and neck. The class has no rote routine so all ages can attend and participate at whatever fitness level they are at.

Jackie has learned through years of experience as a movement specialist working with hundreds of clients that rote, repetitious exercise and static stretches actually dull and deaden the brain resulting in reduced joint movement and stiffness. Jackie states, “An example of this is the popular belief that continually engaged abdominal muscles protect the lower back.  We now know that the opposite effect actually occurs as evidenced by a growing body of scientific studies.”  For more information you can read the article’s on Jackie’s website at www.designedformovement.com on stretching and tight abs.

When people come to the BodyPlay class they often state that they cannot jump or skip, however after doing movements that re-teach people how to jump they are surprised to find out they can without pain or injury. “Jumping is so important”, Jackie says “because it is the best way to keep our bones strong.” She cites a New York Times article and research also on her web site about this.

Dancing is threaded throughout the class whether you dance and hula hoop or dance as you skip or jump rope. Rhythm helps with coordination and is especially useful when we teach 'tricks' with jump ropes and hula hooping. Two very fun, rhythmic and energetic dances are the Brazilian Samba and Samba Reggae. These dances require flexibility and differentiation of our bodies in ways that are quite foreign to most of us. The fluid, light, sensuous movement discovered with these dances heighten your awareness, improve your attitude and make you feel graceful and fabulous.

The activities used in BodyPlay optimize aerobic capacity, strength, agility, fluidity and grace in fun ways that encourage you to be creative. If you need a mood lifter and want to feel exhilarated and at ease in your body, Jackie Mason's BodyPlay class may be a good choice for the New Year.

BodyPlay Class, by Jacki Mason

Club Sierra Fitness

100 Berryhill Dr., Grass Valley, Ca.

Thursdays 4:30PM – 5:30 PM (free to members, $10 per class, buy a month for $8 class)

Website:  www.designedformovement.com