Pearls And The Realms, Part Of Nia Blue Belt Principle #3
Posted by terrepruitt on December 11, 2012
Nia Blue Belt Principle #3 – Awareness, Insight, Clarity – Pearls and the Realms, is an exciting principle. I found it really exciting because there are things that Nia teachers are supposed to do in Nia class that I really wanted to learn to do better. There is a particular way we are supposed to teach or more accurately there is a tool that we have available to us to use while we teach. The “tool” is called a pearl. When I go to other Nia classes I often find myself wanting to stop moving and just write down what the other teachers are saying. I often find their verbiage, their wording for something to be just what the move is about and so I want to use that in my class. Since I don’t REALLY want to stop dancing I repeat it in my head while I am dancing and sometimes I can even convince myself that I will remember what they said. Sometimes I do remember and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I have a vague recollection that leads to a pearl of my own that works out fine. These pearls are what we use to enhance the class. They are words that allow the participant to connect to a move, the music, a feeling, a sensation, almost anything . . . . and this in turn allows for a better experience. Part of the Nia Blue Belt Principle #3 – Awareness, Insight, Clarity, was a lesson on how to come up with pearls. It was insight into where they can come from.
As a reminder, in these first posts about the Nia Blue Belt Principles I am just writing quick about what I initially got out of it. I am just sharing and getting it down in print as a tool to help processes it. This principle has a lot more to it than just assist with what to say and how to describe things in a Nia class. As I said the principle is Awareness, Insight, Clarity, with a tag line of Pearls and the Realms. And it is the pearls that I have been longing to learn more about. So that is what I gleaned most about this principle. As I go back and read the manual I am sure I will even get more. As I continue to teach even more will be revealed.
Have I mentioned before that the manual is 276 pages? Yeah. It is intense. It is a lot of information. It is amazing.
Anyway . . . this principle gives us the place that the pearls come from. It helps categorize them. In knowing where they come from it is easier to allow them to come. In the categories or realms a Nia teacher can decide to utilize pears from all realms. To me this can help balance a class.An example of pearls we could use for each realm in a class would be:
Everybody sense your ankle. This would be from the physical realm.
Everybody feel lonely. This would be from the emotional realm.
Everybody imagine you are a dog. This would be from the mental realm.
Everybody wiggle and jiggle. This would be from the spirit realm.
I was so excited to learn the different type of pearls. Part of my excitement came from confirming pearls don’t have to be physical and part of it came from realizing I did use pearls more than I thought. I thought I used them a lot less, so it was nice to learn I use them, I just didn’t know it.
So the pearl portion of Nia Blue Belt Principle #3 – Awareness, Insight, Clarity was a great eye-opening. And, of course, you really can’t have the pearls without awareness, insight, and clarity, right? I didn’t explain that here, but it’s true. This post jumped right to the middle. I may or may not do a post explaining about the first part. I really think I should leave somethings for you to learn when you do your Blue Belt Intensive. 😉
Do you get excited when you think you are not doing something you are supposed to be doing but you find out you are doing it?
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