Back in December 2008 I took a training for a movement practice called Nia. I had only taken a couple of classes and that was only to see if I liked it enough to teach it. I liked it enough to want to teach it so I signed up for the week long training at the headquarters in Portland, Oregon. I went having no idea what I was getting into and thinking I would walk out with routines learned enough to jump start into teaching. Well, no, that is not what a week training for a Nia Belt is. But it is pretty amazing. Back then the TWO founders were still a part of Nia, whereas now-a-days it is just one of the founders. Turns out Nia is a practice . . . like yoga is a practice. You can do just the physical exercise part of it or you can add it to your life. Adding it to your life is pretty easy since the main idea of Nia – to me – is to notice your body and how it moves.
One thing Nia does is have principles for every “level” (called “Belts”). I listed the principles of the (2008) White Belt in my post Nia Or Nia Technique Is A Specific Practice. Then I wrote a post about each principle individually. With an amazing and unprecedented opportunity to take the training again with one of the Founders online at an astronomically generous discount, I couldn’t say no.
It is the first time a Nia Belt has ever been offered online. Nia is very much about the body and movement so it really does make sense to do it in person – to be in the same space with people learning and doing the same stuff. But . . . Nia is amazing in its ability to adapt and change and do what needs to be done to continue on yet keep its members and participants safe, so we are doing it online. Debbie Rosas (one of the founders) is determined to give it a personal feel and touch so we are on Zoom doing a portion of the training. Then we are assigned to a POD, with over 200 people taking the training I thought the PODs would be big, but there were only five people on my POD list.
Anyway, the principles’ wording has changed a bit so I wanted to post an updated list. With the slight changes I am confident that the principles are still the same. I mean, that is what Nia is based on. It is just that sometimes language can be updated, sometimes to more marketable friendly words. But still stay the same. We will see as I go through the training. I never like to give too much away because it is something you need to experience for yourself, but I do plan to post more about it . . . the information and my experience. That is the reason I started this blog in the first place. I wanted to share Nia with everyone. And now that so many things are having to be online, maybe you can experience it yourself.
Principle 1 – JOY OF MOVEMENT
Principle 2 – NATURAL TIME + MOVEMENT FORMS
Principle 3 – MUSIC + 8 BC SYSTEM
Principle 4 – FREEDANCE
Principle 5 – AWARENESS
Principle 6 – BASE
Principle 7 – PLANES + INTENSITY LEVELS
Principle 8 – CORE
Principle 9 – UPPER EXTREMITIES
Principle 10 – X-RAY ANATOMY
Principle 11 – CREATING A SENSORY LIFE
Principle 12 – BODY + LIFE TRANSFORMATION
Principle 13 – LIVING WHAT YOU SENSE
As I said I don’t think these have really changed, because if you compare lists they are basically the same but with slightly different wording. Number 11 is what always changes the most. I don’t know how many times it has changed, but I know I kinda didn’t care for some of the versions . . . but again, I think it is all BASICALLY the same. I am looking forward to seeing. This is not only new language to me, it is NEW to everyone . . . Nia just finished crafting it so this is really exciting.
As I said, I hope to be following up this post with more information as it unfolds.
Have you participated in any type of training or lesson online that you were/are enthusiastic about?
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