Archive for the ‘Nia’ Category
Posted by terrepruitt on August 24, 2020
Ahhhh, Nia White Belt Principle 7, here is where we can really get into YOUR BODY’S WAY. The body was made to move in a certain way – THE BODY’S WAY, but for various reasons not all of us can move as perfectly as the body was designed, so we move in our own way, so we call it Your Body’s Way. Nia White Belt P7 – Planes + Intensity Levels allows us to individualize ALL movement – from everyday getting dressed and doing the dishes (Dancing Through Life) to our Nia practice.
There are three triads for this principle. The main triad has Range of Motion, Speed, and Optimization as the three points with CPT in the middle and movement and measure as wings. The CPT is the Conscious Personal Trainer, this is your body telling you what to do, just like you can hire a Certified Personal Trainer (a CPT) to tell you want to do, you can listen to your body which can tell you want you need. You have movement and the measure of it where you are always observing and adjusting according to what you need. Your range of motion and the speed of the movements are done to optimize your sensations and workout.
Triad one is used to illustrate the Nia Planes. It’s points are High, Middle, and Low, with gravity in the center and sink and rise as wings. Most any movement can be done high, middle, and low. Your whole body can be high, middle, low – standing, sitting, being on the floor. Or you can be on the floor and experience high, middle, low there too. The current Nia White Belt Training book refers to the Hara or body center as a way to measure high, middle, and low.
In Nia there is the smile line. It is up on the ends and down in the middle, like a smile. I think in a routine recently I experienced a FROWN but she called it a smile line, but we were down then went up and down again, like an upside down smile line (frown). You can achieve the smile line by stepping forward – let’s say – and softening at the knees through the step then ending up. Neither the start nor the end need to be in the HIGH plane, but they are higher than the dip of the smile. You can “smile” in an A Stance . . . soft knees and let hips move up on one side, with a little dip in the middle, then up on the other side. So a smile line CAN help you practice both planes and intensity levels.
Intensity levels are additional guides to YOUR BODY’S WAY, this is the third triad with the levels at each corner. In Nia we label the levels, 1, 2, and 3, going from least intense to most. The middle of the triad is YOUR BODY’S WAY with choices and CPT as the wings. You control the intensity of a movement depending upon what you need. It could be that the intensity level is linked with the plane . . . perhaps it is really intense for you to reach really high, but not as intense when you are in the middle and really easy for you to go down or that could be reversed. So intensity is not always tied to planes. Intensity can be applied to in and out It could be that having your arms in and closer to the body is a level 1 intensity, and a little further ways is a level 2, and out far is a level 3. Typically the further away more intense but that also depends on what you are doing. It could be thought of in respect to energy whatever requires less energy would be a level 1 and so on.
With Nia the idea is NOT to always be at a level 3, that is really no way to do a workout or live, in Nia we want to experience ALL the planes and levels. Also, the understanding is there that your high may not be the same every day. Your level 1 can change. Your level 3 may be your level 2 some days. We like to encourage our students to play with all the planes and levels and we understand that everyBODY’s planes and levels are different and that they can be different every time we dance.
Do your workout vary planes and intensity levels?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: certified personal trainer, Conscious Personal Trainer, CPT, Nia CPT, Nia Intensity levels, Nia Planes, Nia White Belt Principle #7, smile line, the body's way, your body's way | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 10, 2020
Wow. We are already on Principle 6 of the Nia White Belt Principles in the first ever Nia White Belt Training Online. Remember this is somatic training so it is about the body. For people that have not taken any type of anatomy training or exercise training the information might be new, but since Nia is based on the body a lot of it is not new because we pretty much have had the same number of bones in our feet since they have been able to count all the bones in the feet (26 in each foot). Nia is based on science but the way Debbie relates it to your everyday life is what makes it fun and amazing. Nia White Belt P6 Base. It is about the base, our foundation, from our feet to our hip joint. The triad consists of feet, legs, hip joints.
I love to remind my students that feet need to be flexible in order to provide the shock absorption we need with each step. Also, in order to help with the entire health of the body they need to be strong, and also allow the energy to flow through. Nia refers to the feet as the Hands that touch the Earth. Feet like hands relay a lot of information to the body. In Nia we dance barefoot to not only receive that information through the hundreds of thousands of nerve endings in each foot, but to help with the health of our feet. Nia has 52 Moves the routines focus on. Twenty seven of them are associated with the base and each move can help keep feet flexible, strong, and allow energy to flow up to the body.
There are four categories associated with the base. The “Feet” category has 8 moves, the “Stances” category has 6 moves, the “Steps” category 9 moves, and the “Kicks” category has 4 moves. Below is the list of “base” moves and links to my posts about them, except the Cha-Cha-Cha.
Foot Moves (8)
1. Heel Lead
2. Whole Foot
3. Ball of the Foot
4. Relevé
5. Rock Around the Clock
6. Squish Walk
7. Duck Walk
8. Toes In, Out, Parallel
Stances (6)
9. Closed Stance
10. Open Stance
11. “A” Stance
12. Riding (Sumo) Stance
13. Bow Stance
14. Cat Stance
Steps (9)
15. Sink and Pivot Table Wipe
16. Stepping Back onto the Ball of Your Foot
17. Cross Front
18. Cross Behind
19. Traveling in Directions
20. Lateral Traveling
21. Cha-Cha-Cha
22. Slow Clock
23. Fast Clock
Kicks (4)
24. Front Kick
25. Side Kick
26. Back Kick
27. Knee Sweep
If you have never been to a Nia class you might be amazed at how many ways you can do each of these moves. There are many ways . . . you could shift your intention, you could shift your energy, you could shift your focus, you could shift your weight . . . . all of these things would allow you to sense the move differently. And the great thing about them is you don’t even have to be in a dance class to practice them.
Can you spot one you might call a favorite?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: 52 Moves of Nia, Base Moves, dance class, Debbie Rosas, Heel lead, Knee Sweep, Nia Practice, Nia training online, Nia White Belt Principles, Nia White Belt Training, stances, whole foot, www.HelpYouWell.com | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 5, 2020
First of all, to clarify, Nia uses triads in their training and they are continually updating them, they may change the language or possibly rearrange the order, but they have used and are still using triads. This week our lesson was on Nia White Belt Principle 5. It has four triads, one for the main principle and three more to help with understanding the principle and being able to have it. The Nia White Belt Principle 5 is Awareness. White Belt is all about the body so Nia White Belt P5 – Awareness is about body sensory awareness.
The main triad’s three points are: Body, Message, Response. There is the body and we get messages and there is our response to the messages. We have a relationship with our physical body and our energy body which are shown on the “wings” of the triad. Your nose could have a tickle and your body sends you that message. You have a relationship with that sensation in your body and with the energy/feelings it generates. And your response could be to scratch your nose. That is a very simple example.
The idea goes much deeper than that and it has three additional triads. The first one is about skin, joints, and connective tissue and our perception of pain and pleasure. The second one is about awareness, stimulation, and self-healing with a temperature gauge for pain and wings of logic and mystery. And the third is about Dancing Through Life, Living Meditation, and Life as Art with the sacred athlete at the center and body and life as wings. Dancing Through Life is the “doing” and Living Meditation is the “Non-Doing”.
There is so much that I can say about each triad but I always want to leave a little mystery so that when you get the book or take the training and dive deeper into it yourself you will have somethings still new to you. I just want to say a few things about some of the points, self-healing in Nia is not telling you that you can heal yourself without medical assistance, it is more to the effect of moving to heal or in a way that allows your body to heal and not cause injury. If in your dance you step really wide into a sumo stance and you feel pain in your knees, you could “self-heal” by adjusting to a smaller sumo stance. This is a simple example, but it is about having awareness and moving to stimulate self-healing.
Also, I wanted to get a little more detailed about Dancing Through Life . . . one of my favorite sayings and ideas of Nia. A part of the idea is to — literally, DANCE THROUGH LIFE. Again, remember that Nia has a broad definition of “dance”, so this doesn’t mean do the waltz or plies though life, it is more like noticing everything you do is your dance. Brushing your teeth is your dance, making your dinner is your dance – the DOING of life is your dance, The non-doing is living meditation. Stop and notice things. Then allow Life to be Art.
Remember there is The Nia Technique Book that covers all of this. As I have been saying the language now in 2020, is a bit different, but the core of the information is the same. So even though The Nia Technique Book was published in 2004, you would still get a lot out of it. Also, this training is available to anyone, you don’t have to want to teach Nia, you just have to want to maybe look at things – things that are not new to you – a little differently, from a body centered outlook. Currently there are many trainings happening (about to happen) online.
What here sparks your interest about Nia White Belt P5 – Awareness? Are you living in a body that is always in pain? Do you think of yourself as Dancing Through Life? Are you living in a body that is always in pain?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: Awareness, Dancing Through Life, Nia Teacher, Nia Technique, Nia Technique Book, Nia training, Nia Triads, Nia White Belt P5 | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 29, 2020
As you know different people learn different ways and as we were only on stage 5 with just 20 minutes left in class on Monday, I was wishing that we had more time to explore the principles. I wanted to be able to be with each stage longer. This is my first time re-taking the Nia White Belt. After class, Debbie stays after to answer additional questions and receive comments and, funny enough, one person said she liked how fast we went through the stages. She felt she got more out of it instead of spending so much time on them. Someone else spoke up and “mirrored” that sentiment. I don’t think it was their first re-take. I would have loved to spend more time with it. For my blog, I thought I would at least separate the introduction of the principle from the stages, since for many people exercising without specific instructions is a new and challenging concept. Being able to move one’s body in their own body’s way in a dance exercise class is not the norm – unless you are in a Nia class. The Nia White Belt Principle #4 is FreeDance and it has eight stages.
With Nia FreeDance participants can dance what their body needs at the time they are in the class, but not everyone knows what to do with that freedom. Not everyone knows what their body needs. So there are eight stages we use in our practice that can help. I am not going to do a language comparison (between when I took it in 2008 and now) I am just going to say the verbiage has changed a bit but the message is the same. Here is the 2020 Nia White Belt Principle #4 8 stages with their tag lines and explanations, as usual there is a lot more, I am just sharing a bit.
1 – FreeDance ~ Anything goes movement-wise: this really means, just move your body. A lot of people have a strict idea of what “dance” means so unless someone is doing ballet or waltzing across the floor they will say, “that’s not dance”. But in Nia we kick, we punch, we shimmy, we bob our heads . . . . pretty much ANYTHING GOES MOVEMENT-WISE. Granted in a class we will make certain that is it safe.
2 – Being Seduced By The Music ~ The Art of Listening: this is where you can stop moving. You may be surprised at what you hear when you are just listening to the music. And then once you start dancing again you may be moving differently because you actually heard something you hadn’t heard before. Or you may just have a different sense of the music.
3 – Feelings + Emotions ~ Pretend, Fake it, Act “as if”: this is where you pretend. You can pick an emotion . . . and act as if you are XXXX. You can pretend to be mad, angry, happy, sad, tired, bored, flirty . . . whatever and then you dance that. You let your body MOVE that emotion.
4 – Creative Source ~ Real You: here you remember a story and allow yourself to feel that emotion and dance that. You may find that you use less energy when you are actually tapping into a real emotion than when you are acting and the emotion is coming from your head. Dance your story and see where that emotion takes your movements.
5 – Authentic Movement ~ Change!!: this is about the way your body moves. We dance and as we are “forced” to change we find authentic movement. For those that know how to count the bars we change every two bars, but until you know that, just change often . . . let’s just say you should change about 15 times in an average speed 5 minute song.
6 – Witness ~ Neutral Observer: this is where we just notice what our body does. We aren’t supposed to change it we are just noticing what it does.
7 – Accidental Click ~ Music + Movement Integration: this is where we have a “click”, when we really feel our body move to the music and we know that that is how it is supposed to be moving. Something “clicks”. Once you sense that keep doing it.
8 – Body-Centered Choreography ~ Levels 1, 2, 3: this is where you can take that movement tendency or that click and dance through the three levels. The three levels are what we want to demonstrate in a Nia class so that everyBODY can have fun and get the workout their body needs at that time. Level one is less, smaller movements, two is more, and then three is the biggest and something you may not even be able to (or want to) maintain throughout the class. It is nice to visit all the levels so that you can experience the different sensations in the body. Also, it is important to keep in mind that these levels relate to YOUR body. My level one might be your level three, that person over there . . . their level three might be my level two . . . . so do YOUR BODY’S levels.
I wrote out the main things that I want to remember (pictured here) and posted here.
There you have a bit about the eight stages of the 2020 Nia White Belt Principle #4 – FreeDance. These can help people with their FreeDance practice.
I could go on and on, but I need to stop here. I hope this gave you an idea about Nia FreeDance and maybe if gave you some ideas on how you can play and practice with dancing in order to stimulate your BMES.
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, FreeDance, Nia | Tagged: 2020 training online, Authentic Movement, BMES, creativity, Debbie Rosas, emotions, feelings, Level 1 2 3, movement-wise, Nia choreography, Nia FreeDance, Nia Technique, Nia White Belt P4 - FreeDance, Nia White Belt Training, ovserve, seduced, witness | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 27, 2020
I have several posts regarding Nia FreeDance. When I was teaching often there was a period when we had FreeDance Fridays. That was fun. I feel when I am teaching multiple times a week it is really great to have one class be FreeDance. I have posted about the 8 stages of FreeDance. There are a couple of posts about a FreeDance Playshop I produced once and one about the tools for the eight stages of FreeDance that we can use to help us “to stimulate movement creativity”. We just had our class regarding FreeDance, Nia White Belt Principle #4. I am happy to report, not much has changed. Again, some of the language used has changed and certainly the way it is presented. I want to clarify that the training is always evolving, Nia is always finding new and better ways to deliver the information, but the core information is not changing. That is a great comfort to me and it makes sense. I want the organization I am involved with to grow and improve, but I don’t want it to change the core of what it does. So, 2020 Nia White Belt Principle #4 is FreeDance.
Now in my previous documentation of it, you may see FreeDance written different ways and that is because I understood Carlos (one of the original creators of Nia) to have different ways of writing it. The principle was one way (FreeDance) and then the first stage was another (Free dance). So, if you see differences that is why. And moving forward I will endeavor to keep it FreeDance.
This term sometimes confuses people because they think the class is free. I have experienced this many times. But FreeDance is something that Nia participants do, it is a practice, it is a principle of Nia. It is “stimulating movement creativity”.
Debbie said something today that clarified something for me, she was talking about form and freedom, we have a lot of that in Nia. In light of the 2020 Nia White Belt, we have form in the way of choreography and we have freedom in the way of dancing free. Debbie equated form with “structure” and how that makes people feel safe. Freedom could be compared to “no structure”, which sometimes makes people feel unsafe. The freedom in an exercise class can be intimidating for many people. Being told what to do and how to move the body is the way most people are taught to exercise, so when they come to a Nia class and they are told, “Move your body.” They don’t know what to do. It is just like the story Debbie tells about when she first when to a Dojo. People can be told to focus on moving their arms, but they want to know HOW to move their arms, they want specific movement instruction. We have language to guide people to move in FreeDance, but there is still a lot of freedom in that and for some people that is a huge challenge.
There is a triad for this principle, like with all of the principles, it consists of Move, Explore, and Create. They put the numbers for the 8 stages going counter clock-wise on the triad, but have created a separate graphic with the stages going clockwise. Instead of drawing the triad and creating the graphic I chose to write out the eight stages. We can use the eight stages to helps us move. Here I am just going to list the stages:
1 – FreeDance
2 – Being Seduced By The Music
3 – Feelings + Emotions
4 – Creative Source
5 – Authentic Movement
6 – Witness
7 – Accidental Click
8 – Body-Centered Choreography
The next post will contain the tag lines for each stage and the information I wanted to high-light for myself.
So, Dear Reader, how do you feel about dancing with no instruction? How do you feel about dancing with little to no instruction in a cardio exercise class?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, FreeDance, Nia | Tagged: 2020, Carlos AyaRosas, Debbie Rosas, free movement, freedance, Nia class, Nia White Belt Principle #4, Nia White Belt Training, online training | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 22, 2020
Well, many of us are still teaching classes via Zoom. In my area indoor exercise is not allowed and even when they thought they were going to allow it they had restrictions on indoor cardio and dance. And Nia is a cardio dance exercise. Because it is full of playfulness, taps into many types of movement forms, energies, and challenges and satisfies the BMES we don’t like to call it just a cardio dance exercise, but when classifying it for indoor activity purposes, that is what it is. So many of us are still doing it online. Some have moved outdoors, but that gets into all types of possible liabilities and issues I am not ready to take on just yet . . . so I continue to try to improve my delivery of the virtual class.
In my last “Zoom” post I wrote about how at the point of class starting my mic and music failed. That was a bummer. Then I had a great week and then it failed again. Some of it, I know is user (me) error, but sometimes I think it is internet or software error. As an example, last week I used a different USB port for my microphone and speaker and in doing so the transmitter was hanging and I think was not plugged in all the way. But then when we were doing our little chat after class, I couldn’t hear one of my students, the other students could, but I couldn’t. I didn’t do anything to fix it, but she exited the meeting then came back on and I could hear her. So it is crazy.
My students continue to be kind and understanding so I continue to try.
Lately I am using iTunes directly through Zoom. Zoom allows the host to share the screen and in this case the “screen” is just audio. This eliminates the issue of the music cutting out as would happen when I used a speaker and a microphone to pick up both my voice and the music. My fans would create background noise and interfere with music transmission.
Here is the advanced screen where you can choose to just share sound.
The Kimafun microphone I got (box shown in my “struggles” post) came with a USB converter that allows me to plug the transmitter into it so it feeds directly into the computer/Zoom and it allows me to have a speaker attached so I hear the music that is being played through Zoom to my students.
I still have to rely on my students telling me if they can hear me and the music, but that will always be the case. I record myself and the music to test it, but it really boils down to what the students hear. So whoever shows up first gets to set the volumes because I adjust according to what they say.
I still feel I need more practice with the microphone. I usually teach without a microphone so I am used to projecting my voice and allowing myself to exhale with all the lovely sounding techniques that Nia encourages, but that gets LOUD with the microphone in my face. The recommendation I saw said to keep it two fingers away from your face and I am using three. Next week I am going to try four. Part of the issue is that it moves around as I dance so the set up changes. I readjust it when I remember. For the most part it is working out, but I will keep in mind that I need to keep trying to improve.
So . . . what do you do when you are teaching a class? Or, if you don’t teach, what experiences have you had in regards to sounds when in a Zoom class or meeting?
This is the basic screen share screen
Zoom reminder and “stop” sharing
Posted in Nia, Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: BMES, cardio dance exercise, exercise classes online, iTunes, Kimafun microphone, Nia classes online, Nia students, Nia Technique, screen sharing, virtual exercise class, Zoom classes | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 20, 2020
We are on our fifth week of the Nia White Belt Training via Zoom. We have reviewed Principle 3. From my previous posts, when I first took the White Belt, it was treated like two parts. Now, in 2020, while Principle 3 is called Music & 8BC System it is broken down into three parts. While our triads go from bottom left corner, to right, to top, I feel like the book and the training do not follow that order: Principle 3’s triad is made up of RAW, Sound, and the 8BC System.
Following that triad, we have RAW, which is truly R.A.W. and stands for Relaxed, Alert, and Waiting. This is how we are supposed to listen to our music. Eleven years later and I still get so sleepy I often stop and take a nap. The original instruction was always to sit and most of the time, halfway through a song I am so tired I can’t keep my eyes open, so I think I will start standing in RAW. It really is an amazing way to listen to music. Maybe I just take the “relaxed” part too far. We relax, but we are (supposed to remain) alert, and we wait for the sounds and the silence.
There are so many ways to do this it can be fun, if you can stay awake! You can listen to the sounds of the song as a whole or you can pick out one instrument or sound and follow it through the whole song . . .that is where the waiting can come in because it might not be a constant throughout the entire song so you are left waiting. It could be actual silence you are waiting through. Once you are familiar with the sounds and silences they can become cues when the choreography is added. You can do this with songs you have never heard or songs you have been listening to your entire life. Sit in RAW and listen to a song you are familiar with and see if you hear any new-to-you sounds.
On another corner of the triad, we have sound, the anatomy of the music; the rhythm, the melody, and the harmony. This is listened to in RAW. Instead of listening to just one sound/instrument, perhaps you focus your attention on just the harmony and listen to the entire song that way. Or the rhythm or the melody, it is another way to become familiar with the music. Again, a fun way to listen to music.
And finally we have the 8BC System which is the way we Nia teachers learn our music. We count it to “bar” it and the result is a map that helps us to move to it. Again, eleven years later and I am still learning with this. I love really studying the music and mapping it well because I always hope to “do my own thing” to it, but then, more often than not, I am in awe of the choreography and end up trying to stick to it. So . . . I am still learning to play with Nia music that has choreography. Perhaps this time through the white belt I will grasp “playing more” with Nia music and become more flexible. When dancing to music that has not be choreographed by the Nia choreographers I can play just fine, but it is stepping away from the moves that are timed and planned so well that I am still learning.
My previous posts on Nia White Belt Principle 3 Music & the 8BC System are still pertinent so I am not going to go further into it. As I have said over and over, to really understand the richness of the material and training you have to take it for yourself. I have barely scratched the surface on what Debbie went over in class and the triad graphic is incomplete, there is more to each triad. As I have also said about Nia, 98% of this can be applied to your life.
If you approach listening to people in RAW, where you are relaxed but alert and just waiting for them to share with you what they are saying, how fabulous would that be? If you were to stop and listen to the rhythm of life around you and notice the melodies and harmonies that accompany it, what would be able to notice? Now, the 8BC System might be a little more challenging to add to your everyday life, but I bet there is a use for it. If not the ACTUALLY “barring” of life, but the idea of when you hear a certain sound you can attribute a move to it or a sensation. Perhaps a surge of excitement when a familiar ring tone sounds on your phone. A move to rise when you hear the doorbell. A move towards the kitchen when you hear family coming in for a meal.
Can you think of ways you can listen in RAW? Can you listen to life in the form of rhythm, melody, and harmony?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: "Relaxed, Alert, and Waiting", barring music, Music & 8BC System, music bar, Nia choreography, Nia White Belt Training, P3, Principle 3, RAW, training via Zoom, Triads | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 13, 2020
Principle 2 of the Nia White Belt has two parts. Nia White Belt Principle 2 is Natural Time and Movement Forms. As you may have seen, I am re-taking the Nia White Belt training online and so far, the information, the bones of this principle has not changed . . . and that is comforting. It is nice to know that we – from the first Nia White Belt that experienced these principles to now – are all still moving from the same point of reference. Back when I took the Nia White Belt training in December 2008 they were developing new images called triads. We were the first class to get a glimpse of them and be shown how they “worked”. Nia is still using the triads to help students learn and embody information, but as I mentioned in a previous post, we are being presented with the latest langage to be used by Nia, but so far the core of the principles have been the same. In addition to the BRAND NEW (not even been printed) Nia White Belt “Sense” Book (the training manual) we are also reading The Nia Technique Book. The Nia Technique Book has pages and pages devoted to Nia White Belt Principle 2 – Natural Time and Movement Forms. It is a vast principle.
First of all, I want to remind you that Nia is amazing. It is a holistic model for movement and life so it has A LOT of depth. The training material they put out is ALWAYS mind blowing. And over the years they have added more and more things to the toolbox. So, I am not disclosing everything we learn, I am not sharing all of the information because it really is something one needs to experience for themselves. All of the stuff I share – ok, most of it – comes from the publicly available book The Nia Technique Book.
The first part of the principle: Natural Time. I don’t have much to add to my first post on Nia Natural Time. There is a triad for this, but, again, not sharing ALL of our training with you because that just wouldn’t be fair. The first part of P2 is about moving in your own time and using the 13:20, your 13 major joints and your 20 digits, for movement, and about what Nia calls measure which I equate to proprioception, where you know where your body is in relation to things around you and to your own body. This is very helpful when you are dancing with a lot of people. It is also VERY helpful nowadays when you are observing social distancing. You use movement and measure to move in your body’s way.
The second part of the principle is Movement Forms. There are three arts that each contain three different movement forms. Now, I say we may use moves from each art because when exercising and/or dancing you are probably going to do a punch or a kick and/or a shimmy or a cha-cha-cha. But I do need to be clear that we are not actually DOING any of these forms. We just use elements from each form or even more accurately we use the energy of each form. Since we are still using The Nia Technique Book in training, I feel that my previous posts can serve as information regarding each art and its included form.
The “Arts” are Martial Arts (MA), Dance Arts (DA), and the Healing Arts (HA). Within each art is the form from which we use energy.
T’ai chi is the slow dance
Tae Kwon Do is the dance of precision
Aikido is the dance of harmonious spherical motion
Jazz Dance is the dance of fun, showmanship, and expression
Modern Dance is the dance of creating shapes in space
Duncan Dance is the dance of free-spirited, honest movement
Feldenkrais is the dance of conscious awareness of sensation,
the Alexander Technique is the dance of movement from the top
Yoga is the dance of conscious alignment of bones and joints
I am sharing the hastily drawn triad regarding the movement forms because it helps with understanding the organization of them.
For our homework we spent time discovering our energy personalities in relation to the nine movement forms. In our training we spent time dancing each movement form to see how the different energy allowed our bodies to move. It is fun to explore and maybe learn new ways to move.
And there you have it Principle 2 of the Nia White Belt hopefully it gives you a little insight as to how we dance Nia and even how we move through life.
Might you play with dancing using one of the movement forms? See what is your favorite form of expression?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: 13 MAJOR joints, 13:20, 20 digits, Aikido, Alexander Technique, dance arts, Duncan Dance, energy personalities, Felderkrais, Healing Arts, holistic model for movement, Jazz Dance, martial arts, modern dance, Natural Time and Movement Forms, Nia Triads, Nia White Belt, Nia White Belt “Sense” Book, Principle #2, Proprioception, Tae kwon do, T’ai chi, The Nia Technique book, training online, Yoga, Zoom | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 8, 2020
I kind of figure I will be posting a bit about each of the “re-languaged” Principles as I go along, but we will see. Some of them might not need another entire post . . . but we will see. In looking back at my original post regarding Nia White Belt’s Principle 1 not much has changed. The way it is written up in the book and the way she talks about it may have changed, but – two things – the main brunt of it is the same and I don’t want to share everything exactly anyway because if you are the slightest bit interested you have to experience for yourself. The first Principle is the Joy of Movement. Sometimes referred to as JoM or maybe even JOM.
Back when I took the training originally the fact that sometimes you just aren’t feeling happy, was discussed and, of course that is going to happen. It came up this time, too, because that is reality – no one is happy all the time. And that is somewhat what this is about. You don’t have to FEEL happy to dance the Joy of Movement. It might help. Moving when you are happy definitely has a different energy. Try it. You can dance when you are happy and it will be different than when you are not. But when you feel happy that is an emotion, a feeling, when you dance the Joy of Movement that is a sensation. Something that comes from the body. Something that many people may need to learn (as in it doesn’t necessarily come naturally) and we need to practice.
The Joy of Movement allows you to dance no matter what. For some it is relaxing the body and letting it move. A body that moves in its own way pretty much can’t help but find joy. So that means even if you have aches, pains, and an injury, if you move in the way your body is able to move at that moment, you can find joy. So, for example, if your foot is injured and standing, walking, jumping on it would cause it pain, doing that would not be YOUR BODY’S WAY (at the moment), but maybe sitting down and moving would be the way your body could move and movement will make your body sense joy.
Note, that one key is moving in YOUR BODY’S WAY . . . if your body does not like to move fast then doing so will not allow you to find that Joy of Movement. Moving in ways your body is not able to is not going to allow you to find it either, you have to move in ways that bring you the sensation of joy.
If you are feeling sad, but you move in your body’s way, you may still FEEL sad, but your body and its sensation will be joyful and perhaps you will end up feeling less sad. Now dancing away your sadness is not the point of the Joy of Movement, going back to when I mentioned the fact that sometimes we feel sad, that is ok. This is not a practice that preaches to ignore your sadness (feelings), just dance them away . . . it is just a practice that is body center and is teaching that you can find joy in movement. It is a tool that can help you deal with life.
There is always going to be situations that make us sad, upset, out of sorts, angry, grumpy, whatever, but if you want a tool to help this is one of the many tools in the Nia toolbox. Again, this is not to say I am not allowed to be upset and it isn’t even saying when I dance or move I have to be happy, this is just saying I have the CHOICE. I can CHOOSE the SENSATION of joy and tap into the UNIVERSAL JOY that is out there and available to anyone and everyone. It is not an emotion, but a sensation. With those three things I have . . . . . the Joy of Movement.
So what do you think? Do you move for the joy of it?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: 2020 White Belt Principles, feelings vs sensations, JOM, Joy of Movement, Nia Technique, Nia White Belt, Principle #1, the body's way, your body's way | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 6, 2020
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?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: Amazing Nia training, COVID-19 World, Debbie Rosas, marketable language, Nia, Nia Practice, Nia White Belt 2020, online training, Principles of White Belt 2020, Zoom Nia Belt training | Leave a Comment »
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