Posts Tagged ‘Debbie Rosas’
Posted by terrepruitt on December 30, 2020
2020, well, there really is so much to say, I am not going to say anything, but to leave you with a few reminders; (click on the pictures will take you to the post!)
We will be having this for dinner on New Year’s Eve:
Cheese Fondue
We MAY be having this to drink on New Year’s Eve:
Chocolate wine and champagne
We will continue, in the years to come, to make:
Crock pot banana bread
And this one One Pan Easy Beef And Pasta will be on the menu often (although I might use turkey) . . . . so yummy!
And I will always be grateful for my little home yoga, Nia, and stretch studio and that I was able to take the very first Nia Belt training online AND it was with Debbie Rosas.
I will also be so happy that we were gifted so many kiwis because now any time we have Kiwi’s will will be having kiwi martinis!
I had purchased the Ripple Rug for the cats Christmas 2019, but I had waited to give it to them. Shortly after we had to shelter at home I gave it to them. That was super fun. Here you can see the Cats’ Ripple Rug Play.
And I am glad I was wrong about how soon I would know someone with the virus.
Thank you, Dear Readers/Friends. I appreciate you reading my posts and commenting. I hope to see you all here and on your blogs in 2021. I wish you all a Happy and Safe New Year. Here’s to 2021.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: 2020 Blog review, cheese fondue, chocolaty champagen, crockpot banana bread, Debbie Rosas, Happy 2021, home studio, Kiwi Martini, Nia in the living room, Nia Technique, Nia White Belt Training Online, one pan beef, Ripple Rug | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 12, 2020
Ahhh, today there were two meetings on Zoom to introduce the new options for Members and Teachers. There was one for brand new Nia White Belt Graduates, since I just attended that training I was able to listen to that one. Then there was one for people who are current Nia Members and I am a current Nia member. So in light of those meetings I feel like it is the perfect time to post this post that has been sitting on my desktop. I want to remind readers that I am a Nia teacher, I teach a dance exercise class called Nia. Nia is really much, much more than that, but that is how I describe it when talking about what I teach. I have written many posts about it and I have a lot of information about it on my website. Nia was initially created by two people, Debbie Rosas and Carlos AyaRosas. Carlos left the organization in, I believe it was 2010. Debbie has continued the work. It is so difficult to describe what “the work” means. She continues to learn about the body and why it needs to move and then applies that to trainings. It is multi-dimensional. I am posting this as a reminder that anything I post about Nia has come from their/her teachings. As I have said many times before not everything in Nia is new . . . they did not invent the moves we do in Nia, but they have added their own way of doing them and learning them and showing how they can help you move in your body more comfortably. In addition to that reminder I want to remind people that many of the movement class forms (Zumba, PiYo, etc.) that you may take require the teacher to be licensed. Nia is one of those things. I pay a fee in order to market my class as “Nia”. And Nia is introducing new ways that people can be licensed.
When I directly quote Debbie or the material I state it. As a Nia teacher we are encouraged to share information about Nia. I have taken pictures of our routine covers and I have created documents myself. I have also used pages of The Nia Technique Book. But I don’t post pictures of the training material from the belts. ANYONE can buy The Nia Technique Book, but only a participant receives the training material – well, now I can say only a graduate as a current member receives the training material. 🙂 (This is part of the new options.) I share the information about the belt trainings to entice you into wanting more.
Nia is giving options on licensing. It used to be that if you wanted to teach you paid a licensing fee – either monthly or annually. That fee came with a lot of things . . . DVDs of the routines (music, the choreography, and the additional training for a routine), teleconference calls, written articles, handouts, and various stuff, now the routines are on NiaTV and there are podcasts and other recorded things. There are meditations and various types of movements including routines with the 52 Moves and Moving to Heal . . . there is a plethora of stuff. Nia is going to have three tiers in which people can stay connected to the wealth of Nia training, they will still have the monthly NiaTV subscription if you just want access to Nia Workout Videos, Music, and Podcasts. The tiers just relate to the additional stuff that is part of Nia.
They are putting up a new website this week (hopefully Wednesday, 10/14/20) so you will be able to get all the details there. I do not want to start to list them because I don’t want to misstate anything. It is better for you to get the information from the source. I am just giving you a heads up to let you know that there are options now. And with Nia there is always a huge amount of material to access. So as a member you can get a lot of information and if you want to teach you get more. Each tier adds on stuff we will have access too.
Since the old website is going away and it will have a new look, I thought I would post my profile page as a photo for this post. I really hope that you will look into Nia . . . you can look into as a movement practice (if you like to dance) or if you want more. Keep in mind the new website should be up this week.
So exciting! Who wants to talk about Nia with me?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Carlos Rosas, dance exercise, Dancing Through Life, Debbie Rosas, Nia license, Nia members, Nia Practice, Nia routines, Nia teachers, Nia training, Nia website, Nia White Belt Graduates, NiaNow.com, NiaTV, Sacred Athlete, Sacred Livelihood, Zumba license | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 5, 2020
Ahhh . . . so today was the actual last day of the FIRST EVER NIA WHITE BELT TRAINING ONLINE! Ok, I just want to clarify it was not only the first Nia White Belt Training online, it was the first Nia Belt Training online – ever. So it was super special! If you have read this journey from the beginning you may know, but just in case you haven’t I want to summarize briefly. Nia is a holistic wellness system, I call it a practice (like yoga) . . . through it, I teach cardio dance classes. Nia has levels of learning called belts. The first one is the Nia White Belt. The belts have thirteen principles (yoga has limbs). The principles can be applied to everyday life so you do not have to have teaching Nia in mind when you take the training. The Nia White Belt is all about the body and living in sensation. For some it is a reminder to dance through life and enjoy living in the body — for others that is a totally new and unique concept. Regardless it is a really amazing experience. I have said over and over Nia isn’t always about NEW stuff but the way Nia describes things and relates it to life it very cool. The training was two hours, once a week over sixteen weeks and it is over. I am going to go out on a limb and say we are all sad. I know that is very presumptuous, but I really believe it to be true. We are all sad that it is over. It was an amazing experience and we are sad it is done. But we are also happy because there is a lot more to come. With Nia there is always more.
Today was not really what I was thinking it would be . . . a little disappointed that it wasn’t more of a ceremony, but it was very celebratory and joyous. We actually spent most of the time moving. We spent A LOT of the time dancing. We danced and Debbie reviewed the Nia White Belt Principles 2020. It was awesome.
Last week we were told there is new stuff and we would be told about it today, but I am guessing they couldn’t fit it all in so we are having another meeting next week that is going to explain the membership. If you want to teach you have to pay to do so . . . pretty much like every single licensed thing out there. Instructors pay for Zumba, PiYo, and all the things out there so that isn’t new, but the pay structure is going to change . . . so that is what I wanted to hear about today, but that didn’t happen. We danced and that was fun.
Even though we were not together in a room dancing, it really did feel like community. Especially when the host (we were on Zoom) shared everyone dancing, my entire screen was full of people dancing all over the world! That is amazing to me. I so love the idea of that. I know that I danced with a woman in Africa, a woman in Germany, a woman in Tennessee, a woman in Washington, two women in Texas, a woman in Idaho, and a woman in Chile. I don’t know where everyone else was but we were all together and we were dancing.
This was the second time I have taken the White Belt, the first time was in 2008 and an audit in 2009, but this was a full retake and the material was new. Again, the way it was presented was new, the language was new, but the core teachings are the same. I keep emphasizing that because that is important to me. Nia is not an opinion, which can change, it is a system based on science and ancient teachings so the base is consistent, yet it adjusts and grows.
Today was really fun. I loved moving and dancing with everyone.
I hope that you choose to explore more about Nia. I have posted about the thirteen Nia White Belt Principles 2020 I just studied (and will continue to study) and I have posted about Nia before. There is information on this blog and my site and of course, information about the trainings on Nianow.com
In Joy!
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: dancing via Zoom, Debbie Rosas, First Nia Belt Training online, graduation, holistic wellness system, licensing fees, Nia Classes, Nia Practice, Nia Technique, Nia training, Nia White Belt Principles, Nia White Belt Training, NiaNow.com, PiYo, Yoga, Zuma | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 17, 2020
Normally I post on Wednesdays. I have this self-imposed posting schedule. I thought it was important to be consistent. I have eased up a bit and try to cut myself some slack when I miss a day. Sometimes I forget, sometimes I can’t think of anything to write, sometimes I just get busy, sometimes I wanna break . . . . I try to let it go. And NORMALLY, I wouldn’t post on Thursday, because . . . well, so many reasons, but I decided to post today. As many of you know I am taking an online training. It is THE FIRST EVER Nia Belt training online. It is amazing to be a part of the FIRST EVER Nia Belt Training ONLINE – but I don’t think we are that special because a couple of weeks in (if even that many) other trainers starting teaching Nia Belts online and Debbie started other belts online. We were just the first by a couple of weeks or so. But they learned a lot in those first couple of weeks. Anyway . . . I started with that because part of the training is POD meetings. I know I mentioned the PODs before, but it was in the beginning and I didn’t know exactly what they would be. Well, it is great. I don’t think that POD stands for anything in fact it should probably be Pod, but I got POD stuck in my head so that is how I think of it. Anyway (again) . . . my POD meets on Thursdays and I wanted to share somethings that came out of my meeting today.
First of all the PODs are led by Nia Trainers. Nia Trainers train for years. I am not sure how many years – if there even is a requirement – one has to be involved with Nia before asked to be a trainer, but I do know that becoming a trainer is a long commitment. I think it is about two years. A Nia TRAINER is someone who can deliver Nia Training, so one of the belts or one of the other modes Nia has. The trainers are volunteering their time to be POD leaders and to mentor us students. With all of that said, I believe that all of the POD leaders are great, I mean they have to be because they are Nia Trainers, but I know I am very lucky to have a FABULOUS mentor. My POD leader is Laurie Bass. If you are looking at anything Nia you will more than likely see Laurie. She has been used as a model for many of the promotional material. You can see her at 2:34 in the Debbie Rosas and the Nia 5 Stages video. She is an amazing trainer. I feel very fortunate to have been assigned to her POD. She is very generous with her knowledge and her time.
In my last post I wrote about how the term “Sacred Athlete” didn’t really resonate with me. Well, Laurie gave me some suggestions and ideas on how to make it work for me. As I have said over and over, Nia changes the language a lot so she reminded me that I could do that. I could just use something else instead of “Sacred Athlete”. If I use something that DOES resonate with me then I can work with the principle and use it to further my relationship with Nia. Sticking with a term that I just can’t get on board with made me want to shrug off the entire principle.
The first thing she said helped too, “Where do I want to expend my energy?” I feel this is a great question to start off the study of Nia White Belt P11 – 2020. Then she threw out the idea of “sacred” meaning “with purpose” and “athlete” aligning more with “training to reach greatness”. So trying to shed the definitions that bother me does help, but I really liked her suggestion to just let the “Sacred Athlete” phrase be “your goal/your ideal”. Not the words “your goal/your ideal”, but the ideal YOU or the goal YOU. And, to me that tied in to what I mentioned Debbie said . . . she said she had different philosophies for the different Debbie’s in her life . . . different for WifeDebbie, MomDebbie, CEODebbie, etc. Ahhhhhh!
So that scrunchy face (the one I mentioned in my last post) relaxed. My whole body went, “Ahhhh!” Being able to just dispense with that term made me feel much better about this principle. Laurie also had more wisdom to dispense that is helping me cringe less, I am not saying that I won’t tense up when someone uses that term (ICK!!!!), I am just saying that I can now dig into Nia White Belt P11 – Creating A Sensory Life – 2020. because her take on it is making it less and less distasteful.
Do you have any phrases that bother you? Do you have substitutes for those phrases?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: Belt training, Debbie Rosas, Laurie Bass, Nia, Nia White Belt P11 - 2020, online training, philosophy of life, POD meetings, Sacred Athlete, spending energy, tweaking | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 14, 2020
So this is one of the principles that has changed a bit. The true core of it hasn’t, but I feel that Nia is trying to make it more accessible to everyone instead of just people that want to teach Nia. This shift was introduced not too long after I took the Nia White Belt training. So instead of focusing on the business and marketing required as a Nia teacher, the Nia White Belt Principle #11 focuses on your “life’s purpose”. So this week we were introduced to Nia White Belt P11 – Creating a Sensory Life. This is a great principle for when someone is looking for their life’s purpose or when someone wants to hone their purpose or goals.
The triad consists of Body, Nia, and Life with corresponding Purpose, Potential, and Possibility. Then we have Purpose again as one of the wings along with Philosophy expanding out from the middle which is Sacred Athlete. That term just does not resonate with me in any way. In fact if you watch me when someone says it or I read it you may detect a scrunch in my face. I cannot reconcile any definition of sacred to this principle and certainly not when it is combined with athlete. But that is ok. I do not have to agree with everything Nia teaches, nor all of the language they choose to use. I get the gist of it and that is what is important.
This principal has other language that makes me (somewhat) cringe so I will just share what I understand the core of this principal to be . . . basically search your soul for your purpose and then live daily to move yourself toward that purpose. When you are living your purpose you will be happy. In the training today we did some exercises to help guide us towards determining our purpose/goal. In addition to what we did in class Debbie shared some other tools and exercise to help.
She shared that she has a separate philosophy that she applies to each area of her life. Her philosophy for her marriage is not the same as for raising her kids . . . that kind of thing. She also reminded us that our purpose can change. She encouraged everyone to keep searching and checking in (with ourselves) to always make sure we are moving toward our purpose . . . even if we examine what we are doing and realize that if we keep doing it we will not reach our original goal . . . so that is when we may need to adjust what we are doing or it could even mean we need to re-write our purpose. It can somewhat be related to how we dance. We want to move to have pleasurable sensations in our body (for example walking without pain) so we take inventory of our body and our body’s movements and then move in ways that will enable us to reach our goal of pain free (as per my example) walking. We may at times need to tweak how we are moving in order to reach our goal.
So, to me, this principle is what makes Nia “a holistic fitness practice addressing each aspect of your life – body, mind and soul.”
Do you know what your life’s purpose is? Do you take steps daily towards it?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: Business and Marketing, Debbie Rosas, life's goal, life's purpose, Nia, Nia for everyBODY, Nia students, Nia Teacher, Nia White Belt P11 - 2020, Nia White Belt Princiles, Nia White Belt Training, philosophy, potential, Purpose, Sacred Athlete, Zoom online training | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 7, 2020
This is a great principle . . . ok, ok, yes, I know I say that about all of them . . . Debbie does, too. I laughed at her today when she said something like that. Again this principle has not changed since I originally took my Nia White Belt back in 2008. Like I continue to say, the language has changed, the way it is presented, and the knowledge behind it has greatly increased but it is still the basic principle – look at the clues of the body to help you see what is “inside”.
Nia White Belt P10 – X-Ray Anatomy. The triad, as you can see is Bones/Joints, Ligaments/Tendons, and Soft Tissue/Muscles. These are the things we can “see”. We make observations then move from there.
If you see one arm able to reach higher than the other or a pant leg shorter than the other, is it a mechanical situation or is it a structural one? Is there muscle tightness in the shoulder that is preventing the arm to reach high or is one leg actually shorter than the other? X-Ray Anatomy is just about looking and observing. With the insight we gain from observing we can decide how to proceed in moving in a class, in teaching a class, and/or just moving through life. We can then apply our knowledge of movement and anatomy to move in ways to help create ease in the shoulders that will allow the arm to reach its full potential and ease in the legs to allow for their full length. We can also learn to give our body what it needs to find balance and ease even when it is not equal on both sides.
One way we learn X-Ray Anatomy is by Zorro. Zorro is just a term Nia uses to describe making note of the flow of energy or the lines in a body. You can do it by observing people – they can be people on TV or people you see in person. Just quick strokes on paper (or if you have a device you can use) to note the movement of a body.
As I have said, I have posted about Nia Principle #10 X-Ray Anatomy and Zorro before so no reason to go further in this post. Please click on over to those posts to learn more.
X-Ray Anatomy is just what we in Nia call observing a body and how it moves and we use Zorro as a tool to see the flow of energy all with the goal of helping ensure that we and our students are moving in the most safe and efficient way available.
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: Debbie Rosas, Nia class, Nia Technique, Nia White Belt 2020, observations of movement, Online White Belt Training, Principle 10, teaching Nia, X-Ray Anatomy, Zoom learning, Zorro | 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 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 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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