Posts Tagged ‘Nia Blue Belt’
Posted by terrepruitt on February 2, 2013
This is Nia Blue Belt Principle #12, Observe, Listen, Guide, Co-Creating Movement. This is something that we can do as part of the practice of Nia. This is something we can do in a live Nia class or even while doing a Nia DVD. Observe the teacher, listen-observe ourselves, then guide our own bodies to match what the teacher is doing. So watch and follow. Then really pay attention to what it is you are doing. Sometimes we might think we are doing the same thing but we are not. Then guide yourself to match what the teacher is doing. It does not have to be rushed. The moves do not have to match right away.
All of it is done with X-Ray Anatomy which is principle #10 of the Nia White Belt. X-Ray Anatomy does not mean we have X-ray vision, but it does mean that we see the way the body moves. We look at the body and observe the movement of the bones. As we dance and observe the teacher we see the placement of the bones. We see the vertical and the horizontal. We see the different planes.
Then, with X-Ray Anatomy, we listen to our own bodies. We acknowledge where our bones are. We notice the alignment. We pay attention to the structure. We monitor our vertical and horizontal. We discover how our bodies do the move. We witness it. We can stay here until we are ready to guide ourselves to match the teacher. If we are playing with the principle in a live class it is recommended to speak with the teacher beforehand so that they understand that we might not move onto the move they are doing until we are ready. It is also a good idea to stand in the back of the class so as not to distract the other students. Most people will move on to the next move, following the teacher, within one or two repetitions, but with practicing, play with, and the dancing of Nia Blue Belt Principle #12, Observe, Listen, Guide an entire sequence of moves could possibly be “missed” while in the “listening” stage.
Then when you are ready — no rush — you move onto matching the teacher. Have your bones and your angles match hers/his. Have your alignment match, your vertical and horizontal match.
This also works as a teacher observing the student. We can observe the student. We can watch the way they are doing a move. Then we listen to our body. We pay attention to how we are doing it. Then without rushing we can model our student’s move. It is a way of Co-Creating Movement. The practice of this principle also entails Nia Blue Belt Principle #6, because there is going to be some Split, Ellipt, Blend with this. But the order would be more of an Ellipt, Split, Blend. We would be ellipting onto the teacher or student to observe. Then splitting into self to listen. Then blending in the guide portion.
This is another interesting aspect of the practice of Nia. This is another way that Nia is unique. We Co-Create Movement to dance with our students. With music as our main guide we have all these principles to play with.
Can you see how the practice of Observe, Listen, Guide is a way to Co-Create Movement in a class?
Posted in Blue Belt, Nia | Tagged: Co-Creating Movement, Nia Blue Belt, Nia Blue Belt Principle #12, Nia class, Nia Music, Nia participant, Nia student, Nia White Belt, Nia White Belt Principle #10, OLG, X-Ray Anatomy, X-Ray vision | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 22, 2013
One of Nia’s magic toys! Floorplay. This is where we actually get on the floor and play. The most common comment I receive from people about floorplay is, “I don’t like to get down on the floor because I can’t get up.” And sadly that is the most important reason one SHOULD get on the floor is so that they can LEARN to get up. Even though most often with Floorplay we stay ON the floor, there is a time when we do get up. Floorplay is both Nia Class Cycle #6 and the Nia Blue Belt Principle #10. The tagline or second part of the principle is Movement on the Floor.
Floorplay can bring up all kinds of fun stuff. It can bring up memories of infancy. With the scooting, the crawling, the getting up to walk, and the falling. It can bring up memories of childhood. Children often play on the floor. They do somersaults and gymnastic moves. They drive their cars around and roll and play. It is a fact of life that most adults lose their playful connection to the floor. Watch a group of children when they are told in a room to go play. The first thing most of them do is get down on the floor. They go to their knees and start to play. Most adults I know don’t ever think of the floor as a place to be.
Floorplay allows us to reconnect to the earth. It allows us to reconnect to the ground. It allows us to sense gravity and the strength and energy of the earth. There is a pull that we can play with. There is the sense of falling that we can use.
Floorplay is a way to explore. It is a safe place and a safe time to move and sense the body. Sometimes the floor can assist in a particular movement. The gravity can work to enable additional flexibility. It is truly a place of wonder to let go and move. Rolling around, letting limbs fall to the earth, pushing and pulling, stretching and yawning . . . . floorplay is a magical toy in the Nia toy box. It is a powerful time in the Nia workout for body, mind, and spirit.
Floorplay in a Nia class can be a choreographed cycle or a FreeDance. Either way it is an important time to explore both The Body’s Way and Your Body’s Way. It is an opportunity to play with movement and to progress to your ideal. Even when the routine being done in class has choreographed Floorplay participants are free to do their own FreeDance. I often encourage my Nia students to do a “body check” asking their body what desires attention. If they want they are free to do what they need in order to give their body what it needs.
Because most Nia routines include this cycle. It is recommended that Nia participants bring a mat to class in case they are more comfortable moving on a mat. A mat sometimes is exactly what is needed to ensure bone comfort and let the student move more freely on the floor. Most places I teach in San Jose have mats, sometimes there are just a few.
The Nia Blue Belt reminds us that being on the floor is not just about static postures and stretches, it is truly about movement on the floor. That is why this cycle is called Floorplay and with the Blue Belt lens, the way we look at things, we are reminded to play and have fun. We are encouraged to use all of Nia’s 5 Sensations along with gravity and the energy from the earth to connect to the vertical, horizontal, and spiral and to connect with our bodies in a dance on the floor that we call Floorplay.
So when is the last time you got on the floor and rolled around? When is the last time you got on the floor and played? What is stopping you?
Posted in Blue Belt, Nia | Tagged: FAMSS, five sensations, floor, floorplay, freedance, gymnastics, movement on the floor, Nia, Nia Blue Bel Principle #10, Nia Blue Belt, Nia choreography, Nia class, Nia Class Cycle #6, Nia Class in San Jose, Nia magic, Nia participants, Nia routines, Nia San Jose, Nia toys, Nia's 5 Sensations, play, playful connection, San Jose Nia, somersaults, tagline, TBW | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 18, 2012
The Nia Blue Belt Principle #6 is hilarious. Ok, the principle itself is not hilarious it is just funny – to me – that it identifies something and names it. But that is what some of the principles do for me. The principles identify something that we do in everyday life. Or they connect dance, Nia, teaching to something that is commonly known or done. This is one of the principles that we – you, me, everyone – do all the time. We – you, me, everyone – probably didn’t call it “Split, Ellipt, Blend” with a tagline of “Crafting With Attention”. Basically the principle itself (Split, Ellipt, Blend) refers to attention. As I was writing this post, I typed that the tagline in this case refers to teaching Nia, but then I realized that, while yes, the whole principle is designed to enhance our Nia practice and teaching, – as do many of the Nia principles – it can apply to everyday life. So what is Split, Ellipt, Blend?
Well, as I said it has to do with attention, so in an everyday situation you split off your attention from others and focus on yourself, you focus 100% on another, and you blend it so your attention is on both. So sometimes you might be doing something and completely focused on yourself and what you are doing. You might not even notice other people or other things around you. You are 100% concentrating. Then you hear a loud voice and it is someone, your boss, your spouse, your child, coming towards you. They have something to tell you. So you stop what you are doing and you are 100% focused on them. You are listening. Once you understand the situation and realize that it is not an emergency requiring you to stop what you are doing you go back to what you were doing yet you carry on a conversation with the person talking to you.
Split into self. Ellipt into others. Blend with.
This is something we do in class as Nia teachers. We might completely concentrate on ourselves. Waiting to receive a pearl. Thinking about the moves. Sensing our body. Then we might focus on the class. Giving all our attention to what they are doing and how they are doing it. Doing a Joy check. Asking for sounds. Then our attention could be on both. We could be receiving information from the class as well as ourselves. The “Crafting With Attention” is us being aware of the split, ellipt, and blend. And how we use it.
A few things I have mentioned before, but will repeat again, “other” does not necessarily have to be another person. You could be splitting, ellipting, and blending with your own body, with the music, with the movements, with many things. And . . . this is just barely a scratch on the surface of the principle. This is just the broad overview and it is what I understood it to be about. There is ALWAYS deeper to go in Nia and the Nia principles. And sometimes the more I do, the more I see it differently. Sometimes, not always. So keep that in mind when I post again about The Nia Blue Belt Principle #6: Split, Ellipt, Blend, Crafting With Attention. (For a list of Nia Blue Belt Principles see Terre’s post The Joy of Being In Relationship With The Nia Blue Belt Principles .
With that quick explanation, can you see how split, ellipt, blend applies to more than just a Nia Teacher teaching a class? With an awareness of it, can you see how you can use it in different ways?
Posted in Blue Belt, Nia | Tagged: attention, Blend, dance, dance class, Ellipt, Nia Blue Belt, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia pearls, Nia principles, Nia Teacher, SEB, Split, teaching Nia, The Nia Blue Belt Principle #6 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 27, 2012
The Nia Blue Belt has 13 principles as does the Nia White Belt, Nia Brown Belt, and Nia Black Belt. The principles for the Blue Belt were created to layer onto or weave through the Nia White Belt Principles. The 13 Nia Blue Belt Principles are:
1. The Joy of Being In Relationship
2. The Power of Two
3. Awareness, Insight, Clarity
4. Developmental Anatomy
5. The Power of Three
6. Split, Ellipt, Blend
7. Nia Class Format
8. The Power of Silence & Sound
9. Form and Freedom
10. FloorPlay
11. Music, Movement, Magic
12. Observe, Listen, Guide
13. Vertical Routines
Even though I have been introduced to 13 new principles, I can still work with the 13 Nia White Belt Principles. I still have a lot I can learn through them. Nia actually made practicing them easy by creating the Blue Belt principles to weave into the White Belt Principles. The Nia White Belt Principle #1 is The Joy of Movement. 
When Nia creates the principles they create catch phrases and other things to help explain what the principle is about and help people remember the principle and what it is about. One of the things they use as a tool is a triad with words or phrases. The triad for principle #1 in the Nia White Belt is the same as the triad for principle #1 in the Nia Blue Belt. The triad is choose, sensation, and universal joy.
The Nia Blue Belt Principle #1, The Joy of Being In Relationship, the catch phrase is “with”, so you choose, sense the sensation, experience universal joy. You are in relationship with all three in addition to “the other” you are in relationship with. The “other” does not have to be a person, it can be a movement, a body part, a person, a thought, an idea . . . . anything. As an example, you can be in relationship with your hips as they move when you walk. You are not just aware of them, but you are in relationship with. There is communication going on. It is not just you moving them, you are listening, sensing, aware . . . in relationship with. They move and you receive information from them. Maybe you sense them tilting forward. Why? What is that the result of? Can you move them so they are not tilting forward? You ask. They say yes. You move in a way that adjust them. You move on. Energy and information going back and forth between you and “the other”. This is applied to dancing Nia. This is applied to teaching Nia. This is applied to everything. This is applied to life. We choose. We sense. We have the opportunity to experience Universal Joy. We have the opportunity to be in relationship with.
So this is a new idea for me. This is how I am perceiving it today. This is how I am understanding it today. I welcome others who have taken the Blue Belt Intensive to comment. I believe this principle is one of the things that takes practice. It is something that can be played with and experienced. And I actually feel as if my relationship with this principle changes. So, yeah, there will probably more on this as I explore the Joy of Being In Relationship With!
Do you somewhat understand how you can be in relationship with?
Posted in Blue Belt, Nia | Tagged: 13 principles, Awareness, Blend, Clarity, Developmental Anatomy, Ellipt, floorplay, Form and Freedom, Insight, Joy of Movement, Magic, movement, Music, Nia Black Belt, Nia Blue Belt, Nia Brown Belt, Nia class, Nia Class Format, Nia Intensive, Nia relationship, Nia training, Nia White Belt, Split, the joy of being in relationship, Vertical Routines | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 22, 2012
I have so much to be thankful for I work on giving thanks all year long. I tell the people who I am thankful for that I appreciate them. I do feel so much gratitude that I don’t feel bad taking one of my posts for sharing some things and people who I am thankful for. Why not, right? It is my blog and Thursday happens to be one of the days I post. And since Thanksgiving is set up to occur on Thursdays it just happens that I will be posting on that day.
I did have a conversation recently with my Nia students and we agreed that it would be nice if the United States celebrated Thanksgiving in October as our Canadian neighbors do. We were talking about how it would be beneficial to have the Holidays spread out a bit. Having more time in between Thanksgiving and Christmas could ease some stress. It wouldn’t be one big rush. Plus the fact that not all of the days off from work would be so close together. Sounds like a good idea.
As I type this (a bit before Thanksgiving) what is really in the front of my mind to be thankful for is my Nia Students. I am very grateful to them for holding space for me while I took the Nia Blue Belt Training, the next level of Nia. As a dance exercise teacher there is a fear that students won’t come back if a class is cancelled. It takes commitment to come to a class day after day and week after week and sometimes once that habit is broken it is easy to let it go. So knowing that my students are committed to Nia and to supporting me really helped me let go of the fact that I had to cancel my classes and it allowed me to really BE where I needed to be.
I am also very thankful for the people involved with my Nia Blue Belt. I am thankful for the organizer. She kindly kept in communication with me when I didn’t know if I should sign up for the intensive because my mom had been having health issues and at one point she was going to be scheduled for a major (MAJOR, MAJOR) surgery the very week of the intensive. She let me know that I could register as close as 30 days prior. 
I have huge gratitude towards the Nia Trainers who each have their own story, one flying from Hurricane Sandy to come teach us, and the other having had a bee sting, a car accident, and surgery. And the class, my fellow Blue Belts. Some of the trainees are actually other belts retaking the blue, but they will be fellow blues to me. I appreciate the warm and welcoming space that was created and held. There were many people going through personal situations and they were able to step into the space strong and ready to learn. They put the issues aside and focused and made it through. Thank you so much, Blues!
My husband was so great during the entire week of training. I am a firm believer that the body and brain needs nutrients throughout the day so I make sure that I make him lunch every night. He is one of those worker-people that will just power through his day not giving a thought to food. So it is really important that he have lunch right there to eat. During the intense week he made sure to make his own lunch (AND DINNER) because he knew that if he didn’t I would. He helped it feel as if I were on vacation from my home duties. This helped tremendously.
I am very thankful for my mom’s health. She has been going through some issues this past year and true to my mom she has stumped her doctors. At first they didn’t know what exactly was going on, then every time they had a treatment plan it would change because my mom does not follow text books or protocols. She had a stricture in her throat which led to the discovery of lung cancer. And over the past year has had surgery three times none of which were the one that was planned to fix her throat. That surgery was to be a major surgery. And by some miracle (the doctors are amazed) that surgery is no longer needed and her cancer was removed along with a lobe of her lung. She is almost back to normal. She just needs to work on getting used to have less lung. I am very thankful for her health. It was a very long, stressful year.
My friends are always on the top of the list of blessings I am thankful for. I am always amazed at the wonderful people who I have that love and support me. And I am eternally grateful. I am grateful for my family. I am grateful for Nia. It is an amazing practice and through it I have met even more amazing people.
I hope that those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving have a very Happy One. And I invite everyone to take a moment to think of something they are thankful for. Anything you care to share that you are thankful for?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Blue Belt Intensive, Blue Belt Training, Canadian Thanksgiving, cancer, Christmas, dance class, dance exercise, gratitude, lung cancer, Nia, Nia Blue Belt, Nia class, Nia students, Nia trainers, Practice, Thanksgiving 2012 | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 20, 2012
Ha, ha, ha, ha. So I received another new thing in the organic produce box I have delivered, Delicata squash. It was delivered on the day before I was going to go to a week long (53 hours) training for Nia Blue Belt. The box came Friday morning and I had a lot to do so I put the veggies in the fridge. I was hoping that I would get to cooking it during the week, but I didn’t really count on it. The training was an hour away from 8:00 am to 6:00 or 7:00 pm. 
I think I had seen the squash on the list that comes with the delivery and I was thinking comparable to a zucchini. I didn’t get around to cooking with it until the week after it was delivered. It was the Sunday of the following week. Since I was thinking zucchini like consistency and cooking time, I was going to bread it and cook it in the oven. When I cut it I laughed because it was HARD. It was like a pumpkin. I didn’t know if I could roast it. I didn’t think it would cook in the time I had alloted. And even after I cut the ends off I didn’t think about it being seedy like a pumpkin. It was. So switching gears, I didn’t know what to do with it. I decided to slice it in half and roast it with olive oil and salt —- big surprise, huh? Me ROASTING a vegetable. I was going to FILL it with cheese and just bake it. Well, I cooked it a bit then decided to taste it. It was really good without the cheese. It was also sweeter than I had thought it would be so I didn’t think the cheese I was going to use was the flavor combination I was after. So I switched cheese and decided to just put a little bit of cheese on it instead of filling it. Instead of a lot of parmesan, I used a little cheddar and gouda.
I had also peeled it. I didn’t know if the outside would become edible during cooking. In my quest to cut it up I had started cutting it in slices so I had ended up with one slice with the skin/outside. I cooked it to see if the skin would be edible. It was. I was disappointed that I had peeled the rest of it.
Well, this turned out to be one of those surprise vegetables that was just delicious. As I said it was very good without the cheese. So I would definitely cook this squash up with just a salt, a little pepper, and olive oil. Adding anything to it is not necessary but could end up being great. Just like the cheese. I am glad that I tasted it before just piling on the cheese on it because it had a delicate flavor and so I used a lot less cheese and didn’t add any other seasoning.
I am not sure that I have seen these in the store or anywhere before. I probably have but didn’t know what they were so I didn’t pay attention. Now I will purposeful look for them. (I have been looking and I cannot find them.)
According to Wiki, this type of squash is a winter squash also know as the Bohemian, squash, peanut squash or the sweet potato squash. Further info states it belongs to the same species as the zucchini.
The World’s Healthy Food lumps winter squash together, their site states that it has the following percentages of the RDA of the nutrients listed:
vitamin A 214.1%
vitamin C 32.8%
fiber 22.9% (5.74 grams)
manganese 19%
vitamin B6 16.5%
potassium 14.1%
vitamin K 11.2%
folate 10.2%, in just a cup of baked squash. I think it is a great addition to a healthy diet. It is really delicious. And this is one of the reasons why I decided to get an organic produce box. I never would have thought to buy this!
Are you familiar with the Delicata Squash? How do you cook it?
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: Blue Belt, Delicata squash, fiber, Nia Blue Belt, Nia training, olive oil, organic produce box, peanut squash, pumpkin, RDA, roasted squash, roasted veggies, training for Nia, vitamin a, vitamin B6, vitamin C, Wiki, winter squash, World's Healthy Foods | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 13, 2012
Last week I cancelled my Monday and Wednesday Nia class and got a substitute for my Tuesday Nia class with the City of San Jose. I decided to take the next level of Nia training. I was a White Belt, now I am a Blue Belt. Nia calls their trainings intensive. I cannot assume to know why, but I am glad they do. They are very intense. The training is part lecture and part moving. The moving can be dancing or types of exercises to further the learning process. People tend to learn better when they are doing, so there is a lot of doing. In my rough calculations it was about 53 hours of instruction, including the Master Classes. It was Saturday through Friday. It was exhausting. It was energizing. It was incredible. As I have mentioned before and I will continue to mention Nia is a cardio dance exercise. Come to a class. Move. Have fun. Sweat. Get your workout in. But Nia is also a practice. I compare it to yoga in that a person can go into a yoga class and work out and do the exercise and then leave and not give it a second though. Or they could give it a second thought. They could take on some of the aspects of yoga, they could practice breathing and/or meditating or anything else that might be attached to their yoga class on a deeper level. That is what a person can do with Nia too. So some people take the intensives for self-growth with no intention of teaching at all. Even if they are not planning on teaching or are not currently doing so, the training is just as intense.
Each belt level has its own focus and intent. Blue Belt focus is Communication, Relationship and Intimacy with the intent to energize personal connection through self-discovery and communication by following The Body’s Way. Sounds like a lot. Ok, it IS a lot. LOL!
In addition to a focus and intent, each belt level (aside from Green) has its own set of principles. With the Blue Belt, the principles were made to layer onto or over the White Belt Principles. Some of the information is very close to being the same, but with a little more added to it. It is very interesting the way Nia does things. It is very amazing the training they come up with and the delivery of it.
In this training we were shown many things, one was an enlightened way to use the Nia 5 Stages or the Developmental Anatomy to measure all types of things and where we might be in a process. It is a pretty cool tool. It is part of the Body’s Way.
I am 100% positive I will have more posts regarding the Blue Belt Intensive, the Blue Belt Principles, and my thoughts on it all. I am still processing it right now. My mind is racing with thoughts, ideas, things I learned, things I didn’t learn, just a lot of things. There is so much that I want to share. There is also a lot I don’t want to share. Nia is not a secret society by any means. There are no secrets to the intensives, in fact most of the information is things that have been around for as long as I can remember. The information is stuff you have probably heard before. It is just the WAY they deliver it. And the way it is connected to the body that is somewhat unique. If I decide not to share something or talk vaguely about some things it is because I don’t want to ruin the surprise of some things for those of you that will be taking the Blue Belt. Since the Blue Belt Principles are layered onto the White Belt Principles I will probably write more post about them too. And we will see what comes up. I have chosen to participate in Nia as a practice. For now, I will revel in Blue!
Is there something that you have in your life you consider a practice?
Posted in Blue Belt, Nia | Tagged: 13 principles, Blue Belt Principles, cardio dance, cardio dance exercise, cardio dance exercise classes, City of San Jose Nia Classes, dance exercise, Developmental Anatomy, focus and intent, Master classes, Nia 5 Stages, Nia Blue Belt, Nia dancing, Nia exercise, Nia Intensives, Nia Practice, Nia training, Nia White Belt, TBW, White Belt Principles, Yoga, Yoga Practice | 2 Comments »
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