After Nia class once a month we meet for a visit. We walk to a coffee house and get a beverage. Some of us have coffee, some of us have tea, some of us have nothing, but that is not the point. The point is that we visit. It took almost two years for me to learn one of my students is a Naturopathic Doctor. As the teacher, often times I am busy with “teacher/business” duties. I miss some of the interaction and conversations that my students have. It is so fabulous to see friendships formed and conversations happen. But I wanted to be in on some of the conversations and I wanted my students to be able to share with each other as a group. I love when I can make a connection . . . when one person can meet the needs or desires of another. So, so, so fulfilling. It is difficult to learn about people while dancing . . . so an after-class visit is just the thing. Students can share what they do and what is going on in their lives and we can get to know each other a bit off of the dance floor. Also, I learn a lot of other things about my students and what they like about Nia.
I was sharing with one of my students something about the moves. I was using a specific example and I said, “You know when I am talking about because you were giggling.” And she said, “I was giggling because I messed up.” She said after we did the move over and over and over she was still getting it wrong and so she was laughing. She said messing up is one of her favorite parts of Nia. I LOVE that. I love that she “gets” that part of Nia. Nia is not about doing it right. Nia is about moving. Nia understands that sometimes for so many reasons, you just don’t get it. It could be a move you can normally do in your sleep but for some reason at that moment it is escaping you. Instead of getting upset and frustrated with yourself and STOPPING, embrace the mistake and keep moving. Use the opportunity to do the move in a totally different way. If you are still able to move with the count, but the choreography is escaping you for the moment, move in a different way but with the same count. If you are able to do the movement, but it is the count that you are having issues with, vary your speed even MORE. Go faster or slower . . . what have you got to lose, not the count because you’ve already lost that! Just IN JOY it, be in joy. Have fun.
I love, love, love that my student loves messing up. She embraces so much that is Nia. She takes that as an opportunity to play. To “be a kid again” and just not care. You know how kids are — before they are taught differently — they just move and dance in their own way and they don’t care what opinion people have. Also in the messing up and going with it, it is a lesson in letting go . . . . letting go of judgment, letting go of feeling you have to be perfect, letting go of making your body do something it is clearly not doing well – at the moment. It is freeing to just move the best you can.
Now this is different from Nia Free Dance. I mean Free Dance is where we are purposefully dancing to stimulate movement creativity, not dancing in a choreographed way. Where we don’t think and we just move. This, when you just can’t get a move and give into NOT getting it, is you dancing what you are capable at the moment in the choreography. Get through it then join back in. I would think you would keep trying to do it or continue with the modification you made, but it is not free dance. It is more of a embrace-the-mess-up-and-have-fun kind of dance.
I was just very happy to hear that she was ok with messing up. She was ok with allowing herself the freedom to not be perfect. She was embracing and celebrating movement for Joy and not for moving exactly like the choreography. She was having fun. Awesome!
So do you enjoy messing up in a situation like an dance workout class? Can you laugh it off and keep going? Can you allow yourself to dance your way and get back on track when you are able? Can you see the difference between this and Free Dance?
This past week there was a video posted on Youtube that went viral. And I am just giving in and posting about it, because, honestly, it is stuck in my head. It was posted on September 3, 2013 and it has over 7.5 million views. Wow! It is hilarious. It was posted on Facebook, that is where I saw it. A fellow Nia teacher posted it. Then several of my friends posted it. As I mentioned, the first one I saw was a Nia Teacher , she was daring other Nia Teachers to create a dance using it. It already has some great choreography. It is one of those videos that you watch the first time in total and utter disbelief. It starts out as funny, then it just gets more and more funny as it goes on. Then you have to watch it again because it is just so hilarious. Then you just watch it again because you can’t believe it. It is just funny. I honestly didn’t even notice the dancing until about the fourth time. The first time I almost choked on my lunch. Then next two times I was laughing so hard I couldn’t see. I also was staring at the words.
In case you want to sing the song without the video playing:
Dog goes woof
Cat goes meow
Bird goes tweet
and mouse goes squeek
Cow goes moo
Frog goes croak
And the elephant goes toot
Ducks say quack
and fish go blub
and the seal goes ow ow ow
Big blue eyes
Pointy nose
Chasing mice
and digging holes
Tiny paws
Up the hill
Suddenly you’re standing still
Your fur is red
So beautiful
Like an angel in disguise
But if you meet
a friendly horse
Will you communicate by
mo-o-o-o-orse?
mo-o-o-o-orse?
mo-o-o-o-orse?
How will you speak to that
ho-o-o-o-orse?
ho-o-o-o-orse?
ho-o-o-o-orse?
The secret of the fox
Ancient mystery
Somewhere deep in the woods
I know you’re hiding
What is your sound?
Will we ever know?
Will always be a mystery
What do you say?
You’re my guardian angel
Hiding in the woods
What is your sound?
Buppawaydo
Bubitty upupwaydo
Buppawaydo
Will we ever know?
badabapbopwaydo
I want to . . .
bababydmadom
I want to . . .
I want to know!
abittybopbopbaydom
All brought to you by Ylvis, a pair of Norwegian variety show brothers. They have their own TV show. And this video . . . shows you why. Pure entertainment. Hilarity in every second. I can’t get enough of it. And, obvious, neither can anyone else . . . over 7.5 million views in fours days.
Well, I hope this helps stick it in your head as it has been stuck in my head for the past few days. I also hope to see the creative choreography out on the dance floor, from some of my fellow Nia teachers.
Ahh, as I said, I hope this sticks in your head. My husband believes that the only way to get rid of an earworm is to give it to someone else. Maybe this will help me. Maybe you will get it stuck in your head and I will be free. Fre-e-e-e-ee! Fre-e-e-e-ee! Fre-e-e-e-ee! Ahhhh!!!
Have you seen this yet?
In case you are interested in hearing the fox for yourself: Ylvis Is Correct
I have been teaching Nia for over four and half years. I have students that are Nia teachers. I have students who have taken the training but are not teachers. The Nia Intensives are open to people who do not intend to teach. So I have people in my classes who have experienced the training, but this is the first time that I have people who are taking the Nia White Belt Training because I introduced them to Nia. Well, one for certain, she did not know about it until she had taken my class and the other one I think didn’t know about it until she came to one of my Nia classes. Now this is not me saying I am so great that I have inspired two individuals to take the intensive, this is me saying, “Yay!” to the power of Nia. It is fun cardio dance exercise class . . . but if you want to take the intensive it is a lot more.
I am so excited. I have not had a chance to talk to my student much. She just returned and we have yet to meet so I can get the scoop, but she did express awe. She is in my Tuesday morning class. The Tuesday before she left for her training she was so kind she said that she was bringing a laptop and she would be able to send me some e-mails and we could communicate the week she was in the training. I told her no we would not. I told her that she is going to be so full she will not be able to e-mail. For me, while I was in the intensive, any time that I was not actually IN the training, I was either trying to absorb it and remember and think about all that I had just heard or I was do a little bit of socializing. The training is intense. I have mentioned before. It is not so physically intense that you feel as if you are at military boot camp, but it is physical. There is a lot of moving. I did send her an e-mail during the week and she said she was too tired to respond. I laughed. It is a lot.
Usually there is a Nia class at 7:00 in the morning or so. And when I was in the training we were not required to go to them all, but why not? So the day starts with movement at 7:00 am. Then there is lectures and movement and all of it together. And – something else I’ve said before – not everything you hear is a new concept or a new idea, but the way it is presented or tied into Nia and/or movement makes it seem new in the sense that your brain and your body want to examine it. Learning can be exhausting. Intensives are about 50 hours. The day usually ends about 7:00 pm after an evening Nia class. I know I said most of this just this past November when I took my blue belt. But I am just so excited to have two students becoming Nia White Belts I wanted to share. I want to shout it out!
The brief moments I did get to speak to my student she expressed exactly what one expects after a training. She was happy and grateful and just full of new things. She was amazed to see how much anatomy is part of the Nia training. One of the co-founders wanted to be a doctor so she is very interesting in anatomy. Plus knowing how the body is designed helps know how to create choreography that will allow the body to have a wonderful sensation while moving. Nia is amazing.
I really just wanted to share my joy that one of my students took the next step in the amazing journey that is Nia. She was very kind and as a thank you for introducing her to Nia, she brought me these lovely gladioli.
Nia Classes are led by Nia teachers who learn routines. It is kind that we are only obligated by license to learn four Nia routines a year, because if we dive into the depths of a Nia routine it could easily take three months. The training information they provide is incredible. It is multi-faceted and multidimensional. Three years ago I mentioned in a post that I would specify what came in Nia’s Routine for Teachers DVDs. Well, in the three years there has actually been changes in how the information is presented. I am using three posts to explain what I have in the routine packages that I have purchased and I am also sharing to the best of my knowledge what is in the newer ones. At the basic level you receive a CD and a DVD and a pamphlet is available online.
This is the third post in this series. In the first post I talked about everything that you get in the package and the sections on the DVD. I made it through two of the sections: the Focus and Move the Move. The second post took us through: Learn the Move, Energize the Move, and the Music. Here in this post I am taking a quick look at the pamphlet.
In addition to the wonderful Nia Class and explanations on the DVD there is a pamphlet. As I said in post one of this series, the pamphlet used to be included in the routine package. But now I believe you have to download it yourself. I am not certain if the older ones still come with the pamphlet or not. But if you look at the pamphlets online (must be a member) you can see how the material has changed. I am certain that along with the morphing of the DVDs there has been a greater change over the years than I have even seen. The routines that I own with pamphlets that came in the package have the focus and intent stated along with the “Routine Description”. It also contains “Suggested Alternative Foci”. It lists the 7 Cycles. Under each cycle is gives a little information. The cycles in which there is music it lists the song that is in that cycle and information on what it teaches you. As an example the routine I am looking at states:
“Track 1: Sexy Teaches You To —
Move through the stances of Closed, Open, A, and Riding to ground, warm up the back and core and move from the inside out”
That is one bullet, as you can see each track has more than three bullets with information regarding what the choreography teaches you. A lot of information!
The next section in the pamphlet gives you the 8BC’s. Just the bars of the 8BC’s. There is indicators as to what the sections are in the song, but no flowering, no dressing, no choreography. Just the bars. There is a lot left to still do with the bars.
With the new routines, the pamphlet is a bit different. In addition to what I’ve previously mentioned and a lot of information reminding us of what we learn in the Nia White Belt Intensive there is new information. Such as “Working With the Focus” and that the 7 cycles remain the same, but there is differences within each cycle depending upon different things, say the focus for example. There is also a section with the shorthand for Nia’s 52 moves because now the bars come with choreography notes.
Now the bars are in color which is used to show the different sections. The same colors taught in the Nia White Belt Intensive. And as I mentioned, they have choreography notes.
The pamphlet also states that as of 2012, “videos include on-screen 52 moves choreography text. You will see this appear at the beginning of each new choreography sequence, and repeat throughout the routine.” Which is great and news to me. At the time of this writing I have obviously not learned a routine that was created and filmed in 2012 because I have not seen the text on the videos. Cool.
The last thing that one of the “old” versions of the pamphlet had that I am not seeing on the new ones is the Music Credits. The ones I have list the name of the number of the track, the name, the artist, and information about each song. I find some of that information kind of interesting. For instance the track 1 on Oshun is Sexy, by Illumine which was actually recorded Live at Studio Nia.
So maybe now you can see why the description of a Nia Routine Teacher Training DVD needed to be three posts. There is a lot of training in each package. There is a lot of information to absorb in learning a routine. I will confess that I have not done all of this on all of the routines I lead. My intent is as I go back and complete more of these steps as I revisit the routines. Now that I basically know the music and the moves, I can watch the other portions of the DVD and I can read the pamphlet information. With each section of time I lead the routine I can add something new to my learning. Nia routines are very multidimensional. The training has many aspects. There is so much to learn and so many different ways to do it. Just like Nia.
I hope this gave you some information you might need or like to know in regards to Nia Routine DVDs for Teachers.
Do you have any questions? Is there any additional information you would like?
Three years ago I posted about Nia Routines and I stated in that post that I would describe what the training DVD is like. Here I am with that information. Also, I want to share about the whole routine teacher training package that a Nia teacher receives. It is turning out to be three (sort of four) posts long. This is the second post. That is how much we get in our Nia continued education Routine Teacher Training package. I am just sharing briefly about it. These posts are to give you an idea of what you would receive. As a reminder you receive a CD, DVD, and pamphlet. The CD and DVD are shipped to you and the pamphlet you can view online, save to your computer, and/or print.
The DVD consists of the Focus, Move the Move, Learn the Move, Energize the Move, and the Music. In post one I talked about the Focus and the Move the Move section. Here you’ll learn a bit about Learn the Move, Energize the Move, and the music.
In the Learn the Move section they explain the move. The way they did this morphed over the years. I have some DVDs where they stood facing the camera and talked about the moves. Showing you the move and going into detail about each move. I also have some DVDs where the teacher is just dubbed over the actual class as shown in the Move the Move portion. So you are seeing the same thing over again and the creator is talking about the moves as the routine plays. The explanation includes both the physical description and little tips. Sometimes they might explain alternatives even if they have not done them in the Move the Move portion of the DVD. They also sometimes explain why we are doing a move. “‘Holding a ball’ allows a body to move systemically, connecting the upper body with the lower body.” This portion at times can help with figuring out how to do a move if it is a little challenging to you or your students.
With Energize the Move the creator explains the energy involved. For example “the energy at this part of the routine is meant to be focused and very intentional.” And, “the energy of connecting to your body and space around.” This section can help provide pearls and additional verbiage that you can use to get your class moving.
The last section of the DVD is the Move the Move with just the music. There is no teacher instruction. This is where you do the Nia Class without being told what to do. You get to watch and just listen to the music.
The music portion of the DVD always makes me remember I have always wanted an option in the Move the Move portion to be able to turn up the music. I have an exercise DVD (Turbo Jam) where you can “pump up” the music. You can still here Chalene Johnson giving you instructions but you can make the music much louder. I think it would be of great help to me if I could turn the music up on my Nia Routine DVDs but still listen to the teacher talking. I have yet to suggest that to Nia HQ. It would really be nice for me to hear the music louder so I could practice my listening to the cues, yet still get the benefit of the instruction. I’ve tried to time the music say from my iPod to the DVD so I COULD turn up the music myself, but I can never get it synchronized. 🙂
In my post Continuing Education – Nia White Belt Principle #12, I talk about the three stages of learning a routine. I mention there are steps in each stage. The Learn the Move and Energize the Move are couple of the additional steps. Watching and learning the information contained in each of these sections of the DVD can be very beneficial to leading a routine.
In my next post I share some information about the pamphlets and you’ll see how there is even MORE information to learn!
Are you getting a clearer picture of what is contained in a Nia Teacher’s Routine DVD? Can you somewhat understand that there is a lot of good information?
In my post about Nia Routines in February of 2010, I stated I would explain more about what we receive on a Nia Routine Teacher DVD. A comment with questions on a recent post (Nia Routines I’ve Learned), reminded me that I needed to do that. Over three years later, I am explaining what we get. I also wanted to share what is in the Nia Training/Continued Education package as a whole. We get a LOT. It is more than just music and routine. The amount of time and effort and all that goes into our training DVD/package is awesome. I know that even though I see the results and I think it is a lot, there is probably so much more that goes on in the background I would be even more impressed. Since we get so much I am finding as I type this that it is a longer explanation than I like to have in one post. So this will be part one of what is in a Nia Routine Teacher Training package. When a Nia Teacher receives a “Nia Routine” there is a CD and a DVD. We used to receive a pamphlet within the package, but now we have to print those out ourselves if we want a hard copy. But basically a training routine package is CD, DVD, and pamphlet.
The CD and DVD are in a cardboard holder, one side has the list of songs with the 8BC and the time shown. The other side has the Focus and Intent that the routine was created with. The back of the holder states the name of the routine and the creator, along with a paragraph about Nia Technique’s thoughts on routines.
The CD is a typical music CD. It has music on it. But as a Nia Teacher or student you know there is nothing really typical about Nia routine music. 🙂 The songs play one after the other with no pause unless the song itself has a pause before the music begins or after the song ends. Or I guess the engineer putting the CD together could put a pause in.
The DVD consists of five sections: the Focus, Move the Move, Learn the Move, Energize the Move, and the Music. The “Focus” portion of the DVD is the creator (or one of them) talking about the focus and the intent of the routine. Often times they explain a bit about how the focus relates to the choreography. For example if the focus is “Steps and Stances” it might be mentioned that there are a lot of opportunities in the routine to experience all six stances.
“Move the Move” is the routine filmed almost as if you were taking a class. Sometimes they change the camera angle, but it is still basically as if you are taking a class.* The music is playing and the teacher is teaching. *There is one routine I have in which it was filmed with the class FACING the camera the entire time. I do not care for that at all. I like it when the camera is BEHIND the teacher with the mirror in the shot and it is as if I am standing behind the teacher taking a Nia class. I don’t know if there are other routines in addition to Birth that is filmed with the teachers and the class facing the camera, but I will inquire before I purchase additional routines.
Often times in addition to the teacher demonstrating different LEVELS of a move, they will demonstrate a lot of different moves that CAN be done while doing the routine. I always have to remind myself that just because they are showing us multiple ways to do the move or multiple ways in general to move to the music it does not mean I need to put them all into the routine when I am leading it. They are just showing examples as to what can be done. I find it very funny that a lot of the times Carlos was not even doing what he explained the choreography to be. To me, he often just let his spirit go and he danced to the music that he clearly loved. In his spirit dance he was able to show a lot of different things that could be done to the music.
As you can see this post is a bit long in itself. I have only touched upon two of the sections included on the training DVD. So stayed tuned for part two where I give a brief summary of the sections: Learn the Move, Energize the Move, and the Music.
Do you like to take lead follow exercise workout classes where the teacher is facing you? Or would you rather have the teacher’s back to you?
I teach Nia. I actually like to say I lead Nia because to me teaching a dance is more instructive. What I think of as teaching is the type of class where the instructor demonstrates a step or two then the students do the steps a few times, then the instructor demonstrates more steps and the students practice them. Eventually the steps are strung together in a dance. But in my Nia cardio classes it is just lead follow. I do – you follow. I give verbal instructions and/or verbal guides but it is not the type of instructional class where I show you, then you do, then we practice and then we string all the steps together. So I guess it is not an “instructional” or “instructed” dance class. But I do teach by example. You follow my lead. In order to be a Nia teacher I had to take the Nia White Belt Intensive. I have talked about this before, but to review the White Belt is the first level of Nia. The White Belt Intensive is over 50 hours of instruction and is open to anyone. Individuals do not have to have the intent to teach. The Nia White Belt Intensive is about the body so anyone is welcome to join and learn. In order to be a Nia teacher there is an additional licensing fee. The fee is due annually and it includes four routines that we, as teachers, agree to learn per year. I was just looking at my DVDs. I have two routines that I have not learned. I have 19 that I have learned. I have been teaching almost four and half years so I am keeping up with the four per year schedule.
Now, I want to clarify that I have learned 19 routines. That means that I basically did the bars and have shared 19 routines with my students. That means I roughly know those 19 routines. I could stand up right now and lead you through some of them, but some of them I would have to look at my bars, and some of them I would have to study my bars. But I also feel I am better at just doing. While I want to do the routine as per the choreography, I am not as afraid as I once was to just DO the routine.
When I am preparing to do a different routine for my class sometimes I have a chance to practice and sometimes I don’t. I will look at my bars for each song. Sometimes I look at the first few lines and think, “Oh yeah, I know this one.” Then when I am leading it my body and my mind don’t remember it as well as I thought and I just dance through it, but then when I get home I look more closely at my bars or re-watch the DVD. It really is about moving and having fun. As long as we are moving and we are doing it close enough then it is good. Then, like I said, I come home to get the choreography better established in my head and body!
The routines I have learned are:
Alive – Carlos AyaRosas Amethyst – Debbie Rosas Aya – Carlos Rosas Beyond – Debbie Rosas and Ann Christiansen Birth – Debbie Rosas and Collaborators Canta – Carlos Rosas Clarity – Carlos Rosas White Belt Dream Walker – Carlos Rosas Earthsong – Carlos Rosas Global Unity Humanity – Carlos AyaRosas Miracle – Carlos Rosas Opal – Debbie Rosas Passion – Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas Sanjana – Debbie Rosas San Medusa – Helen Terry Sexi – Carlos Rosas Velvet – Debbie Rosas Vibe – Debbie Rosas
The names of the routines that I have on my shelf that I need to learn are Butterfly and Oshun. I just renewed so I have four routines that I need to pick out as my new routines. Picking routines is always a challenge because everyone has such different tastes. Some people LOVE, LOVE, LOVE some of the routines I have and I don’t love them. So for me it is a difficult decision. I try to pick routines that I think my students will like, but then that is just a guess. I know which ones they like out of the ones I teach because they request them often.
If you were just picking a routine from the name which one would you pick? As a Nia student which one out of this list is your favorite? What about Nia teachers, which is your favorite out of this list?
One of the things I learned in a Nia workshop at the end of February, 2013 was the phrase “stay with your enoughs”. Trainer Helen Terry, currently located in Texas, was here in the San Francisco Bay Area to teach us how to dance a Nia Routine that she adapted to an entire album of different music. When Helen said that, I laughed. Because there has been so many times when I thought, “this is enough of that move, it MUST be time to move on” and I wasn’t REALLY clued into the music and I went onto the next move and sure “enough” I hadn’t stayed long “enough”. It was really funny at the time that I took the training because I was doing a Nia routine in which I almost always moved on before I should in accordance with the choreography. Shortly before the workshop I had just started telling myself (and listening to myself—what a novel idea!) that when I THOUGHT we were done is not when we should be if I were going to match the original choreography. There was at least one more bar to go through. And so when teaching that routine, my mind would say, “This is it. This is enough.” And my body would say, “Terre, we’ve been through this before. If you THINK this is it, then you KNOW it is not. Stay.” So Helen’s words “Stay with your enoughs” are perfect.
Nia is so lovely that pretty much most of the time if I lead us into the next sequences of moves before we are actually supposed to go or if we stay longer than the original choreography intended it doesn’t really matter. We might miss that wonderful “perfect match up” to the music, but it never really feels badly off. The choreography flows very well with the music so most of the time it doesn’t feel WRONG. We have the flexibility to stay and go as we please, but when coached to “stay with the enoughs” sometimes it is the perfect idea to help with those troubled spots.
In the workshop that Helen was leading since she was teaching us how to dance a specific Nia Routine to a specific album, there were specific songs and specific examples of where she thought it might feel like as if it is enough. The idea is to keep the faith and “stay with your enoughs”. Just stay past the point you think you should be done with that move. She said one track in particular would “give you a lot of ‘enoughs'”. Which for me that is not the “enough” song, but that is ok. She reminded me of the tool so I can apply it to any and all songs where I have enoughs. I get to relax and stay with them!
There were so many wonderful things presented in the workshop I could probably do a month’s worth of posts. But for now I’ll say “enough” . . . . until my next post . . . .
At the present time I am fortunate enough to be holding Nia classes at four different locations in San Jose. Each location allows me to meet different people. At one of the locations I have been teaching for four years and some of my students have been coming to my classes that long. At three of my locations I am a new teacher and Nia is new. Most of the people are new to me. It is exciting to met new people and discover new relationships. There is the relationships between my students and me and there is the relationship between Nia and the students. One of my students told me after one class that she loved the part of Nia where we compare things to nature. The specific example she stated was “tickling the clouds”. She said that the mention of nature in Nia reminded her of one of her favorite poets, Mary Oliver. She asked me if I had heard of Mary Oliver or if I was familiar with her. I said no. I also said that I would look her up. Well, the following week, my student came into class and handed me a copy of two poems. As soon as she held out the paper, I remembered that I had said I would look up the poet and that I had forgotten. I gratefully took the paper without reading the poems because class was about to start. After our class there is another class so I did not stop at that time to read the poem either. It was not until today I picked up the paper to read the poem. On the second line I realized I HAD heard this before and I laughed. This very poem or at least a portion of it is in the Nia White Belt Manual.
I thought it was funny that my student related Mary Oliver’s work to Nia and obviously so did the creators of Nia, Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas, because they put this poem in the manual. Only the first few lines are in the manual, but I recognized it right away.
The lines are:
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”
From Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese poem.
That portion of the poem is at the very beginning of the section which is Principle #1, The Joy of Movement. The last line of that section really struck me.
I want to continue to share with my students that a Nia class is not just about learning the moves and doing a routine. It is about doing what the body loves. It is about their relationship to their body. It is about their relationship to Nia. To me that is why we do a routine over and over. That is also HOW we do a routine over and over and not get bored with it. If we move and let our body do what it loves then it is moving in a different way. Once we have done a routine a few times we can play. We can move lower . . . if that it what the body loves . . . we can move higher . . . if that is what a body loves . . . all the time moving in the general pattern of the routine. It is when we are not in tune or when we cannot let go, that the routine is tiring or boring. If we are only moving the way it was choreographed and not putting our spirit into the moves it is as if we are walking through a desert on our knees. Suffering through a workout. UGH! Repenting for the cream we had in our coffee, the workout we missed yesterday, or the cookie we had at lunch.
I used to do a different routine every class. I thought people would get bored with the same routine. But then I realized that the more I knew the music and the choreography the more fun I had and the more playful I could be. I asked my class and they said they liked the fact that after doing the routine a few times they, too, could be less concerned with the choreography and more aware of their own spirit, dance, and play. So it is a relationship with Nia and the body that we are building and experiencing in a Nia class, we are not just learning a routine, we are not just moving through choreography.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately as I work on a routine schedule, playing with it to see what works. I want to ensure my students don’t get bored, yet I want them to build a relationship with Nia. I want them to be able to dance and play with the routines.
I love that my student shared her thoughts with me. To me that is me being able to witness her budding relationship with Nia. I love that because of my thoughts about repeatedly doing a routine, I was able to look at this poem and relate it to that. Like many things I might look at it sometime from now and have it relate to something else. My relationship with it might change, just as my relationship with my students and with Nia will change and grow. That is the nature of it all.
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?
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