Cross-Training Body Mind Emotions Spirit | Rachael R. Resch

Here I am in 2oo5, at my Nia Brown Belt training with Nia co-creators Debbie Carlos and Carlos Rosas.

Just as every Nia class has a focus, so every Nia teacher training has a focus. Brown Belt focuses on energy.  (For an overview see The Nia Belt System.)

In Brown Belt, we start, as always, with Nia’s foundation, White Belt Principle #1, The Joy of Movement.  Then we expand the sensation of The Joy of Movement to include the sensation of energy.  We study and practice the somatics of energy as it moves, and is moved by, the body, mind, emotions and spirit, both individually and collectively. 

As in the practice of acupuncture, Nia as a practice also opens up energy pathways.  Nia movement is specifically designed  to stimulate the flow of chi or energy in the body.

Although Nia is only 25 years old, working with energy to get fit and heal is not.  Nia’s foundation in the martial arts rests in a lineage of energetics that goes back thousands of years.  (Click here to learn about all of Nia’s nine movement forms.)

In 1996, when I first began taking Nia classes and was so very ill, I believe it was this aspect of Nia — the movement of chi in the body,  mind, emotions and spirit — which provided me a path of profound and lasting healing.

In Nia, a fit energy field means we can move to the edge of chaos and then self-organize back into order.  FreeDance is one way Nia supports going to the edge of chaos.  When we can move in and out of form and freedom, we develop energetic fluidity, strength, flexibility, creativity and empowerment.

Please enjoy these glimpses into the experience of Brown Belt 2005.

Photographs by Jeff Stewart, Nia Technique, Inc.
Brown Belt 2005, Nia Headquarters, Portland, Oregon, USA.