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

Today was my best day so far!  My mental realm brought relaxation, my emotional realm brought happiness and openness, my body brought less pain and more pleasure, and my spirit brought freedom to their relationships with me.  I’m feeling more comfortable in my own skin, more engaged, more present.  I began to notice the shift during this morning’s session with Debbie, Blue Belt Principle #10, FloorPlay. 

She said, “When we domesticate a body, it becomes inhibited.  The more you free a body, the more it returns to its natural state, the more it wants to be free.”

FloorPlay brings space into the body, allowing more energy to move and therefore bringing more ease, and developing our Sensory IQ, or the natural intelligence of the body.

The afternoon session with Carlos was Blue Belt Principle #11, Manifesting the Ultimate Nia Experience.  Its triad is Music, Movement and Magic.  We bring together all the Nia tools for enhancing music and all the Nia tools for enhancing movement and make Nia appear — as if by magic. 

And with that, we consciously create our class, knowing that this could be our last class ever.  It could be the last time we dance with one of our students.  It will be the last time it’s like this.  We remember that this moment will end.  That we are dying again and again from this moment to the next, from this experience to the next, from this sensation to the next.

Tonight was our intensive’s last Nia class together as a group.  We danced and played, knowing it will never be like this again.  We lingered longer in the lounge afterward, knowing it will never be like this again, chittering like little birds and loving each other and the preciousness of the moment. 

 Blue Belt Day 5

Today we practiced the Art of Intimate Listening to music.  I also practiced the art of intimate listening to myself. 

I noticed my mental realm brings intimidation to its relationship with me.  It tells me I must learn instantaneously.  I cannot move through a developmental process of learning that takes time. It says there is literally no time.  It should have happened already.  My physical realm brings the sensation is gasping for breath.  My diaphragm doesn’t know which way to move.  My emotional realm brings the feeling of fear.

Carlos has been doing a good job of holding the space for us to be exactly where we are in our process. Blue Belt Principle #5, The Power of Three: Relationship, helps me create some breathing room around destructive thinking.  It gives me the perspective to see what the mental realm is bringing without having to identify with it.  It helps me create the space for myself just as I am, again and again in the moment.

There are about 23 people in this Blue Belt group, including two trainers who are learning to lead Blue Belts, one Black Belt, Brown Belt me, and a handful of other belts who come in to audit one or two sessions.  In the past I’ve felt lonely in a large group like this.  So I’m focusing on bringing presence both to my relationship with myself and with the other people so I won’t feel isolated.

I am focusing on bringing clarity, boundaries and compassion to that aspect of my mental realm that attempts to distract me from the task at hand with thoughts, especially worrying and negative thoughts.  I am bringing curiosity, fatigue, willingness, excitement, love, fear, peace and engagement to my relationship with the Blue Belt training.

In Blue Belt Principle #5, The Power of Three: Relationship, we learn that a relationship consists of me, the other person and the relationship itself.  This principle teaches that when I look at what I bring to the relationship (instead of what I do or don’t do to the other person), I will see a reflection of myself.  In that reflection there is no blame or judgment, just information.  We take the focus off self or other and put it on what we bring to the relationship.  The relationship is a garden that we tend by what we bring to it.  If I look at what I am bringing to a relationship, I can see what is and isn’t nurturing it.

 Blue Belt Day 4

Blue Belt Principle #6, Split, Ellipt, Blend is a practice that comes from Aikido, one of the nine movement forms upon which Nia is based.  Split, Ellipt, Blend is a map that shows us where we can place our attention. 

Splitting is putting my attention 100% into myself and away from something else, for example, I split away from the teacher to sense my own body.  Ellipting is putting 100% of my attention into another.  For example, when the teacher is showing a new movement, I might ellipt into her to see it.  Once I get the information I need, then I split into myself to try on the move and discover the sensation in my body.  Blending is a combination of split and ellipt.  I put 100% attention into myself and 100% attention into another.

No one component of this Nia triad is more important or better than any other.  I am always putting my attention somewhere.  I want to know when and how it works best for me to use my attention in any given moment.  The ideal is to be fluid and accurate with my attention. I want to be able to be equally facile splitting, ellipting and blending.

As a teacher, if I get stuck in one mode or neglect another, my students may receive a limited Nia experience, receive my attention incompletely, and receive limited modeling of how to use their own attention.  It would be analogous to teaching Nia with mostly dance moves and very few moves from martial arts and healing arts.

My personal preference tends to be to split.  I love to get into the sensations of my body and find the pleasure.  Ellipting has been the most difficult.  Over the years since first taking Blue Belt I have been developing my skill at ellipting and blending.

Blue Belt Day 3

Blue Belt Principle #4, Developmental Anatomy, is a beautiful practice that takes us through the five developmental movement stages most of us went through as children.  It’s a practice of self-healing for the body, the mind, the emotions and the spirit.  The classic form of the practice is to do one minute in each stage every day.  The stages are: Embryonic, Creeping, Crawling, Standing and Walking.

Developmental Anatomy can also be used as a practice for asking the body for the somatic truth about where one is in relationship to anything.  For example, Debbie asked us this afternoon, if the ideal is that every time I get ready to start my class, the first thing I think of is the Joy of Movement and I say to myself, “Oh goodie!  I can’t wait!” then what is my relationship to that ideal.

We moved in each of the developmental stages and let them tell us which stage we were in in relationship to the Joy of Movement.  Then Debbie told us to love the stage we were in.  Love it.  Love it because this is our foundation from which to develop.  Love it because this is where we are the strongest. 

During my first Blue Belt, I loved this practice of somatic truth telling.  It felt natural, easy and illuminating.  But today, I wasn’t sure if I was sensing the somatic truth or if my mind was taking charge.  I felt awkward, out of touch, stupid.  I am still feeling vulnerable and afraid.  My critic comes in and tells me I don’t deserve to exist on the face of the planet. 

It occurs to me I’m probably in embryonic.  I’m probably embryonic in relationship to the practice of Developmental Anatomy.  Embryonic is, by definition, a new place, a place I have never been before.  I have never been in this relationship with the Developmental Anatomy practice, or with Nia, or with myself, or my body, or the moment, or with Brown Belt, with the road to Black, with my husband, with the path, or with the Mystery.  

Can I love it?  Can I love this new place I’ve never been before?  Can I love myself in the unknown?  Can I love the unknown?  Can I love this never-before-seen bend in the road to Black Belt?  Can I love myself no matter what?  Embryonic. 

Blue Belt Day 2

“Debbie does Dallas!” proclaimed Debbie Rosas as she introduced the Sunday morning Nia class.

She was referring to the group of Nia students visiting from Dallas, Texas.  Ashland Nia White Belt Wendy Seldon’s Nia teacher brought her students to Nia Headquarters for a long weekend of Nia!  Statuesque Jule Aguirre and her exuberant Dallas group danced with us this morning.

Debbie and Carlos taught the class together,.  This was a surprise treat!  (Sunday morning is typically Carlos’ class.)  They modeled for us masterfully the Joy of Movement layered with the Joy of Being in Relationship both in the content of the class and in the way they taught being in relationship with each other. 

 Blue Belt Day 2

Just as Nia White Belt Principle #1 is the Joy of Movement, so Nia Blue Belt Principle #1 is the Joy of Being in Relationship.  In Blue Belt, we layer the practice of the Joy of Being in Relationship over the practice of the Joy of Movement. 

In the practice of the Joy of Movement, first we choose the sensation of Joy.  If Joy is not present, we tweak something – physically, mentally, emotionally or in the spirit – until we feel the sensation of Joy.

Then, we invite in the Joy of Being in Relationship by literally saying “Hello” to the movement we are doing.  For example, if I’m doing the heel lead, I say, “Hello, heal lead,” and open a dialogue with the heel lead. 

Today, the heel lead said to me, “Just place your foot on the floor.  You don’t need to intend to step or put weight on your foot.  Just placing the foot is enough.  The rest rest will happen on its own.”

 (I’ve had difficulty getting internet access since I arrived in Portland.  I apologize for not being able to report in until now.)

I’m in Portland at Nia Headquarters repeating my Blue Belt intensive with Nia founders Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas.  The Blue Belt is a training in communication, relationship and intimacy. 

On the first day of every Nia intensive, we are introduced to the Energy Allies.  Some people know them as the Four Agreements.  The names of the Allies are:  (1) “Speak With Impeccability;” (2) “Don’t Assume Anything;” (3) “Don’t Take Anything Personally;” and (4) “Always Do Your Best.”

The Energy Allies are available to help me cultivate communication, relationship and intimacy in my Nia practice and in my life.  They are beings I can call on for help. 

For example, when I speak untruthfully or off the mark, or I exaggerate, I can call on the Energy Ally named “Speak With Impeccability” to redirect my intent.  When I tell myself stories about what is happening or focus on likes and dislikes instead of being present with what is, I can call on the Ally named “Don’t Assume Anything” to clarify my thinking.  When I’m reactive or defensive, “Don’t Take Anything Personally” will come to my assistance to expand my awareness and bring perspective to my emotions.  Or, when I’m not doing my best, whatever that might look like, I can call on “Always Do Your Best” to help me discover what my full expression is in the moment.

In the Nia intensive, the Allies help me stay focused on the work at hand.  They help me cultivate deep presence that I can offer to my relationships with everything. The Energy Allies are there to support me in saying Yes to what is.