To: Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund (LUTSF)
From: Fiona Winter
Date: 6th June 2004
Nia
Brown Belt Intensive Training Course
3rd to 9th April 2004
I am enclosing my report, as
requested, on the course that I undertook with my travel costs supported by the
Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund. The trip was a unique opportunity to
immerse myself in the Nia Technique at
the source, as
Since my return I have been able to incorporate many
aspects of the course into my teaching of Nia and
into my daily life. I have co-presented three Nia
workshops, and presented Nia at the Mind Cymru conference as an activity for people with mental
health issues. I will be hosting and attending Nia
White Belt Intensive training in July in
May I once again thank the Fund for sponsoring my travel. I would be happy to present a workshop or Nia masterclass to anyone who
would find it of interest.
Yours sincerely
Fiona Winter
The
Nia Technique … through movement we find health
Fiona Winter,
Brown Belt Certified Nia Teacher
Nia might be a girls name in
I came across Nia in
September 2000 at a Fitness Convention in
My first Nia session felt
like coming alive again. Each piece of music that was played was a perfect fit
for the chosen move, and I sensed myself working at an intensity level that
would normally leave me feeling drained, but I seemed to be gaining energy. The
movement and the music touched emotions that I hadn’t been in touch with as
fully for many years and I knew that I had to experience more of this! A brief
conversation afterwards with the presenter Helen Terry, reassured me that this
was not a formatted franchise programme and within days I had booked to go to
I began teaching Nia in
September 2001 and I have taught in community settings, with children and young
adults, in private classes and worked with dance students and professional
dancers. I am a freelance teacher to several Healthy Living Centre projects
including ‘Inside Out’, an arts project providing workshops for the community
but especially welcoming those who may have suffered from depression, anxiety
attacks or loneliness.
I returned to
Nia Brown Belt Intensive Training which I attended in
April 2004 with help from the Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund, builds
on the previous belt levels: focusing on energy as another way to deepen the Nia practice both at a professional and a personal level;
energy that will enhance and expand the results and benefits for the teacher
and the participants; the opportunity to experience and understand energy
creation, circulation and utilization; ultimately incorporating energy
principles into teaching skills, developing tools to attain personal growth,
voice and body language as energy tools, releasing blocked energy, blending
energy into movement and gaining awareness of self through monitoring energy
levels, perceiving Nia and life through energy.
The four energy areas that Brown Belt works with are:
All Nia intensives use
cognitive and experiential processes that include daily Nia
classes and specific exercises, discussions and lectures to give the somatic
and mental knowledge behind the science, craft and art of Nia.
Each process is designed to transmit the conceptual information energetically,
placing it in the cellular memory and in the mind. Each process is designed to
stimulate the curiosity and to awaken the individual’s own unique way of
learning and seeking answers.
My preparation for the Brown Belt Intensive Training
included twelve weeks of pre-training study. The study was broken down into
cognitive, experiential and reflective activities. It was designed to be used
in conjunction with Nia routines either as part of my
regular teaching or my own personal use of Nia
training videos. I was invited to work at my own pace as I opened to a new
awareness of the feeling of energy in and around me. Journaling my discoveries
was an important part for me of recognising that which I was already
integrating into my teaching and new areas of knowledge and experience. We were
encouraged to read an extensive range of books covering such diverse subjects
as Chinese Medicine, Healing, Emotional Anatomy, Five Rhythms, and Experiential
Anatomy. I found this range of subjects stimulating and thought provoking if a
little daunting when viewed in their entirety.
The training course took place at the Nia central movement space, Body Moves, in
During the course we were encouraged to skim over the
next day’s material in the manual. Reading without trying to remember, allowing
the information to flow into and through ourselves, allowing small bits of
information accumulate into greater knowledge. It was emphasised that the
training would be a personal journey for each of us and that we should allow
the learning to unfold at a speed appropriate for us, to become fascinated with
ourselves and the process of discovery and how we each learn through our own
body. All Nia training uses a body centred and mindful approach to embody and learn new material. This
requires the participants to be present and mindful in each activity, blending
both sides of the brain, the rational and the intuitive to make sense of the
material, consciously being in the body and staying there Becoming aware of the
information as sensations that can be felt in the body, including emotional
feelings, thoughts and desires Using somatic ways of thinking and perceiving
awareness by using senses and emotions to help decode new information, the
language the body understands most, the language of sensation and feelings.
At the introductory session on the first evening of
the course we were encouraged to use the ‘The Four Energy Allies’
and use them to bring us energy. We then spent a day on
each of the four energy realms, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, with
two days experiencing the integration of energy in all realms. Each day
concluded with an ‘open’ class in which Debbie or Carlos skilfully integrated
the theme of the day into the focus of the class. As the course progressed I
became more aware of each of the energy realms, and how I could increase,
circulate and utilise energy, by such methods as monitoring the food and water
I took onboard, by the use of breathing and meditation and of the value of
sleep in the creation of energy. I also became aware of how in a class
situation I could provide opportunities for participants to increase and
circulate their energy. We were encouraged to invest energy at times, such as
keeping our mental awareness engaged in order to take on board new information,
or investing in our physical energy in the class at the end of the day in order
to build our physical stamina. I also began to reflect on situations and people
that drain my energy at times and started to acknowledge ways of preventing
this.
One particularly important aspect of the course that
I have been immediately able to apply in my classes since completing the course
is the concept of how we use energy in the components of physical fitness. This
concept is being explored in a book on Nia which is
due to be published in December 2004. It looks at the language of physical
sensation when we use positive tension.
This has brought a new focus to my teaching enabling
my class participants to really connect to these sensations in their Nia class. I have also used a three-step process of
learning the 52 core moves, which help the class participants to learn the
moves, personalise them and bring them to life.
Attending the course also gave me the opportunity to
network with the other participants from all parts of the world, with a vast
combined teaching experience. We were able to experiences and exchange ideas
regarding a huge variety of target groups. As a group we are continuing to
study the new material that was shown us at Brown Belt, by using an e-mail study
group.
Some of the benefits of the course since my return
have been an increased ability to increase and circulate my own energy which
has in turn given me greater energy when teaching. I am also able to explain a
whole variety of Nia concepts and aspects of the work
with greater clarity, through having experienced being taught by the creators
of the technique. I have increased confidence in my ability to deliver Nia to a range of participants.
Since my return I have co-presented three Nia workshops and also presented Nia
at the Mind Cymru conference. This summer I will be
hosting and auditing a Nia White Belt Intensive
Training in
I plan to return to