Recapitulating

It's now just over 2 weeks since I completed my Nia White Belt intensive training here in Ottawa but the memories are still very much at the forefront of my mind.

It was a truly unique week out of my life. Potentially life changing and definitely life shifting. I went on Day 1 with high hopes to have my spirits lifted after basement floods and personal injuries had been weighing me down for weeks prior, and totally came away high on Nia and with a renewed zest for life! This was truly a case of something showing up in my life exactly when I needed it.

I've never spent so much time dancing and moving in such energetic ways...so consistently. It was tiring at times for sure but also surprisingly energising. My body surprised me on several occasions in the way it somehow found energy reserves which I didn't know existed! My usually reluctant morning body seemed to spring to life at 8.30am as we began each day with a fabulous and inspiring Nia class with Martha Randall.  With the exception of my poorly (healing) finger, my body didn't fuss at all...during or after an hour of early morning movement. That's not normal for me, at that time in the morning, there are usually achey joints to be found and it felt so liberating to discover that such an energetic movement form could be mine before breakfast! 

After all that sudden activity and mind/body stimulation, I found I really needed to just let it all settle in the week which followed. After the intense "high" which lasted about 48 hrs after graduating, I appeared to "crash" and was so, so tired! It was a perfect time to take a little road trip and accompany Alan to Toronto...a change a scenery felt good. Funny...I did try to attend a Nia class in Toronto one morning, it felt like a great opportunity to do so, but for reasons I shall likely never know, after successfully navigating downtown Toronto and finding the venue listed on the website...nobody else showed up! Perhaps the class was cancelled for the summer months, I have no idea but either way, it seems I was not meant to dance that week. I was upset at the time, it felt a like a wasted opportunity but I had to smile, acknowledge that my research could clearly have been better and instead feel grateful that there was at least a Starbucks within sight, so I settled for a seat and coffee before retracing my steps back to the hotel.

That was over a week ago now and upon returning home I've revived my home practice and dug out my Opal DVD a couple of times and it was great having a deeper understanding and connection with the moves and to recapitulate some of the feelings and moments shared on the training. Moments of learning, connectedness, community and good old fashioned Joy! It was such a fun training...so many laughs, and some tears, but release and shifting on an intensive like that is only natural..it's the body's way...

So what is next? Well...it is now my intention to teach Nia one day. I have a long way to go first though. Still a huge amount to learn. This is just the beginning; the tip of the iceberg, but I intend to give it my best shot and see where that takes me. I certainly never imagined that I'd end up learning how to choreograph dance classes! It just shows what can be possible if you allow your heart to rule your head just once in a while!

Maybe by the new year I'll be ready to at least test out my new found knowledge....I'll keep you posted!