When the announcement for the 1st-degree black belt came out last year, I had no desire of going. I had completed the Black belt training in 2016, and although I did a retake of some of the belts afterward, I was ready to begin a new path in my journey of awareness and self-exploration. I thought it would be nice to go and reconnect with friends, but I didn’t feel a strong pull to go. Early in September, I woke up with a curiosity of what this training is all about and felt a sense of a calling and a knowing that I will go, and I did.
Debbie’s Personal Invitation To Start At The Beginning
Nia intensives are 7 days long, and unless you take one of them you will not know how much goes into it, it is not only about the Nia class, it is about to move through life dancing, it is life education and integration of our wholeness on and off the dance floor. Every time I step out of a Nia training, I’m filled with awe and tremendous appreciation to Nia education and to Debbie who creates an amazingly supportive and compassionate learning environment. This time was no different.
I didn’t have an expectation or a specific reason for taking this training. On the first day and as we were introduced ourselves “expanding my sense of self” was my answer to Debbie’s question of what we are looking for in this training?
“I’m Light and Space” Was the mantra of the whole training and the anchor we go back to every time we enter the unknown. The first day we were introduced to the monad, the circle and the center of all centers.
Why I needed to be at the training became more evident as the training days went by, awareness of the center, awareness of the tension between the polar tension of mind and body, knowing and not knowing, number and sacred geometry, sound and vibrations, and the list of inspiration and knowledge I received goes on. The integration of all will take a few months if not years!
On the last day of the training, I felt a sense of coming home, reunited with my own self, ease, and balance. All week, the anchor was the one, when confused or lost we go back to the one, the center. The frequency of this practice gave me a strong sense of my own center and got me closer to who I am, my own self, which is what this belt is all about ” The Art of Self.”
My respect to Debbie grows each time I train with her, her compassion and nonjudgment allow me to explore my weaknesses and learn, her piercing eyes look straight through me and her comments and directions guide me. She is a master and a great teacher, and I’m forever grateful. I’m also thankful for all participants with whom I shared those unforgettable moments, I’m blessed with new connections and bonds that were created, and the strengthening of past relationships, each of us is a monad, and we all form a pretty cool and fantastic cluster of 23 🙂 On the plan leaving Portland, as I was reflecting on the week I was inspired to write the words below.
We begin with the awareness of the center, the center of all centers, the knowing of choice, the one.
It radiates in all directions.
The center of the circle
Two is the opposing polarities the two ends of the spectrum, tension in between, the duality of life.
Three in the center of the two, it breaks the tension and bridges the two opposites, it is the connection and the mediator.
It is the center of the two, our link to the polar opposite of ourselves, and connection to those around us,
It is the two coming home to one, mind-body, front back, form freedom leading and following.
Three is the balance.
Four brings in the completion and foundation,
it is the sharp corners of the square, the primal grounding base of us all.
Five brings in the new inspiration of connecting to all that is, five fingers reaching out, five toes reaching down.
Five is the spark after four, the five tips of the star.
Six is all directions, up down front back right left.
Six is two threes and three twos.
Six is five and one, round and straight.
Seven is magic and mystical, the seven skies and the seven rounds around the square.
It is the step to the unknown.
Eight has no beginning or end, infinite in its rounds, yet solid in the foundational two fours.
Nine is expansion and horizon. It is the potential of all numbers and the last of them all. They say cats have nine lives and ecstasy is on cloud nine.
Ten takes us back to the one, it is two fives, four and six, five twos. It is the one and zero from all possibilities arise.
Eleven is sacred, the Golden ratio, the unexplained number, the number of nature and spirals
Twelve is the moons around the earth that makes a year, the twelve tribes and twelve rivers. Thirteen is the great origin, the one and the three side by side.