Congratulations to 10 wild and wonderful upper Nia Belt teachers, who fearlessly stepped into their greatness, danced their socks off and taught with excellence, joy and grace.
6 years ago, Helen Terry invited a group of 8 upper belt Nia teachers to experience a unique retreat. Every day they enjoyed a Nia masterclass with Helen, taught in a JAM (team taught) class and received personalized feedback + coaching from Helen with regards their Nia technique, teaching style and communication skills.
Part of Helen’s philosophy is optimal learning happens best in a safe environment, where every member of the team feels relaxed, receives pleasure, feels included, is seen, understood, given attention and has lots of fun.
To create this environment the retreat includes plenty of breaks, field trips to explore Montgomery, daily naps, wonderful conversations around the dining table 3 meals a day. The sauna, hot tub, pool and option of massages certainly help invoke a healing and soothing environment, encouraging plenty of rest and excellent sleep!
The latest Nia routine “Ignite” was part of our theme and focus. With Helen teaching, the team exploring and by the end of the retreat several option of how to deliver the promise of Nia were developed including: How to simplify the moves, how to adapt the moves and how to bring new music in relationship with the moves.
The original team called themselves “Team Awesome”. At the end of the retreat one of the participants (Ray Wooten) said “same time next year?”. Helen asked Ray what he meant, he responded “I’m with you on this through Z!” and so the annual event became a tradition, with every year being a Team name of the next letter of the Alphabet.
so Far:
Team Awesome, Bold, C.A.R.E., Dream, ExtraOrdinary and now Team Fearless.
We came up with several fabulous versions and catch phrases:
“Fear Less, Love Move”
Team F.A.R.T. = “Fierce, Authenticity, Relational, Teamwork”
Queens (+King) of Heart, Team FART!
Every year the retreat is open to both brown and black belt Nia teachers. Limiting the numbers to 10 guests allows everybody to teach every day, to sit around one big table for every meal and be driven to field trips in 2 vehicles.
This year our field trips included walking the Labyrinth, hiking Sam Houston National Forest, picking grapefruits, visiting Chiller Bee (Fro Yo), enjoying Lake Conroe with the option of jumping/swimming in the lake! and a special luncheon at the Walden LakeFront Yacht Club with spontaneous dancing in the middle of the dining hall and later at the deck by the flag pole looking over the lake.
We “bookended” the retreat with Birthdays with Kellies Birthday on the 1st day and Emily’s on the last!
Thank you Aileen, Hananda, Erin, Kim, Mariah, Crystal (Pamela), Emily, Kellie, Darlene and (of course) Ray! You were each an integral part of an amazing whole; A team who came together, dug deep, shared wide, rose high, laughed large and shined brightly.
Next year team G****** we have Katie from the UK, Barbara and Nicola from Germany and Ray from San Antonio already registered. 6 places left, who would like to step in?
