It did not teach me how to recognize the quiet signals of a body that is dissociating, bracing, or enduring instead of receiving. It did not teach me how to sit with discomfort without trying to fix it. It did not teach me how to trust silence. Training also did not teach me how power moves in subtle ways—how even well-intentioned facilitation can become intrusive if listening is replaced by agenda.

I am a Certified Nia Floor Play Teacher and a Nia First Degree Black Belt. I name this not as a claim of authority over bodies, but as transparency about the lineage and training that inform my work. Nia offered me a structured language for understanding movement through sensation, awareness, and relationship rather than force. Through Floor Play in particular, I learned how profoundly regulating it can be for the body to move close to the ground—where support is constant