Roots & Wings Body Map
The 7 Pillars of Embodied Transformation
This body-based framework is the living map behind Niio Dance.Your roots connect you to grounding, stability and inner knowing. Your wings open you to possibility, expansion and creative flow. Each of the 7 pillars is an invitation to return to your body’s intelligence, innate support and the heartbeat of your soul — a path of reconnection, healing, and creative leadership.
WHAT IS THE 'ROOTS AND WINGS' BODY MAP?
The Roots and Wings Body Map has Seven Sacred Pillars, distilled from my decades of exploration, personal research and study.
They are a grounded, visceral and direct expression of ancient and modern models of our wellbeing.
The Chakra energy system in Yogic philosophy
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for self-actualisation in Psychology
The Seven aspects of the Life Wheel in modern Psychology
Somatic Movement Education.
'Thank you for a really stimulating class for both body and mind. I feel more connected to my core and feel better within myself physically and emotionally, and my acid reflux indigestion is not there...its subsided. Amazing!'
Mary
THE SEVEN PILLARS' OF EMBODIMENT & CREATIVITY
1 - GROUNDING
Finding our Roots of Support
This is our base chakra for survival and the element of earth. We connect into its magnetic frequencies to hold and support us. We also find our inner anchor. The foundation of our embodiment.
2 - BREATH
Awaken to Life Force
Our breath can relax, energise, awaken and empower us. It is our most powerful tool for transformation as it accesses our subconscious, and is our gateway to freedom. When we can harness the power of our breath, we harness our power to self-direct.
3 - STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY
Our Potential for Transformation
Drop into your body and unprogram your mind. Our bodies are a living, liquid matrix of bones, tissues, tendons and fluids, a harmonious orchestra that is open to change and creativity.
4 - FLUIDITY
Enter Creative Flow
This is our sacral chakra, the element of water and creativity. With flow we can release our constraints, navigate obstacles, change direction, meander and find a way through. A vital concept of the Tao.
5 - POWER
Find Your Fire
In our power we feel vital and alive, we express ourselves and we get things done. When we connect to our passion, we can move mountains and change the world! This is the force and drive for our leadership of self.
6 - COMPASSION
Listen to Your Heart
The signals of our heart are sixty times stronger than that of our brain. When we practice compassion we access deeper realms of feeling and healing. We invite in joy, and expand into new realms of creativity.
7 - CONNECTION
Being Total
When we are aligned and integrated, we can give and receive in a beautiful connection of synergy to the threads of our existence and out into the universe. We are grounded, present, total and in flow. We can lead and self-lead with confidence, courage and creativity.
'Thank you for providing safe and warm space for exploring different ways of moving our bodies. I feel more free and confident in free flow dancing, it's a great way to feel more present.'
Ivan
THESE 7 PILLARS OF THE ROOTS AND WINGS MAP ARE INFORMED BY:
YOGA AND OUR ENERGETIC SYSTEM
This ancient philosophy and system for holistic wellbeing has now seeped into the mainstream. I was fortunate to 'discover' yoga and meditation in India in 1995, which are part of the ancient texts of tantra, and they have been my constant companions with dance every since.
EMBODIED DANCE AND PRACTICE
Niio Dance is an expression of my own life journey - beginning with Ballet, Hung Gar Kung Fu, Yoga, Meditation, Dance Movement Therapy, Somatic Movement Education and extended Conscious, Ecstatic and Shamanic dance journeys spanning five decades, a distillation of what has truly resonated.
NATURE AND THE ELEMENTS
There is a force and power in nature that humans can never match, and indigenous cultures are in tune with its rhythms and cycles of life.
We have the elements of nature within us, and it can inform, inspire and heal. Interestingly the Inca word for the 'body' is 'animated' or 'luminous' earth...
SOMATIC PRACTICES AND NEUROSCIENCE
Science is still discovering how our mind and body are interconnected. Our perception, understanding and even goal planning are linked to the motor cortex of our brain. Through embodiment practices we can become more aware, have better communications, be more creative and enhance our overall well-being.
Somatic Practices : Body Mind Centering
We journey deep into our bones, fluids and tissues, which have energetic as well as structural qualities. Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen who created BMC, gives us the alternative holistic anatomical map of the body that Medical school overlooked.
Life Art Therapy
The late Anna Halprin, a pioneer in the somatic and therapeutic dance world and one of my teachers, discovered how dance is connected to our emotional world and has the power to heal. Together with daughter Daria, these pioneers co-founded the Tamalpa Institute for movement, dance and expressive arts.
SPIRITUALITY
I have been touched by the sacred on many occasions and particularly influenced by the three 'T's of Taoism, Toltec Spirit and Tantra.
The Tao
is the ancient Chinese ‘Way’ which celebrates acceptance, change, creativity and the natural order and 'flow of the universe.'
Toltec Spirit
adapted from ancient Toltec Wisdom by Don Miguel Ruiz, whose teachings are rooted in love, personal transformation and freedom. Where life is a living canvas for art.
Ancient Tantra
Traditional Tantra is the connective ocean of love, a part of ancient yoga. It gives you the permission to be true to your authentic self and to live your yes.
'By going out of your mind, you come to your senses.'
Alan Watts
