Today; Living Consciously with Awareness

Living consciously in mind and spirit while living in awareness of sensations and feelings is a mindful way of living day-to-day; this is what I desire. 

After spending a week in Portland, Oregon, at the Nia International Headquarters with Debbie Rosas, the creator of Nia, and my Nia Training Faculty Colleagues I am feeling introspective. For 18 Years I have done these seven days journeys into the experiences of Nia: White, Blue, Brown, Black, First Degree Black Belts, Nia 5 Stages, The Body’s Way, and Nia FreeDance. Each experience being separate, outside of my ordinary life, allowing me to experience and confirm that I live from the inside out and that “I love my Body and my Life”; even when I am a bit overweight or not moving in my fullest range of motion. I am in awe of my body’s fortitude and ingenuity to survive and thrive. And, I return home to my every day responsibilities, but I am different, I sense and feel a realignment and change; a willingness to let go of the past, stand in the present and wait for the future.

Today, being home, feeling loved in all parts of my life, I desire to become a fully expressive artist teaching through somatic awareness into consciousness and creativity; body-centered, bottom-up, developing the body and brain relationships of intuition and compassion.

Today, I will step into every moment as an opportunity to release distractions from past experiences and future expectations; each breath an affirmation that I am standing in the here and now.

Tomorrow I will teach from what I know . . .

Accidental Companion or in Your Body

During my day, I love to witness and observe people in their bodies. I have done this most of my life. I remember my mother tugging on my arm and saying "Kenneth don't stare". I would say to her: "I'm not!" What I was doing was watching and observing how they were living in their body; particularly if they had a physical issue with which they were living. I was  never judgmental, just curious.

I am curious about myself and others. And, from this curiosity I have created my career as a Theater Artist and a Somatic Educator. I love the human form and what it is capable of doing in Posture, Body-Center and Gesture. This awareness and consciousness, first about myself and then, about others, keeps me interested in all of us human beings.  

There is no hiding when moving in the physical realm of the body. The body is reflecting every choice in every moment, even if we think we are masking something; the mask is revealing something that is being concealed. Our physical practice, in our body, is revealed in its silhouette. Our emotional state is "written" in every gesture. Our thoughts are in every tension and relaxation of our bones and muscle. Our spirit, our uniqueness, is seen and felt with every step we take.

One morning, over the past several months, the title of "Accidental Companion" came to me as I observe and witness people in their bodies. Noticing how they move: are they an "appendicular mover" (moving from their legs and arms) or a "core mover" (moving from their spine, their core)? Without thinking, the title came. Some people have their head and eyes cast down, some people have their heads forward of their spine, some have their heads balanced over their shoulders. All of these are ways people sit, stand and walk. 

I realize, in this observation, that some people appear to have an "Accidental Companion", their body, coming along with them rather than being in the present, in the moment, sitting, standing or walking with eyes up looking out into the world.

Being an extreme introvert, learning to survive in an extraverted world I am making a bold choice, particularly since my Pilates and Nia practices over the past 20+ years, to keep my eyes "up" - looking out into the world, willing to be seen. Head on top of my spine as I sit, stand and walk, I am with my body more than having an "Accidental Companion".

Photo: Forte Fotos