Living Mindfully in a Healthy Body

(this is what I teach in Nia & Pilates)

The Body’s Way is the path in the experience of Nia. Living in a Healthy Spine is the way of Pilates (Body Contrology). How do I live in my body through sensation: the workout, the practice and the lifestyle of My Body’s Way? How do I move from the acute awareness of my spine mobility and stability into my everyday life? Nia is a way in which I experience the truth of my body without stories, my body is a mirror of what is – it only knows truth. When I live in a spine that is upright through alignment I optimize my thoughts and actions, my way of finding strength and balance. Living in my body becomes a commitment to acknowledging sensation and emotion while engaging my mental and spirit witness.

During the workout whether it be Nia or Pilates, I take the time to sense every moment, every movement; through the music in Nia, through the breath in Pilates. When I am conscious in my movement and aware of sensation I am safe: I have time to notice what is pleasurable or what is in pain or discomfort. In my awareness of what I sense I can choose to move with efficiency and ease; to live in my body with comfort and safety. If I let the movement do the healing, as it is the medicine of health and well being, I can live in physical ease all my life.

Awareness of my sensations invites me to practice being present in every moment; a living meditation of dynamic movement and stillness, from Nia I find that “Every movement feels like I am dancing”, from Pilates I find that (Body) Contrology develops my body uniformly, correcting wrong postures, restoring physical vitality, invigorating my mind, and elevating my spirit. When I workout, mindfully, I find the source of my self-healing. I create a daily personal practice of living in my body. With awareness, consciousness and mindfulness, my life is changed, it transforms everyday; I create my life as living art.

Photo: J Rosenberg

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 . . .

The Humility of Self-Healing

Living in a body and being a Somatic Educator I continually suggest that every move of the body is to “heal” – to make better any movement, being it habit or something new to the brain/body relationship.

In March 2015, I began healing my skin through an eruption of eczema, followed by MRSA and later on two smaller infections. My skin is sensitive and compromised; and, being the largest organ of the body, any disorder or discomfort is unsettling. My skin has become a journey of self-healing in the awareness of how my body, mind, emotions and spirit work together, expressing through my skin.

Louise Hay, “Heal Your Body” (paraphrasing) suggests that the skin is a protection that lets us feel safe; that the skin, when protecting us allows us to feel free in every moment. I have great longing for this to be true, in my skin, to have my self-healing bring me to feeling safe and secure in the world.

Body Awareness is the entry into Self-Healing – to pay attention to sensation and to invite mental and emotional insight. The body has the power to heal when guided with support and assistance. Healing comes in many forms: moving the body, body work (physically and energetically), and medicine; all ways of assistance into systemic healing and integration of the brain/body.

For me, healing my skin is a time of surrender and reflection. I am spending time listening to my body and seeking support: for my body with a variety of treatments (sometimes pharmaceutical), with my mind and emotions receiving insights through conversations and therapeutic relationships, and with my spirit striving to thrive in the truth of who I am in the world – a self-healer teaching through somatic education how to have and be in relationship with the body.

For now, many imbalances of what I sense, think and feel have been revealed to me. And, there is more healing to be done for me to sense and feel dynamic ease in my skin.

Photo: Forte Fotos