Sacred Body: Biology and Soul

This is one of my favorite poems to say, to hear, to feel the echo of spiraling through the past and the future and the present.  We heard it at the end of the Nia New Year’s class this morning.
I Live My Life
I live my life in growing orbits,
which move out over the things [...]

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Today we chose the focus from the basket of 2009 focus cards for almost the last time this year.
The focus of our Nia practice today was “moving forward.”
As we move forward toward 2010, we find ourselves in the seven day period between what we call Christmas and what we call the New Year.  This is [...]

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Suppleness was the focus of class today.
“Supple” is from the Latin sub + plicare, meaning “to fold under.”  It’s related to ”pliable,”  as in the ballet movement, plié, which in French literally  means “folded”or “bending” to describe how the knees bend.
The word “suppleness” even sounds supple.  The sound of lippy “p”s rolling into the tongue-y “l” [...]

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I bow to Nia.
I bow to Nia as a path of body consciousness.  There are many paths of body consciousnes – thank God! —  and the one I’ve been practicing for the last 14 years is Nia.
One way I understand why I got sick and went back into asthma, which I hadn’t had in years but [...]

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I’m back!
After being away in New Mexico studying with Martín Prechtel and then unexpectedly plunging into a healing journey, today I taught my Nia class for the first time in over a month!
I am embryonic.  Everything is new.  Everything is new, strange and beautiful.  I am in a never-before-seen or experienced world.
We lit candles.  We [...]

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How I approach everything is how I approach my body.

On Saturday I made yogurt.  I use fantastic raw milk I get from a dairy farmer and freeze for storage in gallon jugs.  I love this milk and it’s been therapeutic for my body during this healing time.
The milk had not completely thawed, so as I heated it [...]

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Thank you to my Nia community from the whole of my being.
Thank you to the Nia teachers who have been holding the space for the practice.  Thank you to the Nia students who have been creating the space for the practice of Nia at The DanceSpace in Ashland, Oregon — during the last four extraordinary weeks in [...]

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What if we heard the voices of each thing singing, “I am alive”?
As I begin to engage in the world a little more each day, I feel the vexing return of the hurried, fight or flight culture in my body.  I notice this because I notice I’m holding my breath.
I’m holding my breath, not in [...]

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Yesterday I went to Nia for the first time in three and half weeks!  (Who’s counting?)  Woohoo!
I took the first 15 minutes of Judy Newton’s class that she was teaching for me at The DanceSpace.
It was astonishingly beautiful to see all the big hearts shining out through people’s faces as I entered the studio.  I [...]

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Why did the universe kick my ass?
It matters and it matters not.
The mind, in its constant seeking motions, naturally wants to know why.  Let the mind move, look, see, be curious.  But also consent to what is.
These are some reflections.  None is the answer.  The mystery — and the response to the mystery — are [...]

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