Moving Consciously
Living the Truth of Who I AmArchive for dance
Compassionate
Day 36 of 52 Days: White Planetary Dog
I love “White Dog” days — the energy is all about Love — not the kind of love found in romance novels, although that love is certainly included, but the big “L” Love — the all encompassing, spirit-invoking, all-curing-medicine-of-compassion Love.
I’ve blogged about this before: my personal thoughts around the difference between ComPASSIONATE and SymPATHETIC. Just look at how the two are spelled. PASSION is the key to one, while the other is sickenly PATHETIC. When we feel something toward a certain cause — i.e. Breast Cancer, World Hunger, Save the Whales — our hearts open and we want to DO something about it…and many would call that being sympathetic toward the cause. Sympathy plays on the emotions…it has nothing to do with Love — it draws out the pathetic response of guilt and shame. As I mentioned earlier, these are my personal thoughts on the choice of sympathy or compassion. Sympathy is not in my vocabulary. If you want sympathy, you know where to find it in the dictionary.
Compassion on the other hand has a sense of personal power — it contains the word “passion” which, for me, is not an emotion. In Nia, we invite students to find the “joy” in any situation or circumstance — joy being an attitude, not an emotion. I would offer that passion is also an attitude that can be imbued into anything. Passion has a connection to purpose. My purpose is to be the living expression of God in action (God to me is not dressed in white with a long flowing beard sitting on a throne in heaven). God is Source — the animating force behind this physical body, brain and heart.
So when I offer compassion it is from a place outside of an emotional response. Yes, I see hunger and abuse in the world, I see disease and death. Those are all things of the world. To become sympathetic toward these things would make me part of them. I am in the world, but I am not of it. I am human AND I am divine. Offering compassion is offering the essence of Love through the heart which is both earthly and divine, a medium between spirit and matter. Love is always present but it is not always the choice that is made. Love can change the world. We must embody Love, express Love and be Love for that to happen. The simplicity of a vibrational compassionate response is powerful beyond definition.
I have heard the terms “bleeding heart” and “hardened heart”. Neither of those beckons an embrace from me. My heart embraces the dance of possibility.
I Love My Body, I Love My Life
Day 34 of 52 Days: Yellow Galactic Star
Purpose is an intention and/or a desired outcome that directs my life force energy. My purpose is connected to living an ordinary life in an extraordinary way. Purpose is like a north star. It guides me to live into my greatness, bringing my unique gifts to fruition.
My name is Jill and I am sacred. My body is a gift. I recognize the important of living into my greatness. Knowing my purpose and sharing my gifts is a sacred birthright. I bring my uniqueness to all I do. I express passion and love for my body and life. Nia (www.nianow.com) invites me to love my body and love my life. Nia awakens my consciousness and reveals a movement journey of self-discovery, self-healing and self-mastery. It is my pleasure and my honor to be teaching and sharing Nia.
“Dear Body, I commit to love and to nurture you. I promise to treat you kindly, to pamper you, to caress you, to tell you how beautiful you are to me. I promise to feed you well and give you plenty of pure, clean water. I promise to allow you to have the rest and down time you need to enjoy the greatest amount of energy and splendor. I wish to offer you, dear Body, all of this wonderfulness because I love my life and I love you.” — Grace Scarborough, Massage Therapist
Today, write a love letter to your body. It is the gift you’ve been given through which to express your greatness — your Life As Art.
As Nelson Mandela said, “There is no passion to be found in playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
Rhythms of the Earth
Day 31 of 52 Days: Red Overtone Serpent
“I have learned that the body listens to rhythms that the mind can’t even hear.” — John Lee
Rhythm — some folks have it, some don’t. I was born with an innate sense of rhythm for which I have am deeply grateful. My body listens to rhythms that my mind doesn’t hear. Wisdom, intuition, instinct, sensuality, creativity, passion — these things I feel through my body.
In the 10 years that I’ve been teaching Nia, I have found that my body is able to give me information that is useful for making decisions on how to move through life. Nia is a body-centered practice. A cardiovascular fitness and lifestyle practice that has changed my body and changed my life.
When I’m dancing — either teaching Nia or being a student in a Nia class — my body is in tune with the earth’s rhythm. I can feel it. I can sense it. The earth beckons me to dance my passion, to dance my sensuality, to dance my creativity and my passion. Nia gives me the tools (the 13 basic principles — there are a total of 52 with the 4 different Belts: White, Blue, Brown and Black) — to allow me to transform what may seem like an ordinary life into an extraordinary living experience.
Listen to the rhythms of the earth…they beckon you to dance…
Abundance
Day 29 of 52 Days: Blue Electric Night
“Acknowledge the abundance in our life; it creates waves of grace on which to move in the world. Generosity means giving, and it begins in the heart by affirming confidence in the abundance of the Universe…” — Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo
Many people dream of abundance…wishing for more of whatever it is they want. Life gives abundantly…not just some of the time…not just to a certain few…but ALL of the time and for everyone. It is when we are in a place of receiving what comes to us that we are able to acknowledge the gifts we are given.
Picture a waterwheel and all of life’s gifts come flowing to us from this waterwheel. We see something that we want, so we stop the waterwheel so that we can enjoy it or get more of it …OR…we see something coming that we don’t want and we stop the waterwheel. In either case what happens to the water’s circulation? It stops. The water becomes stagnant. We begin to complain that we’re in a rut and that Life has foresaken us. And who is it that stopped the flow of the water? Certainly not Life. Such an arrogant lot are we humans.
Thankfulness in all things. Life is sacred AND impermanent. Enjoy life’s abundance NOW.
The temptation is always present to judge what comes to me. I remember as a child being disappointed with some of the gifts I would receive from my family. “What am I supposed to do with this? This isn’t what I wanted.” Arrogance…
Over the years (and now at the age of 60), I’ve become more consciously aware of Life’s gifts when they land in my lap. It might be in the form of a person who is looking for some guidance — or perhaps a person who is offering some guidance to me. It might be in the form of more responsbility at the office — this is my current area of receiving Life’s gifts. In the throes of our office manager leaving somewhat unexpectedly, many of her responsibilities now lie with me. Where my days used to be creating and enjoying putting together Nia routines for my classes, my days are now spent enjoying more time at the office. My Nia practice time is more limited which means less time surfing Facebook and Twitter. My social networking time is now face to face time with my co-workers. Life finds its way of bringing people together…we were not meant to be sitting isolated at our computers — social networking has a whole different meaning for me now.
Receiving life’s abundance. Reaping the abundance of the love we’ve sown.
I do believe I’ve just set my focus for tonight’s Nia class at 5:30 p.m.: A-Bun-Dance.
FreeDance
Day 23 of 52 Days: Red Planetary Earth
Today is a day of breaking habitual way of moving through life. Habits are created in 21 days…three weeks. I’m 60 years old, so I’ve had many opportunities to create and break habits. Whenever I find myself “stuck”, unable to come up with a solution to a problem, I go back to the 13 Principles of Nia, specifically Principle #4: FreeDance. FreeDance offers a formula for movement creativity, but I often use this principle in other areas of my life (not just in creating new movement patterns for Nia).
The purpose of FreeDance is to stimulate movement creativity. FreeDance expands movement choices, breaks rigidity and habits and encourages your own authentic dance. There are 8 Stages to FreeDance that Nia teachers learn in the White Belt Intensive:
1) Anything Goes Movement-Wise: Attention is placed on sensation. It’s about moving your body. Through Movement We Find Health — if I’m tired or emotionally charged for whatever reason, I move my body. I listen to the voice of my body — the voice of sensation. Where in my body am I feeling tension? Where is the sensation of energy being blocked? Listen and move.
2) Being Seduced by the Music: Attention is placed on listening to the music. When first learning about this Stage, there is no movement involved; it is simply creating a feel for the music by listening, noticing and naming instruments. I love this Stage and love being seduced by the music. Music has always been in my life. If I’m wanting to get out of a particular “mood”, I put on some music. Listening to the details of the music is fascinating. After a time, voila’, mood transformed!
3) Feeling and Emotions: Attention is placed on acting out feelings and emotions to stimulate movement creativity. One is invited to “fake it” or “act as if” one were feeling the particular emotion. It’s a chance to exaggerate and be playful with facial expression and gestures. I love being an actress. If I’m angry, then by golly I’m going to exaggerate the anger through facial expression and gestures (you can guess I’m sure)…and in doing so, I begin to laugh. I don’t know how many times I’ve used this Stage of FreeDance to alter the intensity of an emotion. And it’s fun!
4) The Creative Source: Attention is placed on tapping into the sensations of YOUR emotions to stimulate movement creativity. Instead of “acting as if”, access your personal or real expression of the emotion. An interesting Stage, in that there’s no more “acting as if”. The emotion is real. Move your body. Let go.
5) Authentic Movement: Attention is placed on changing a particular move after every 2 bars of music (a bar is 8 counts: 1 and 2 and…). I love this Stage. When I’m cleaning house, I’ll put some music on and continue to do one movement (perhaps dusting a piece of furniture) for 2 bars of the music. Then I switch to something else…makes housecleaning alot more fun.
6) Witness: Attention is placed on observing tendencies without judgment. The witness (and internal voice) has no opinion and does not tell you what to do. As the witness provides information, you may choose to explore different/new moves. Another interesting Stage. How often are we without judgment? I find this Stage to be a miracle worker. What are my tendencies when facing a troubling situation/person? First, no opinion, no judgment. The first thing the mind wants to do is make up a story. The second thing is the emotional realm wants to attach what is happening to something in the past. (Those two go hand in hand by the way: the emotional realm brings up a feeling from the past and the mind grabs it and starts creating a story). The witness is there to provide information NOW and offers information for exploring the situation. Miracles happen.
7) Choreography: Attention is placed on discovering the “clicks” within Nia choreography. Pay close attention to details in the music and in your movement. You may discover a pattern of movement that “fits” the music perfectly. Synchronicity. It’s often happening, we just need to be mindful of it.
8) Nia Class: Attention is placed on applying the 3 Levels of Intensity. Can the “click” found in Step 7 be performed at Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3? The change between levels can be slight, moderate or acute; however, Stage 8 does not involve adding something new to the move to make it a different level of intensity. Synchronicity is constantly happening. Our sense of how to navigate with it depends on how deeply mindful we are to it. I become aware of a sensation (– I think of a particular person — Level 1); the intensity of the sensation increases (the person’s face or something about them is remembered or revealed — Level 2) and when I am fully in the moment, fully trusting that I’ll see what I need to see, know what I need to know and letting go to that sensation (Level 3)…that person either appears or calls or communicates in some manner.
I love incorporating Nia’s principles into my daily living. Nia is more than a cardio fitness practice. It is a way of consciously living a life of creative expression.
Do you FreeDance through life?
Now I Am
Day 20 of 52 Days: White Resonant Wizard
Now I Am…operative word there is “Now”. It’s not Now I Was or Now I’m Going to Be. NOW I Am…Receptive, Authentic, Healing, Sacred, Blessed, Timeless, Creative, Perceptive, Inspiring, Balanced, Flexible, Powerful. What words of magnitude would you use to fill in the blank after Now I Am?
As you no doubt are aware, I teach a lifestyle and cardio dance fitness practice known as Nia. Nia has evolved from No Impact Aerobics to Neuromuscular Integrative Action to Now I Am. Now I Am is a personal statement of awareness and clarity.
Nia is a cardiovascular fitness practice, but it is so very much more. If a great cardio workout is what one is looking for, look no further than a Nia class; however, Nia allows access to information from the Body, the Mind, the Emotions and the Spirit. The voice of the Body is Sensation. The voice of the Mind is Visualization and Imagination. The voice of the Emotions is the vibration of Mood. The voice of Spirit is the individual’s Unique Creative Expression.
Today, put on some music and dance, move with purpose, focus on and notice the information you receive from your Body, your Mind, your Emotions and your Spirit. Add the attitude of Joy. How do these voices effect your dance or your general movement throughout the day? What happens when you consciously add Joy?
Now I Am…
Music, Movement, Magic
Day 17 of 52 Days: Blue Self-Existing Monkey
HA. Should’ve known. I had mentioned to my friend, Mary Carol, yesterday that I thought I might do a Blue Monkey class (a class where the music is a surprise so the choreography is made up in the moment) for Wednesday’s Nia class. Later in the day though I changed my mind and put together something a bit less challenging. As magic would have it, Mary Carol arrived to the studio with such a delightful expectation for a Blue Monkey class that I just couldn’t disappoint her. It turned out to be Blue Monkey and more. I flipped through my iPod and stopped it on a playlist that I had created quite awhile back. Not only was the music a surprise, but I had totally forgotten that for this particular playlist I had ended each song at 3 minutes. The class would be dancing to a particular song, really getting into it and the all of a sudden it would stop and the next song start. What a hoot. I wonder if Mary Carol knew that today was a Blue Monkey day — a day of magic, playfulness and spontaneity. Last night’s Blue Monkey class energy created the way for today’s unfolding adventure!
One of Nia’s principles surrounds MMM (I like to make that audible when I say it, as if I were eating some yummy chocolate dessert…mmmmmmm). The MMM stands for: Music, Movement, Magic. And it is truly a pleasurable (mmmmmm) experience. The music starts, the movement begins…and magic is created. A Blue Monkey class is a heightened intensity around the MMM experience, but is pleasurable nonetheless.
Music is the energy, the vibration and the force you connect with when dancing. It is the first element a teacher brings to class, a tool to bring sound and silence into the class. For me, there is a need to personally connect with each piece of music. If it does not move me (not pun intended), then I cannot use it in my Nia classes.
I am a conscious artist, a creator…and I bring the intention to create magic in each Nia class. I’m open to the magic of what might happen while teaching…there are sensations, sounds, energy peaks. My responsibility is to be relaxed, alert and waiting (we call it being RAW) for the magic to happen. The magic itself invites awareness — awareness of how my body moves (not in comparison to how anyone else’s body is moving); the magic invites imagination and right/left brain activity; the magic deepens my creative expressive movement experience; the magic inspires me (and my students) through our appreciation for and relationship to the music.
Music, Movement and Magic is part of my daily living. I love music (both sound and silence), I love to move and dance, and magic has been a part of my life as far back as I can remember.
Use MMM today — experience the delightful tastes and textures of living a magical life. Find yourself saying, “mmmmmmm”.
For giving
Day 14 of 52 Days: Yellow Magnetic Star
There’s a place in your heart, and I know it is love. — Michael Jackson
I love wordplay. For example the word “forgiving” could be two words: “for giving”. I am for giving, as opposed to being against giving. Suprisingly, I have known people who are neither for giving nor forgiving. Perhaps the two are intertwined.
There is an elegance in being forgiving. The heart opens and is receptive. I’m pretty sure that everyone has witnessed both offering and receiving forgiveness. And we can look out in the world and see the results of the hardening of the heart when forgiveness is not present. The world changes in an instant when forgiveness is present.
Forgiveness is available 24/7 — forgiving one’s self as well as others. I am for giving and I am forgiving. It makes my world a much more beautiful place to live.
Today, create a “forgiveness” dance and share it with someone, even if it’s with yourself.
There’s a place in your heart and I know it is love. Heal the world.
Abracadabra
Day 13 of 52 Days: Blue Cosmic Hand
For there to be magic in the world, you must first believe in magic.
I grew up believing in magic. Disney’s cartoon movies Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Peter Pan all contained some form of magic: there was the Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Mickey Mouse) in Fantasia; Flora, Fauna and Merryweather (the 3 fairies in Sleeping Beauty); the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella; and Tinkerbell in Peter Pan. I dreamed of magical creatures when I was a little girl and dressed as as a fairy princess at Halloween.
Today I still believe in magic. The faeiries of the garden (called devas) sit on the leaves or petals of flowers. They are as real to me as the words on this page. Our gardens…the ones that my husband and I have created…are full of magic. Not from anything that either of us has bestowed upon them, but because of the divine design inherent in gardens. Our gardens are magical no matter what the season…the fullness of summer with all the colors of the flowers or the coating of sparkling white snow in the winter.
The word “abracadabra” is often used in cartoons or movies where magic is performed: the word ”ABRACADABRA” is spoken and something appears or disappears…
Did you know that the word abracadabra actually means “create as I speak”? The origin is arabic.
The world is created by our thoughts, our words and our actions. It’s magic…and not all of it the kind of magic depicted in Disney movies. There is a need for accountability and responsibility to create within the divine design. Humans often believe their own design to be more powerful than the divine design…and we have seen and continue to see the results of such arrogance.
Since this blog is entitled “Nia Journeys with Jill”, I often look to associate the subject of the day to my Nia experiences, however, my Nia experiences are so closely intertwined with my daily living that I sometimes forget to consciously do so for my readers. Magic is very much a part of my Nia education, and teaching experience. Music, Movement, Magic is one of the triads used in Nia. It is certainly a magical experience to welcome a new student into my studio, to watch him/her during class and to then connect after class — 99.9% of the time, the new student will be smiling and saying words like “I loved it”, “it was a euphoric experience” or just “wow, that was fun”. Magic? You bet.
So, today’s inner journey is about creating magic…abracadabra.
The Seeds of Transformation
Day 10 of 52 Days…
Accusation, Blame and Criticism. These are the ABC’s of the world. The seeds of hate, anger and fear.
One of my mom’s favorite things to say in a lilting sing-songy voice was “What goes around come around.” It’s so true…and the returning cycle appears lightning fast these days.
When something happens in the world that is less than what is expected (we all want peace and love, right?), the first thing that human beings normally do is look for someone or something to accuse, blame or criticize for it. What happened to being responsible for what is expressed into the world and taking accountability for what comes back? Think about it. There’s so much hate, bigotry, wars, lies, deceipt, abuse of the earth, of animals, of children…where did it all come from. God? The God I know is not a hateful, bigoted, war mongering, lying, deceptive, abusive God. However, I’m certainly aware of lots of humans around who exhibit those kinds of behaviors. Why is that? It’s simple: it seems easier to cast accusation, blame and criticism into the world rather than taking responsibility for one’s own expression. We have forgotten our nobility, our divinity, our purpose.
So today, be receptive to the present moment. Consciously choose to remain centered. Consciously choose to replace any seeds of Accusation, Blame and Criticism that might show up with the seeds of Acceptance, Balance and Compassion. Use movement, dance, stretching, singing, painting, some kind of creative expression to transform feelings of anger, fear, sadness into conscious presence. Feeling an emotion is not an issue…following out that emotion without conscious presence can create chaos in your world.
If you don’t make the conscious choice to plant transformative seeds of peace and love, who will? I will . I do and I will make a difference in this world. Care to join me for a dance in the garden of life?
Perhaps you have your own ABCs of spirit which you wish to express into your world…
There is a reason that Nia (www.nianow.com) is called transformative movement. Nia is not just a cardiovascular dance exercise. Nia creates space for transformation at the physical, mental, emotional and spirit levels. If you’re looking for a way to create transformation in your world, attending a Nia class is a step (no pun intended) in the right direction!
