My wonderful friend, fellow Nia teacher and frequent partner-in-crime, Kim and I, were discussing workshop possibilities for the upcoming months and a thought occurred to me:
every class is a mini workshop
That is my overachieving style of expressing all of the learning opportunities in each and every Nia class.
Nia is so rich. Occasionally, I'll bring a focus to class and the spirit of Nia reveals what the focus is actually going to be! This is my workshop!
That was the gift of this morning's class. I decided that as a group we would focus on the Upper Extremities of the Body: Personal Expression using Hands and Arms. I went in with all sorts of bracelets and rings to share with The Sunday Tribe.
We spent the first 20 minutes going through the 5 Developmental Stages. Every time I opened and waited for a pearl to communicate the focus I had chosen with my class, I received something different. After a request or two, I realized that Nia was suggesting I go in another direction and I had a choice: I could persist with my original focus and drag myself and my students through a class that would be dry; an experience in which I would sweat over every cue, struggle with over thinking and move with no pleasure and no Joy. This idea just did not seem incredibly appealing, so I surrendered and let Nia lead the dance.
Nia is so rich. Occasionally, I'll bring a focus to class and the spirit of Nia reveals what the focus is actually going to be! This is my workshop!
That was the gift of this morning's class. I decided that as a group we would focus on the Upper Extremities of the Body: Personal Expression using Hands and Arms. I went in with all sorts of bracelets and rings to share with The Sunday Tribe.
We spent the first 20 minutes going through the 5 Developmental Stages. Every time I opened and waited for a pearl to communicate the focus I had chosen with my class, I received something different. After a request or two, I realized that Nia was suggesting I go in another direction and I had a choice: I could persist with my original focus and drag myself and my students through a class that would be dry; an experience in which I would sweat over every cue, struggle with over thinking and move with no pleasure and no Joy. This idea just did not seem incredibly appealing, so I surrendered and let Nia lead the dance.
Not very many people know this about me: since I am accustomed to leading movement and not accustomed to having a dance partner, I tend to lead. Some times, the universe asks me to follow. This is a recent discovery and I'm learning to hear that mandate. I often miss it the first time, though. What a lovely magnet. A hiccup in my life. One of many.
I am learning to surrender; to release that which is not mine to hold onto. I am often challenged to differentiate the two.
After spending the better part of my life stepping in, being consciously proactive in response to childhood experience, I have discovered that I have achieved overcompensation and now I am out of balance.
I am often so busy moving forward in certain areas that I tend to miss the message that:
Not the same as doing "nothing". Relaxed, alert and waiting is something.
Stillness. Waiting. Quiet. Empty. Clear. Not Doing. Simply Be-ing.
Getting out of my own way. Resting my ego. On my Path.
I am learning to surrender; to release that which is not mine to hold onto. I am often challenged to differentiate the two.
After spending the better part of my life stepping in, being consciously proactive in response to childhood experience, I have discovered that I have achieved overcompensation and now I am out of balance.
I am often so busy moving forward in certain areas that I tend to miss the message that:
- some things are not mine to move forward or
- I am not ready to move them forward or
- I have not met the person with whom I am to move them forward.
Not the same as doing "nothing". Relaxed, alert and waiting is something.
Stillness. Waiting. Quiet. Empty. Clear. Not Doing. Simply Be-ing.
Getting out of my own way. Resting my ego. On my Path.
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