Are you holding your breath????? Me too!
I have been a mover all of my life so I know how to get from point A to point B. My body knows what to do when I say "weight shift" or "travel" and "crawl", yep, my body can do those things. But when I began inviting the other voices or influences; my mind, my emotions and my spirit to to tell me to move, the inspiration was a little more like "shift your weight along a smile line", "travel like a bobcat (versus a Puma) across the floor", "crawl with a serpentine spine". Mmmm, now this was something else altogether! I am not only engaging my body to become fit, well and healthy. Now, I am training myself as a whole being, addressing mind, emotions and spirit as well as my body.
I was "physically fit" before I discovered Nia. I was an aerobics-now-group-exercise instructor and personal trainer after all. At that point being in and out of physical therapy for every joint in my body (except my wrists) was the price to pay for being as fit as I was. Wow, and I looked great too! I walked around feeling like I had just been in a car accident, but damn I looked good! And my students wanted to look like me too - they told me. At first I was very flattered, then it really began to bother me. I made the choices to work like a recruit from Muscle and Fitness mag - I consumed very little fat, I rarely enjoyed eating, a drank a little water and I worked out like a woman possessed - all the time. I brought my workout ethic into my classes - what's a little pain for those gorgeous legs and the six-pack - ok, it was alot of pain but who's counting?! Something was nagging at me. I was hurting all the time. My students were hurting and they were accepting it. There must be something else.
HA! Wow, do I remember those days. I used to "body build" -- this was back in the very early 80's when Arnold (yes THE Arnold) was in to teaching women how to body build. I loved it, made me lean and sleek and muscular. I felt powerful. But, as you indicate in your post, I ate very little and was more consumed by how I looked than in the spirit behind my movement-related activities. It wasn't until I found Nia (some 20 years later, and after having changed from loving muscles to loving more food) that I was able to blend my spiritual education with my passion for moving and dancing.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog. I can so relate.
Jill