Doing this healing work and using the Nia Technique as my vehicle continues to teach me those universal and timeless life lessons. Many of the new age and even old age traditions (Ekhart Tolle's Power of Now to the Buddha's transcendence) get at the idea of recognizing the ego and how it ultimately can cause a great deal of suffering, but also a great deal of pleasure. This is why it is so easy to stay hooked with the Ego on an endless journey of ups and downs. In Buddhism, the monotheistic religions, and the new age philosophies of today, there are teachings that encourage us to simply observe our thoughts, realities, actions, and reactions. In so doing, we permit ourselves to just Be in the moment, in the now. Letting go of these attachments to "our" things and ideas, we can simply Be in the Body, seeing and sensing the world the way that children do - free movements, noticing all of the beauty that surrounds us in this moment in time.
The lesson that I experienced this past week through the NIA practice is to not let myself become so easily swayed by my emotions and ego. For example, when I teach a class and everything goes really well and my students are giving me lots and lots of complements and support, this feeds me and makes me feel really good. Then for example, if I have a class that seems awkward and uncomfortable, this can cause me to feel bad. Yes, these are natural human responses to praise and blame (not exactly blame, but I'm trying to tie this into the Buddhist idea of the 8 Worldly Dharmas).
Why is this such a great lesson? Well, because many of us know how easy it is to fall back into living in our heads, and not being in the present moment and experiencing life as it is in this present moment. Even now, as you are reading this post, I invite you to notice how aware you are right now of the sensations in your physical body. How do your fingers feel against the keyboard/mouse? Are you sitting in a chair? Is it comfortable? What do your toes feel like against the floor or in your shoes? Are you holding any tension anywhere in your body? Just be aware.
The Nia Technique uses the Martial Arts, Dance Arts, and Healing Arts in order to Energize, Heal, Align, and Balance the Body. To stay focused with today's blog related to awareness and being in our body. The Healing Arts part of NIA includes Yoga, Feldenkrais, and the Alexander Technique. I think that the Feldenkrais method ties in to what I'm talking about with sensing our bodies. Check out wikipedia's infomormation on the Feldenkrais Method.
I have learned that by being present, and not judging thy precious self, that I can flow more easily from one experience to the next. For me personally, this takes a bit of work to not fall into suffering that comes not feeling good enough, attractive enough, flexible enough....etc. When I'm in the moment, dancing to the music, that is holistic healing for me! Yes.....The mind chatter says Au Revoir, and I find the peace that is talked about in Buddhism and in Tolle's Power of Now.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing me back to the here and now. It's wonderful having you as a friend and this is one of the many reasons - you create a safe space for the inquiry without judgment.
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