Living Laboratory by Patti Rieser
Daffodils are poking up, a reminder that spring is on her way, bringing warmth, sunlight, blooming flowers, trees - and pollens!
Spring holds many opportunities for sensory awareness - the squish of mud, the scent of spring flowers, the sounds of returning birds, the touch of the wind, the warmth of the sun on exposed skin, the smell and gritty texture of dirt on my hands. Every moment of awareness opens the possibility of healing. While you're reading this email, where are your hands? Are they warmer or colder than the rest of your body? Do you sense vibration, pressure, discomfort anywhere in your hands? Your neck, your spine, your breath? No judgment, just noticing.
In my (now ancient) White Belt manual, Debbie Rosas, co-creator of Nia, writes, " Grounding in the body through awareness keeps us in the present moment and discourages us from attaching to pre-fabricated stories about who we are... Whenever you feel pain, adjust what you are doing... In Nia, we define self-healing as the little repair work you do along the way in your day... If you can slow down and stay connected to yourself long enough to sense, recognize, and acknowledge what is going on, you can guide yourself into more comfortable and conscious choices." Playing with "I feel better" rather than "I feel great/cured/healed," making moment to moment choices based on sensed experience.
As I type this, I notice that my legs are crossed, I sense pressure in my knee, I uncross my legs. My shoulders are hunched, I'm not aligned as I sit, my neck feels tight. I inhale, let my shoulders hang, and raise my rib points. I loosen my jaw and smile. I note that I’m breathing more deeply without even trying and my shoulders, neck, and jaw are more relaxed. I do this over and over again. Awareness, healing - moment to moment - in Nia class, in our lives. It’s all practice, the living laboratory of being in a body on this earth. Shoulders relaxed jaw loose feet on earth deep breath step in - ahhhh! Let’s dance!
“Through the weeks of deep snow
We walked above the ground
on fallen sky, as though we did
not come of root and leaf, as though
we had only air and weather
for our difficult home.
But now
as March warms, and the rivulets
run like birdsong on the slopes,
and the branches of light sing in the hills,
slowly we return to the earth.”