Cross-Training Body Mind Emotions Spirit | Rachael R. Resch

“Judge not thy precious self.” These words have been my guide over the last two weeks.   They were chosen at random from the focus basket for the last Nia class I taught before my recent trip to New Mexico with my husband to study with our teacher, Martín Prechtel, at his school, Bolad’s Kitchen. These words became […]

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Eternity He  who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy. But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity’s sun rise. — William Blake (1757-1827) 

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Red Brocade The Arabs used to say, When a stranger appears at your door, feed him for three days before asking who he is, where he’s come from, where he’s headed. That way, he’ll have strength enough to answer. Or, by then you’ll be such good friends you don’t care. Let’s go back to that. […]

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The class focus on Saturday, chosen at random from the basket of focii, was “Daily Connection With the Earth.” What is the sensation in your body when you hear and feel these words? My teacher, Robert Bly, taught me how to spontaneously tweak the language in a poem I am reading according to the promise […]

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How do I adapt movements in Nia class to fit my body?  What if I have an injury or a condition that I’m healing? White Belt Principle #7, The Three Planes and Three Intensity Levels, offers us an important way to personalize our movement choices.  The intensity levels give us a map of how we […]

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Going about the practice  of dancing through life,  living meditation and life  as art, the body invites us  into its deep reservoir of sensation, perception and  proprioception in all its  75 trillion cells.   The body itself is awareness. Dancing through life invites us to experience all of life to be as pleasurable as when […]

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In Nia we call the feet, “the hands that touch the Earth,” and the hands, “the feet that touch the space.”  Front paws, back paws, four paws radiating from the body center. Check out these beautiful photos of feet and hands from the Olympics in Beijing: Feet Hands Hands are feet, feet are hands Look […]

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Here are some benefits the practice of Walking brings to the body, mind, emotions and spirit: Body: The heal lead. Stability combined with mobility. Integrating the vertical body with motion in space in the horizontal plane. Mind: 360 degree awareness. Moving forward in life. Integrating the entire neurological being.  Emotions: Being in relationship with community. […]

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Stage 5: Walking.  Human-like. Walking.  Walking is a balancing act.  Being human is a balancing act.  Your eyes are at the horizon.  See one thing, see everything. You now have full freedom of motion, and therefore the opportunity to exercise conscious choice.  The vertical energy running through your body to the center of the earth and […]

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Here are some of the benefits that the practice of standing brings. (For more about how to do the practice of standing, please see my post, The Five Stages of Self-Healing:  Standing.) Remember, what we call “Standing” in The Five Stages of Self-Healing, is, in its classic form, actually squatting, monkey-like.  Along the continuum of […]

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