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Today we chose the focus from the basket of 2009 focus cards for almost the last time this year.<\/p>\n
The focus of our Nia practice today was “moving forward.”<\/p>\n
As we move forward toward 2010, we find ourselves in the seven day period between what we call Christmas and what we call the New Year. \u00a0This is a liminal\u00a0time, a threshold between one time and the next. \u00a0Some say the veils between\u00a0the worlds are thin now, and anything can happen. \u00a0These are also the seven days of Kwanzaa<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today’s practice was the routine “Sanctuary,” choreographed by Nia co-founder Debbie Rosas to the beautiful music of Adiemus, “Songs of Sanctuary.”<\/p>\n As we move forward into the new year, as we move forward into the moment, we can take our own sanctuary with us. \u00a0How do we do this?<\/p>\n Every Nia class begins with the practice of “Stepping In.” \u00a0The purpose of stepping in is to leave behind distractions. \u00a0It’s a technique that Debbie and Carlos borrowed from martial arts. \u00a0When the martial artist steps out onto the floor to fight, she leaves behind all distractions.<\/p>\n In Nia when we step in, we are stepping in to the present. \u00a0We step in with all four realms — body, mind, emotions and spirit. \u00a0We step into sensory awareness of the body. \u00a0We step into an open mind. \u00a0We step into emotional presence. \u00a0And we step into spiritual readiness — that is, we step into our connection with everything.<\/p>\n Presence is our sanctuary. \u00a0When I’m present I take sanctuary in myself, and I take my sanctuary with me as I cross the threshold into now, as I move forward and step into the moment.<\/p>\n In sanctuary, I can move straight forward or I can move forward in apparent retrograde motion. \u00a0I can move forward mentally, physically, emotionally and energetically. \u00a0I can move forward in the wild and natural spiral motion of all migrating animals, of plants, galaxies, waters and winds.<\/p>\n It’s a paradox that to be present, I step in. \u00a0It’s a paradox that to move forward, I need to be present. \u00a0As story teller\u00a0Gioia Timpanelli <\/a>says, when we find ourselves in the place of paradox, we are in the presence of truth.<\/p>\n When I’m not present, I’m not really moving forward at all. \u00a0I’m actually fleeing the moment, trying to jump over it and into the future. \u00a0This creates the sensation of going fast — we see it all around us in our culture — but it’s only the illusion of moving forward. \u00a0It’s what astrologer Caroline Casey<\/a> would call the “toxic mimic” of moving forward.<\/p>\n I find myself is this situation often. \u00a0This is why Nia is my practice.<\/p>\n Nia invites us to connect with sensation, and sensation is someting we can only experience in the present moment.<\/p>\n By stepping into the presence sensation again and again, I create for myself a sanctuary, an energetic state of being that is both a shelter to rest in and a vessel in which I am carried and moved forward each moment into the present.<\/p>\n Nia invites us to move forward again and again into the sanctuary of\u00a0the moment, to move forward\u00a0again and again\u00a0into the sanctuary of the joy of movement, and to move forward\u00a0again and again\u00a0into the sanctuary of the body’s way.<\/p>\n Come, return again to the sanctuary of your holy, whole self — here, now — and from this very moment, this very body, move forward and step into the precious life awaiting you.<\/p>\n * \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 *<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4005\/4217462406_e9d658bdd1_m.jpg\" "\\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4005\/4217462406_e9d658bdd1_m.jpg\\"")
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