Computers, Artists, Magicians

All part of the whole–balance occurs through the awareness and teamwork of the entire nervous system. Anatomical nested systems of the mind alive and in constant action in the body. As information of the world is shared in the body, cranial nerves zing and buzz to inform the body to transmit the sensations received, in the body’s own unique way, back out into the world. We are computers, artists and magicians. Each nerve carries information, expression, sourced by life digested and filtered through our individual experiences and brought back out into the world with our unique stamp. A circuit–a system in a system–a system of communication, sensation, awareness, and of the intuitive spirit and nature of the body and the body’s way.
Through my brain, information from the world travels into my body. Into my spinal column—it places and replaces and transmits back out into the world in my own individual way. I learn Nia movements through practicing moving in specific ways. I embody movement through this practice to share it as it was originally sourced at first from outside, from another anatomical structure of nerves, timing, shapes, sensation and experience of life. Then received by my mind/body inside –repeated and eventually carving neural pathways in my being as to become part of who I am–my expression and integral in my anatomy. Awareness, as my cerebellum assists to coordinate signals, space and timing. Through my auditory cortex and the way I have received teaching explanation my mental understanding process and visuals are in place. Through my limbic system, pleasure, and feeling centers are awake and ready to share-learn, play and seek more pleasure–and my spirit has the unique sense of existence in this body– my body and spirit dance together from an intuitive place as Nia movement has been grooved into my neural circuits–become part of my body—and shared in my teaching practice.
My students receive information in their body’s way through their neural pathways and their anatomical structure. Seen, sensed, and felt in their bodies as they express my transmission, my body’s way, in their way, back out in to the world, in their body’s way.
I feel that through the time, distance, arrangement and rearrangement of my body-chewing and spewing of thoughts, shapes colors, images and collective mind, within the ups down and all the between’s of emotional being and feeling and by the space allowed to my spirit—I have stretched and grown—grooved and re-grooved my neural pathways. I have traveled wide, shallow deep, high, inside and outside to a level which now creates a larger container of freedom for my students. Through stretching my own nervous system’s abilities–I have a foundation for my students of the Nia White Belt Intensive to dive into their truest expression. Not to say the there will not be much much more than my nervous system can even fathom at this time, I do feel that my anatomy and understanding of the process by which the education of Nia may be transmitted by me to another has reached a place where it is not limited to one type of student’s learning ability. If they receive through images and vision I have tools to reach them, if they learn through rhythm and sound I have tools to reach them, if they learn through structure or freedom there are tools to reach them…and always more tools to access the BodyMindEmotionsSpirit of an individual through their anatomy.
Our nervous systems share and reveal themselves through movement. Anatomy is my teacher, and assistant in the exploration and “cracking the code” of sharing the joy and the gifts of Nia with a wide world of human beings.

Why Dance?

I dance to open-I dance to connect-I dance to heal and unwind the held patterns and stagnation-I dance to celebrate the unlimited potential of my body-to mend-to strengthen, condition, lubricate, form and reform, and allow my body to discover and celebrate it’s original state-it’s birthright… pleasure.
“I feel good!”
-James Brown

Passion- from February 27, 2010 post

What are you passionate about?
What drives you in this world?
Love?
Well as much as I would like to think so I must say, I am pretty sure it is primarily fear at this time in our evolution. Our societal choices, our community choices and even many of our personal choices made out of fear. Not love. What to eat, what not to say, how to vote, how to speak in public.
There are so many choices made in a day and how many are made from love?

With that I would like to offer my favorite essence. Passion. The driving force that allows the two great forces of the world to work together as one. Love and fear come together to create a burning inferno of expression -motivation, “reason to live”, activation where there was once no sensation at all. If love is the heaven and fear is the hell-passion is the awesome journey of experience that makes it an outrageous and memorable journey. Passion is the  good stuff.

Find your passion and come alive! It is a sensation-it is felt in the cells like a suit of “Pop Rocks” it buzzes and melts in to a life that is worth living.

Sensational Pairing

How to discover balance in a body.

How to maintain it is more like it … like herding cats, balance is ever changing … with so many moving parts …  and that’s just the body. Layer in the mind, emotions and spirit and wow! Thats a Joy ride!
The physical body is such an awesome structural arrangement of mountains, rivers, valleys, trees, animals, molecules, sounds, sights and crazy wild sensations. So many options to play with-and so many of these just play on their own– all day and all night, and they are, in most cases, having a really cool time healing the body and reminding it back to it’s home — pleasure.

We are able, as humans, with our linear/logical mind, to go in and work with the body from a truly scientific point of view … if this, then this … add this drug and this will happen… remove this and change this… and we change and change the body. We have another option as well — the sensorial pathway where we listen to the body and the body speaks — “if this now try this and see how I move. “ “When you do this I create this sensation-when you do this it changes.” “Work with me and let’s investigate and change will happen.”
As I have been in process of the creation of the routine “CRUSH,” I have been in a place of sensing for conditioning through the balance of sensations. Sense to learn from my body what is asked for as a next choice — to counter balance a sensation. If my body chooses a movement creating strength and energy moving in, I then sense this in my body and it lets me know-”ok, now I am asking you to create some thing to balance this newly added sensation in me. I ask that you now offer me the sensation of flexibility and energy moving out. My muscles will be in pleasure through these choices.” From this communication a pairing of sensations in the anatomical structure is created. The underlying symbology of this ultimately comes back to balance. What goes up must come down. Yin Yang. Spiral in and spiral out.

Bringing in this universal balance within becomes a reflection to the universe outside of my body –I begin to mimic through my intimate connection with this symbology … all that is. As I find balance and am able to recognize my imbalances, choose to recognize the time to change — make a change in myself — I create the space for the awareness and ability to recognize imbalance outside of my body. I may then become more connected to the world in truth — in authenticity and therefore present to truly provide the world outside of “me” with assistance toward greater balance. A sensation is requested and I listen — in my body and as part of the planet. I am the other half of the sensational pairing.

Listen dance share. Recognize that the practice of the anatomical balancing act of the body is pure representation of the “all that is” in nature and our society as a whole.
Listen to body sensations-what is inspired to be created? Dance it-share the awareness of it and share its opposite. What is learned. What has been inspired in another? … in others?… as the balancing of the cycle of this sensational pairing is complete.

Nia Trainer Now!

This week I launched the registration button for my first Nia White Belt Training in Hawaii on October 7th, 2011. A two weekend training intensive to access the great potential of body awareness and mastery.

Becoming a Trainer has been a long and awesome journey for me. More blogs on my journey will be posted here. meganmacarthur@wordpress.com

My love for Nia has grown and grown over the past 18 years as a teacher, and my awareness of my body has deepened daily. I am so grateful for my ability and opportunity to be dancing through this life and to share this with others.

I hope you are able to check in on Life In Motion Blogs here.
http://nianow.com/megan-macarthur

Sensing the Aroma of Now

Megan MacArthur, Nia Black Belt, Next Generation Trainer

“Because of molecules we are connected to the outside world from our bodies. Like when you smell things — because when you smell a smell it’s not really a smell —  it’s a part of the object that has come off of it — molecules. So when you smell something bad, it’s like in a way you’re eating it. This is why you should not really smell things.  In the same way that you don’t eat everything in the world around you — because as a smell, it gets inside of you. ” -Mikey Carver played by Elijah Wood in The Ice Storm (1997)

This line landed hard and clear in me when I heard it14 years ago. Since then I have had a deeply intimate relationship with smell that has taken me on a wild ride.
The action of smelling and inviting the outside world into the body is one of the most intimate experiences of moment to moment living. Breathing in Now. Like taste, the external world suddenly has an opportunity to enter the body.  Molecules are granted unlimited access to go inside and become part of the inner world in the darkness, the textures and fluids during each and every moment of our life’s breath.  Breathing is our most intimate connection with the world.  With the next layer of awareness of our breathing we drop in deeper-smelling-the place where we become more alert and aware of aroma, fragrance and begin to connect to not only what is here in this moment-also accessing our past experiences, primal instincts and perhaps even new inspirational body sensations.

Scent has a direct route to the brain. The fastest of all.
The olfactory bulb-scent centers-touch the deepest part  of the limbic brain, an area associated with memories, feelings and pleasure centers. The limbic brain is often referred to as the “emotional brain.” Aroma sends direct signals to this “emotional brain” and are able to almost immediately call upon memories, and other deep responses in the body.

When a scent is first smelled it is linked to that person, place, experience and stored in the body. The next time this scent is experienced it calls out a response via recall through scent.  A nose can choose the “perfect” mate out of a crowd, or decide on a good oyster vs a bad one. Smell is the first barrier to the initial meeting. Pass the scent test. Do you smell right in my world-better yet does your scent awaken in me the scent of desire to connect and to combine scents?

Through my relationship with the sensation of smell I have…

hurt others, emotionally as I have had visceral negative response to their scent and blurted out my feelings from a reactionary place — stirred so severely through scent.
over come physical fears -aromatherapy has offered scents to my nose that have shifted my fear response to ease
recalled personal traumas-early childhood moments represented by specific scents now smelled in life to restore pictures and sensations of times past.
fallen in love -the scent of my partner stirs sensuality,  comfort,  and ease of being — relationship of our blended scent supporting pleasure
been humbled into deep appreciate of the subtleties and severity of nature and my surroundings -brush fires, volcanic sulfur banks, flowers and fruits, sea breeze, mulch, grasses and so much more …

For me stopping to breathe in and truly sense the aroma of now creates a calm wave of cool light up the front of my face over the crown of my head-trickles and coats my neck with warm support-crawls down my back with big paws and swirls smooth liquid light through belly. My feet tingle  and my my base pulses through and along porous tissue. My whole body in ease and my mind is available and expansive. My emotional realms settles into the present moment-no past or future. Now-here-available.
I am here now-smelling this moment and allowing it to be in me, through me and part of me.

for fun try on all-about-noses.com

My Trainings and classes visit http://nianow.com/megan-macarthur

 

 

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