So this is one of the principles that has changed a bit. The true core of it hasn’t, but I feel that Nia is trying to make it more accessible to everyone instead of just people that want to teach Nia. This shift was introduced not too long after I took the Nia White Belt training. So instead of focusing on the business and marketing required as a Nia teacher, the Nia White Belt Principle #11 focuses on your “life’s purpose”. So this week we were introduced to Nia White Belt P11 – Creating a Sensory Life. This is a great principle for when someone is looking for their life’s purpose or when someone wants to hone their purpose or goals.
The triad consists of Body, Nia, and Life with corresponding Purpose, Potential, and Possibility. Then we have Purpose again as one of the wings along with Philosophy expanding out from the middle which is Sacred Athlete. That term just does not resonate with me in any way. In fact if you watch me when someone says it or I read it you may detect a scrunch in my face. I cannot reconcile any definition of sacred to this principle and certainly not when it is combined with athlete. But that is ok. I do not have to agree with everything Nia teaches, nor all of the language they choose to use. I get the gist of it and that is what is important.
This principal has other language that makes me (somewhat) cringe so I will just share what I understand the core of this principal to be . . . basically search your soul for your purpose and then live daily to move yourself toward that purpose. When you are living your purpose you will be happy. In the training today we did some exercises to help guide us towards determining our purpose/goal. In addition to what we did in class Debbie shared some other tools and exercise to help.
She shared that she has a separate philosophy that she applies to each area of her life. Her philosophy for her marriage is not the same as for raising her kids . . . that kind of thing. She also reminded us that our purpose can change. She encouraged everyone to keep searching and checking in (with ourselves) to always make sure we are moving toward our purpose . . . even if we examine what we are doing and realize that if we keep doing it we will not reach our original goal . . . so that is when we may need to adjust what we are doing or it could even mean we need to re-write our purpose. It can somewhat be related to how we dance. We want to move to have pleasurable sensations in our body (for example walking without pain) so we take inventory of our body and our body’s movements and then move in ways that will enable us to reach our goal of pain free (as per my example) walking. We may at times need to tweak how we are moving in order to reach our goal.
So, to me, this principle is what makes Nia “a holistic fitness practice addressing each aspect of your life – body, mind and soul.”
Do you know what your life’s purpose is? Do you take steps daily towards it?
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