One way to take care of the environment is to hang out my clothes on the line and use free sunshine and and air to get them dry.
Yesterday, I hiked up a butte, swam in a lake and drove 2 hours home. No, I’m not training for a marathon, I’m training for LIFE.
A recent article got me thinking about sustainability. Dylan Darling, of the Eugene, Register Guard, interviewed JJ Hendrix of the Saturday Market.
Hendrix said, “for sustainability, you would be looking at where something’s coming from and what it took to to make that, what it is you are using.”
I care about sustainability too.
The concept also applies to living in a way that sustains the body, what the sources of renewal are, and whether you are using it up. I don’t have to be wearing my body out to exercise, I want to feel energized and able, like after a pleasant walk.
So where do I get that energy, what builds it for me?
What activities or attitudes help me sustain it?
JJ was offering advice for a a business or agency. Your body is the business of your life. How can you conduct that business in a way that uses the resources of your life, your energy, time, attention, breath, words,…..in a way that you can continue for a long time?
For contrast, consider spending days you don’t enjoy or that don’t fulfill a goal or mission that’s inmportant to you. How does it feel when your exercise breaks your body down and wears it out?
A side note here, an element of strength training is to tear muscle slightly so that when it repairs, it’s stronger than before. Similarly, emotional challenge often makes me stronger after the experience. I know I can handle the next upheaval in a better way. So to maintain my strngth, I need some challenge, just not so much that I don’t recover. I want to keep going. I want resilience.
The concept of sustainability applies to more than external environment.
If you hope to “be the change you want to see in the world”,
Begin with establishing a habit of thinking about what works for the long haul. One way to build that habit is to attend to your own body with care for the long term. How do you develop that? I can help.
I teach Nia Technique to all ages and levels of ability (or non ability) with the intention to provide students with the tools to practice body sustainability.
One tool is awareness of sensation (it’s a mindfulness practice in motion),
Another tool is to use a variety of styles of moving (Nia is based on a combination of martial arts, dance arts, and healing arts). My body loves the variety! And it can be done at any level of intensity, by the way.
Come to a Nia class and you get regular practice to build up skill over time.
Nia Intensive Training provides even more coaching. You are guided through experiential sessions, studying “The Art of Sensation” over a whole week. Could be a week straight through, or spread out over several weeks.
I’d really enjoy being your guide.
I don’t have all the answers. The curriculum has lots of
excellent questions
When you Sign up for the Nia “White Belt” Training,
you shift your perspective toward sustainability.
