In Nia we have a lot of acronyms. Seems as if all groups do that. I know in the mortgage business there were many. I know in the world of computers there are a lot. That is just the way it is. In Nia some of ours are FAMSS, OLG, TBW, SEB, and BMES to name just a few. BMES stands for Body, Mind, Emotions, Spirit. We can call these voices or realms. I have recently posted about Spirit. It is not the religious type of spirit, but the school-type or the team-type. It is the part of you that — wheeee! — you just let out! The others are pretty easy to describe, but it is very interesting to allow them into all aspects of Nia. They are each separate and unto their own, yet they are all connected.
The body is the physical. How we move, what we sense. If we are open and listening to the body we can learn many things. I know that sometimes I hear but I don’t listen. I might “hear” my body tell me it is tired, but I don’t listen and do something about it because I am busy. It can “tell” me it is tired by how many mistakes I make while typing, or that I keep nodding off while doing something. But sometimes I don’t listen because I want to finish what I am doing. In dance we can hear our body, we can choose to listen and act upon what we hear or we can continue on. We could be moving a certain way and then feel pain (“hear”), and we can listen by giving that pain attention and tweaking our movement to remove the pain from our dance. Also we can just let the body dance and in doing so without thinking it often moves in ways that it needs without our interruption or interpretation.
The mind is a powerful voice. It can dictate our entire dance and life if we let it. In Nia we use our mind to provide imagery that allows us to move our bodies in a particular way, but it is important to turn the critical part of our minds off. We use our minds to progress us, not hold us back. Letting thoughts flow through the brain and keeping what is useful in the dance. Criticizing ourselves and others during Nia is not helpful or progressive. We do not avoid moving a certain way because it looks “bad” or “not pretty”. We do not avoid moving because people will think it is silly. We move in safe and harmonious ways to bring FAMSS to our bodies, to relax, to rejuvenate, to allow our inner child out to play, but we don’t criticize. We also practice turning off internal dialog or chatter. We let our bodies dance us and not think about our to-do list. We do use our minds when we dance, but we do not allow it to control our dance.
With our emotions we have an almost endless array of energy. We can play with the emotions in our dance and they can provide movement and force. While we dance we do not have to actually FEEL any of the emotions we call upon we just can ACT as if. How would you walk around if you were angry? Might you stomp? How would you walk if you were happy? Might you skip? How would you walk if you were distracted? Might you move slow or in an awkward pattern? Emotions are a great part of Nia because they are feelings and feelings can be felt and/or experienced without taking over. We can allow an emotion to happen or act as if, but in neither case does it have to control our dance.
As with many things in Nia this aspect or look at BMES is just one way to look at it. Just one way we can connect to BMES. Another way is with Nia Blue Belt Principle #3 where we use these realms to assist in teaching. Nia is deep like that. Many of the ideas, principles, “things”, can be separate and unto their own, yet they are all connected. ;-)
