August 2006

From the Founders

Living in Natural Time

Nia got its approach to Natural Time from the Mayans who believed that to be connected to the sacred cycles in the Universe, cycles that move in lengths of 13 and 20, is healing and healing is a big part of the movement medicine we share in Nia. Natural Time uses the number 13, which represents the number of joints in the body, and 20 which represents your ten fingers and ten toes. When you move your joints and digits based on your own internal rhythm you are moving in Natural Time.

In mechanical time we tend to fixate on accomplishment. We’ve got to do, do, do. We have to do things fast, and constantly think about what we’re going to do next. We get caught in a whirlwind of “accomplishment.” In Natural Time, you develop a deeper sense of trust and faith in your ability to create and accomplish without the stress of doing. You become connected to your own rhythms of creation.

One of the most powerful gifts of Natural Time is how it supports individuation and autonomy. A non-mechanical approach, Natural Time makes room and space for people to move at a pace, height, speed, and depth that feels right for them. The opposite is unnatural time, which is based on the mechanical 60-minute clock and the 12-month Gregorian Calendar. Unnatural time–clock time and stopwatch time–is governed by an exact duplicatable start and finish, such as the beginning of an hour with a specific end that continuously repeats itself with no variation. We refer to this kind of time as 12/60, or 12 months, 60 seconds, 60 minutes. Unnatural, mechanical time separates people from the primordial impulses of their body, thereby disconnecting them from their body and from life.

Traditional exercise generally uses mechanical time, which is observed as everyone striving to move in the same way, in the same time. When your body’s system is aligned to mechanical time, movement is guided, directed, and measured by the mind, by time, and by beats per minute. This places a limiting imposition on the aliveness and spontaneity of the body. When you become tied to a specific regimen, you no longer function naturally, and this is a detriment to your overall health and vibrancy!

Living and creating in Natural Time allows you to experience life as a meditation. It has the power to change your entire nervous system so that what you do is elegant, powerful, healing, and sustaining to the body. The law of absolute connectedness becomes apparent when you honor nature and Natural Time. Being in Natural Time means staying sensitive to the waves of life, and moving with the forces that come your way by staying connected to absolutely everything. Breathe.

In Love and Light,

Carlos Rosas and Debbie Rosas
Founders of the Nia Technique

Top

• Login (Password Required)