Minding the Mind, With Debbie Rosas.

There is a place inside each of us—a still point, a pulsing flame—where movement begins not with muscle, but with meaning. This place is the Hara, the energetic center of our being that aligns us with the energy fields outside of us. When it comes to personalizing movement, this is where we start: not with performance, but with presence. Not with habit, but with intention.

Intention is how we guide our mind. It’s how we direct attention, not just toward goals, but into the body itself, where wisdom lives. In the same way the heart beats and the lungs breathe, our body is constantly offering cues for vitality, pleasure, and healing. To hear them, we must learn to listen. We must quiet our mind enough to sense the signals of the body.

For years, I believed that movement was something we just did. Now I know it’s something we listen to. Martial Arts taught me the power of intention and helped me see how personalizing movement is not only about customizing a workout, but also about responding to our body’s call for physical and energetic balance. We can listen and choose with meaning and purpose

Whether our body needs gentle stabilization or fierce expression, the path to achieving results is the same. We can work with our mental energy, not against it. Minding our thoughts with the same care we bring to our body. This, by using cognitive discipline. The mindful, elegant, embodied kind that teaches us to say “no” to distraction and “yes” to what directs our energy.

Our intention is the beginning of turning movement into personal medicine and the beginning of personalizing movement through the most powerful muscle we have—our brain. The Nia Technique teaches the sense of personal effort to measure force. We use the intelligent force of mental intent to direct life force and apply just the right amount of energy, no more, no less.

Force, in The Body’s Way, is relational and it changes depending on where we are in space, how much range of motion we’re using, and what kind of support our body is calling for. Rising from a low plane takes more muscular effort than gliding in the high plane. Guiding a push, reaching with presence, pulling inward for restoration is all guided by our intention.

These are not just physical acts, they are energetic choices best guided by the power of our intention. Just as muscles are strengthened through repetition, so too is the mind. Minding our mental energy is not a one-time act—it’s a daily practice that calls for conscious tools and cultivated awareness. Over the decades, I’ve come to trust aligning thoughts with intentions. 

Awareness is the first: the skill of noticing without reacting, allowing space between stimulus and response. The “Yes-Yes” phrase is another. It’s a simple personal phrase that centers me and allows me to focus and activate a state of positive real time engagement. I lean into RAW: the practice of Relaxed, Alert, and Waiting, sensing a calm, poised state of readiness.

This gently restores calmness for my mind between my thoughts. I use visual anticipation, by seeing what’s coming before it arrives to prepare my body through imagery and inner rehearsal. Sensory mindfulness keeps me grounded by using the five senses to stay present, awake and aware in the now. And, I listen for the wisdom of both Sound and Silence.

When our intention is clear, our body becomes more efficient. We move with Dynamic Ease, applying only the effort required and nothing more. We personalize our style, pace, intensity, and flow. We’re not just moving, we’re researching and asking, “What does my body need now?” And we’re responding not out of habit or social conditioning, but out of intention.

Listening and mindful intent is a full-body act. And yet, most of us were never taught how to truly listen and use mindful intent. We were taught to interpret, analyze, fix, comment, or plan what to do and say next. But to personalize movement with listening and intention, we must unlearn those habits. We must learn to listen without interference to our own body.

Based on what we sense is needed, we must learn to use intention to harness the power of our mind to fuel your actions. Listening without interference means that we stop interrupting our body’s signals with our thoughts. We don’t override exhaustion with motivation. We don’t cover up grief with grit. We become an observer, a witness. We wait, breathe, and receive.

Only then can the authentic impulse for movement arise. This is a subtle but sacred shift from controlling our experience to co-creating it. The moment we begin to practice listening without interference, our whole being and body responds. Not from exertion, but from the sheer act of rewiring decades of mental habits. This is not just important, it is transformative.

In the end, it is intention that shapes the thread that weaves our inner world into our outer expression, our truth into movement, and our awareness into artistry. To live from intention is to walk with Whole Being presence. It means being aware of our body and its needs and respecting our energy. This is what it means to personalize our movement with intention.

Please enter your email to receive your FREE subscription to Awakening Body + Life at www.debbierosas.com for the latest DR Education publications to support Your Body + Life journey, as well as all the Nia Technique news, information, announcements, and events!