Learn from your children about movement this summer

June 2018 |
BY CAROLE BUCHER, BA, GCFP |
RENO FELDENKRAIS INTEGRATIVE MOVEMENT
Pay more attention to how your children move; it can help you be more active this summer.

Take time to watch your kids do things this summer. They move their small bodies in amazing ways. Their physical organization is compact and light, their movement spontaneous and coordinated. Watch them squat, or run, or climb or walk; their bodies are counterbalanced and aligned, their movement integrated.

If you’re over 50, your movement probably doesn’t look or feel like that. The older we get, the truer this is; we barely remember what being well-organized, comfortable, energetic and aligned feels like. Can we restore a glimmer of our former easy movement? Yes, absolutely.

One great way is to notice what we feel in our bodies as we move. Children do this instinctively. Movement flows through them from head to toe like healthy, graceful animals. They are aware of where their bodies are in space (proprioception) and in movement (kinesthetics). They don’t need reminders to be conscious of themselves as adults do.

Kids learn from everything they do, in brain and body. Their movement is integrated, solution-oriented and uninhibited. If one movement strategy doesn’t work, or feels uncomfortable, they try something different. In this way, children develop individual, user-friendly patterns of movement that really work.

Can we move and be more like kids in our adult bodies? It’s not as simple as it sounds. The differences in our physical structures are vast: the relative size of bones to height, spaces between joints, thickness of cartilage, presence/absence of injury and age-related changes make a big difference.

Our best option is to focus on “how” kids move — the essence of their movement — rather than trying to copy them.

So we focus on how:

1. our feet feel on the ground, sensing gravity and weight,
2. our limbs move through space,
3. movement originates from the center of ourselves, from the pelvis — kids have a low, stable center, which for adults might feel “martial-artsy” ; and
4. to be lighter, less self-conscious and inhibited in movement.

Self-consciousness is a learned response that drives a wedge between others and us; when learned as a child, it goes with us into adulthood and contributes to feelings of disconnection, tension and being different. Sound familiar?

Here’s what can help: Building confidence through stable, centered, non-habitual movement will help repair disconnected feelings. Playing movement games with our kids is a great way — fun, improvisational games like follow-the-leader and charades, with mimicking, mime, and lots of unstructured movement.

These help to loosen and lighten us, something we really need today. Activities like these give us time away from computers and smartphones too. Try them outdoors.

And a few more tips: When playing games, watch everyone’s movement carefully, including your own. Look for movement patterns and habits. Have fun exploring new, different forms of movement as animals or movie/book characters.

As you wake up awareness in your brain and body, you develop a playful, interested, light-hearted attitude.

Laugh, share and have fun with your kids! Connect more deeply to yourselves and the world around you — a rewarding summer project. And no special equipment needed. Everything you need, you already have.

Carole Bucher, BA, is a Guild-Certified Feldenkrais practitioner/teacher and owner of Reno Feldenkrais Integrative Movement.