https://.www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACueMhFVGHU
I urge you to take the time to watch this film.
Why? For one, because the story told is incredibly inspiring.
Also, because it is an insightful look at the hard work that happens in the human body from the time when we are undifferentiated infant bodies to the time in our process when we become crawling babies and then, when possible, walking toddlers to walking adults. Although this film is about one boy's experience, it also is a reminder that this movement stuff that most adults do every day didn't just happen by accident. In Aiden's journey we can see the progression of skills and knowledge that are available (and important) to all of us as humans . The exercises that these practitioners are using to help Aiden's brain and body learn are developmentally wired patterns of movement.
As you watch the film I invite you to consider that the majority of us learned these extremely challenging skills long before we learned to talk. Most of us learned them so early, in fact, that we don't consciously remember them and take their existence completely for granted until something - like injury or aging - forces us to pay attention. The fundamental and foundational aspects of our daily complex movement is usually invisible to most of us. And yet, as this film shows, they are still accessible to us to explore and learn from long after our first few years.
This film is such an awesome look into the relationship between physical movement and mental health, and the process of change. Aiden starts from a place of significant movement deficit but with steady, titrated, personalized movement support and practice (and full support and belief by his mama), he transforms over the period of two years He not only changes how he moves but also who he is! I am in awe of the physical changes he makes, but even more I am inspired by how his engagement with life, with the world around him, is transformed. As he is able to access more complex movements, he becomes more actively connected to the Outer world and as he becomes more engaged, he is able to physically move more freely! A beautiful example of how Function and Expression in movement enliven and support one another!
It was affirming for me to stumble across this film and then to see in it parts of the work (Bartenieff Fundamentals BF) that I offer. In the film the practitioners are incorporating BF and the concepts of Laban Movement Analysis to support Aiden's re-patterning. It reminds me to never lose sight of the bravery of those individuals with a wide range of challenging limitations who trust me to support them as they explore moving themselves more freely.
Often, when people first talk to me about their impressions of my work as a somatic movement educator they, for the most part, focus on physical movement solely. And my work does involve the physical action of movement; however, it is this enhancing people's engagement-with-life piece that is the core motivation for the workshops and private work that I do. When I say that I offer somatic movement education to support you in moving with more integration and ease, I am not just talking about your physical movement. I am talking about the act of living life more fully through conscious, active embodiment! As a somatic movement educator I am offering the opportunity for any curious, interested person at any age to safely explore new ways of moving and being, within themselves and in relationship with the world and other humans. Because of this I am grateful and inspired by the work done being done by the somatic practitioners at the Spiral Movement Center. I am honored and thrilled to be part of such an awesome profession!