Movement Education: Wellness in Motion – by Lara Evans Bracciante

Someone may tell you it’s all in your head. Yet you know it’s not, because you’re feeling it, in excruciating detail, in your body. Movement education pioneers agree that it may have started in your mind–way back when your body and your brain were learning together how to crawl, stand and walk–but it didn’t end there. Movement education theorizes that when the body establishes responses to its emotional or physical environment, those responses are carried forward long after the original stimulus is gone. In other words, that pain in the neck, back, or head may just be the latest chapter in a story that began long ago.

Learning New Patterns

Movement education–an umbrella term also known as re-education movement, somatic movement education, repatterning, and movement therapy–employs the philosophy that one’s body structure and movements get stuck in habitual, unhealthy patterns. Movement approaches unwind the patterns and teach the body, as well as the mind, anew. This is done through a series of sessions where practitioners may use hands-on manipulation to teach the student different ways to move, sit, stand, reach, bend, lift, and walk. This type of bodywork is especially beneficial for people suffering from chronic difficulties, but also for anyone trying to achieve higher levels of physical and mental wellness. Athletes, dancers, and musicians have credited movement therapy for enhanced performance. There are many variations of movement modalities, including the ones featured here. Similar in their goals. they offer subtle differences in technique and philosophy. …Click here for complete newsletter: Summer 2008-cc