1. Redefine Movement as “Life”

In most physical education or muscle related classes there is a right and a wrong way of doing a movement. The biggest difference to WTM movement is we don’t want to make the body do the something it doesn’t want to do. Let me explain. Movement is used as a tool to gain insight on the synthesis of mind-body integration. The intention of WTM movement is to integrate all levels of the mind, body, and soul. Through attention and physical sensation, movement helps reveal how body parts and the patterns of consciousness work in relation to each other. 

Why is this important? The benefits: WTM movement, SB awareness, helps sustain physical and mental benefits. An internal instinct starts to develop and guides the individual with better choices. Choice includes ways towards relaxation, rejuvenation, improved blood flow, and increased vitality. 

Because WTM movement works with the synthesis of mind-body, awareness helps release deeper, bottled-up energy, tensions, and stress related in muscles connected with behavior.

(Another suggestion is to look at the Cognitive Disorder page to understand “movement” from a WTM perspective.)

1. Clarifying Body Awareness

a. The first step is to teach spatial awareness around the body and from inside the body. 

Here’s a link to a free program for elementary schools or home about the Home Breath:  Get Sensational Attention (GSA). This animation video program, GSA, is a school wide program. The program was written for elementary school children but can be adapted to anyone five years and older. (Also see all the lessons in Part I of the WTM program {BOOK – A New SENSORY Self Awareness

b. Use the awareness of pressures on the body from lying on the floor to sense body parts 

With the body resting on a firm surface, such as the floor, participants become learn from different qualities in pressure. The ability to sense differences in subtle pressures of the body against the floor is one way to develop the SB. The way children’s bodies rest on the floor gives them insight to how their body parts work in relationship with each other. The sensations of pressures mirror motor patterns, and are used as a type of “biofeedback” to help participants get a tangible experience of the “stories” in their bodies. Lying on the floor is also used to sense changes that happened inside the body, before and after a lesson.

Sensing subtle pressures of the body helps participants notice what parts they can feel, and what parts feel missing. The floor will help participants also sense which body parts are the tightest, making those parts feel heavy, or they will hold those body parts off the floor. (For more information see this lesson, Pancake Body lesson (p. 40), in the book, A New SENSORY Self Awareness, Rosasco-Mitchell, 2013). This is the book referenced throughout the Wellness Through Movement website.

c. Compare the differences in the body and mind before and after a lesson

Before a lesson we may ask participants, “What body parts can you feel or not feel?” Then at the end of the lesson we ask, “Did the feeling of those parts change?”

Sometimes we encourage the children to touch areas of their bodies, if we notice they have no idea what we are talking about when we direct their attention inside. However, touching body parts to sense what the body is actually doing is only done at the beginning of the program, so children feel clear about their bodies. Touching body parts can help clarify what they are thinking compared to what their bodies are actually doing. Eventually, the SB will clarify what is happening in the body without the need to touch it.

By the way, have you gotten up lately and danced?

2. Developing Dual Attention

a. Use Sensation as a Teacher

• To start a lesson, notice what the participants are doing and mimic their actions in a direction (as mentioned above). Instead of giving a direction that would correct their movements, mirror their actions in the direction. Mirroring helps bring awareness, through sensation, to both the body and mind.

• Change the speed of a movement pattern and it will alter the pattern. Familiar patterns of behavior have familiar sensations of speed to an action. The speed of an action also has a “speed” to an attitude or intention. Changing the speed of an action changes the sensation of the movement.

• Compare movement from opposites, for example, from one side of the body to the other. This way of using movement reflects sensations to compare sides of the body, similar to what the nervous system does naturally. Shifting participants’ movement of attention from one side to the other crosses their attention through the midline of the body. Each time attention crosses the midline, it helps participants find their centers, and balance, grace, strength, and flexibility improve. 

b. Sense How Body Parts Relate 

The first step to help participants sense how body parts are related. (See SB awareness) Sensing the body isn’t as easy as one may think. Found in Body Ownership research, most people are unaware of what goes on in their bodies. (The Rubber Hand Illusion, Erhsson, 2012) Body ownership is the experience of feeling the body as one’s own. As we are more and more on computers, body ownership declines and so does mental health. To deepen awareness of body ownership (sense the body is one’s own) see the lessons Pancake Body (p. 40), Hokey Pokey Body Bubble (p. 54), and Body Bubbles (p. 52), Rosasco-Mitchell, 2013.)

c. Feel differences in Intention versus Action

1. Hints on How to Clarify Differences Between Intentions and Actions:

To learn what happens between Intention and action we first need to feel any differences not in awareness between intention and action. We review this above under “How to Do the Movements, ” however, due to its importance lets go over it again. Use directions to help participants observe what the body wants to do that differs from what is intended. This means not interfering with any “wrong” movements but instead helping them notice differences. Again, use action to teach awareness. Mirror their actions in directions. Watch how the direction is interpreted, and what the body wants to do instead. Let the body feel itself doing something different than what was intended. You do this by giving the next direction that mirrors what the participants are doing. 

2. Dual Attention and Cognitive Behavior:

Most children (and adults) with attention and behavioral challenges often have difficulty with dual attention. They have no or very little connection (or body ownership) with their lower bodies from the pelvis down. The same children that had behaviors like attention deficit, violent behavior, and learning disorders need movements to integrate the lower body into the torso and head. (See more on the “Scientists” webpage and in lessons used in Part II of WTM. )

3. Sensing Changes in the Body to Changes in the Mind

* For children ten years of age and older

Types of Changes in the Physical Body to the Mind and SB Awareness

a. Movement and Emotions
b. Communication Skills
c. Healing
d. Changes in the body to the mind

a. Movement and Emotions

When their bodies do not cooperate and they become frustrated, irritable, or impatient, ask the participants if their reactions are familiar. If familiar, they are in a motor pattern. Motor patterns create a sense of boundaries. These “boundaries” are ways of reacting and give a person the sense of “self.” A person’s intention may not want to react, however, their body is stuck in a pattern (and so is their mind). The reaction happens without any control unless one can sense the SB.

How can a person use the body to stop a reaction? Motor patterns have a neurological nature that wants to be repeated. However, in children (under eight years old), there is a physical sensation attached to the emotion. This connection between bodily sensation and emotion is again felt in the SB. Changing the motor pattern related to behavior or emotion can alter the emotion. (See more on the Scientist page and the Part II lessons of WTM)

The process is different for children eight and older. For them, body awareness training is needed. The motor pattern will fire before a verbal reaction. If, in awareness, they can sense when they are about to enter the pattern before reacting. In SB awareness, they have time to notice cues from their body before reacting and thus have time to make a different choice.

When children’s emotions got intense in elementary school, it was astounding how quickly they were able to shift their attitudes in the SB. By feeling from the SB, each time, they dropped into their hearts and addressed the challenge from a more refreshing and compassionate place. (See the lesson Ho’o ponopono Home lesson, p.60)

Movement is not only life, it gives life. Close your eyes and wiggle.

b. Communication Skills

What does a person think they are saying, and what is being heard? By bringing the SB into awareness, the sense of the body helps an individual recognize the difference between the words they are using and what was intended. Lying is a perfect example. In the SB, the body will sense a tangled way of expression, and the mind can then try to correct it. (See the lesson, Ho’oponopono, p. 60)


c. * Healing

When a body is in pain, the discomfort can affect the whole self, body, mind, and spirit. PAIN is always trying to make us change. “P” stands for Pay, “A” stands for Attention, and “IN” stands for Inside. Body parts will try to do something different to alleviate the pain. However, patterns of movement won’t want to change.

In the SB, there is awareness of the compensating movement, and familiar ways no longer feel good. The robotic behavior of the pattern has to slow down and wonder. In the compensated movement, there are always body parts not in awareness. At first, any new way of moving feels awkward; however, if a person slows down enough, a different way can be revealed. If different ways are chosen, healing speeds up.

By the way, can you get up right now from your desk and touch your toes? Exhale Awwwwe and breathe.

By the way, can you get up right now from your desk and touch your toes? Exhale Awwwwe, and breathe.

d. * Changes in the body to the mind

Help participants sense which body parts changed before and after a lesson. Then ask participants if they can sense changes in their minds and whether those parts of the body could be related to their attitudes. Or can they sense the body parts that changed may have a different “story” in those muscles? We are not asking for them to reply. The questions are used to help sense from the SB.

To change a character, movement patterns have to be recognized and reorganized. Tips:
-Bring together awareness of actions and intentions to become one
-Notice any awkward movements in the participants’ actions to help you analyze mind-body behavior
-Understand how to reeducate behavior (See other pages on this site: Feldenkrais® Method, Biomechanics of Psychology, and Methodology)

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1. Start with the most challenging movement

Teach through sensation. One method is to assist participants in comparing their body’s sense of organization from the lesson’s beginning to its end. (See Pancake Body lesson) Another way is to use movements sequences that go from simple to more complex. Movement sequences used related to the stages of developmental movements (See Part II of WTM. Caution: these lessons were not done to achieve the movement.

In Part I we introduce body ownership, which is the sense of one’s own body. One effective approach is to use the two halves of the nervous system. This involves comparing the sensation of one half of the body to the other. Or use movement to help sense the comparison of size, structure, and location of body parts. 


Areas of Focus to Build a Lesson

-Timing and spatial relationship in movement
-Design of the skeletal system to muscular suspension
-Physics (weight, balance, and action) as a muscular-skeletal system to behavior

One way to develop a lesson is to think about what movements are possible according to the skeleton. Then compare those movements to the motor patterns inhibiting its natural order. ( Here are lessons that help in the book, “Body Bubbles,”(p. 52); “Over, Under, Around” (p. 62); “Hokey Pokey Body Bubbles”(p.54), Hula Relay Personal Bubbles (p. 58), Personal Bubbles Freeze Dance (p.42), and Dancin Hula Hoops, (p. 56). Also see the lesson Gecko Relay in Part II)

2. Sense spatial awareness outside of the body to sense inside the body

Through movement and external spatial organization, narrow participants’ sense of space around the body. Place obstacles in the space to allow participants to refine their movements. As space is narrowed down, the boundary of the physical body becomes more apparent. See the design movement to go from outside to inside the body. (See twelve examples of lessons in the book. Specifically look at the section, “Lesson Sequences” section to incorporate all the tips given on this site. If you want to begin with a few lessons, start with the Big Tiny Bubbles, p.48, Personal Bubbles Freeze Dance, p. 42.)

3. Help participants notice how movement travels through the body

To sense how the travel of motion begins and end in the body. For example, stretch the back and feel if the movement begins in the ribcage or maybe the abdomen. As attention follows the sensation of motion to clarify where parts of the body change the feeling in the spine. Again, there are nine lessons that teach internal-external spatial awareness and dual attention in the book: Part I, A New SENSORY Self Awareness.

4. Compare your movement sequence in a lesson to the stages of developmental movements

There is an innate intelligence in the stages of movement development. Similarly, all WTM lessons utilize movement to teach from the inside out and the outside in. We play with movement to trigger sensations. However, this doesn’t mean to make the children achieve a developmental movement. “Copying” a movement is learning from “out there,” the head. Help their bodies find their way, just as they do with primal reflexes and developmental movements. Primal and developmental movements are designed to help the body learn how to organize its body parts. Do the same, but bring awareness to this hidden intelligence.

To begin understanding movement as a teacher, refer to the Gecko Relay lesson. Look at the sequence of steps in the lesson. The movement is designed to instigate possibilities from the toes into a belly crawl. The floor is used to sense a three-point pressure from the foot, knee, and hand into a climb. (Part II lessons are foundational to “movement as a teacher.” Refer specifically to the lessons Fish Roll, Gecko Relay, and Gecko Climb in Part II.)

The Feldenkrais® Method and Scientist page on this site has more information on movement organization.

5. Use the feeling of movement sensations to build memory and the guidance of the SB

To develop the SB, you have to retrieve it through sensation. As mentioned earlier, we use a specific technique to help participants learn the SB. One way to assist participants in finding their SB is to help them remember the last lesson. Have them assume the position of the previous lesson without telling them what the position is. This recall, achieved by listening through the body, begins to develop awareness of the SB. 

Or ask the children to get in the position of the last movement they can remember. Then ask, “What was the next movement we did? Does your body remember?” The body’s position helps trigger memory. The “memory” comes from physical sensations, not a cognitive recall.

The sequence of movements in the lesson also gets triggered from body sensation. All movements in the lesson aim to expand awareness of body part positions. They also focus on how these parts work in relationship to each other.

6. Do the same movement into different positions

Shifting the gravitational fields through the body enhances the ability to perceive finer details of the sensory feedback. For instance, a movement performed while lying on the back can also be executed while lying on the side. Even though the body is in a similar position in both cases, the alignment is affected by how gravitational pull is experienced. By sensing these differences in gravitational forces acting through the skeleton, one can develop a greater SB awareness. The subtle sensations of the shifts in alignment and intricate positioning fine tune the SB.

Summary – How to Arrange Movement Sequences

Look at the sequence of movements in a lesson. Think about how movements are teaching the sense of the SB. The order of movements is designed to feel the intelligence of action. It helps distinguish between an action and an intention. Additionally, it observes the changes in the body to changes in attitude.

The “Arrange Movement Sequences” section is used to help understand how movement and attention contribute to building SB awareness. Additionally, start to gain a sense of how movement creates both internal and external experiences. Then apply the same processes in your movement lessons (Review the section in the book entitled, “Lessons Sequences” (p. 35-37) for more information.)

Understanding Body-to-Brain Movement

1. How to analyze awkward movement tendencies: Ask while observing a child, “Is the child’s awkward movement influencing their cognitive behavior?” Or is it from the effects of the child’s cognitive behavior? How to compare motion and cognitive behavior: Part II, lessons of WTM.
2. How to reeducate movement patterns with the Sensory Body (SB): This is complex to go into here. However, one example is to use a movement direction. This direction mirrors the participant’s awkward movement. When you mirror their actions in a direction, you are hooking up their attention (and awareness) with their action. Ways to get more ideas for teaching through the Sensory Body:  User Guide with the Get Sensational Attention (GSA) program. Learn how movement sequences can educate the SB. Refer to the “Notes and Background” section in the book A New SENSORY Self Awareness.
3. No Modeling a Movement: Unlike other movement classes, do not “model” a movement. Allow children to explore how the movement of the body differs from their intentions. Notice as they explore where their attention is directed. The lessons are to teach about the subtle energies of the Sensory Body, not to achieve a movement. Movement is used to sense how perception and the arrangements of body parts in action operate together.
4. Find Dual Attention: Another way we introduced body awareness was with what we called “Dual Attention.” Dual Attention is the ability to sense both inside the body and “out there,” creating a third option. It is not about two different kinds of attention, it’s how the two work together as one. This type of attention creates a new way, an action between intention and attention. The Sensory Body is sensed in dual attention. It is a sense, opening up a space for something more than what is familiar to take the lead. The Dual Attention, as a result, helps children to learn how to take care of themselves. The more dual attention is used, the clearer children feel compassion for others and themselves. To our surprise, each time children achieved dual attention, their points of reference came from a deeper, kinder place. As children, their references came from their hearts, especially with the five-year-olds. (See Introductory Lessons to learn more.)
5. Ask questions: After observing areas of the body that move differently from what was directed, ask yourself to watch the child from these perspectives:
   • Were the movements participants doing graceful?
   • Were they coordinated in the lower bodies?
   • Where did the movement begin in the body?
   • How did it travel?
   • And where did the movement end?
6. Watching the progression of how movements travel and behave helps to analyze and reeducate the pattern of action. (See the Feldenkrais® Method)

The Wellness Through Movement (WTM) approach to reeducation movement patterns is complex. Conveying its full depth in just a few sentences is challenging. We would be delighted to discuss it with you further. If you’re eager to learn more, we invite you to connect with us!