Most of my Feldenkrais® students are adults.
Many remark on how great it would be if Awareness Through Movement® lessons were included in the school curriculum to which I whole heartedly agree.
I am a movement teacher, not a school age classroom teacher. But I have long thought that providing more opportunities for school age students to move and learn how they can use their bodies can only help them with their academic work. In fact Dennis Leri, a senior Feldenkrais teacher and trainer, relates a story of how Moshe Feldenkrais worked with a friend’s son who was not interested in studying math but loved to play soccer which was Moshe’s sport. Moshe played soccer with him and asked questions to help him notice what happens when he kicks the ball one way and then another way. He also “began to talk about trajectories and force and the kid got very interested because he wanted to get better. Eventually the kid began to get interested in math and physics through playing soccer.”
Now more support for movement in schools and those that are trying it. Researchers at Oregon State University provided an exercise routine for teachers to use with K-Grade 6 students with positive results. As Dr. Manuel Montero Odasso, associate professor of medicine at the University of Western Ontario says, exercise ” enhances memory consolidation by encouraging the creation of new connections between neurons.”
Kids naturally like to move and learn a lot by moving. They learn to roll over, crawl, sit, stand and walk by moving, exploring, falling, being successful if they are provided a safe enviornment to explore and thus learn. Our Awareness Through Movement lessons are in fact based on these developmental activities we did as kids. When we explore them again as adults we learn interesting new things about movement and about ourselves.
Now that school has resumed in British Columbia, hopefully more teachers are including movement experiences for students.
Moving to learn is true for children and as well as adults. Join us at our ongoing classes and special workshops; you will be surprised at what you will learn! More information here.
