Reading is a highly complex MOVEMENT SKILL, it requires fine motor control of the eyes in order to follow the line of text to the end and then find the start of the next line to continue reading. As children, many of us would use our index finger to find the next line of text and our eyes would follow the finger. As our motor control of our eyes improved, we were able to do away with the guiding finger.
Speaking involves fine control of all the muscles of the tongue, mouth and larynx and the diaphragm and abdominals coordinated into that which we call speech, speech is nothing more than specific movement patterns of these parts organised in such a way as to create sound.
Singing is a more refined and expressive extension of all of the above.
Writing also involves very fine motor control of the hands, to hold the pen or pencil, to adjust the pressure and to make the necessary shapes to create clear legible handwriting.
Drawing or painting is an extension of the above
Playing any musical instrument involves learning a series of movement patterns enabling the playing of musical notes and then combining them to create music.
Touch typing on a keyboard is again a learned movement skill.
Even something as mundane as eating, involves highly complex motor skills to cut and fork your food and guide it to your mouth. Ditto guiding a drinking glass from table to mouth.
Every single thing we do as human beings is movement, even those things which we don’t normally associate with movement, or think of as movement. Movement is the function of a human, no other creature on this planet has as much movement potential. This is easily observed in our countless sports, dance, martial arts, gymnastics, and many other activities. In fact we instinctively admire and revere good quality movement, we may call it grace, or skill. We will pay good money to observe high quality movement in action in sports, dance, theatre… Every 4 years we have the Olympic Games, a showcase of different movements skills performed at the very highest levels, and those who are the most elegant and refined, perform the best and win gold, our most prized precious metal.
Deep down we know that our health is intrinsically linked to our ability to move well. We associate the ability to move freely with youth and the lack of that ability with old age. Perhaps maintaining or regaining our ability to move would allow us to feel young again… Like a child… Would being able to move well into our senior years make us feel youthful? Would it allow us to retain some of our child like wonder at the world? One thing is for sure it certainly would not hurt.
Somatic Education is all about improving our movement by cultivating awareness of, and refining our control over, our muscles. With improved sensory awareness and motor control comes improvements in movement. These improvements make it easier and more enjoyable to pursue the activities we enjoy most, whatever they may be. If you would like to learn more about Somatic Education and how it can help you to move more freely and comfortably, check out my online class schedule here.
Or visit the Learn Somatics YouTube Channel and you can start right now.
As always thanks for reading.