Finding movement

Find a partner - best would be a grown up or older child.

Ask your partner to crawl on the floor as slowly as possible (alternatively you could ask him to sit and get up and down to sitting again).

First part: Following

Just put your hands on the body and try to follow the movement.

• A good position is touching a body part where you feel bones - like the shoulder blades or arm below the elbow, or both hands along the rib cage from both sides.
• Do not put your hands in the joints or on the vertebrae - this will disturb movement.
• Fist try to follow your partner, concentrating on his or her body.
• Look our where the movement is smooth and easy. Try to be aware of the breathing.
• Then put your attention to your own body - what do you have to do to follow the movement?
• Are you in a good position to follow the next movement, can you think one step ahead without interfering?
• Try to imagine the movement - did you guess right?

Switch roles

Now put your attention on your own body. How are you influenced by the hands touching you? Where do you feel the clearest connection? Crawling that slowly, what happens before you lift a body part? Where does the weight shift etc.

Second part: Leading

Now you try to do the movement for your partner.

Switch roles again.The crawling partner tries to let you help which means he doesn`t do too much by himself, but performs the movement as soon as it is easily possible, and he understands what you want. This is not about being successful - it is more important to get the feedback where you did not make yourself understood, or where you did not prepare enough for the next movement. It is okay if your partner is a bit "stubborn". Do this very slowly and give yourself time to adapt again and again.

• If you want him to bring his left hand forward, where would you need to place your hands to support? Try different versions of holding.
• Do the same on one knee.
• Do the same on the other knee. If it feels different, is it due to your partner`s movements, or to your own coordination?
• Maybe the most important part is preparing for the movement- What happens before you lift a knee?
• Does the breathing change if you hit a difficulty?
• If you are touching the head, do it very lightly. Just follow.

Switch roles

Now you are being led - this is the position your child is usually in. How does that feel? Again, move as slowly as possible. You can already do this movement. Still, only move if you think you understood what your partner is trying to show you.

• How much support do you need and get from your partner?
• Feel the different qualities of touch - does it make a difference whether the hands on you are flat, holding, grabbing, giving too much or too little direction? What do you understand best?
• Find out how helpfuil or disturbing a movement can be.
• What informations would you need that are missing?
• What is most helpful?

To remember this, you could record the questions and directions on your mobile phone - one question, one minute break, the the next question - to listen to it while you are working. If you want to see how it looks like, I showed it in the next video. However, the most important part is your own sensitivity. What can you discover?

Video Text

I have been moving all of my life. I lost count of how many hours I worked. But I don`t know the right movement. I never will. I always have to find it for this individual person.

This is your first exercise.

It is about finding out how complex movement is. An arm does not just move up or forward, You have to shift your weight. You have to move your shoulderblade. Turn your vertical spine. Push your fingers….

Something simple like lifting an arm requires movements of the whole body. This exercise is find ing out how much there is you didn`t think about.

Take a Partner.

Ask him to crawl. Put one hand on his shoulder blade, one between hand an ellbow. Follow the movement. Do not disturb. Just feel how complex it is.

Put your hands somewhere else. While lifting the arm, does something happen in the pelvis?

Try for no less than 3 minutes, then switch roles.

Switch roles again.