Lesson 1 | How are movement and environment related?

Did you know that movement is directly connected to how you relate to your surroundings, the ground under your feet, the earth, and the people around you?

Movement is about our interaction with the outside world. Even our internal movement is largely designed to process what comes from outside and return it in another form. For example, the peristaltic movement of the digestive organs to take in and give out food, but also the movement of the lungs to breathe in and out air. Giving and taking are the rhythms of life.

You could see movement as a mirror for how we interact with our environment. Do you move lightly and freely or do you experience tension in your walking, sitting, and standing? Is the ground under your feet your support? Or ‘do you carry yourself?

Many people have lost the ground and keep themselves upright with the help of excessive muscle power. And that takes a lot of energy, and not only for the body. Movement is the sum of our sensations, emotions, thoughts, and beliefs.

When the muscles work together in such a disruptive way that they prevent the body from moving fluidly, they disturb the body’s equilibrium and its relationships with the world around us. This has a direct impact on our nervous system and our emotions.

A tense body isn’t able to move spontaneously in any direction. If we are not aware of this and still demand movement from our bodies, pain will arise. And that is nothing other than the body calling out ‘Stop!’ and urging us to move, stand or sit differently. This lesson is an invitation to reconnect with the ground beneath so that the muscles can work together more efficiently and the members of the body feel supported and carried.