Teaching movement is as unique as all the different bodies/minds out there. I choose to use the skeletal system to teach/learn body movement and awareness to equal the playing field for this uniqueness. We are all basically the same from a skeletal perspective. The structural strategy is to line up and balance the bones/joints so the muscles will follow. It also gives us insight into how our muscle structure is affecting our alignment and our movement potential.
From an awareness strategy the bones are relatively simple landmark. It is easier to see how the bones move and to feel the bones in relationship to where we are in space when we are lying on our backs, on our stomachs, on our sides, seated or standing. An example of this: lying on our backs with our legs stretched out long. Where do our heels fall? Can we even notice? Do they both fall out/in? Does one fall in the other out? What does this tell us if we are not sure where the middle of our heel is suppose to be? How does it feel when we find the middle of the heel alignment? All these questions give us insight into our body awareness.
There’s a saying I learned and use “tell your bones what to do”. It involves visualizing how the bones move and then moving them. Recent research states, “….. visualizing movement changes how our brain networks are organized, creating more connections among different regions.”
You can read more on this here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-visualizing-your-body-doing-something-help-you-learn-to-do-it-better/
We have a full-size skeleton at the studio, her name is Bone-ita!
I use her often during a class or individual instruction to mimmick how the bones are moving when we are learning or doing a movement.
That’s not to say we don’t reference muscles, but our preference is the bones.
By learning our skeletal pathways and telling our bones what to do, we find it easier to get a visual, as well as a movement idea, inside our bodies.
*I owe this phrase to Carole Amend
