It seems intelligent to give you the brief dictionary definition of the sense of self-movement. There are two words that relate to self-movement:
Proprioception from Latin proprius, meaning “one’s own” and perception, is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body.
Kinesthesia from Greek, kinesis, motion, aisthesis, feeling
1. The sense that detects bodily position, weight, or movement of the muscles, tendons, and joints.
2. The sensation of moving in space.
As I watch my grandson develop – today he is five months old – I witness his growing awareness of his own movements, the achievement of willful coordination and the awakening of the ability to move toward and grasp (touch) what he desires. Of course, everything he wants and gets, then is brought to his mouth because all hunger (the sense of well-being) is satisfied through his mouth at this age.
Slowly he is moving from awkward to graceful. His body is becoming his own. And he will be developing this sense for the rest of his life at least in his soul.
As my grandson learns to master the movement of his body, he is also learning how to master and coordinate his increasingly complex soul life of thinking, feeling and willing. That is why it is so necessary to play, to move your body in all kinds of ways that develop and challenge movement coordination. The more you move your body as a child, and as an adult, the more graceful and coordinated your thinking becomes.
How conscious of your soul movements are you??? Do you always move the same way or do you explore new movements?
Is there grace in your soul? Is there weight in your soul? How well do you coordinate your desires? How do you move toward truth?
How aware are you of the relative positions of your perceptions, your opinions, your feelings, your intentions?
I want to encourage you to stretch. Compare the perception of stretching in your body with the perception of stretching your ability to think or focus or relax. What are you stretching toward?
I want to encourage you to leap. When was the last time you risked leaping? A child leaps and feels such a delighted sense of self. If you take a leap in your soul will you feel delight?
In our times we are perhaps moving too much from activity to activity, from feeling to feeling. This week as you work with the sense of self-movement, don’t forget to experience the grace of stillness.
I have always been a good dancer and a good swimmer and, of course, loved water ballet and wanted to be Esther Williams. So there is something about choreographed coordination that resonates with my ideal of self-movement. Yet I also enjoy spontaneous, surprising, yet mindful, movement. My body feels at home in the discipline of ballet and the freedom of jazz dancing.
Now, after years of practice, I am most delighted with the way my thinking moves from imagination to imagination sometimes stretching and sometimes leaping and almost, always coordinated. When I reflect on my thinking, I discover the choreography of it all. I realize just as I choreograph my body’s movements, there is a divine choreographer guiding the movements of my soul.
The Inner Year curriculum is choreographed movement for the soul, yet it empowers inner freedom and inner grace for each soul seeking self-expressive movement.
No matter what your age, move! Move your body and move your soul.
P.S. What other soul metaphors for self-movement can you imagine?
