I wrote this piece called Body Awareness for inclusion in a book called Living Well the Natural Way created by Naturalhealthcare.ca.
Human beings are not born with the ability to hold ourselves upright or to move with intention. Horses, cows, and many other animals are able to stand, bear their own weight and walk immediately after birth.
We are not born with other functional skills, developed, either, such as thinking or speaking. Instead, we humans have the innate ability to learn and develop through spontaneous movement – we learn from the experience of our own bodies.
But how do human infants begin to organize and develop the thinking patterns that enable them to hold their selves upright? It is accomplished through a gradual development of this personal body awareness. And it all begins with the five basic senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting.
For example, infant eye movements are random until the baby begins to recognize patterns like mother approaching. The combination of sounds, voice, and the sight of mom become associated with her presence and infants begin to move their eyes with intention in the direction of her approach. Soon this leads to turning their heads with intention and the development of rotation.
How we function in life is a reflection of those around us from our earliest experiences. Those experiences shaped – and continue to shape – the patterns of how a person moves, thinks, speaks and looks.
Body awareness, pausing and checking in with ourselves, felt through our senses, brings back self-action based on intention, and has an important role in strength training.
