One of the most complex puzzles that we all have to solve is how to gain control of our bodies. As infants we spend many hours learning to control our lips, our tongue, our hands, and every finger. And while trying to solve those puzzles, simultaneously we try to understand how far away something is from our hands or our feet, or who that person we are looking at is or isn't. This kind of full-time holistic learning involves continuously remapping our images of the world around us.
Sometimes this remapping process is very confusing. For example, when we interlace our hands, most of us have a dominant or habitual thumb and index finger that crosses on top. It can get confusing if you change the way you interlace your hands to have the opposite thumb and index finger on top, especially if you open your hands and recross your fingers with your eyes closed. Try it ...
You might find that one way feels natural, the other way feels a little awkward. The same thing is true if you cross your arms with your habitual arm on top and then change it to having your unhabitual arm crossed on top. Try this and you might find it feels confusing, particularly if you do this with your eyes closed.
Most people stop the process of being mindful while moving once they move well enough that other people find them socially acceptable—and of course why would someone change the way they walk if they can keep up with everyone else. But as the years roll on, some of these fundamental habits of our movements and our posture begin to form irritations and inflammations of our joints, our tendons, and our muscles.
Usually, if we have difficulty acquiring a skill or we're in pain, we don't think, “Ah, what do I need to learn?” Yet, there are many movements that you can perform as well as styles of moving that would be new that could lead you out of pain or into acquiring new skills.
The Change Your Age program presents many new ways to move that you learned when you were very young, but may have forgotten as you moved on in your life. By practicing movements that make you feel younger, you can regain the ease you felt ten to fifteen years ago. Learning to move more youthfully requires creative sensing as well as creative thinking.
Read the article, "Tracing the Spark of Creative Problem-Solving".
For more movement lessons, tips and helpful routines, buy the Change Your Age book and the Change Your Age video program.