Basic Principles of Movement Awareness
A practical course on mindfulness in action
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MOVEMENT AWARENESS is a practical, introductory course of study on how the body works in action and how to enhance kinesthetic awareness and control.
Methods of stretching and exercise increase strength and flexibility in specific areas but do little to address how we move as a coordinated whole. The key to healthful function is to understand how the body is designed to work naturally and, by becoming aware in action, to stop interfering with it. When the body works well, muscles do not strain but are naturally healthy and toned, joints function with maximum ease, breathing is full and unimpeded, and movement is effortless and light.
COURSE OVERVIEW: This is an 8-hour series consisting of 12 pre-recorded video lessons. In this course, we begin by looking at the fundamental organizing principle of the human body and how we habitually interfere with it. We look at simple, everyday actions such as walking and using the arms, and observe how we interfere with the body's natural organization as we perform them. We then spend several lectures discussing awareness: how to use it constructively, how to sustain it, and its role in bringing about beneficial changes to the body. Finally, we study breathing and vocalizing, bringing the skills we have learned to bear on these crucial, daily actions. We observe how we interfere with natural breathing, how we interfere with the body's organization as we vocalize, and how to use awareness to stop this interference.
LIVE DISCUSSIONS: Ted Dimon will host three 1-hour live sessions, during which students can ask questions and discuss course material.
Shortening in Stature
Lengthening in Stature
Walking
Use of the Arms
Awareness and Direction
Organizing Your Awareness
Sustaining Awareness
Directing Parts
How the Shoulders Widen
Shoulders and Arms
The Importance of Nostril Breathing
Observing How We Interfere with Breathing
Originally recorded in May 2020, this course is now available as part of the Dimon Institute's online library.