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The most basic definition of self-image is that it’s a “mental perspective of yourself”.
How you take action and function in the world is based on your self-image.
And it’s interesting, that nothing in our educational system directly speaks to the development of our self-image. It’s as if it’s on the backburner.
Your self-image is made up of 4 components – all 4 of which are present at all times in everything that we do. Those parts of your self-image are:
1. Thinking self image
2. Feeling (or sensing) self image
3. Emoting self image (our ability to show emotion)
4. Moving self image
Your self-image can be systematically developed and refined to a much greater degree that it is at this point in your life. And in doing so, you will greatly enhance the way in which you function and take action in the world.
And who doesn’t want to be able to take action more efficiently?
No matter where you are in life, how successful (or unsuccessful) you may be, you are presently at a point on a continuum. An ideal life isn’t about achieving a desired state, it is about the continued development of who we are and how we feel about ourselves. Through systematic development, you can accelerate your progress on that continuum.
The quickest way in which you can begin to refine your self-image (and increase the degree in which you function in the world) is through movement training.
No matter where you are in life, how successful (or unsuccessful) you may be, you are presently at a point on a continuum. An ideal life isn’t about achieving a desired state, it is about the continued development of who we are and how we feel about ourselves. Through systematic development, you can accelerate your progress on that continuum.
The quickest way in which you can begin to refine your self-image (and increase the degree in which you function in the world) is through movement training.
Movement training, you ask?
Yes, movement training.
Let me explain.
Movement is the original language of your nervous system. Well before we begin talking when we are children, our source of learning is movement. And all of us has heard that we learn more in the first years of our life than at any other time in our lives. This is because we are learning through movement.
Recent findings in neuroscience suggest that movement helps to organize the brain.
Movement is the original language of your nervous system. Well before we begin talking when we are children, our source of learning is movement. And all of us has heard that we learn more in the first years of our life than at any other time in our lives. This is because we are learning through movement.
Recent findings in neuroscience suggest that movement helps to organize the brain.
Think about it: when you are moving (with awareness- this is the key - much like infants do while they’re rolling around on the ground prior to them walking), what do you have to do? You have to listen to your body (you have to focus on your senses). You have to feel, you have to think, and you have to notice where all parts of you are in space.
Notice how what you have to do while moving with awareness relates to the other parts of our self-image – it encompasses all of those parts!
The reason movement training is so effective at developing and refining our self-image is because we have such a rich experience of movement – when we focus our awareness on it. I’ve heard it said that 90% of our brain function during our waking hours is concerned with balance and the recovery of stability.
Methods exist to provide you with the ability to engage in the process of developing greater differentiation and refinement in: movement, emotions, thinking, and feeling.
The research behind this dates back to the 1930’s and 40’s – from a gentleman by the name of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. Dr. Feldenkrais was a physicist, and engineer, a judo master (the first person outside of Japan to receive a black belt), and for all intents and purposes, a genius.
Notice how what you have to do while moving with awareness relates to the other parts of our self-image – it encompasses all of those parts!
The reason movement training is so effective at developing and refining our self-image is because we have such a rich experience of movement – when we focus our awareness on it. I’ve heard it said that 90% of our brain function during our waking hours is concerned with balance and the recovery of stability.
Methods exist to provide you with the ability to engage in the process of developing greater differentiation and refinement in: movement, emotions, thinking, and feeling.
The research behind this dates back to the 1930’s and 40’s – from a gentleman by the name of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. Dr. Feldenkrais was a physicist, and engineer, a judo master (the first person outside of Japan to receive a black belt), and for all intents and purposes, a genius.
That’s right, a genius.
He pioneered the concept of brain plasticity 50 years before anyone else believed it to be possible. Brain plasticity, or neuroplasticity, refers to the brains ability to change as a result of experience.
According to the most recent data, actual physical changes have been documented to take place in the organization of the brain - in the form of new physical connections between existing brain cells, as well as the creation of new brain cells - based on experience
He pioneered the concept of brain plasticity 50 years before anyone else believed it to be possible. Brain plasticity, or neuroplasticity, refers to the brains ability to change as a result of experience.
According to the most recent data, actual physical changes have been documented to take place in the organization of the brain - in the form of new physical connections between existing brain cells, as well as the creation of new brain cells - based on experience
Just ponder on that for a minute...
When you take a moment to digest such a profound ability, you begin to realize the enormous potential for change that exists.
What are you doing to change for the better?
LET ME ASK YOU THIS…
What does your company doing that is enabling its employees to learn how to take better action?
LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Send us an email and let us know what you are doing to further develop your own self-image.
*****
Chad Estes
Movement Specialist
cestes@etmconsultants.com
LET ME ASK YOU THIS…
What does your company doing that is enabling its employees to learn how to take better action?
LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Send us an email and let us know what you are doing to further develop your own self-image.
*****
Chad Estes
Movement Specialist
cestes@etmconsultants.com
Thanks for this very accessible "translation" of Feldenkrais and neuroscience for business and organizations.
ReplyDeleteMaryBeth D. Smith, MM, GCFP
The Feldenkrais Center of Houston
http://somaquest.blogspot.com