For years, I tried different approaches to help with my pain. Stretching and massage could make me feel better, but the relief was often temporary. I became interested in understanding not only how to relieve tension, but why I was using so much effort in the first place.
Awareness Through Movement® approaches movement from a different perspective.
Instead of pushing, stretching, or forcing the body into a particular position, we use slow, gentle movements and attention to explore how we move. The goal isn't to achieve a perfect movement. It is to become more aware of what we are already doing and discover other possibilities.
Your nervous system learns through repetition
Our nervous system learns through experience and repetition. When we perform the same movement in the same way again and again, that way of moving can become familiar and automatic.
We may not even notice that we are doing it.
This can happen to anyone. An athlete may develop highly specific movement patterns through years of training. A musician may develop habitual ways of using their hands and shoulders. Someone who spends years working at a computer may develop a familiar way of sitting, reaching, or holding tension.
Awareness Through Movement gives us an opportunity to slow down those automatic patterns and explore something different.
Through gentle movement and attention, we begin noticing differences: less effort, more ease, a new direction, or a movement we hadn't considered before. With that increased awareness, we can begin to discover that there isn't only one way to move.
Awareness comes before change
This is why many ATM sessions begin with a simple body scan.
Before trying to change anything, we first notice what is already there.
How does your breathing feel?
Where do you notice effort?
Does one side feel different from the other?
There is no right or wrong answer. The purpose is simply to notice.
Then we explore.
By moving slowly and paying attention to subtle differences, we give ourselves the opportunity to learn something new. The nervous system receives new sensory information and can begin to explore different ways of organizing movement.
We are not trying to force the body into a “correct” position.
That is what I love about Awareness Through Movement: it isn't about fixing yourself. It is about becoming curious enough to discover what else is possible.