The Power of Self- Exploration

Many teaching professionals may be familiar with Piaget, a Swiss scientist and developmental psychologist whose theories on play have influenced the field of early education. He asserts that the process of active discovery broadens the aperture from which children learn and understand their world. In a sense, this is emphasizing the power of procedural learning. The more you see and do, and the more times you do it, the more you know and the more it sticks.

This type of implicit learning takes place within the basal ganglia and is thought to develop before cognitive learning. Children, through their efforts to name, know and categorize the world around them, are building the first layers of intelligence through play. They may begin to identify patterns, cause and effect, and similarities that improve with exposure. 

Consider the multitude of sensations that come from building blocks. What happens when we stack them, what if they are different shapes, and what happens when the tower gets too high or too fragile and falls. What a child is creating is a memory of events that are meaningful, tangible and lasting. 

Working with clients hands-on is my way of challenging their own understanding of movements and outcomes, and in a sense, elevating their experience of RMTi. Our certification programs require in-person learning to experience rhythmic movement firsthand. Feeling both an effective movement, as well as the body’s resistance to movement, is a distinction that therapists must know deeply in order to be effective in their work.