When we see the body moving in space, we do not categorize it by “mechanical harmony” or “energy expenditure efficacy” if it is not something we are consciously set to do, more so if we don’t have specific terminology for it. However, even an untrained eye somehow intuitively recognizes movement efficiency or lack of it. So what is the efficiency of movement on a physical level?

“I am a creative person, I do not like sports”. “I work with my brain, so an excess of movement will empty the resources I need for thinking”. “I am a musician/scientist/designer, it doesn’t go with my lifestyle”. How many times have I heard similar words from people who are devoted to cerebral work or involved in a creative profession. There is a widespread belief that people who work with their brain do not need to move, or that being involved in physical activity will even make it worse for their thinking process. In reality, it is not just far from the truth, it is quite the opposite.

Nowadays, having a mentor is something that is not seen as much of a value. Many think that free access to information is already making them capacitated to be a holder and transmitter of knowledge. There is no interest in walking long paths, neither there is an interest in having a figure to align yourself with morally and conceptually. We want to put our own name on everything, without actually deserving it.

This is familiar to everyone: whatever is that you do there is always a moment when you encounter it and being struck by it - frustration. Most people instinctively shy away, get angry, and stop the activity that causes it. In my experience, this is a huge mistake.

Watch testimonies of our students on our YouTube channel.

Ido Portal often says: “Your movement practice should be a life practice”. It is a confusing statement, but when you lay the template of the practice out and inspect it, it becomes self-evident. Our practice is based on problem-solving. So is human life.

In the life of a modern human, it is common to follow the standard trail when it comes to learning: first, we learn basic survival skills, social interaction and language from our parents. Then we continue formal education in school, in many cases, it is followed by University or college degree. The more insisting ones get a master or even Ph.D. and after this somehow adults are not expected to learn new things any longer. For most people finishing formal studies is the end of the path, when we should consider it only the beginning.

“An unexamined life is not worth living” — a famous phrase of Socrates that echoes intro the modern days is a timeless reminder that we should seek ways to be conscious about our decisions and conscious about the way we walk through life.

Look around you. If you are reading this text, it means you are fortunate enough to have an electronic device that allows you to access all the information in the world. If you are able to afford it, I can bet that you are able to afford to have food on your table and roof above your head. But yet, I am sure, you have reasons to not be content with your life.

Any kind of learning to be efficient requires attention. In order to obtain a skill whether cognitive or motor, in the process of acquisition (especially in the early stages) not only the mere presence of attentive focus is important, but also quality of it makes difference for the outcome. I have talked about motor learning and skill acquisition previously (follow the corresponding links), but today I want to expand on the inherent component of any learning that is attention.

We have changed the visual representation of our project to represent better what we are trying to transmit. We wrote this article to accompany this decision.

We find ourselves in a weird situation – half of the world is on lockdown, people cannot leave their houses without extreme necessity, businesses have stopped working, all social life cancelled and borders in between countries are closed.

“Watch this,” The child says.

The child waves at their parents. The parents look up and the child shows a jump, or a spin, or a dive, farther or deeper than ever before.

“I can get a five centimo piece from the deep end now,” The child says.

“I wish I could dance.”

“I wish I could sing.”

“I wish I could play an instrument.”

“I wish I could change my job.”

How many times have you heard this sort of thing?

In is known that the ability of connective and muscular tissues to change their architecture in response to stretching is important for their proper function, repair, and performance. Regardless of the relevance of the topic in sports performance and in general population, it has not yet been studied widely.

When a child is born, its nervous system is basically blank, ready to absorb whatever comes in. There are of course genetically prewired programs of behavior, but there is also an incredible potential for learning. As we get older we acquire a set of skills that develops based on our experiences and it was believed for a long time that past a certain age this couldn’t be changed. In the last few decades it has been proven wrong.

We are constantly surrounded by distraction, a kind of white noise that steals our attention. Our visual, tactile and auditory senses are stimulated very moment we are awake. Especially for those who live in big cities, this is a non-stop accompaniment, that is always present. It is not only our environment that bombards us with it, but we ourselves create and seek it. It gives us a creeping feeling when it is absent.

Our assisting teacher and long time student Sabine Hazboun is sharing her thoughts about what movement practice is to her and how exposure to this concept changed her life.

We are living in an environment where our brain is constantly receiving all kinds of new inputs. This bombarding results in a change of our brain’s processing of new information and its inability to sustain attention on a single task for a long period of time. This, in its turn, reshapes the way we learn and obtain new skills.

I deeply believe that one’s level of satisfaction with one’s life is strongly connected to the presence of meaning in it. Meaning is not a universal concept, it is something that is subjective to each individual, but there is one important thing that I have learned that acts as probably the strongest medium to create it: the way you approach everything that you do. I first heard the term “craftsman’s approach” from my teacher Ido Portal and conceptualizing it helped me create its meaning for myself.