Childhoodnature in Motion: The Ground for Learning

Abstract

This chapter aims to establish embodied movement as both the physical and metaphysical ground for learning, including aesthetic learning in an ecological context. We advocate the moving body as critical to celebrating and deepening childhoodnature. The disconnections from embodiment that have occurred within western cultures and the implications of educational settings that lack an accep- tance of natural movement expression and experiential “whole body” learning methodologies are discussed. A double bind arises from the split between mind and body, humanity and nature, and scientific materialism and broader holistic views of science (Moradian, Double Bind: Finding our way back home (manu- script in preparation), 2017). Examples of problems, solutions, and research suggestions are provided through a series of vignettes that offer an analysis of bodily disassociation, or disembodiment, and propose a revitalization ofthinking, feeling, and living childhoodnature through the body in and as movement. We suggest that developing a lifelong somatic relationship with our bodies in motion, a relationship in which we bring our attention to our lived (psychosensory-motor) experience, is a powerful way to reclaim that wholeness which allows us to care and connect for selfand others, to feel a sense ofplace and belonging, and to self- regulate our behavior for optimal interaction with our world.