Movement Based: A journey into essay writing and movement instructions

by Alfons Grabher

The world of psychology is engulfed in the matters of the mind. Or, at least, next to their lectures, you don't see many clinical psychologists or cognitive neuroscientists teach equally sophisticated movement classes. But what if actual physical movement was as important and complex as the mind? What if the great thinkers of this world would also care to become great movers?I have been experimenting with writing down movement sequences for well over 15 years. Like many of my colleagues I have started out with stick figure drawings, arrows and annotations, and have since experimented with a large number of ideas and formats. On February 18th, 2021, I decided to write one personal essay per day and keep going with a „let's see what will happen” attitude. Professional writing advice warns against making yourself the main character of a story. However, this is a book about personal development, healing, and overcoming obstacles, therefore I also took advice from Morpheus, the main character of the movie The Matrix, „Some of the rules can be bent, others can be broken”; after all it was him who found Neo.

I hope you will find my sharing of this journey, and the points I have arrived at, beneficial and inspiring for your own personal movement practice, your resourcefulness, and your own writing journey, maybe even your own work – even if it does not seem related to movement learning and movement acquisition. Most everything we do we do through movement. „Or through sweating,” to quote a TED speech by Cambridge Neuroscience Professor Daniel Wolpert – but that’s another story.

220 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 8, 2021