ADAM in Movement
in Movement
Awareness
Through
Balance
Balance Through Awareness in Movement
Opening words by Drora Alon – the founder of the approach:
* The approach was developed on the grounds of the way set by my great teachers: Yardena Cohen, Judith Binder and Lota Christler.
This way of ADAM in movement has evolved through a variety of experiences in many fields of movement.
These include Sports, Swimming, Dance & Choreography, Movement Teacher training, Sports teacher's training, research and rehabilitation of heart condition patients through movement, rehabilitation of physiological handicaps, autism and other disabilities, and workshops for therapists and social welfare professionals.
I worked with all layers of society, in all ages – from toddlers to elderly.
My encounters with the different shades of the movement universe - popular, artistic, educational and therapeutic-medical – have spawned my curiosity regarding the value (both physical and mental) that we acquire through the different exercises in physical activity. I was surprised to discover that often people have suffered serious damages after practice, rather than gain better health. In other cases, children have developed effects of 'fear of balls' precisely following the sports lesson at school, and even a general avoidance of physical activity for years, due to the unsuccessful experience in movement...
I thus found myself treating psychological inhibitions, bodily damages and creating a new foundation for the love of movement!
In my search for ways to develop the interest of people in their personal abilities (in themselves and their body), their physical fitness on the one hand, and an improved awareness on the other hand, many questions arose. Among these are three major issues:
- What is a person's awareness of themselves and their body? What do they know of the links between their physical and mental state? Are they aware of the posture, and what do they know of their other habits that are effected by genetics, environmental influence and their way of life?
- Which way of movement does a person choose in order to improve their physical fitness and develop their understanding of it, and why is that certain choice made?
- Can one find a balance between the development of physical ability, the improvement of the general feeling and the building of an understanding all at the same time?
The conclusion I have reached after many years of practice is that with the right instruction one can indeed work on developing the understanding and the general feeling and the physical ability at the same time! Additionally, it is possible to impart the "moving person" a harmony between their values and the value of life in general and to lead them towards an understanding that the culture of movement is related to culture in general!!!
An Independent Way in Movement
One of the cornerstones of ADAM in Movement is the laying the path of the person to building and independent way in movement, that is: to guide them how to work on themselves alone, in accordance with their ability and goals – without a perpetual dependence on an instructor, teacher or therapist.
Through the continuous experiences in movement, the person acquires tools for knowing themselves through their body. They acknowledge their habits and learn to change them. They learn of the essence of movement and its building blocks, and discover the feeling of 'quality of movement'. Thus they improve their physical and mental ability simultaneously.
This is the way to grant the person the tools to work on themselves with joy, at their own pace, with individual agreement, in a balanced manner, in order to improve the quality of life.
