The Value of Play: No Matter Your Age

I wrote this post for my education blog Simply Teaching. I decided to also place it here as I believe movement and learning go hand in hand. Maybe someone will find it interesting or offer up some other ideas!

As a long time and "aging" athlete, I have been interested in the concept of "play" as part of sports. It started when I was involved in a discussion on LetsRun about "aging and feeling good while running". A bunch of competitive runners were offering up ideas on maintaining fitness and health as well as enjoying our sport to the levels we had when we were younger and doing so without injury or loss of interest. One thing that kept popping up was keeping running "playful.” The idea is that we should continue to act like the kids we were; running, jumping, climbing, crawling, and just doing things in the outdoors rather than running a set distance or time and returning home. In fact, the discussions are what first led me to create this blog.

I have not had enough time to study "play" as much as I would like, but I see the need for playfulness not only in our adult lives but in the lives of our children. I predict that in a few years fitness activities will move away from gyms and machines and we will see more activities being performed in the natural outdoor arena as adults learn to play as they used to when they were children. Some websites already promote this type of natural play and fitness, such as Erwin Le Corr's Movnat (Move Naturally) and Frank Forencich's The Exuberant Animal.


"All the science that we've come up with backs up what we used to do as kids."

As an athlete, I have been challenged to undo the effects of too much running and biking and having to spend years trying to unravel the damage, it has done to my body. I am learning that it is not strength training or stretches that is going to rebuild the balance in my body rather it is a retraining of the brain. I am doing this through Z-Health joint -mobility exercises that target the nervous system in order to produce movement that is more efficient and through Feldenkrais exercises that retrain neuromuscular patterns so that I can move more correctly and naturally. Interestingly enough both movement therapies deal with how the brain relates and controls movements. I am coming to understand how the brain, thinking, and movement are wonderfully connected.

And then we have school!

Students become mini-adults and sit in uncomfortable chairs and work on written assignments, many times quietly and by themselves without any movement or fun. Teachers often appreciate the “quieter” and "still" students over those with energy to spare. Then we notice the tendencies of children to act up or lose concentration in many ways as they become bored and restless. I have been challenging myself to find ways to bring play into the classroom as well as movement, without losing the goal of giving my students a superior education. Responsive Classroom activities, greetings, and games bring in some element of play, but it certainly is not enough. The question then is how do we allow and advocate for movement without losing control of a class, particularly when we know that it allows for thinking that is more creative and invigorated minds.

I am still looking. Brain Gym is a program I have heard about that integrates play, movement exercises, and learning. I have not taken the Brain Gym courses, but the movements remind me somewhat of some Z-Health exercises. These movements are supposed to stimulate learning through movement. There are many Brain Gym books such as Hands on: How to Use Brain Gym in the Classroom that I would like to order some day to explore the concept more closely.

I was investigating another Scholastic book earlier this week called Brain Breaks for the Classroom: Quick and Easy Breathing and Movement Activities That Help Students Reenergize, Refocus, and Boost Brain Power-Anytime of the Day! and I may order this one some day, as it seems to be a possible take-off of Brain Gym, but I am not sure. It looks like it may have some good ideas on helping children concentrate and learn better through play and short activity breaks. While I was looking at this book, I noticed another book that I did order and I received it yesterday.

The book, Silly Sports and Goofy Games, contains many games and activities that look like fun and would be useful mainly outdoors. We did play one game as a greeting this morning as we tossed imaginary objects like an egg, a very hot "hot" potato, a slimy snake, and even a Volkswagens at each other. However today was an end of month Fun Friday for the fifth grade at New Searles School so we went outside to a playing field and a group of students hung around with me and played many versions of tag that I found in the book as well as some balance games. My favorite of the balance games we played looks just like one of the games in the Exuberant Animal video above. It was a lot of fun trying out games and there was a lot of laughter and cooperation. I look forward to trying more ideas from this book and finding away to integrate play into the daily work of my 27 fifth graders.

Finally, here is a wonderful and thought provoking TedTalks video presented by a pioneer in research on play, Stuart Brown, called "Why Play is Vital, No Matter your Age." Have fun watching this and then get outside and play!

Crawling Like a Lizard

This morning I finished the fourth lesson on the Feldenkrais based audio of "Running With the Whole Body". I was expecting the lesson to go along with my earlier edition of the book with work on the hips. However, something completely different than my edition of the book was introduced (I don't know if the rest of the lessons in the newer edition match the audio lessons). Anyhow, I was told I was going to learn how to crawl like a lizard. The next two lessons are about moving like an animal and then moving like a human. Well, seeing I am trying to follow a Primal-Paleo diet (lost 5-7 pounds in two weeks- which means I am losing too much and have to eat more)I guess I can learn to move in a more primal sort of manner (actually it is how we all started to move when we started crawling as a baby). Watch how the hips and spine of this baby moves as he creeps across the floor.



I guess Feldenkrais reawakens some of these movement patterns from our past. Interestingly in cultures like Bali where babies are not allowed to crawl they develop movements pattern problems when they mature: they cannot hop from one leg to the other.

Of course—no Balinese baby is allowed to touch the ground for the first ‘rice year’ (seven months), so they never have the opportunity to creep. Creeping (how you motivate when lying on your belly) is substantially different from crawling (how you get about on all fours) and involves—try it—that very shifting from hip to hip which is a precursor for hopping. Because they miss that stage, the Balinese—able dancers and sportsmen—are unable to organize a simple foot-to-foot hop.

According to "the World's Fittest Man" Erwan Le Corre quadrupedal movement is one of the 12 key movements of Movnat (Move Naturally). By the end of the lesson I was indeed feeling like I was moving like a lizard. It was fun as well as revealing as the lessons help me perceive how I move and how movements connects throughout my body as it works as a unit.

I just love the audio version of "Running with the Whole Body". I was ready to call it quits knowing that it was movement patterns, that I could not seem to fix, that was hindering my stride and this is what the program is all about. The lessons awaken an awareness of how we move and more importantly how I should be moving. My running is changing, slowly. Last week I could hardly move. Yesterday I went for a 7 mile run and then kept increasing what I was doing because it felt so good for a change. Eventually I hit 13 miles. I notice a definite change in how my body, hips, and shoulders move and find that more power and balance is coming from my torso and not just my feet and legs (like what I used to concentrate on). Hopefully things will keep improving and I will not have to give up the sport of running.

I find the the audio lessons, although not hard, leave me feeling refreshed, aware, loose, and moving in a new manner that I can't wait to try out when running. The funny things is I am doing them despite a rib injury; I got kneed by mistake on Wednesday by my daughter in my right lower rib. The muscle down there is sore when I lay down and it hurts to roll over in bed and get comfortable. I have had to limit some of the movement exercise and I hope that by Tuesday when I go to see a Feldenkrais practitioner that it won't be so sore anymore.

Moving Naturally: Play Your Way to Fitness

I am a 50 year old wanna-be athlete with a falling apart body and a determination not to feel so old. I am trying everything possible to hold my body together to not only run, but to run fast. I love the idea of running and my history as a runner (not meaning being a real fast guy-but as someone who has continuously competed for over 35 years). Unfortunately doctors told me to give it up over 20 years ago and my body seems to want to agree, but I refuse. Things don't often work right and running is usually not fun, but it is what I do.

I have not yet found the magic formula to keep me running, but I am willing to explore all avenues. However as I sit and contemplate this aging body and its refusal to run efficiently, I think back to when I was young and the outdoors was my world. I liked to run, but I liked to do a lot of other things too. I played. I climbed trees. I swam at the beach. I wrestled the other guys in the neighborhood. I ran through the woods jumping over downed trees. I played the current sport of the season: football, baseball, street hockey or whatever with all the neighborhood kids. I was constantly moving and at play. Indoors was not fun (well unless we were tearing apart the house)!

Nowadays, I find I avoid other movements because it may throw out my back and hips or throw off my balance and keep me from running. I have been thinking that maybe I have it all wrong. Sure I have been willing to try new adventures through the years: I was a triathlete back when no one really knew what a triathlon was (1983). I picked up the biking and swimming on my own and my third triathlon was an Ironman distance race. I got into bicycle racing for a few years. I also picked up kickbiking almost 10 years ago, and even tried snowshoe racing this winter (even though I had bought my racing snowshoes about 10 years ago). You might notice a problem with all my activity. It is all straight ahead repetitive motioned movement. While I may have developed a great cardiovascular system and competed with great endurance, I really am not athletic in my movement patterns. I try to go one direction as fast as I can, but there are so many more movement patterns in being an athlete. I no longer "know" those patterns.

As I view the Z-Health S-Phase DVDs on perfecting precise athletic movements, I realize how little I know about movement. I also realize how little I do to move athletically or functionally in all directions.

I have been reminded after reading some posts on Matt Metzgar's blog, about movement and play. I also recall when I started this blog over a year ago after my participation on a thread on Letsrun.com called "Aging and Feeling Good While Running"' It was a great thread (I am TDF). With all the advice given, one thing was clear, get back to "playing". Hey, young guys, if you want to know what it will feel like in a few years when you hit 50, read that thread, there is some good stuff in there.

While Z-Health has you working on precise drills to move athletically, another interesting movement idea out there comes from MovNat.com (Move Naturally). MovNat sums up there basic philosophy with, "MovNat trains you to become a well-rounded natural athlete, ready for a wide range of practical actions in various kinds of situations." You don't work out in the gym, you work outdoors in nature (Men's Health article here). Another article.

The 12 key movements of MovNat are:
Walking
Running
Jumping
Balancing
Walking on all fours
Climbing
Lifting
Carrying
Throwing
Catching
Defending
Swimming

(I liked to jump as a kid. I would climb up in a tree and jump down from as high as I could. I remember the numb feeling in my legs when I would do this. I sometimes wonder if those jumps could be part of the problem with my hips.)

Here is a MovNat video showing these movements outdoors in nature. It sort of reminds me of a grown up kid outdoors playing. It looks like fun and I would love to have a backyard like that to play in! It also reminds me a bit of doing Parkour (free running) but out of the city.



I was also interested in one of Matt Metzgar's posts on quadrupedal movement enough to see what it was. Here is a video. I am curious as to how it would feel on my back and hips. I have the sneaking suspicion that it might feel very good as it is a natural movement. Now, I need to find a place to go play. My neighbors might think I am certifiably nuts.



The point is that maybe my body is breaking down because I have always been so sport specific and as I got out of college and into the real world (or was I leaving the real world), I stopped playing in all the various ways that I did when I was younger and running around wild. The answer may be to get out there and move in all ways possible. I will have to try to incorporate these ideas in my workouts and my daily life. I posted a previous MovNat video on barefoot running here.