Connection movements
| Objective: To wake up your creative and thinking energy by connecting with every part of your body! |
Duration: 1 to 15 minutes
Material:
- Your body and mind
- Space to move
Instructions:
- Scan your body. Stand up and get into a stable and comfortable position, then close your eyes to focus on how your body is feel. Starting at the top of your head and slowly working your way down to the tips of your toes, observe how every part of your body feels.
- Move your body. Once you have completed your body scan, start making small movements while keeping your eyes closed. Start by moving your toes, then your knees and hips, then your whole abdomen, bending and twisting your spine, then your shoulders and elbows, wrists and fingers. When you reach the back of your neck and the top of your head, you can finally smile your biggest grin and open your eyes.
- Think about your experience. Do you sometimes feel disconnected from your body, for example, when you are completely absorbed in an activity? If you’re no longer aware of your body, do you think it is important to reconnect with it... or could it be better to disconnect from it? In your opinion, can you lose touch with yourself? Why or why not?
...
Bonus: Have you ever felt a part of your body fall asleep? It's like a part of you doesn't belong to you anymore! But... does your body belong to you? For something to belong to you, it has to be different from you, right? Otherwise, it would just be you! What do you think: Are you and your body different or the same? To play with this idea, you can imagine the following situations: If you lost part of your body in an accident, would you be a little less yourself? And if you had an organ transplant, would you be a little bit someone else? Why or why not? |
This comic strip is based on Matthew Lipman’s philosophical novel, Pixie. It is reproduced with permission from the philosophy columns of our community partner Les Débrouillards magazine. It was produced in collaboration with our team at the Institute of Philosophy, Citizenship and Youth.
| Tricks for tots: To help you scan your body, you can ask a family member to join you. This person will name the body parts on which you should focus your attention. "The top of your head... your forehead... ears... nose... mouth... neck…" and so on, down to the tips of your toes! Once this scan is over, you can do it again, but this time moving each body part as you scan it, until you’re moving every part of your body! Together with your partner, you can then ask yourselves: Are there parts of your body that you haven’t been paying attention to in the last while? Can you lose your body in the same way that you might lose a friend if you don't pay attention to them? If you lost your body and had to find another one... do you think you would be the same person in another body? Why or why not? |
Tips for teens: If the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty had read the comic strip above, he probably would have had this to say: "Your body doesn't belong to you... it's with you!" Hmm... what’s the difference between "belonging" and "being with?" The body is a major theme in this philosopher's thinking. According to him, the body shapes the way we experience the world. It is "a system of systems devoted to the inspection of a world." Thus, we experience the world through the configurations and structures of the body. The body gives meaning to the world. Do you think the world would be different if you experienced it from another body? How does your body colour your relationship to the world? If we lose touch with our body, do we lose touch with the world? Why or why not? |
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Include photos of your projects and notes of your thoughts, as well as your first name and your age!
