The Aha! of Play

At the Academy of Mindful Movement, we train instructors and coaches to do something revolutionary: Shift from teaching movement as a fixed form – and start guiding it as a process of discovery.

In our most recent PlayLab, we focused on a core teaching technique: Playing Your Way into the Move. As instructors, we often introduce movements from a standing position. But what happens when we invite our students or clients to explore those same movements from the floor? Or with the support of a chair or a wall?

We saw it firsthand last week. An international Latin dance teacher experimented with footwork while on his back, then commented, “The floor is like a wall – just in another direction. Gravity works differently!” Surfaces stopped being passive supports and became active teaching tools. A qigong teacher called it “spontaneous structure - weaving play into technique for joyful precision”.

Our job, as instructors, is to create the conditions for movement to unfold from the inside, out. A Nia choreographer loved playing with the size of her kinesphere to find safe ways of moving on a chair and under a chair.

Terri, a theater director, reflected on how her beginning actors often feel disconnected from the ground. During PlayLab, she noticed how simply engaging with the floor in a pressure-free, playful way changed everything. “You’re not floating,” she said. “You’re grounded. You’re supported.” That’s what play does – it anchors us in Body awareness.

A movement therapist explored negative space between the floor, wall, and chair. She imagined how a client with limited mobility could weave through the in-between spaces with hands, breath, or subtle weight shifts. She expanded play into more inclusive and adaptive movement.

A contemporary dance teacher commented: “The wall, the floor, the chair – they reminded me of the sensations in my body. I think we often forget how we feel. Then we go into a mindful movement studio and someone tells us to focus on sensation – but we don’t really know how. Being in contact with something material helps. I realized: This is hard, this is cold, this is an angle I can play with. I’m in touch!”

Mindful movement has so much to do with body sensation. And for many people, especially those who’ve experienced trauma, they’ve dissociated from those sensations. They’re not connected to sensing anything below the neck. So physical contact with objects might help that sensation reawaken in ways that feel safe.

Again and again, we saw the same truth: We don’t need to over-explain. When we give our students or clients the freedom to experiment, they move beyond performance and into real connection – with their body, their mind… their whole self. They can find the move for themselves!

Try this in your own teaching: Take a move you normally teach. Introduce it using a chair, a wall, or from the floor. Let your students discover the move instead of copying it. Watch what comes alive in their awareness.  

Fun is functional! This is how we teach people to play their way into a move.

Want to experience this for yourself – and learn how to guide your clients and students this way? Join our Academy’s Mindful Movement Instructor Level 1 training.

Moving mindfully with you,
Renée Tillotson