Learning to Belong to Ourselves

Our body maps are our stories, they represent who we are as individuals. They are the product of our lived experiences. They are formed within the context of our lives, thus they reflect the cultural and societal ideas around us. Within our maps are our experiences of emotion, race, ethnicity, nationality, education, religion, gender, sexuality, and many other aspects that shape and inform our development. Our lived experiences are reflected in our movement; our movement tells the story of the life that we have lived.

When working with our maps, it is important to honor the history and the story of each person. Thus, mBODYed Educators refer to maps that we wish to change as outdated, misunderstandings, or confusions, not as errors. They are not errors as we normally might think of them; it isn’t a matter of right and wrong. You are not broken nor need to be fixed. Your body map was able to function and bring you here to this moment; you are doing quite fine. At the time that you learned it, your map was the best choice available and served the present need, otherwise, you wouldn’t have worked so hard to learn it. Your hardware (your brain and nervous system) is functioning and does not need replacing. Your nervous system and the way you create maps are working exactly as they should. These are important statements to know and internalize as you begin this process. It is simply that your nervous system is working with information that is no longer serving you well, and needs to be upgraded with more specific information. As you move forward, we suggest thinking about this process as a refinement. At mBODYed, we are upgrading your software.

This work begins with acceptance. In many cases, learning cannot begin until we arrive as the sum of all our parts. In doing so, we realize that our potential is greater than the sum of all our experiences. mBODYed work is affirming, empowering, and most of all, teaches us that we belong to ourselves.

The Tools We Use

  • Somatics

    Somatics: Soma is Greek for “of the body from within.”  Somatics is the general name for any body of work that is inclusive of the body.  Common Somatic practices in addition to the Alexander Technique and Body Mapping are Dance, Yoga, Pilates, Somatic Experiencing, walking, hiking, and even stretching if it is done with mindful intent.

    Somatic Trauma Education: a somatic approach to trauma-informed care and teaching, including a deeper understanding of the body’s relationship with social, environmental, developmental, relational, spiritual, and cultural wounding and healing.  Somatic Trauma Education allows individuals to sense and regulate their own physiology and states of being.  This includes building internal and external resources, trusting and co-regulatory relationships, learning to turn inward with compassion, being invited deeper into the body, and giving time and space to process the trauma.  These somatic techniques unwind trauma and restore well-being. 

    For more information, visit: https://www.theembodylab.com/integrative-somatic-trauma-therapy-certificate

  • Injury Prevention

    PAMA Performing Arts Injury Prevention Educator: Training specific to performing artists' medical needs and injuries.  Training covers risk factors, life-span issues, and the interactive, cultural, and contextual distinctions of health problems unique to performing artists (dancers, actors, musicians), highlighting specific opportunities and techniques for engagement, education, prevention, and treatment in response to various arts-specific health concerns.

  • Nervous System

    Nervous System Energy Work: NSEW starts with the understanding that the human nervous system, in addition to its physiological function, is also a magnificent system for distributing subtle energy in the body.  This energetic flow through the nervous system nourishes and clears our cells, organs, and body systems.  It also is intrinsic to the quality of our vitality and consciousness.  NSEW practitioners generate and direct energy flow to clear, open, and reorganize energy circulation through the body.  The nerves transfer this subtle energy very directly to body tissues. NSEW is often experienced as having immediate and palpable effects.

  • Neuroplasticity

    This is the brain’s ability to effectively “re-wire” itself.  We learn through the processes of Neuroplasticity.  We move easily into a state of hyperplasticity quite easily, several times a day, until approximately the age of 25.  After that, there are techniques that we can use to stimulate our brain to move into this learning state.  When we leverage our Neuroplasticity, we can learn faster and more efficiently.


What is a Body Map?

The body map is your self-representation in your nervous system. We learn them through our experiences; we are mapping as we discover how our bodies move and function. They are influenced by our education, background, culture, ethnicity, and our movement.

Our maps develop and change over time, just like our bodies. Sometimes these changes coincide, sometimes they do not. Often, with someone who has spent much time and energy developing an artistic craft, the map does not change with the body.

For artists especially, many of us do what we do because someone taught and encouraged us from a young age to work and develop our craft. We hear instructions differently as adults than we did as a child. We also hold the early mentors in high esteem. Thus, we hold onto these early perils of wisdom, turning them from simple instructions into pillars of a technique. What if you heard it wrong? What if you went too far? What if you took a metaphor as literal?

For a variety of reasons, our maps may not be serving us well.

What is Body Mapping?

Body Mapping is the intentional clarification and refinement of one’s body map to align with reality so that movement is freer and less restricted. When movement is freer, creativity is unlocked. Body Mapping is the application of scientific and medical knowledge of the body, in a clear and relative manner, to the movement of making music.


Body Mapping:

● Allows more expressive communication in performance by assisting in understanding how habits and misunderstandings have interfered with the ability to play the instrument. Unlocking artistic freedom, getting out of the way of yourself.

● In combination with medical treatment and physical therapy, Body Mapping and Alexander Technique have been shown to assist with injury recovery and prevention.

● Deepens the understanding of the skeletal structure and how it provides support for movement.

● Increases awareness of how the parts of the body relate to the whole, and with this new, deeper understanding of the parts, how the whole body can move with greater ease and efficiency.

● Facilitates discussions of breathing, balance in sitting and standing, supporting the instrument, technique, embouchure, and articulation.

Body Mapping was developed from a pedagogical need for teaching the Alexander Technique to large groups of musicians. When studying the Alexander Technique, there are many ways in which the teacher interacts with the student(s): hands-on guided movement, chair work, table work, constructive rest, groups, and working directly in performance. Through his many years of teaching the Alexander Technique at The Ohio State University, William Conable, Professor Emeritus (Cello) developed a process that allowed students to gain a deeper relationship with their bodies while working in a group setting.

For more information about Body Mapping, please visit The Association of Body Mapping Education.

What is the Alexander Technique?

The Alexander Technique is a process for observing and changing your habits. Through the study of the Alexander Technique, one can achieve greater heights in artistic expression and creative freedom.

The Technique is based on the principles of movement:

  • there is a neuro-muscular-skeletal mechanism for coordinating movement,

  • we are born with this mechanism, and

  • it is present and working for us provided we do not interfere with it.

When one studies the Alexander Technique, one changes the way one thinks, and consequently, how one moves. One creates a direct pathway from intention to movement, in the most efficient way.

Study of the Alexander Technique can:

  • unlock your creative potential.

  • develop your awareness and attention.

  • help relieve stress and pain.

  • allow for new choices in your movement and in your responses to situations within your life.

Which is right for me?

  • Alexander Technique has two defining features: our coordination is guided by our primary movement (the relationship between head/spine/limbs in movement; and the development of hands-on teaching.

  • Body Mapping is the refinement and intentional embodiment of the internal body map based on anatomical reality.

  • Body Mapping greatly enhances the learning process for the study of the Alexander Technique. The study of Body Mapping naturally leads into the Alexander Technique.

  • Most students start there, continuing if they have a particular interest in teaching Alexander Technique and a desire to do hands-on teaching.

Learning to Play Again

Much of what we learn in our early infancy, we learn through play. When we are very young we try things over and over again without the need to “get it right” or “win.” In fact, there are many instances where humans and animals alike purposefully “lose” just to keep the play going longer. What’s so beautiful about this early stage in our development is that we don’t yet know the concepts of “getting it right,” “try harder,” and “concentrate.”

When we talk about how we make music, the verb that we use in the English language is “play.” When was the last time you picked up your instrument and thought of it as “play”? What if no one told you that a particular piece was “hard”? Do you think it would make a difference in how you work? What if you began to learn a new piece with no expectation of its difficulty or how long it would take you to learn it? Would you approach your work differently?

Learning a new skill can be challenging, especially one that will ultimately affect something very close to our identities as teachers and musicians. We approach this type of learning in a very specific way, through a process that we learned in our schooling. The academic process involves skill acquisition, practice through repetition, evaluation, and reward. Sometimes that reward is in a grade, sometimes it is praise; either way, the reward often represents the amount of effort one devoted to the process. To ensure that we receive this positive reward, we naturally assume that there is no option for failure. This process is binary, a clear right and wrong, and doesn’t reflect the value of failing in the learning process. Play, however, effectively incorporates failure into the learning process and it was the first process we employed for learning.

Play not only affects how we act but how we think. How we think is very important, possibly more important than what we think. Our thinking, our attitudes, our mindsets - these all shape the outcome of our work. This is especially true as you begin your work here.

mBODYed Educators encourage you to play, in the sense that you are free to explore this material with enjoyment, free of getting it right or wrong. We want you to experience this information in your body with curiosity. Learning a new piece, a new technique, or a new approach to play, all takes time. While there may be some immediate change with this work, the real benefits will be seen in the long term. This work requires reframing our pedagogy through a different lens. It is a never-ending journey that pays more dividends the longer you work with it!

At mBODYed, we PLAY!