Tag Archives: children

  • holding hands

    At a loss for words? Try using Touch.

    During graduate school, I became an avid swing dancer. Since women traditionally “follow,” I quickly discovered that partner dancing isn’t just about fancy footwork or thrilling aerials—it’s primarily about connecting to your partner. Even if both dancers are “doing it right,” the dance feels very distinctly different when both people are deeply attuned to the most subtle nuanc…

  • Mr. Miyagi’s Error: Why “wax on, wax off” isn’t enough

    karate_sunsetIf you’ve watched “The Karate Kid,” you’re familiar with the story: Mr. Miyagi, the wise old Japanese maintenance man, prepares Daniel for a Karate championship in record time. His method? Countless hours of repetitive labor, which secretly mimic karate moves. After many days of mindless “wax on, wax off,” Daniel finds that he’s mastered the basic moves of Karate—all because of those endless hours of repetition. But is mindless repetition really the best way to practice?

  • Re-establishing Safe Boundaries Through Touch

    girl_in_hosp-350x245Re-establishing Safe Boundaries Through Touch When she was 5 years old, Jamie* had brain surgery to remove a benign tumor the size of a golf ball. Her mother brought her to me when she was 11, to address lingering motor-skill challenges. In the 6 years since her surgery, she’d been in and out of hospitals and doctors’ offices constantly, had over 50 MRIs, and countless hours…

  • Proprioception: The Forgotten Sense

    blindfolded_woman-350x245Close your eyes, and wave your hand over your head. No, really. Try it. Even with your eyes closed, you can tell when your hand is over your head, right? You can also tell when you’re moving it forward or backward. This ability is thanks to what is perhaps our most overlooked sense: Proprioception. So what’s Proprioception? It’s …