I won't wear make-up on Thursday: Body Intelligence gleaned from staying in bed!

OK, it's true I didn't wear make-up on any of the other Thursday either, but that is a reference for the Cool Kids who both wear make-up and listen to "actual music". Maybe I should have picked the more accurate line from the song "I will do nothing on Thursday: sit alone and be."

That is exactly what I have done. Well, I went and let the chickens out about lunch time to get rid of the anxiety that I hadn't done that or fed the guinea pigs. Brought the Piggle Peggies in for moral support and returned to the land of bed. At 3.30pm I even progressed from a prone, under-several-duvets state to seated with just one merely draped over myself.

I had done that thing that's meant to be sensible (although admittedly it may come slightly out of desperation too) where you communicate that you need something before utter disaster hits. The trouble I have discovered though, is that then if you get the thing Brian tells you in no uncertain terms that this is a catastrophe. You shouldn't have the thing: no-one else has the thing - why are you any more entitled to the thing than anyone else? Accommodating the thing has cost other people: you are an even worse person for needing, and taking, the thing. You didn't really need it anyway, you just quite fancied it - you could, and should, have managed without it; after all, nothing terrible happened to show that you needed the thing, so you must just be greedy and lazy. Now that you've had the thing, what if you actually need it in the future? You've already had it so you'll have to manage without next time. You can't carry on like this, "needing" things left, right and centre, you need to pull your socks up and get on with life like everyone else.

Contrary to appearances, I haven't just come here for a whinge about the Brian. In my nothing-ness and the approach to it I stumbled on a couple of observations.

The sensory may be more involved than I think.

A perfectly adequate set of resources for
the day

This is funny, because I've just started reading a book by Penny Greenland of JABADAO* about (well, partly about) how body intelligence (the is a whole chapter just introducing the concept of what this is) can be used in the mind together with intellectual intelligence to approach everyday issues and problems.

In the lead-up to realising I needed some space I first noticed my brain responses: getting irritable, decreased patience, increased behaviours and unhelpful thoughts. Then as things progressed over the next day or two and I became more stressed rather than less, on the final day I was much more aware of sensory responses. The piercing vehicle-reversing-beep I had to block from my ears, a scratchy label in my clothing, appreciation of darkness. The all-pervading discomfort caused by a foreign and distasteful (to me) scent on my fleece, that became so unbearable I had to give up my fleece. The proprioceptive/touch dysregulation of not wearing my fleece when I'm already stressed. The overheating of my body from the down bodywarmer I luckily had in my car that I fetched at lunch time to solve the proprioceptive problem.

To be very brief, something like this...

I don't know whether it's that the warning signs come in this order - the lower-level stress is signified by more cerebral warnings and the sensory warnings signify that things are escalating - or that my awareness works in this order: the more significant my stress levels, the more I function on a sensory level and the cognitive loses priority. I suppose processing capacity is decreased when under stress so this would make sense. Now that I think about it, there's a lot of theory that explains this, but you can go and Google that - I can't be bothered to talk about it now (but if you ask I'll go and find it!). Yesterday I also began exchanging words quite bizarrely. I explained to my fellow class Peggy that I was going to cut the Duplo lengthways to make it fit. I meant Velcro. Just picked the wrong word. I used the word purple instead of person to the same colleague about five minutes previous to this. My thoughts were jumbled and I wasn't properly paying attention to myself or anyone else.

I came across a quote in the JABADAO book today: "This woman's focus has changed so thoroughly from intellect to body that stringing words together has become difficult. She has swapped an intellectual way of being, for a body way" (page 33). I laughed aloud when I read it because it seemed so apt. The lady in question had made this transition intentionally, but I had perhaps begun to make it unconsciously, which is why the kind of work described in the book is so important. Becoming aware of and utilising this body intelligence can help integrate the systems and employ them in a helpful way.

As I was sitting alone and being today, I attempted to be mindfully aware of my frustration, my guilt, my fear and anxiety (two distinct states/thoughts for me) allowing them to be, while listening to what my body needed and permitting it to have that. It meant I stayed in bed for a really long time. It's now 4.30 and I'm still there in fact. I never stay in bed for that long. I sometimes have days where I stay a pretty long time, but eventually my body tells me it's time to do something else. I can feel the time approaching, but it hasn't come yet, and I'm trying to ignore my own judgmental feelings and my feelings about how it would appear to others and not rush my body into doing what it's not ready for.

As I knuckled down and did nothing I found some of the reasons why here was the right place today. They were mostly sensory. It's not that I'm in a dark place mentally and can't "summon the motivation" to get out of bed (don't get me started on people making those kinds of judgments). I am not psychologically bound to being here. Neither am I intensely physically exhausted and thus unable to get up, although I am tired. This time, my body has told me that this is the right place for it to get what it needs right now.

Not laziness. Important work to enable
future functioning. Down with shame.

What it needs is a lot of touch/proprioceptive input. When layered for weight, duvets and blankets give my body the perfect way to receive input to my body's entire touch receptor; its largest single organ, the skin. A friend once told me of a discovery that the more of her that was touching something, the more comfortable and relaxed she felt. I am exactly the same, and the only thing I have found that beats a good pile of duvets is swimming. When I move in water (not necessarily in a conventional "swimming" way, but in the way my body wants to), it moves past every cell of my skin. I find it exceptionally helpful and regulating, and now that I've written that, I've realised that was my first sensory clue to my dysregulation. I noticed the immediate calming effect of being in the hydro pool the day before the other sensory clues and commented on it at the time.

The other reason I needed to be in bed was to regulate via the olfactory sense. I would certainly never have intentionally sought this method of helping myself, but sometimes my body knows more than my brain (body intelligence...). Now I know that this will disgust some of you, but try and let go of your social conditioning for a minute and bear with me. Our own smells and those of our loved ones are some of the earliest developmental experiences for our olfactory sense, and thus easily processed and calming (credit Joanna Grace). I became aware part way through the day that I was frequently seeking this input, putting my fingers to my nose, and even smelling my own shoulders and arms (weird, I know!). When I leant over the other side of the bed I smelt Mr Peggy's smell, and after stroking the Piggy Peggies my left hand smelt of them. All of these were contributing to the gradual regulation of my body.

The final piece of body intelligence I gleaned also came from Hopping Home Backwards. There are little exercises throughout the chapters which aim to help the reader understand better by experiencing what is being discussed. All I could notice was that every time I tried one - they are all about listening to the body and what it wants - all mine wanted was stillness. It didn't lead me into any kind of movement unless there was a part of my body that wasn't touching something and then it asked to curl up smaller or snuggle into a bit of duvet. For me this was surprising. Mine is a body that likes to move. It needs to move. It needs to stretch a lot and it is useless at sitting still. But all it would do today was be still.

And I'm pretty sure it was right. I was right when I communicated that I needed some space. Whatever the Brian said afterwards, and it is shouting loudly as I write this, I did the right thing. And it was right to do the right thing. My brain can sometimes lie to me, but my body knows and tells me the truth. You've done enough. Sit alone and be.

*Hopping Home Backwards, Greenland 2000.

JABADAO: A Playful World

I love learning. I just find it interesting discovering new things - sometimes the "whyness" of them is fascinating, or their implications; sometimes it's just pleasing to know a thing I didn't know before. Bees spit at their hive-mates in hot weather (maybe that's what our resident loft-bees have been up to - they seem to be thriving and exceptionally noisy this year!). There was one train journey with 42 different fares from London to Birmingham. In 2016 trips on the London Underground took on average 4 times longer for wheelchair users.

But I digress. I had some lovely opportunities for learning last week and I know no better way to process than by writing a blog post, so here you go!

A Playful World Blog

Running a session for colleagues is a great excuse to reignite my Jabadao-brain and I spent a good couple of hours lost to the world, mostly in avid consumption of this delicious blog from cover to cover (as it were).

A Playful World is a mother's account of her baby daughter's developmental movement from birth to about 18 months, complete with the games they found together, gorgeous clips of video, excerpts from theory/research and insights from observation and participation. I couldn't leave it until I'd finished the lot (oops - another late night!).

If you have any interest in developmental movement and Developmental Movement Play I couldn't recommend a visit more, and if you have an hour and a half you can get through it all! It's a great demonstration of all the things we touch on when I try and introduce people to Developmental Movement Play but don't have the time or the experience or the developmentally-appropriate bodies to hand.

How do you climb if your body can't?

It uses a typically developing body which may or may not show some differences to bodies you and I may be playing with, but the principles of the play - finding games, enjoying what is happening right now, having awareness of what might be trying to happen and conversing simply as two bodies - remain the same. As you will have heard me say if you've ever been unfortunate enough to hear me on the topic of DMP, all bodies are programmed with the same desires and map for movement, from the least mobile to the most. It may be that you spend months, years or a lifetime playing in the early snapshots of developmental movement or it may be that you hurtle through (which is not a goal and can bring challenges of its own), but all bodies long to have meaningful conversation where they are, and to run and to climb.

You would never guess how much is
learnt through tummy play!

The development of our movement supports the development of our senses and cognition: not just proprioception and vestibulation, but vision and touch which are the stepping stones to writing and reading, and interoception (vital if you're ever going to toilet train or look after yourself independently, feed and water yourself at the appropriate times). Our movement development from day one to at least 12 years of age also teaches us science through experimentation and exploration, and inquistiveness. It teaches us perseverance, achievement found through playful struggle and so much more. When joined by helpful, informed, playful adults it brings us the foundations of interaction, conversation, negotiation, shared attention and the joy of sharing space, sharing achievements and sharing life.

A Playful World explores the joys and the challenges of providing for Developmental Movement Play and shows beautifully the theory in practice with ideas, inspiration and a really cute baby!

An excerpt from the first entry:

One of the things I have noticed in these early few days is how much Ruby has enjoyed opportunities to be hanging upside down, and on her tummy right from day one. 

Hanging forward over a helpful adults hand or knee is her position of choice... 

A little theory…

...On a physical level, movement that seeks to establish stability is the most basic human movement and the cornerstone for our physical development. The development of stability takes place in direct relationship with the force of gravity- the gentle and constant force that helps to build bone density and muscle strength.

Physical Development

The organisation and reproduction of movement doesn’t stem, as you might expect from the motor cortex part of the brain. Our movements are directed from the sensory cortex. When we first decide to perform an action we first recall a ‘sensory engram’ created through past repetitions of that particular movement. We remember (in sensation) what it felt like, then our motor systems reproduce the remembered sequence of sensation laid down in that engram… We need to pay equal attention to sensation as well as movement, therefore, if we want to work in depth and detail with the body as a source of learning- enabling our bodies to dance with internal sensation is every bit as important as learning to read and write… we must practice tuning into sensation as a route to using our body thinking processes.

Hopping Home Backwards

Why is this interesting to me…Holding Ruby in this way, and playing with her upside down, from day one, I was often met with ‘watch her little neck’, ‘You’ll make her sick’, ‘I wouldn’t do that, I’d drop them.’

Even though I knew ‘the theory’, I was doing the same as every new parent and muddling through, finding the ways to be with Ruby. Following her lead, and ignoring the voices around me led us to being upside down- so that is where we wallowed.

Most parents will naturally rock babies and children- which is working with the same sensations as being upside down & playing with gravity. Some babies will always indulge in going further than you might think.
When I think about it she has been upside down for the last few months so being up-right all the time must seem strange, why wouldn’t she be happy there!

The second post, Games played in the first week, gives some really early developmental play ideas, and the third, So much more than just feeding or sleeping, is a reminder of what is happening and trying to happen in the really early snapshots of development as well as a snippet of theory and some of the challenges of living in our culture. I will restrain myself from summarising the rest of the blog post by post, but do go and explore: it's a veritable treasure trove!

And for thoughts about how this translates with bodies that move differently, visit the Jabadao website or search for Jabadao on YouTube for a couple more videos of The Tig...

Review of William's Den

Not my usually blog post, but I just loved this outing. I had at least as much fun
as the person I took with me! https://www.williamsden.co.uk/

What an absolutely fantastic place! Having heard about William’s Den from colleagues in a special school, several of whose classes had visited for their summer trip, I decided to give it a try with one of the young people I work with. We were not disappointed! The site is great in that it provides and endless range of opportunities through carefully thought out resources.

There are many different types of resources, from traditional children’s climbing frame equipment with slides, ladders, monkey bars and more, to water play and sand play (with tethered accessories including funnels, pulleys, and all different methods of processing and exploring sand and water!), zip wires, sticks and planks for den building, balancing and whatever else comes to mind, tunnels and hills, wide open spaces (yet all safely contained), a wild grass meadow, mud kitchen, tyre swings of different shapes, a grass theatre and more.

It is a place where the imaginations of children of all ages can run wild. It is designed to encourage interaction (circles of swings instead of lines, and countless opportunities to collaborate on projects of all descriptions). It invites playful, exuberant whole body movement and children and adults of all ages can be seen running, climbing, balancing, tipping, hanging, stretching, falling, swinging, crawling and sliding as they play. If you want to know why I’m raving about that, visit www.jabadao.org. More and more research is highlighting the terrifying effects that our society’s lack of value in movement is creating. One study showed nearly 90% of children beginning school with physical development below expected levels, which impacts on learning in all areas. (And I’m so annoyed that I can’t remember where I learnt that! Here is an article that could have used the same source as whatever I watched or read.)

And if you’ve ever wanted to see an example of somewhere that facilitates learning through play, I couldn’t point you to a better site! Not only is it a natural environment for physical play and  collaboration and communication encouraging language and social development; the possibilities for exploring every area of the curriculum are tremendous. Real-life maths and science come into their own as children of every stage of development explore sand and water at their own level, filling, pouring, using pulleys, building simple or elaborate structures. Problem-solving skills are put to the test, and experimentation is invited as the resources are versatile enough that they do not just suggest one use, but can be employed however the imagination leads. Resilience, risk assessment and many other vital areas of psychological development are also promoted and supported through the environment. For sensory learners there are not just a lovely range of natural textures to touch with different parts of the body, but opportunities to create sound and experience vestibular and proprioceptive movement. As the young person I visited with is very mobile, I’m not the best to comment on the facilities in a physical accessibility context. Hopefully somebody else can! I would say most of the site is wheelchair accessible. There is a "disabled toilet" but I wasn't able to inspect and it is not advertised as a Changing Place. A person requiring a hoist would be unable to access the upper levels (and much of the equipment) as far as I know, but if a one or two person lift is safe this would enable use of many of the ground level areas.

The whole site is built responsibly with sustainability in mind. The play equipment is made from natural materials which are “pre loved” wherever possible (which also makes it aesthetically pleasing and a calm environment! On which note, I noticed as the day quietened down towards evening that there was relaxed but pleasant music playing: a welcome change from the tinny, jingly or slightly manic music often to be heard at play venues!), rainwater is harnessed to power the toilets, and even the floors and ceilings are made with waste and recycled materials. This is just a taste - for more see https://www.williamsden.co.uk/sustainability/. I can’t comment on most of the food, but if the ice cream is anything to go by, the cafe dishes out first rate grub (but there are also covered and open air picnic spaces), and as well as the usual knick knacks in the shop are some lovely toys which reflect the ethos of William’s Den (accordingly priced!).

And when you get tired there’s even a room upstairs accessed from the climbing frame with a beautiful view out over the surrounding landscape, with great big bean bags and some soft bricks for building if you or your child is in need of a more relaxed spell.

Staff are attentive, all areas maintained constantly to a good standard, there is a space to put your mobile number on your child's wristband if desired, there are food places with visibility to the play areas, and from outside one set of toilets you can also see through a large window to keep an eye on any remaining children or so your children can find you easily.

In a time when so much time is spent indoors looking at screens, interacting through technology rather than face to face, here is a place where the whole family can spend quality time interacting, exploring and developing. I can’t recommend it enough!