Working in Movement

At Case Western University, they know that aging cockroaches experience stiff joints. (The lab that conducted the research studies insect movement to help engineer a new generation of robots that can not only move but sense information as they travel rugged terrains or locations unsafe for humans.)

But cockroaches aren't the only ones to get stiff as they age. The same thing happens to most people. But one difference between cockroaches and humans is their nervous systems. Humans, at almost any age, have an almost infinite capacity to learn. Can humans use this learning capacity to function in their lives, even with all sorts of skeletal maladies that are there for any number of reasons, aging being one of the usual suspects here? Of course, the answer is yes. We see it all the time in movement education, in our clients and in ourselves.

At its most basic, learning means paying attention. Paying attention is one of those everyday phrases that we often gloss over. How do we pay attention? And how do we improve that ability when we need it? Anyone faced with learning challenges of any sort wants to do that.

Ellen Langer has thought about it a lot. She is a psychologist at Harvard University, and has written a couple of books on something that she calls "mindful learning." She talked extensively on her views of paying attention during a 1998 interview that was part of the PBS series Live from Lincoln Center.

It takes practice to perform music well enough to make it to Lincoln Center. Music practice brings to mind endless runs up and down the scales and other seemingly rote approaches to learning. But in the interview, Langer suggests another approach, a mindful one. A mindful approach means pay attention to the novelty of a situation, and that can help in the actual perrformance. Here are a few quotes from the interview.

If I practice tennis and I just keep playing and I keep hitting the same forehand over and over again, that's wonderful, I've got it down pat. I don't have to think about it. Then I get on the court and I'm playing with somebody who's left handed. Oops! All of a sudden, I'm ill equipped.

The essence again about this mindfulness is that you are actively drawing subtle distinctions.

Almost everybody says these days that you should be in the present. That's a good place to be. And the question is, well, how do you get there? And that's what I'm talking about. That when you actively notice new things, it keeps you situated in the present. When you have some sense that there's a best way and you think you learned that best way, there's no need to pay any attention to what you're doing anymore. So certainty often kills the very thing that we're seeking.

The way you pay attention to something is to actively notice differences. To vary the thing that you're noticing. So if you were to put your finger in front of you, and notice your finger, you wanted to pay attention to your finger, then you're not going to be able to stay attentive to it unless you notice different things. It's just going to fade from view. And whatever little things you notice, they keep you attentive. We have done this with old people who are supposed to have difficulty paying attention. People who have ADD, so they're not supposed to be able to pay attention. Harvard students were supposed to do this so well, that you wouldn't think their performance could be improved with instruction. And in each case, we have people actively notice -- we say notice one thing, three things, six things, nine new things. And the more things they notice, the easier it is for them to pay attention to the thing that they're noticing.

All of this can sound like goofy new age-style nonsense or self help pablum. But this learning ability that comes from simple awareness is deep and profoundly useful to anyone faced with a learning situation. From the practicing musician, the would-be golfer to those with new physical challenges, the willingness and ability to pay attention mindfully makes a big difference to how they function. And, hey, cockroaches can't do it. Or maybe that will be in the next study.