The Embodied Athlete
Being embodied had many layers to it, and many of them are being explored in current pop psychology. Here’s what being embodied means to me- The understanding that I am a mind in a body and that its interaction with the world around me is a complex and never ceasing interplay of my senses and the interpretation of their data through my body. This construct is how I view the world and it is constantly shifting as I bring in more data- I act to perceive and I perceive to act and in this relationship I become me, over and over again, constantly and endlessly learning, adapting, growing even when things feel static.
Even when we can achieve great things and feel an almost automated process behind those events (I paint beautiful things without thinking about how) we are still acting to perceive and perceiving to act. This is the basis of athletic development. To be an athlete requires movement with the purpose of achieving an end goal. This implies that there is a puzzle to be solved, and in the solving there will be various levels of success. You can solve a movement puzzle but not learn anything and you can not solve the puzzle and learn a great deal. Apparently growth requires certain conditions.
When an athlete approaches me asking for help or insight into their current movement state I always marvel at how every person approaches their sport so differently. Ranging from different emotional and parental backgrounds, to learning approaches and paradigms, to physical stature and movement history, everyone is so different- yet we can achieve a common solution to a puzzle. Anyone who has climbed a well known rock climb can attest to this- we get to the top like so many before us, yet we did it uniquely as no one has ever done before or will ever do again. Even if we decide to climb this hunk of rock a second or third time, it will never be the same as the first time.
This uniqueness is to be embraced, as it is the foundation of truth behind every athletes success and perceived shortcomings. The athlete will come to realize that their own ability to perceive to act and act to perceive is rooted in their deepest sense of self. As a baby this was very apparent- at some point you saw a toy on a high surface and stood up to get a better look for the first time. This was a clear example of acting to perceive, then as you reached out and touched it, a clear example of perceiving to act. In every micromoment that led to this beautiful moment there was a swirl of perception and action, just as you might experience as you ascend a chunk of rock for the first time. You feel stuck until you bring your foot up an inch and boom- a new movement solution becomes apparent and you can now reach up and take a hold, as that happens, a new foot placement becomes available. With this foot, you now notice you can move your hand to the rail, etc etc. This all happens without thinking about the how, we simply see and do, just like the baby exploring standing to see and interact with a new toy.
Undoubtedly intention plays a major role in athletics. The baby after all had great intentions! The toy was practically screaming to come and interact with it, designed to do so by expert toy makers so their products could sell. A giant boulder looks like blank background information to someone who isn’t able or interested in climbing. But to a boulderer, that hunk of rock is intriguing! They may stare at it as they pass by, put their hands on it and remark about its climbable features. This is part of their own perception/action coupling and is engaging parts of their brain that are unused by a non climber in that moment. We cannot act upon our world if we don’t perceive its usefulness. I may see a chair and decide to sit, but if I were 4x larger, I may not even consider sitting as an option! I may think that it could be a step stool, or maybe not even that. It gets hard to consider what another person might perceive if they are very different from yourself.
As a trainer of athletes, I need to let go of guessing what another person is going through. With an embodied mindset however, I can give someone an opportunity to engage with unique movement puzzles that can help hone their skills in a way that stays true to the individual. Sharpening their ability to act/perceive in more and more demanding situations is often how we approach athletic development anyway. The key is to find the right amount of difficulty and allow the learner to be motivated to explore the movement landscape with as much joy and curiosity as they can.
Our emotional state heavily influences our movement system. This can be seen in anyone who is going through a big emotion. Sad, angry, depressed, nervous can all be readily identified by people who know how to look closely. How these emotions effect the movement system are all unique to the individual. Someone who as expertly learned to repress anger might not outwardly look angry, but inside they may be experiencing a large hormonal response. This can effect our movements for sure- as we learn to repress and suppress feelings it can create a loss of ability in our movements and thoughts. As we discussed, if we perceive to act, what happens if we choose not to perceive because we have learned that to do so causes pain? The same way we limp if we roll an ankle so we avoid extra pain, we can learn to shut away our ability to perceive as a protective mechanism against emotional pain.
When we acknowledge that our emotional system has a direct and important effect on our movement system we can start the process of becoming embodied movers. If we roll our ankle and we are limping, we may have to relearn how to walk as the tissue heals and we can start bearing weight on it again. If we experience emotional damage, we may “limp” for a long time before we can learn that it is ok to revisit those damages and start to relearn healthy connection to the thing/person that hurt us. And- if we know that emotions can change our movements, what might we be missing in our athletic endeavors if we are carrying around an emotional pain that we keep shut away? Might we be limping through life and not even know it? Getting to the heart of this topic is challenging and there is very little data around it, but as someone who has been emotionally hurt in the past and has realized that it effects my own movements, I am undoubtedly un-unique. What do you have to heal from? Do we heal inside out or outside in? I am a big proponent of both. I help an athlete solve their movement needs through insight into their system at large, which includes the movement outcome as well as the process of finding where they are “stuck”. Sometime it is simple, sometimes incredibly complex, but together we can create a method to open the body and the mind to any and all possibilities that can satisfy the puzzle at hand. Through healing the mind, the body can become more robust and creative, just as through healing the body, the mind may be placed into a condition that allows it to open itself to the world and all its wonders.
