Enjoy a Playful and Meaningful Life
Ms. Zhao Lin (Shenyang, Liaoning) 18 November, 2014
In the latter half of the Motor Development workshop in Zhengzhou from 13-16 November 2014, Mr. Conrad Ho the facilitator led us into experiencing humans¡¦ five major categories of movements, i.e. sitting, standing, walking, running and jumping, and their related balances as per his design. I had learnt a lot from the processes.
In the past, the most familiar state of mine was to ¡§run¡¨ as fast as I could after my pursuits, trying my hardest to finish each and every thing in one go. When something was coming up, like designing a lesson or thinking through a problem, it would totally occupy my brain, even during meals, sleep, and bath. My husband used to look at me helplessly and said, ¡§There is still a life out there apart from work!¡¨ In fact, I understood the point consciously. Life needed to be balanced. But, I could not stop anyway anyhow.
During this class, this balance theme of running really moved me. Through experiencing the actual act of running, I got the genuine feeling of my trying hard just to slow myself down. When the body started to learn to slow down and enjoy the process, I was amazed to find myself running faster in a more relaxed way. As a result, my mind broke free from the grip of the trying-my-hardest spell, in favour of a playful and meaningful life.
I got home late at night on a Monday after the four-day class, just to go to take care of my mother in hospital after daybreak. My body was weary and aching. That Monday evening, I would have an one-on-one balancing session with an energetic boy at 11 years of age. The thought of ¡§trying my hardest¡¨ popped up again. But then, on second thought, I asked myself, ¡§Is there any new possibility?¡¨ I had decided to quit the idea of doing a core muscle balance. Instead, it would be a tactile, hand-eye coordination and focus balance. I would let the boy propose his game and let his creativity flow.
Once the decision was made, my body relaxed. I was surprised to find after the balance that: 1) I could joyfully complete the two-hour balance relaxed; 2) the creativity of the boy was out of my imagination. Just gave him the materials as well as a little bit of guidance and he would happily lead the game, constantly asking for further extensions of time; 3) Kids in an atmosphere of joy and relaxation would progress naturally.
Again and again, I found that when parents or teachers had their own child hearts awakened, and kept their coherence, the kids would safely develop their potential in a self-motivated way. At the same time, the adults could enjoy a playful and meaningful life.
