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Todd AlignmentMabel Elsworth Todd was a pioneer in the field of postural education and one of the first teachers to create a systematic method of postural education that integrated mind and body. In the early twentieth century she taught at Teachers College, Columbia University and here developed a method of body reeducation based on the use of visualization in relation to practical information about bodily balance. Her work was informed by concepts from diverse fields - mechanics, engineering, architecture, physiology, kinesiology and anatomy. Underlying her approach is the recognition of the psychophysical nature of movement expression. In 1937 she published The Thinking Body: Whatever the explanation of how emotional and bodily changes are linked, it is as profoundly true that we are as much affected in our thinking by our bodily attitudes as our bodily attitudes are affected in the reflection of our mental and bodily states (Todd p.294-5). Barbara ClarkBarbara Clark began lessons with Mabel Todd in Boston in 1923. Clark had trained as a nurse and had a particular interest and skill in working with infants and young children. While taking posture and movement lessons with Todd, Clark paid for some of her lessons by taking charge of the children who came to the studio for help. Todd welcomed this arrangement and Clark was able to explore ideas for making Todd’s material simpler and more immediately accessible for children. In 1929 Clark published a small pamphlet entitled Structural Hygiene for the Preschool Child: Steps in the Baby’s Procedure for Balance and Movement. As time went on Clark’s success in devising a simplified approach for children encouraged her to develop the same for her adult students. In 1963 she published her first body alignment manual Lets Enjoy Sitting, Standing Walking. Her biography and writings are documented in the book, A Kinesthetic Legacy: The Life and Works of Barbara Clark, written by Pamela Matt in 1993.
Lulu Sweigard, Ideokinesis and the Nine Lines of Movement.Lulu Sweigard was a student of Mabel Todd. She further developed Todd’s work by first verifying Todd’s theories through research and scientific analysis and by then developing a more coherent teaching method which she called Ideokinesis. The term links the 2 key processes in her method: ‘ideo’, meaning idea or the stimulator of the process, and ‘kinesis’ meaning ‘the physical movement induced by stimulation of the muscles’. Ideokinesis is ‘imagined movement, the idea of movement occurring within one’s body in a spedific place and direction, but not voluntarily performed’. The 9 lines of movement were a result of Sweigard’s research. Nine areas of the skeleton were identified as those whose locations and alignment had the greatest influence on the alignment of the structure of the body as a whole. The location and direction of the imagined movement in each of these areas was identified as a ‘line of movement’ between skeletal parts, each beginning and ending in bone. References: Todd, Mabel E, The Thinking Body. Dance Horizons, 1937. Sweigard, Lulu Human Movement Potential - It’s Ideokinetic Facilitation. Harper and Row, 1974. Matt,Pam A Kinesthetic Legacy, The Life and Works of Barbara Clark. CMT Press, Tempe, AZ, 1993. see also Pam Matt’s website, http://www.ideokinesis.com/ Ideokinesis workshopsIf you would like to be notified about future ideokinesis workshops, email Shona |
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[Shona Innes] [Biography] [Alexander] [Ideokinesis] |