November 2026
Body Mapping #1
At the recent PAVA Symposium, I was recently reminded of the principles of Body Mapping. Our brain creates an image of what we think our body is like and sometimes that image is not realistic. For example, picture a 12-year-old ballet dancer standing with her arms outspread to the side.
The teacher says, “Reach out with your finger tips.”
The dancer answers, “I am!”
The teacher responds, “Look at your hands.”
When the dancer does so, she sees that her hands are angling down from the wrists, and she straightens them.
Why does this occur? At the time of fast growth in puberty, our internal energetic image of ourselves has not kept up with the new physical reality, and so we need to update our body images. (More on this concept next month.)
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