About you, Connected to you

I recently checked out Writing to Learn by William Zinsser from the library and found a note tucked inside—an anonymous reader’s distilled reflection on one of the chapters. Their words struck me, not only for their clarity, but for how closely they parallel the learning process in the Feldenkrais Method:

When you begin to make connections
the subject—anything you’re learning becomes part of your world—
About you-connected to you
Take students into the subject by a different route
The right answer is route

The sole objective—
Find out things about yourself - it’s a life long process.

Ask a question then write about it
Engage the imagination, intellect, the emotions, which are powerful aides to learning.

Sound familiar? In class, you ask a question and explore it through movement. Just as a writer clarifies her meaning through successive drafts, each approximation of a movement helps you edit what you’re doing—sub parasitic effort, refining the “phrasing” of your action. A tiny shift of weight—from the first to the fourth metatarsal—is like replacing a passable word with one that’s far more precise.

And sometimes, in the midst of that refinement, you realize you need to ask a different question entirely.

I’ll bring plenty of questions to class, of course. But what questions are you bringing? Is what you’re learning becoming part of your world?