Our Planet

Text : Shizuko Miura

 

My First Encounter with the Shelhav Method

In my time with (and living with) children as young as 0, I noticed the differences in each child’s body movements. I began to ask myself if there was anything I could do to help them accept this and move on to the next step.

In the spring of 2019, we came across the Shelhav Method, a method to support children’s natural development, and in July, Ms. Mikasa Saikaishi, an internationally certified instructor of the Shelhav Method who lives in Shiogama City, Miyagi Prefecture, visited Yamanoko to conduct staff training.. It was a time to think about our questions together with Ms. MikasaThis made us realize that  while accepting the children as they are, there are other ways.

 

Reunion with Mikasa-san

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, we were no longer able to communicate with Mikasa-san in person (we met online during this time), and this was our first face-to-face meeting in almost three years. Since more members had not attended the previous training, we set the theme of the meeting as, once again, adults themselves encountering the Shelhav Method.

 

Shelhuv Method  “Helps You Map Your Body”

In the morning of the day, there was a workshop for parents of pregnancy to children of 1 year old, and through the appearance of a 9-month-old child who had volunteered as a model, the parents thought, “I see!”. The afternoon session was the first time in 3 years to hold a workshop for childcare providers. 

The workshop began with Mikasa-san’s words “Let’s make today’s session active and move our body instead of sit and talk” and we  lay on our backs.

Relaxing my body and guided by Mikasa-san’s words, I turned my mind to all parts of my body (I started with only one half of my body.) I was asked, “How does it feel to move one side of your body consciously and the other side without moving it?” I noticed that the side I moved consciously was lighter and easier to move.

Adults already have a sense of “my right leg is here,” but children in their early years of life do not yet have a clear sense of their own body. In the Shelhav method, children are guided to realize that “It is my body!” The Shelhav method stimulates the brain by touching the child’s body as a guide to the child’s realization that it is his or her own body. This process allows children to feel their own body little by little. In the words of Ms. Mikasa, “We help them create a map of their bodies. In the actual procedure, the child lies down on a stable floor, and an adult says to the child, “This is your foot,” while gently stimulating the child by touching and squeezing the child’s foot.

This time, we adults worked in pairs on one side of the child’s shoulders, fingers, back, hips, and toes. It was not a massage, but the pleasant touch and the warmth of the hands made us feel as if we were dozing off.

 

Unraveling the Body’s Habits

When the body moves without being aware of it, favorite movements become the center of the body, and they become a habit of the body, placing a burden on other parts of the body. By stimulating the whole body, it seems that the body becomes aware that there are other circuits as well. Rather than correcting the body’s habit, we can propose other circuits and options while accepting the habit. “Helping to broaden the range of choices. From narrow to broad. I hope that both the mind and the body have a wide range of paths and can make a variety of choices,” says Mikasa. I thought that this would not only be true for children’s bodies, but also for the bodies of adults, and for their minds.

 

Shelhav Method and Yamanoko

When I first encountered the Shelhav method four years ago, I felt that the way it looked at and interacted with children was very similar to what we adults at Yamanoko feel. We believe that children are precious beings who have the power to live, work, and explore the world in their bodies from the time they are born, and that it is important for adults to accept this power and offer a few suggestions, and for children to develop from there. I was able to reaffirm these thoughts through the four hours I spent with Ms. Mikasa.

Next time…I would like to create a place where parents, children, and childcare providers can deepen their understanding of how children’s bodies develop and how adults should relate to them, including how to look at children, by experiencing it together.

 

Postscript

The author, who had been suffering from back pain for about three months prior to this Shelhav method staff training. After having a massage where her body was patted and squeezed, at night when I returned home noticed , “What? My back doesn’t hurt!” and I have been able to live my life without the pain getting worse since then. I am thankful that it was the effect of being aware of my body (I also do stretching from time to time).

 

Taking Ms. Saikaishi’s Training

Text : Yuki Baba

This was the first time for me to experience training in the Shelhav Method by Ms. Saikaishi.

What I found interesting was that I felt the “weight” of my body, which triggered my imagination to the celestial body called Earth.

As I listened to Ms. Saikaishi’s words, I lay on my back and relaxed my whole body, tongue, lips, and other parts of my body, and then moved my body again, I had the realization that my body is so heavy. As I felt the weight of my body, I asked myself, “What is weight?” and it reminded me of the gravitational force that pulls our bodies to the earth.

One of the goals of Yamanoko Childcare Center is “to be a person who has a sensitivity to the fact that he/she is living on the earth.” Toward this goal, I have personally wondered, “How can we feel the celestial body of Earth?” I have been thinking about this for a long time. This is because, in my daily life, I feel nature such as wind, light, soil, and water, but I am never conscious of the Earth as a celestial body at that time.

It was a surprise for me to focus on my own body during this training, to notice the “weight” of my body, and to use that “weight” as an opportunity to become aware of the celestial body called the Earth. The weight of my own body, which is closest to me, expresses the power of the celestial body called the earth. I could feel its gravitational force because of my body. I thought this was a very good hint for considering the childcare goal of “sensitivity to the fact that we are living on the earth.”