This section addresses the following questions:

• I’m not sure I understand the baby Liv videos. Is this just a sign of how disconnected from my body I have become?
• How does not crawling affect the NS development? And do I need to crawl now in order to help my NS?

The purpose of the Baby Liv videos is to show how a little one naturally progresses through different stages of development: from laying on the back, to learning how to turn over, crawling, and eventually finding her feet. We get to see how her system organically unfolds and finds different options as she is led by her curiosity. When this is allowed to happen, the development of the different muscle groups and how they function also support the development of the brain and nervous system, and the ways in which they are able to relate to the environment and the self. These developments are interconnected.

Many of us who have been through trauma did not get this. Our environment was stressful, and/or we were never allowed to roll around and play on the floor and explore with curiosity. Many of us were strapped into seats or put into different devices meant to keep us occupied. There is even the common practice called ‘tummy time,’ in which a parent places their baby on their tummy in an effort to force them to figure out how to start crawling. All of this is quite bad. The system is meant to organically unfold led by curiosity — as is demonstrated in the videos. When this natural process is restricted, interrupted, or not allowed to progress slowly and sequentially, there is a negative impact not just on the developing muscle groups, but on the brain and nervous system as well.

A lot of this damage can be repaired though, and the nervous system can rewire, or even link up wires that were never connected at all. Playing on the ground, exploring, crawling, letting our curiosity lead us (which are all fundamental principles of Feldenkrais) — these are all ways in which we can start to do that work, along with all the rest of the exercises and learning in this program.