Learning – Babies Project

Guiding Principles: Safety, Orientation, Comfort, Bonding and Curiosity

This is the first of four in a series of companion articles and recorded zoom sessions. It is part of our Preparing for Caring Project to build awareness and educate about the importance of handling skills in caring for a baby. Read more about how these ideas play out in practical suggestions.

We have built our work at Babies Project around the progressive states of safety, orientation, comfort, bonding and curiosity. While it is similar to Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs”, this layering of ideas comes out of a Body-Mind Centering® approach to developmental movement.*

Watch a recorded Zoom session

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Developmental Movement: Elders & Babies

written by Sarah Barnaby on 10/08/2019

At Babies Project, we offer developmental movement education for “babies of all ages.” What do we mean by this?

We have a common personal history. We were all once babies. (We could also go further back and say that we were also all once embryos, but we’ll stick to babies for now.)

Our earliest experiences as babies are still with us. This includes our process of learning to move in gravity and space, knowing where we are and orienting ourselves, and finding our way from birth to walking. This process has influenced our movement as adults: our patterns, preferences, … Read more

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Developmental Movement: On Track or Behind?

written by Sarah Barnaby on 07/16/2019

A good part of our work at Babies Project involves talking about developmental movement: what it is and why it’s important. Very often, the topic comes up in our discussions with parents and caregivers who bring their babies (and their questions) to Babies Project:

- “Is my baby on track?”
- “Are they behind?”
- “Should we be concerned?”

Developmental movement refers to the way a baby learns to move, from birth to walking. At Babies Project, we believe that a baby’s developmental process takes priority over the speed of their progress*. This means that a baby who isn’t “on track” according to … Read more

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Our Vision, Mission and Values

Our Vision

To create a world where babies and adults of all ages get the touch, support and movement they need to thrive.

Our Mission

To nurture resilience, healthy interdependence and connection by educating about touch, handling and movement.

We serve babies of all ages: infants, toddlers, parents, caregivers, adults and elders.

We do this by using principles of Body-Mind Centering to support each person’s developmental process of learning, exploration, change and growth. We offer classes and workshops, training for professional caregivers, and writings about our ideas and work.

Our Values

Our core values are AGENCY, COMFORT, CURIOSITY … Read more

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Our Values (the long form)

At Babies Project, the principles we teach, play, facilitate, explore and live from arise from our core values of AGENCY, COMFORT, CURIOSITY and MOVEMENT. We believe these values are embedded in developmental movement, and they can guide us to be more responsible, resilient, interdependent, self-regulating and relational.

How do we raise children (of all genders) to respect themselves and others?
How can we model a way of being in the world that encourages self-awareness and awareness of others?
As caregivers, how can we re-pattern what we were taught and no longer value, and find a different way

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Developmental Movement for Babies & Toddlers: A Body-Mind Centering® Approach

The study of developmental movement is the study of how we learn to move in our first years of life. In Body-Mind Centering®, we specifically study the basic movement patterns, reflexive pathways and integration of our senses, as well as the progressive layering of rhythms, experiences and relationships that help an infant find a sense of self, integration and ease.

All of the sessions we offer for babies and toddlers are ‘infant-centered’ and ‘baby-led.’ This means that we engage with babies at their own level of perceptual awareness, and respect their rhythms of attention and rest.

We … Read more

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Toddlers – Guidelines for Caregivers

We ask caregivers who come to Babies Project with toddlers to follow these guidelines.

Transitions can be challenging for toddlers (of all ages).
- We encourage you to respect their timing about entering the room, choosing to play, and choosing to return to you for orientation, comfort, or cuddles.
We encourage you to appreciate that toddlers are fully and intensely immersed in becoming themselves.
- We believe that allowing each child to tell their own story and make their own meaning supports their sense of agency.
- We encourage you to comment on your child’s (and other children’s) actions in non-deterministic, non-judgmental ways,

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