Testimonials – Adults

I wish you all the best success with this project
The country needs you
The people need you
The mamas need you and
The baby and all of us need you

The second most important life-changing principle I’ve learned at The Breathing Project was from Amy. It was regarding the BMC principle of survival/safety—> comfort—> bonding—> curiosity. A developmental principle that has become integral in my adult life. I’ve just begun to recognize ways to feel comfortable, and with that knowledge start to recognize ways that I confuse being unsafe when really I’m just uncomfortable. Why am I sharing this? The Breathing Project as a space has ended. But Amy and Sarah have created Babies Project. I am an adult with no babies but this reason above and many more are why I hope this work gets funded. Babies Project will be for babies AND adults.

First of all studying developmental movement with Amy and Sarah has been fascinating. Their command of anatomy, embryology and developmental movement is enthralling. Their care and respect for the always-changing body of knowledge is reassuring and inspiring. It’s fun to get lost in all their amazing stories, analyses, and fascinating bits of information about the body… about my body, the one I’m otherwise taking for granted everyday. This study gives a richness and pleasure to the experience of being in a body, having a body, being a body. It’s transformative.

It’s hard to put into words the feeling of doing movements I haven’t done for decades, and the feeling of doing movements that I may never have done at all. When I first tried belly-crawling in one of Amy’s developmental movement weekends, it felt completely impossible and I had flashbacks to a humiliating episode on an elementary school trip that included a climbing wall. But after Amy gave me a helpful tip, I got it, and soon I could fly across the floor. I know it’s a bit odd to brag about crawling, but it felt fantastic and I felt like a superhero!

Over the course of studying with Amy and Sarah, I’ve developed a different relationship to my own movement. I feel more aware of the feelings in my body when I’m moving. I believe that this consciousness is helping me move in a more intelligent way, in a way that is more in line with how my body wants to move. What I’ve learned studying anatomy with Amy and Sarah has helped me heal my body and get out of the way, letting my body heal itself.

I recently spent a weekend studying developmental movement with Amy. This particular workshop focused on vertebrate patterns, and in various exercises we explored how babies find the pathways of weight through their spines. A few days after that, I went to a yoga class, and it felt unusually good—I felt balanced, strong, and confident in my body. My teacher that night was someone I’ve enjoyed studying with for a long time, and who knows my practice well. Afterward, she said, “I was looking at you in class tonight and you seemed so integrated. Not a like a dancer, but kind of like a dancer. And I was thinking–wow, yoga works!” And I said, “Well, yes, I agree, but actually I just spent a whole weekend on developmental movement and the spine with Amy Matthews, so I guess that also works!”

I have taken some Developmental Movement classes for adults with Amy and Sarah, and it’s been an enlightening process of integrating information, but even more so of feeling deeply that anything that I might have missed in infancy I can still experience and learn from, as an adult. My movement practice has acquired a new level of curiosity, depth and playfulness, and my analytical brain is pleased with detailed scientific​ ideas. Can’t recommend enough!

I have taken several classes and workshops in anatomy and developmental movement with Sarah and Amy over the years. What they have to offer is extremely unique and deeply powerful. Each class triggers a new personal insight and possibilities for integration of the body and mind – from discovering the underlying support of my digestive tube; to better understanding the mechanics of the shoulder in order to avoid injury; to recognizing that our cells do not function as a hierarchy and so perhaps our society shouldn’t either! The lessons are far- reaching, and Amy and Sarah both are skilled at providing a space where we can open to make these connections between body, mind, and world.

I have also had the pleasure of observing the Babies class. It’s clear to me how important their work with babies and parents is. I eagerly recommend the class to all of my friends with infants and expecting parents. I truly believe that Amy and Sarah’s work is at the frontier of the evolution of human knowledge! And all this is offered in an environment of gentle safety that welcomes all people.

With developmental movement I have explored who I once was, which has helped me to discover who I am today. Leading me to wonder, who might I become?