Rhythm is something that’s commonly associated with music and dancing, but did you know it also plays a big role in movement?
In this blog we explore the wonderful world of rhythm in movement, and share some movements that are rooted in rhythm for you to try at home.
Understanding rhythm in movement
Rhythm is described as a strong, regular repeated pattern of movement or sound. When we engage in physical activities, the way we move different parts of our body follows certain patterns and paces – creating rhythm.
Rhythm crops up in everyday activities like walking to specific physical activities like lunges, torso twists, and toe touches, skipping, lifting weights, and bouncing balls. Whether it’s subtle or obvious, rhythm is everywhere in movement.
This said, rhythm is particularly prominent in dynamic activities (that’s the opposite of static where you hold a position for a period of time). Dynamic movement activities – a key element of the Bluearth approach – are designed to awaken the structure and function of the body using rhythm. They seek to transfer the awareness developed through core movement into a dynamic environment, providing the opportunity to become aware of ease of movement, elasticity of the body, fluidity, and control of the body in the space.
Movements rooted in rhythm
Now that we’ve covered how rhythm and movement go hand in hand, here are two rhythmic movements you can try to experience the amazing flow of rhythm for yourself.
Rhythmical Squat
Rhythmical Squat is a solo movement activity that you can do wherever you are.
The rhythmical nature of this movement, along with timing the up with your inhale and down with your exhale, has a beautiful calming yet invigorating effect on the body and mind.
Here’s how it works:
- Stand with your feet hip width apart, outer blades aligned and knees soft.
- Inhale and raise arms until above the head (look ahead). Exhale and allow your body to condense towards the floor using the hinges of the ankle, knee and the hip to facilitate the movement evenly. Drop as far down as your body will allow, keeping spine long and knees tracking over the second toe. As you drop into the squat, coordinate the arms to drop at the same time (your fingertips may skim the ground).
- Listen to what your body wants to do here. A natural movement is a ‘double pump’ to initiate the upward phase as the arms continue the journey for a short distance behind your body. Elastically the body will want to come back up again so allow it.
- Again, coordinate the arms to move in time with the body as you now straighten via the same hinges and push evenly through your feet to finish the cycle with arms above the head.
- Repeat and improve the quality of your movement on each repetition. Smooth and effortless.
Rhythm Jumping
Rhythm Jumping is a fun, no-fuss group activity that strengthens muscles and ligaments around thighs, knees and ankles, and enhances rhythm and timing.
Here’s how it works:
- Start by getting your group to stand in a circle with their feet hip width apart and knees slightly bent, weight on the balls of their feet and maintaining a neutral spine.
- Next, nominate a person to start jumping on the spot with two feet. After a few bounces, the next person in the circle starts bouncing in time and so on. With each person added, the group chants the number of the person e.g. One, bounce, bounce, bounce – Two, bounce, bounce, bounce – Three etc… If the rhythm is upset, start again until the last person joins. You can repeat with new rhythms.
- Jumps should be like a spring with ease and consistency. Head up, relaxed shoulders, fingers and faces. Landings should be nice and soft – no heavy or pounding feet.
Final words
Next time you move, we encourage you to pay attention to the rhythm you’re making. What sort of shapes are you creating? Are they small or big motions? How many do you make? How do they make you feel? Tuning into the rhythm of your movement is a great way to make your physical activity more mindful and really feel the flow of your movement.