Figures in Motion: Famous Figures of Ancient Times
This post is part of the From Left to Write book club today and is inspired by the book Figures in Motion: Famous Ancient Figures by Cathy Diez-Luckie, an activity book for kids. Figures in Motion are movable paper figures to cut, color and assemble. Other Figures in Motion books include Dinosaurs on the Move and Animals in Running Wild, Famous Figures of the American Revolution and Famous Figures of the Civil War are in development for 2011.
When I was in college I took an Anthropology class to fulfill some general education credits. It was one of those class that I just….remember, to this day. Why did I learn so much? Although there were quite a few long, boring, archaic overhead projector lectures (remember those?!), required reading was The Anatomy Coloring Book. Yes, we were going back to kindergarten. A handful of colored pencils and my coloring book and I was off to inside and around the body. But the funny thing was that I learned SO much.
Recently, I got another anatomy lesson as part of the Anusara Yoga immersion I attended in Jackson Hole, WY and it all came back. It turns out that The Anatomy Coloring Book is also recommended reading for yoga instructors.
I learned long ago (and again two years ago in my kids’ preschool when they were learning about anatomy) that we have 206 bones in our bodies, but the symetry and alignment is sort of amazing. Most of the bones in our bodies, by far, are in our hands and feet. We go from many bones in our hands to two bones in our forearm to one arm in our upper arm. Our legs work the same way. The concept of pressing all four corners of the feet into the floor in any standing yoga pose means that you are finding the foundation. Without the foundation of the many, there is not room or strength or confidence for the rest of the body to flow upwards and outwards.
Maybe it is the same with the rest of our learning. We have to learn through osmosis or activity before we can take the next concrete step with that knowledge. We have to build the foundation. And, yes, apparently it can take years to put that knowledge into practice.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of Figures in Motion: Famous Ancient Figures by Cathy Diez-Luckie for the From Left to Write Book Club that I founded as a continuation of the SV Moms Group Book Club after founding that book club and serving as the book club editor for SV Moms Group for two years. I was not obligated to write about the book and all opinions are my own.
If you are interested in joining the virtual book club site From Left to Write, please contact me. From Left to Write holds regular book clubs, writing not book reviews, but our own stories that are inspired by the books we read.
