Seeking spirituality through physicality in schools: learning from ‘Eastern movement forms’

Abstract

This paper argues that we might learn from the ways in which Eastern movement forms with a self-cultivation focus approach the development of spirituality through physicality. It also argues that these movement forms have potential to assist in the development of children’s spirituality in school and Physical Education (PE) settings. First, the paper highlights a distinctive orientation to self-cultivation at the heart of which lies a focus on uniting body and mind through regular movement-based practice. Next, differing relationships between these movement forms and spirituality are identified as: fragments of established religious spirituality; spiritual exercise; and secular religious spirituality. Finally, three common pedagogic principles of these movement forms are highlighted and applied to the school and PE context: identifying self-identity and emotions; prioritising direct experience and changing the body-self through practice. It is suggested that these understandings of self-cultivating Eastern movement forms may help sensitise educators to approaching the cultivation of spirituality through physicality in schools using, not only Eastern movement forms but also Western activities delivered in accordance with these principles.

Keywords:

• mind and body
• self-cultivation
• physicality
• Eastern movement forms
• physical education

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge and thank Aspasia Leledaki, George Jennings, Andrea Molle, Andrew Sparkes, Nick Ford, Mikel Pérez Gutiérrez, Carlos Gutiérrez García, Miguel Villamón, Tom Collingridge, Helen Kingdom and all of the study participants. The various collaborations with you all have helped shape the perspectives forwarded in this article.

Notes

1. Dogen (1200–1253) is the most celebrated Japanese Zen philosopher and author of Shobogenzo. The idea contained within the term ‘molting’ is analogous to an animal shedding layers of itself like a snake shedding its skin. It suggests that self-cultivation is akin to union of the body and mind but that union also necessitates casting off layers of socialised aspects of the body and mind in order for ‘real’ integration to occur between the two.

2. Misogi: A Shinto derived form or ascetic ritual purification taking many forms including types of calisthenics. The most popular form is cold water misogi often done standing under a waterfall.

3. The concept of Ki in Japanese culture is generally considered a culturally translated adaption of the concept Chi/Ch’i/Qi that has formed part of Chinese culture generally and Taoism specifically since 350–300 BC (with explicit documentation in classical Taoist texts such as ‘Neiye’ – Inner Cultivation). In arts such as Aikidō, the concept of Ki has been revitalised and while the self-cultivation techniques alter, there are striking similarities between this interpretation of self-cultivation through harmonising with Ki and that of Chinese arts such as Tai Chi Chuan.

4. The philosophy, ideology and practices of these arts should be carefully subjected to scrutiny for their content and desired spiritual outcomes should schools seek external agents to deliver self-cultivation practices in the curriculum.

5. This is probably best illustrated in the Yamamoto Tsunetomo’s Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai. In this collection of commentaries from Samurai warriors, the theme of death and how to embrace it for living is highly prominent.

6. Bourdieu’s definition is itself developed from spiritualised discourse. The term opus operatum was typically used in describing ‘a spiritual effect’ of an often repeated ritual. In addition, the way he uses the term dialectic shares commonalities with Socratic and Buddhist approaches to the term in that he is suggesting that what emerges as practice yields a higher truth, in the sense that he saw practical logics revealing more ‘truth’ about the social world than the intellectualist logics imposed by the academic view.

7. Schools might provide ‘board and bike’ days where children are invited to bring talk about demonstrating their skills in a school-based setting.