Tricky Things- Legs

[poliphilo]

I took Fabrizio out the back to kick a ball around. He was up for that, but even more interested in the big stone step between our yard and the path that runs along the back of the houses. He could get up it by himself- no problem- but getting down again was a challenge- and he had to hold my hand or he'd have fallen flat on his face. So what is the secret? What do you have to do with your legs to get safely from A (up here) to B (down there)? We practised the manoeuvre over and over and over.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It's a fascinating process.

Going down you're facing the drop- and gravity is against you.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Actually, gravity is WITH you. Going up stairs, you are fighting gravity.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

With you, but not necessarily your friend. :)

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

No. I'm not sure anyone our age who has a mirror still believes that gravity is their friend!

I don't really think of it as a matter of faith, more a matter of judging distance accurately and understanding what that means in terms of movement. It's a complex calculation, for sure.

One of the things I really like about Pilates is that it plays with gravity. You do the same movement orthogonal to gravity and parallel to gravity, and it feels completely different.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

For the adult it's about calculating distance.

But the child is still developing the tools to calculate distance. Everything about the material world is a mystery to him- and that's why I jumped at the word "faith".

Of course the child is neither scientist nor theologian...