Parents and therapists often describe Movement Lesson sessions as “instant,” “effortless,” or even “magical.” They see a baby who hasn’t rolled suddenly roll. A child who braces finally softens. A toddler who avoids visual contact suddenly settles and begins to track. These changes are not accidents or tricks. They come from understanding something that most clinicians and scientists overlook:
The human body does not learn through force.
It learns through rotation.
The nervous system is not built to respond to linear pressure, stretching, pushing, or strengthening. Those are additive inputs—they add load, add effort, and add stress to a system that is already trying to compensate. When you add force to a body that isn’t organized, the body does exactly what it must to survive: it braces, guards, and tightens. It protects itself. It does not learn.
Rotational touch works because it does the opposite.
Rotation does not add load; rotation distributes load.
Rotation ...