Taking the holistic view
Vaibhav Pandya
What approach shall we take for physical education? Should it be movement education or sports education or fitness education or a mix of these or something else? Each takes up one part of development or developmental need and some can only fit at different levels of the school curriculum. Presented here is a case for an integrated physical approach.
At the heart of an integrated physical approach is the child’s body. Development of body and bringing perfection, beauty in our physical life is our central objective. And for this, physical culture plays a big part.
The need for a physical culture
Physical culture is meant to develop the perfection of the body using all means at our disposal. In order to develop physical consciousness, awareness of one’s strengths and limitations of one’s body and its control by the mind is crucial. How does this development occur? Health, strength and fitness are the foundations on which this consciousness rests. The physical body must sense the perfection it can achieve, a state which today we may not even be able to conceive. Simple control of breathing, asanas which help prepare the mind and body are necessary to make the body fit to receive the energy we need to impart greater strength. This can be accomplished when the endless striving to overcome fatigue, pain and fear is transformed into an ability to achieve greater power, do impossible feats and manage difficult body postures with ease and conviction.
It is this quest for the greater perfection that the body seeks, and the purpose of physical activities is to make it possible. Even before birth, the thoughts and work of the mother act upon the unborn child and build the effort which blossoms forth later. Even as the child explores its surroundings after birth, cries, kicks, rolls and walks, the physical development grows in leaps and bounds. There are activities which are taught and trained by the mind which happen automatically but faultlessly even when not attended to by thought or will. As the body grows in consciousness, its potentialities increase. The body no longer limits its strength, rather it becomes receptive towards the subtle forces of the universe and this stirs it into greater activities. Hence, in order to bring the change to achieve the aim of the supreme perfection of the body, it is necessary to become aware of the body and awaken in oneself the ability to enable the body to function on its own intuitive movements. As the child grows, the influences of the world around make his/her mind overrule the body consciousness and natural balance is afflicted.
Bringing the balance back is possible if physical education is practiced with a sound and strong character. The three principles for physical education are
1) control and discipline of the functioning of the body,
2) an integral, methodical and harmonious development of all the parts and movements of the body and
3) correction of any defects and deformities. – The Mother
Control and discipline of the functioning of the body
Our body is an instrument of various bad habits. If we are able to control these with practice, like maintaining regular bowel movements, eating for health, sleeping at regular hours and maintaining a good body posture, we should be able to reach our goal with ease.
A love for cleanliness, hygienic habits like washing hands, cutting nails, cleaning up spillage, eating from a plate, sitting down calmly, and drinking slowly goes a long way in disciplining the body. A sense of beauty in the way we sleep, eat, keep our surroundings, is a reflection of growing awareness and achieving our goal of a perfect life.
A total methodical and harmonious development of all the parts and movements of the body
The way we sit, stand, walk, run, eat and sleep helps the different parts of our body to function harmoniously. The pain in our limbs in the morning, the fear of falling off if we run too fast, climb or jump are all indicative of the lack of development of all the parts of the body.
The body has a wonderful capacity to adapt and endure. It has unimaginable potentialities. We can see that in the flexibility of a gymnast, the fearlessness of a tight rope walker and the speed of a long-distance runner. A calm, quiet, strong and poised body can be a major advantage, and can be developed with the right attitude and focused training of ability and skill set group.
Rectification of defects and deformities
The way we walk, move, arrange our life are the different forms of building the beauty of the body. To seek beauty and to express it in our thoughts, feelings and actions creates good vibrations and carries happy tidings to everyone. There are defects and deformities in our bodies which every one of us has and to recognize and overcome, this is the purpose of the physical culture. Can comfort be gained by saying the body cannot do this or that because there is a problem and by sinking into self-pity? The strength gained by overcoming such disorders and building new stamina and strength in the face of adversity sets a new wave of hope and endeavour to all.
As shown in diagram, integrated approach has four main dimensions. Physical Capabilities – body’s capacity to develop and adapt as per need and environment. Where training to know and master one’s endurance, strength, flexibility and others are taken up. Physical Skill – Techniques which one requires to participate in various day to day activities as well as games. Fine motor skills, gross motor skills, kicking, running, catching are a few examples of physical skills that a child masters during the course of education. Physical Organization – How one arranges materials, life and work in a group. Physical Culture – includes rest and relaxation, habits, food and other things which a child acquires. Training plays a little but more important part.
In its true sense, physical culture overshadows all other parts. It sets the right environment for a child to learn various skills, and adapt as well as be organized. By creating the right physical culture in school and at home, we can get all that we are seeking for, which is a perfect body.
How we practice at mirambika
In our school, there is a lot of emphasis on the development of physical skills and this is achieved through careful planning. A day begins with 45 minutes of outdoor activity. This is divided into 15 minutes of warm-up exercises, i.e., running, jumping, hopping, climbing, skipping, stretching and bending. The next 30 minutes is spent playing games like basketball, football, touch ball, baseball, minor games or practicing cricket – exercises like batting, bowling, catching, yoga and gymnastics. The main objective of the morning routine is to remove lethargy and rejuvenate oneself in a focused way.
The outdoor activities are followed by a juice break. The exhausted body is nourished with carbohydrates and glucose, naturally found in food. Children are encouraged to eat unhurriedly. This energizes them for the day.
The meditation that follows is for relaxation of the mind and body. It helps to concentrate all thoughts on one’s own being and discover one’s needs in a focused way.
Be it for younger or older students, we should never neglect play. It has an obvious importance in physical development as well and helps significantly in mental development too.
Children are given various responsibilities in individual and collective form. They take care of their own materials, shelf and cupboard, clean and beautify their classroom, and make arrangements for various activities, and tidy up after activities in class. This way they learn to organize and develop essential habits.
We have specially designed program for diyas (teachers) where various kinds of activities are chosen according to the environment, necessity, requirement, choice and interest. The teachers spend one hour every evening throughout the year except summer holidays on physical education. The games we play are for individual improvement, which in turn helps us to guide the children and leads all of us towards healthy habits. This hour gives us time to study, prepare, experience and practically understand which games we should play with the children and how to use those games.
We also talk a lot, sensitize, converse with parents on physical education. That helps us build the right environment and true physical culture. In short, the whole of life is taken into consideration when we are approaching physical education.
Reference
Physical Education – the mirambika way, mirambika team, first edition, 2004, mirambika free progress school.
Note: A large portion of this article has been taken from the book itself.
Name of the Game: Four Corner Touch Ball
Age: 10 years and above
Material: Volleyball
Number of Players: 10-40 players
Objective: To develop aiming, catching and passing skills
Description: There are four teams, each assigned to one corner of the field, where a 1m diameter circle has been marked. One member, the goal catcher, stands within this circle. The objective of this game is for each team to pass the ball to their catcher, who must be standing inside the circle to receive the pass.
The game starts with the ball being tossed in the midst of four players (one from each team) in the centre. Players should not run with the ball or let it touch the ground. They can only pass to each other. If anyone runs, drops the ball, or goes out of bounds, the team in the diagonally opposite corner gets possession of the ball. The team with the most goals completed in the allotted time wins.
Name of the Game: Fruit Salad
Age: 6 years and above
Number of Players: 25-30 players
Objective: To develop alertness
Description: Players are assigned names of different fruits, with each name being common to 4-5 players. The den/ one player stands in the centre of the circle. When the captain calls “banana” all the banana players have to change their places amongst themselves. Similarly, when the captain calls “mango”, the mango players will change places amongst themselves, when the captain calls “salad” all the players will change their places. The player in the den tries to occupy a place which is empty while the others are trying to change their places. If he is able to occupy a place, the player left out becomes the den. If he can’t, he tries again.
Name of the Game: Red Light, Green Light
Age: 4 years and above
Material: nil
Number of Players: 2-40 players
Objective: To develop alertness, listening, association
Description: At first level, the game begins with understanding of traffic rules. Where Red means Stop, Yellow means slow walk and Green means Run. The facilitator calls out any of the colours aloud and the players run, walk or stop within the designated area. Players keep checking themselves whether they have followed the rule or not. Even if they are not able to follow, they can continue playing. Once some level of understanding and association has developed, new colours and their associate action can be introduced, for example – Blue for fish/bird (where they act as if they are flying or swimming), Brown for crawling, Rainbow for sleeping, Grey for jumping.
The author is part of the mirambika team – people involved as students, volunteers, student teachers and teachers present and past at mirambika research centre of integral education and human values, New Delhi. The team can be reached at mirambika.81@gmail.com, vegmaan.mbk@gmail.com.
