Movement Patterns - Instantly Recognizable

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Last month I made a quick trip to Minneapolis to visit my elderly Aunt and Uncle. We had a great visit, made even more enjoyable by a meal at one of my favorite restaurants in the whole world, the Birchwood Cafe.

I began that morning with a long, leisurely run around the University of Minnesota campus. I always like exploring the campus, alternately taking in all the new construction and updates, and fondly remembering my days as an undergrad at the "U." I ended the run at the Birchwood, where I reveled in post-workout bliss over a pot of green tea. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the kitchen staff hurriedly move through the dining area. Immediately the thought flashed into my mind, that's Matt Worthington! (not his real name). Without even seeing his face, I immediately knew the identity of the person through his movements.

The Birchwood Cafe
While I've known the owner of the Birchwood Cafe for 30+ years, I had not seen or thought of Matt since we worked together at a Minneapolis coop in the mid-80's. Despite not having seen him for all these years, I immediately recognized Matt through his gait. Not that his gait was anomalous or otherwise out of the ordinary. His movements were actually quite ordinary. What struck me was how we each have our signature ways of carrying and moving our bodies, and the extent to which the movements of others imprints into our sense of who they are.

Our texting/Facebook-ing/Instagram-ing world tends to focus on the curated expressions of our thoughts. While words are important, we are far more than disembodied thoughts and ideas - human life is an embodied experience. I was renewed in my appreciation for the depth in which humans relate to other humans in an embodied way, and hope to continue deepening my understanding of this embodied life.

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