In a recent class with Osteopath Ron Murray, we were taught that the initial rhythms an embryo is exposed to are the beating of its own tiny heart going pitter pat very fast, contrasted to the mother’s relatively much slower heart beat. The embryological movements are of an enveloping of the arms around the developing heart, back supported, lengthening and anchoring in the uterine wall, coupled the reaching down of the legs to the mother beat in the umbilical cord. It occured to me how many times we use this movement. In Chi Gong for instance soft legs reach down into mother earth as we create a circle in front of our torso, cycling energy from/to all of the internal organs, the spine lengthened in two directions, the breath omnidirectional. In ballet, there is constant reference to the “gate” of first position of the arms, not just for use in pirouettes, but for every “preparation” movement at the barre or centre. It’s a gathering of energy, whether it’s a settling, as in the preparations, or a prelude to an explosion into space, as in jetes tournants or tours jetes.The idea, as best I understand it, is that every movement we accomplish in life has an antecedent in the womb. We wouldn’t be able to do them otherwise. The expansion of embryological arm or leg buds out to fully developed limbs presage every bending, twisting, spiraling, lengthening, compressing, pulling movements that we explore later. I just find that so cool!