Experiential Learning is Embodied Learning

world peace is not a distance learning class

Kelly Kapic, in his book entitled Embodied Hope, observes that our identity often starts with a non-physical discussion, but eventually we must include our physical, embodied selves to understand ourselves and the world around us better.

Experiential learning, to me, is similar. We often start discussions about learning with ideas, but eventually we must inhabit a physical space. And we do so with physical bodies and this combination of land and life is what we often reflect on when we respond to an experience. Places and people are integral to the framework of experiential learning which often involved out-of-classroom experiences such as study abroad, internships, projects, and more. Let’s take study abroad or international education as an example.

Immersion used to be normative. Students did not go abroad thinking they were going to only talk to their own culture (many U.S. students now choose to go short-term with other Americans and many programs create spaces where it’s possible that Americans only talk to other Americans). Experiential learning was embodied.

One of the challenges in recent years, in a post-Covid-lockdown world, is that educators and students alike tried to normalize a disembodied way of doing things. We went virtual. We kept things going. We did so at a distance. And for many it didn’t and still doesn’t, work.

The experiential learning world has a distinctive place in the changing landscape of education and higher education. And to me, it is precisely in the reality that embodied life is itself experiential. We experience the world through our five senses most effectively. To those with a sixth sense, that discussion is for another day.

We remember the smells of new restaurants and new foods. We respond to the touch of another and we recall the images that make an imprint on our memories. We reflect on the music of another culture and we reorient to new tastes. Reflecting on a disembodied experience is akin to hearsay in a courtroom drama. You weren’t really there, so you’re now testifying as a witness that has information filtered to them through the lens of someone else.

This is why experiential learning appeals to so many. It’s transformative because it is personal. You have probably heard of the phrase ‘muscle memory’. Since I am Gen X, I have grown to love muscle memory more and more as my early 50’s actual memory takes longer to reboot with all the additive noise of the new technologies we use. Muscle memory helps me remember passwords. Muscle memory helps me remember phone numbers. Muscle memory helps me walk to the bathroom in the dark, in the middle of the night, without crashing into the wall. Embodied life is like that. Our own bodies are like an extra, more expansive data center capable of storing way more data than just our mental recall.

Experiential learning often disorients us initially and then asks us, through an embodied engagement, to reorient to a new way of doing things.

Bessel van der Kolk, in the book The Body Keeps the Score, makes this point:

“Being frightened means that you live in a body that is always on guard. Angry people live in angry bodies…In order to change, people need to become aware of their sensations and the way that their bodies interact with the world around them. Physical self-awareness is the first step in releasing the tyranny of the past.”

Experiential learning, in other words, starts to change us because it is an embodied way of learning. While The Body Keeps the Score is written with survivors of trauma in mind, the disorientation of engaging new people and places is still an embodied one.

I have been in a lot of discussions about the value proposition of higher ed or study abroad and why the trade schools should not be ignored. What trade schools have as an advantage for many is that they are experiential. Now, do we need stories and grand narratives? Yes, storytelling is our native human language and it’s most often how we talk to one another.

Yet, the reason things like study abroad and off-campus programming will remain relevant in a world that is transactional is precisely because an embodied learning experience is the one that we most often remember the longest and those memories will rewire our stories in such a way that we now view the world differently. In our divided world, we will collaborate and cooperate more when we have shared experiences that are examples of embodied engagement. We can’t lob love and peace at one another from a distance. We can’t toss a helping hand from down the road when the storms come. We will need to learn and relearn that experiential learning truly sticks because it is embodied learning. And that will matter more and more in the coming months and years.