The author is naturally a kinesthetic learner. As a child she was steeped in the wilds of seashore, fields, and woods in which she was free to roam, explore, and imagine in a deeply sensual, movement-oriented world. Because of these first experiences of freedom of movement and spontaneity in the highly intense natural world, she found the restrictions of school learning and ballet class exhausting, confusing, and emotionally de-centering. As an undergraduate, she shifted her major from dance to education. Her decision was motivated by a need to understand why intelligent, creative children can fail in school. As a graduate student, her personal history led her to approach the nature of learning from a creative, movement-based perspective. She studied brain evolution and development, motor-sensory integration, dance and the language of movement, creative process, and child therapies. Through this study she came to formulate an interdisciplinary understanding of learning. Her understanding is the thesis of this article--(1) movement is the foundation for learning and development; (2) learning is a natural life process of which art making (aesthetic perception and intelligence) is part and parcel, and (3) movement is primary in art making. This article defends this three-part thesis within the context of a discussion of natural freedom versus external control of movement and self-expression.