Are you going to Survive?
As we talk about movement as life, let’s consider the concept of survival. We have all but completely eliminated the need to move at this point in our evolution compared to the amount and quality of movement our ancestors performed simply to survive by hunting, and gathering. When you sit at a desk all day, or perform a repetitive tasks for an 8 hour shift, you see that our modern way of movement is seriously lacking. Lacking in variety, lacking in challenge, lacking in quality. Could you perform a seasonal trek or migration that your ancestors faced on a daily basis? If your not consciously moving on a daily basis now, you certainly would have perished then. Most of the population couldn’t hack a nomadic lifestyle today, and they’d be pretty poor hunters. Movement is life, and life is survival. To be clear I am not opposed to technology, we need to utilize it, however not fall victim to it. We all need to ask ourselves \”what is the cost of convenience?\”.
Are you living to move?
If movement is life, what is life without fun? Movement is also fun and joy. It is the ability to communicate. Think about how your body works at a party. When you speak to someone you push air out of your lungs, move the muscles in your neck, jaw, and lips to create sound. If there is good music, you can use your body to dance and relax; expressing joy through your movements.
Movement is your own private pharmaceutical company. Movement produces a very distinct hormone profile relative to movement you are performing. Lifting something heavy and taking long breaks produces a different hormonal profile than sprinting, meditating, or stretching. All different movements create different hormonal profiles and these hormones dictate how you feel; movement is a powerful drug. Movement should be the drug of choice.
Movement is learning. We all start as babies; helpless as far as muscular skeletal movement is concerned. Yet, our heart muscles and the digestive tract works so it’s not that we aren’t movers; it’s that we are very simplistic, we’re un-evolved movers at birth. After several months we crawl, roll, walk. We begin as motor-sensory beings. Basically we flail around with little purpose, bump into thing and experience them. We tend to follow a certain hierarchy of movements until we gain the abilities to jump, run, twist, and coordinate our bodies, we become sensory-motor beings moving with purpose. We learn from trial and error like many things in life. I have a couple of kids and I’ve watched them grow and develop; I can’t count how many times they got stuck on their bellies before rolling onto their backs, fell when they were trying to stand. Then suddenly they could stand without falling and then they fall when they walk and then they fall when they run and fall when they ride a bike. I suppose I shouldn’t say \”they\”, I should say \”we\”, since it is one thing we all go through. We all got to where we are now by learning through movement. Our bodies crave constant learning and movement; and this movement creates neuroplasticy (changes in the brains neural connections).
Movement and life are freedom. In a basic sense it’s the freedom to get up and just go where you want. It’s the freedom to pick up your child, move an objects out of the way, and transport yourself to having an experience. If your movement is limited in any way, you’re missing out on certain parts of life and the wonderful ability to experience it to its fullest. It is a big deal, and that is why we train our muscular system. It’s not just about aesthetics, or being strong, it’s about movement and freedom; living your life on your terms and enjoying it. So get moving, and if you are a mover, move more!
Stay tuned next week we break down the Primal Pattern Movements…..
