Movement is an enormous part of our lives as soon as we are born. Our locomotion evolves from crawling, to walking, to running, to climbing, jumping, swinging, skipping, and so on.
I have always asked why this is, trying to figure out what it might be that pushes us, as children, to always be trying these new movement patterns as soon as our body can handle them.
It’s dawned on me that there isn’t necessarily a reason; it’s just part of us. It’s who we are in a way. It is literally written into our DNA.
Humans have always had to use their bodies to get things done or make things happen. Thousands of years ago, this meant doing things like hunting for food, foraging, finding water, setting up and tearing down camps, harvesting wood to make fire, and even migrating as a tribe from place to place.
Life has always been very much about constant movement. Until now, of course, when movement is viewed as a way to get exercise in because almost the entire day has been spent sitting in a chair, or driving in a car, or slouching on a couch.
One hour at the gym will not offset 23 hours of sedentary life. No exceptions.
In the past, even the more sedentary actions were done in a more natural way. Things like cooking, eating, socializing, resting, and defecating were often done in a deep-squatted position.
When people were sitting, it wasn’t in a perfectly 90 degree angled chair or on a cushy couch, it was on the ground or another hard surface.
People utilized constant, low-intensity movement throughout their days whereas now we try to make short, explosive bursts of activity in our day thinking that it will make up for the rest of the time lost. But this is not how it works for our body.
Without constant movement, we get tight, achy, and lose abilities we once had but no longer utilize so our body adapts away from it.
This is why we experience so many injuries as athletes today and struggle to figure out what the deeper-lying cause could be and its simple! We just don’t move enough and therefore, our bodies aren’t forced to react and adapt to new situations and challenges.
The body should be incredibly robust. It should be supple, strong, and adaptable; all things we have lost in our current lifestyles.
It is movement that keeps our bodies supple, not stretching or “warming up” for some activity.
It is movement that keeps us pain-free, lubricating our joints and keeping the muscles activated and ready for use, not pain pills or support braces or extra cushion.
It is movement that keeps us strong, stabilizing the weight of the body and performing physical labor consistently throughout the day, not lifting weights at the gym that are heavier than our body within isolated exercises.
It is actually many of these modern elements as well as our substantial decrease in activity over time that are leaving us as shadows of our past ancestors and fractions of what our full potential could be.
Scott Sonnon, world renowned fitness trainer, says,
“From the seated culture that most people in civilization suffer, there are certain adaptations that happen to the body that have changed the way they carry themselves, the capacity for their movement, and as a result, the changes in the postural alignment as a result of the civilized lifestyle have led to different emotional capacities and mental states. So you can see in the change of posture and movement capacity, a change in feelings and thoughts.”
He goes on to say,
“The human brain didn’t evolve to think, did not evolve to feel, did not evolve for higher concepts; it evolved specifically for complex movement. So by limiting the movement capacity, we’ve diminished the neuroplastic atmosphere in our brains so the adaptations have started to reduce, which leads to a backslide in what we’re capable of imagining and our capacity for expanded emotional sensitivity.”
Being that 50% of our brain is dedicated to movement capacity, and that this part of the brain is what activates and stimulates the rest of the brain, our capacity for movement dominates our overall sense of well-being.
The more diminished our movement complexity (and quantity) is, the more our mental wellness will suffer.
Additionally, it’s been proven with scientific research that exercise, specifically complex movement, turns on the attention system. Executive functions like sequencing, working memory, prioritization, and sustaining attention are all massively diminished when we lack complex movement.
We have only seen degenerative changes in our physical and mental condition beginning around 12,000 years ago and continuing on to today with its rate only increasing.
Overall, I’m tired of movement being classed as “exercise” or “working out” when it is intended to be a large part of our daily life. It is such a crucial aspect of our wellness formula and has been neglected for far too long.
That is why I’m taking it upon myself to shed more light onto this topic of movement in pursuit of a truly natural lifestyle and as a remedy to many of the modern ailments we suffer today.
This post is an official introduction to a new segment of this site that will teach you how to apply ancient movement principles in the modern world for a pain-free, energy-filled, rewarding lifestyle.
You may find that you can solve chronic pain, injuries, low energy, and much more when you choose to incorporate more natural movement into your days.
Stick around to see what natural movement can do for you!
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