Doors, Not Windows, Open Spaces, Not Cages
A movement can be a door or a window.An easy example of this is the squat. The squat as an exercise or a resting posture is simply a window one looks out of. It's a nice place to visit, but it doesn't really take you anywhere else. You've arrived at the destination, you see some interesting things, and you move on. Not much participation, exploring or engagement.It's kind of like stopping off the road at a lookout. You check out the view, snap a few pictures, post #awesomeview and continue your journey.The squat as an exercise is similar to this experience. There's a bit more engagement, but it doesn't go beyond the rails of the prescribed pattern of movement. In fact, there is often an obsession with perfectly moving inside the lines. The perfect form, the perfect posture.There is certainly value in mastering a particularly move, but it shouldn't end here.The squat as a door is an entirely different experience. You realize that there is no one true squat, even done as an exercise, not one will ever be quite the same.A good way to break up your squat is to play with reaching in it.
The squat from a door perspective is not one move, but an entire range or category of infinite moves that look like the shape of squatting.Where a squat and ends begin no one really knows!This way squatting becomes a dynamic movement that you use for every day life. Eating breakfast, folding laundry, chopping vegetables and watching Game of Thrones can all be done from squatting positions, dynamic or static.It transforms into a link between other moves. Sit to squat to cartwheel. Squat to bridge to squat to handstand to bridge to squat.Or maybe even squat around a tree?
Move with your squat, in your squat, around the squat, and the squat itself becomes a land of infinite doors for you to choose from.[clickToTweet tweet="Doors lead to new experiences and freedom. Windows are built to look out from boxes." quote="Doors lead to new experiences and freedom. Windows are built to look out from boxes."]It's interesting to look out, but it's much funner to participate.Step out the door. Leave your box. Choose doors, not just windows, open spaces, not cages.Note: Special thanks to Ido Portal and his students for exposing me to this concept at their Movement X workshop. It completely changed the way I look at movement.