Beginner Primal Movements to Rehab Modern Captivity

These are some of the movements I play with frequently in my daily movement practice. They are essential primal patterns that are accessible to anyone (minus the headstand, that's just for fun).In reality, we shouldn't have to turn any of these things into a "practice" or "workout" -- we'd do them automatically in nature. But because we've engineered movement out of our lives, we have to find a way to get them in.Here are just a few of the movements your body was designed to do every day.

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 The key is the squat. If you don't have a decent squat, it will make further progress in the locomotive patterns more difficult.I recommend accumulating at least 15 minutes in the squat every day. You can do it brushing your teeth, waiting for the bus, or even while you're eating lunch (that's what I do).Play around with these movements and let me know if you have any questions.

Is Your Environment Giving You a Shitty Body?

No practice, and your body is left up to chance, shaped by the molds of your environment.Unconsciously choosing our vocations, not knowing how they'll shape our bodies, we are at the mercy of fate. Whether you're a cubicle worker, a plumber, or a teacher, your form is grooved the the patterns of your days, mainly dictating by the majority of your time: work.By far the biggest factor in how stiff, kinked, coiled, open or aligned our bodies become is our environment. Our work, environment is most dominant, usually with our home being the second.We attempt to make up for this with some sort of exercise, usually inherited from fitness culture. Because most of us aren't required to move to survive very much, we have to find a way to get some form of movement in in order to stay relatively healthy. Hence, movement becomes compartmentalized in a fitness box."Get your 30 minutes of vigorous exercise in each day" we're told.There are two problems with this:

1. Most of us randomly choose a physical practice. A yoga class, hiking, Crossfit, or whatever. We're not considering all the variety of movements our bodies crave to thrive, so we inevitably end up missing some big pieces.
2. Movement is not meant to be a small, isolated part of your day. Our bodies have evolved to be on the move all day long, with way more complexity and spontaneity than we get, even if we regularly exercise.

If you sit at a desk all day, it's not enough to do yoga for 60 minutes and think that you've undone the damage. This is the same mindset that plagues yo-yo dieters, thinking they'll just "burn it off" later, or that they've "earned" eating horrible foods because of the workout they just did.A garbage movement diet all day is not made up for in a "green smoothie" of a yoga session. Is it a great start? Yes, absolutely, but we also need to address our environment.Our environment and habits will make up the bulk of our movement nutritional profile. The better our environment is suited for movement and encourages it, the more automatic getting a good movement diet becomes.However, if all you have in the pantry is cookies and junk food, it's likely that you'll eat it by default rather than going out and making a salad.So, how do we alter our environment and habits to make it more supportive of nutritious movement?Well, we should start with looking at our biggest deficiencies. Squatting, hanging, walking, and twisting are a few of the biggest ones. We simply don't do these things nearly to the level we have evolved to, and because of that, our bodies suffer.You can watch this video to learn more about them:When you have a phone call, can you spend it standing, or even better, walking outside?When you're brushing your teeth, or eating lunch, can you do it in a squat?Can you put a pull up bar in your doorway to hang and swing more frequently?Can you add more multi-planar, twisting, rotating and moving at odd angles to your training?These are simply starting points. Your starting point might be taking a micro break every 30 minutes for three minutes of movement. Some might say that is way too little, but it is where you need to start.Similarly, you need to transition from a 1 inch heel to maybe a half inch heel before you go completely minimalist with your footwear. Even then, the next progression is micro sessions of being barefoot, with a continuum of challenging the texture of terrain.The point is to get the ball rolling. If you can start it now with something small like a little hanging and squatting, then you can build from there. Maybe you commit to 10 minutes every morning for 30 days, then the next 30 it's 15 minutes every morning.Start from where you are. No excuses, just do what you can and make it a habit.Changing one thing and making it stick is better than being paralyzed by the perfect, ultimate plan.Over to you:What's one thing you'll change about your environment or habits to make you a better mover?

Sources:

1. Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman 

Breaking Free From Human Captivity: The Foundations of Purposeful Movement

Humans are not meant to live in cages.While we can move relatively freely if we choose, life has built boxes around our movement.Consider the range of motion of your shoulder for a moment. You have the ability to reach all the way overhead and behind you, but modern life puts everything in a small box of the total range your shoulder can move.Typing at a computer, cutting vegetables on a counter, washing dishes -- generally all of these movements are in a vary narrow box.Because our shoulders are meant to be more mobile and we don't use them fully, immobility and pain sets in.The shoulder is just one example, the same applies to our hips with the amount most of us sit (10+ hours of sitting a day is not natural!).We're not just confined in the way we move our bodies though. We are confined in the way we move through the world.We're told to play it safe, follow a template to predictable success. The corporate ladder and the American Dream restrict our movement into very narrow expressions of ourselves.The only way we can break free is by exploring our true movement capability, in body, mind and spirit.How would you move your body if not confined to human domestication?You'd do a lot more squatting, hanging, sprinting, and playing. You would not be just exposed to lots of ranges of motion, but also to many textures and shapes. Each rock you step on with you bare foot creates a new challenge and shape for your foot. Every branch is at a slightly different angle than the last.How would you move with purpose if not confined to a societal template of success?You'd probably be more connected with your deep heart, and your service to people you care about. You might find your own unique tribe that fuels and supports your great work. You would create a livelihood around your calling, not simply chasing success that never seems to arrive.The reality is that confinement is all around you and not all of it is necessarily bad. It's good to have structure and security. We need some amount of confinement to thrive.Your influences shape your limits. The right amount of structure creates freedom. Too little is pure chaos. Too much is crippling.Life is limitation. To be embodied is to live with limits.Are you consciously choosing and creating yours?