Embodiment is a Performance Enhancing Drug

It's not a pill, potion or powder.It costs absolutely nothing. You don't need any special certification or training to do it.Always available on demand, you can do it absolutely anywhere. It makes you faster, stronger and maybe even smarter.Somehow though, it always seems to slip under the radar. There is no hype or trendy bandwagon when it comes to embodiment. It is simple, unassuming and powerful in a calm, settled way.Now, don't let that calmness fool you. Deeper levels of embodiment can allow you to explode in a fury of power and stunning explosiveness. It can also allow you to move with grace and seemingly mystical effortlessness.So, if it's so powerful, why don't more people practice embodiment? Why isn't it taught at every gym and sports program nationwide?

Traditional embodiment practices

First of all, for a long time embodiment practices like meditation have been seen as strange and esoteric. That's changing a lot. It doesn't hurt when one of the top hedge fund managers in the world credits meditation for his success.Qigong, taichi, yoga and tantra are some of the other practices that develop greater body awareness and internal sensitivity that can have profound effects on your training. Each of these have a meditative quality to them, but focus on meditation through movement.The question I've been asking is this: Do these arts have to stay in their own compartment, sentenced to an individual isolated bubble of your day?And... can they be incorporated inside of a movement practice, like parkour, gymnastics, handbalancing, or just going and working out at the gym?Yes, absolutely. In fact, I think it's insane not to utilize them.Why? Here are just a few benefits you can look forward to integrating more embodiment practice into your training routine:

• Better control and balance. The more conscious and present you are (embodied) the more you're able to make minor adjustments and corrections.
• Greater tension and recruitment, or greater relaxation and ease. This leads to greater strength gains, or greater increases in flexibility.
• A clear signal to your nervous system that it's safe to move through a range of motion. The more present and relaxed you are, the more you get the "green light" from your body to proceed.
• A greater sense of power and ability to stop, start or change direction. Because of this, embodiment can potentially make you more aware of when something is off so you can avoid injury before it happens.
• Being more sexy. Haven't you noticed that people that are more in their body and grounded just feel more attractive?
• Relief from stress. The more embodied and present you are, the less you're worrying about things you have to do later.
• Greater awareness can help you learn movement patterns quicker, leading to more skillful, beautiful movement.

However, you know just as well as I do that this is far from the norm.All you have to do is walk into any gym to see it. Walking heads on a stick everywhere.Most people have their headphones on or are tuning into some kind of screen. What does this mean? They're tuning out of their bodies.Even if they aren't distracted by their favorite device, they're likely just mindlessly going through the motions (this is what I did for years).Whether or not you have an interest in pursuing qigong or yoga as a lifetime pursuit, you can learn a lot from picking one of these up and exploring it for a few months. Even a simple sitting meditation practice, focusing on your breath and the sensations in your body can be amazing for your movement practice.I recommending having a base of practice with some sort of meditation or body awareness technique before you try integrating it into your regular training.Once you've got a few months under your belt, you can start embedding more serious embodiment practice into your routine.Here's what a typical strength and mobility movement practice looks like for me:Full body join warmup - 10mStrength and mobility session - 5 sets each

• Handstand pushups - 3 reps
• Middle splits progression - 5 reps
• 90 seconds rest
• Staggered grip chinups - 3 reps each side
• Front splits progression - 5 reps
• 90 seconds rest

Looks pretty standard, right?But here's watch how it transform when I add more embodiment practice into my flow:Full body joint warmup - 10mQigong practice - 10m

• Handstand pushups - 3 reps
• Middle splits progression - 5 reps
• 90 second standing meditation
• Staggered grip chinups - 3 reps each side
• Front splits progression - 5 reps
• 90 second standing meditation

With the second program I am starting my session with a condensed qigong session. I do the Fire Dragon Meridian Qigong from Master Wu.If I have a lot of time, I'll do the full form. If not, I'll just go through a few of the opening movements.The second thing you'll notice is that I've transformed my rest periods into standing meditations. I bend my knees and sink my weight into my lower body, similar to a horse stance. This especially helps when a lot of your energy is going up with upper body movements. Your energy is regrounded.In this stance I focus on breathing deeply and feeling into my body. Then I turn my attention to awareness of the space around me, I find this has a calming effect and helps with the energy not collapsing internally.When the time is up, I move on to the next exercise.I mean, you're going to be resting anyway, why not get the maximum benefit out of it?

Adapting to more explosive workouts

If I'm doing more explosive movements in my workout, I might focus on more jaw wide open, breathing through the mouth in a slight back bend. Here's an example from Elliot Hulse.This helps open the front of the body and floods the body with oxygen to aid in recovery. You're still keep the energy high, rather than calming yourself with the horse stance meditation (this one I've found is better for slower, more controlled training sessions).This approach to combining fitness and meditation, the physical and the energetic is a direct result of my work as a trainer under Metaphysical Fitness. Were it not for the support and guidance of Justin, I'd probably be spending years trying to figure out how to integrate these various aspects of my training.I should also note that the integrated mobility following strength exercises is something I learned from Coach Sommers from the the Gymnastic Bodies program. I've been using this protocol in my training ever since and it's a great way to make sure you're complimenting your strength with mobility work. The actual strength and mobility programming was designed by my coach, Justin Goodhart, which I highly recommend.Obviously, the example I've given here is a very strength and mobility focused routine. I'm working on the hardware of my body, not so much specific movement practice or play.But this doesn't have to be limited to strength and flexibility work. You can do a short meditation as a warmup for parkour or gymnastics class. During water breaks you can ground back into your body and regain a sense of calm and renewed focus.

Remembering your purpose

For even greater affect, try reminding yourself of why you practice during your rest periods.

• What's your personal reason for doing this?
• How does it impact your family and friends?
• How does this affect your work and goals in life?

To be honest, sometimes I forget to do this with my training sessions. It would probably be a good idea for me to set a reminder or use a stick note to remember my purpose with my practice.

It doesn't have to be fragmented

For a long time I kept my meditation separate from my physical training. Everything stayed in neat, little individual boxes.The only problem is that I felt like I was being pulled in a thousand different directions. My meditation practice was lackluster, and my progress in my training was always jumpy and inconsistent.You don't have to keep your interests separate. In fact, I'm a firm believer that when you find ways to integrate, or embed your goals the process unfolds with much greater ease.Does this perspective take time to adapt to? Yes, definitely. For me it felt weird at first. I would constantly forget to use my rest periods as meditations and just pick up my phone instead out of habit or distract myself somehow.Cut out the distractions:

• Turning your phone off definitely helps. At least put it in airplane mode.
• Keep it simple. You don't have to do a full yoga, qigong or 30 minute meditation session before your training.
• Stick with silence or instrumental music. Audio books, podcasts or music with vocals can deter from the quality of your practice. Instead listen to these when you're walking or running.

Go easy on yourself if this is a new approach for you and just do what you can.Even a small dose of embodiment can improve your strength.Use it carefully, use it wisely. This drug has not yet been approved by the FDA. ;)If you're at all interested in exploring this work further, consider booking a coaching consultation with me.Over to you: any weird or off-the-wall things you do that improve your training sessions? Share with us in the comments.PS: If you got even a little value out of this, please give back by sharing with whatever social network you use. It helps me create more free articles like this one for you.

Daily Squat Mobility Routine

Is your squat super tight? Do you have trouble keeping your back straight and not falling over?You are definitely not alone.As humans we should be able to go in and out of the squat with relative ease. It is after all, the "natural chair."However, sitting shortens our hamstrings and tightens the hip flexors, making squatting pretty uncomfortable. Add tight calves or ankles to the mix and you're going to be pretty damn uncomfortable squatting even for a few seconds.While just squatting more is a good idea (and using assisted squatting), you probably need more than that to really help you open up and rehab your squat.Here are some exercises I recommend you add to your daily routine, they'll help you stretch out the back of your legs and loosen up the hips.

Watch the daily squat opener routine:

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Remember, the squat is a posture we're meant to move with and from.Don't just squat there! Move!Twist, reach, pull, crawl, and jump. See what sort of movements your squat can give you access to. In the video above I show how you can even use the squat as an entry to the handstand (with enough practice, of course!).Try incorporating more movement into your squat and you should see some big progress.Here are some ways you can squat more without having to exercise more:

• Squat when you open the fridge to grab a snack.
• Squat while you are putting away the dishes in the lower cupboards.
• Squat while you fold the laundry.
• Squat while you sweep/mop.

As you can see, you can and should move with the squat. And it's a great movement "doorway" that links other movements for play and quadrupedal movement.The squat can be an entry to the monkey or bear crawl or even a cartwheel.[clickToTweet tweet="Squatting is the new sitting. Chairs are overrated" quote="Squatting is the new sitting. Chairs are overrated"]Have fun with it and remember to move in your squat!Be active, not passive.Happy squatting.I want to hear from YOU now:What is your favorite way to get more natural movement into your day without "exercising"? Share your tips with us in the comments below.

[Video] How to do the Deep, Flat-Footed Squat

As you've probably been hearing me talk about, squatting is the natural human resting position.I'm not talking about squatting as an exercise, or barbell squatting. I'm talking about the deep, flat-footed squat.Some people call this the "ass to grass" squat. This posture is how we evolved to "sit" before the modern use of chairs (which we've only been using for about 100 years or so to a significant degree).If you can't get into a full, flat-footed squat without falling over, don't worry, you are not in the minority. Most people in the developed world have lost their ability to squat comfortably. Pain is the reason most people hate exercising (and because it's boring).In this video I share with you step-by-step progressions for reclaiming your squat. No matter where you're at, you'll find a progression in here you can use.

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Here are the progressions:

1. Unloaded squat (pelvis neutral) lying on your back
2. Wall squat hold (back to wall)
3. Front assisted squat
4. Full squat, lower and pause at bottom for 5 seconds, repeat for reps
5. Full, flat-footed squat hold -- if you can't hold this for at least 30 seconds comfortably, you need to move back to the assisted squat

For a more detailed routine, check out the squat mobility routine here.

Avoid death-by-sitting: start squatting

You've probably heard the headlines "Sitting is the New Smoking" - while I'm not sure if that's true or not, it's clearly not great for you.We are not meant to sit for long periods of time. Just think back to school as a child, you had to be trained to be able to sit still. It's not a natural ability by any means.Not only does it create lots of postural imbalances, but it puts you in a static position for a long period of time.[clickToTweet tweet="Humans are not machines. We're meant to move." quote="Humans are not machines. We're meant to move."]Squatting while you work, or at least taking squatting breaks is one way to combat the effects of long-term sitting. It's not a panacea, but it's certainly a great place to start.

Recommended squatting daily allowance

Just as we have RDAs (recommended daily allowance) for vitamins and minerals, we too should have "RDAs" for natural movements.In the wild, we'd get these daily minimums without any thought or planning. In the domesticated world, we have to artificially build them in.The good news is that once you build the habit, you'll just start squatting automatically without having to think about it.I recommend squatting for an average of about 30 minutes a day. Once you've achieved a decent proficiency holding the deep squat, you'll want to start playing with moving while squatting.Squatting was used in the wild for many human activities, probably mostly for foraging and playing. You wouldn't just sit there during these activities. You'd be reaching, crawling, twisting and pulling.An interesting experiment is to simply go out in your yard and imagine yourself foraging while in a squat. What kind of movements do you feel drawn to do? Those are likely pretty close to what you'd do while foraging in the wild.

Movement debt and remembering to be patient

One of the hallmarks I see in modern fitness is this complete lack of patience. We want to just be able to do it, and we want to do it now.Remember, you didn't get where you are overnight. It took a lot of sitting and bad habits to get here.It will take time to undo the years or decades of domestication and static living.Be patient with yourself. Enjoy the journey and go easy on yourself.You're starting now.

Download: Free squat flexibility routine you can do anywhere

In this series I go deeper into the squat, and how you can free up the hips, ankles and spine.You'll get detailed instruction, including sets, reps and a video you can use from any device.Send me the guide

How to Make Every Day Chores into Movement Practice

Doing chores around the house doesn't have to be boring or something you dread.Not if you approach it with a little creativity.Yesterday I was mopping the floor because we had a big ant invasion. So, I thought I'd mop and do a little ninja training and record this video for you in the process.I lost count with the number of things I accomplished with this:

• cleaned the floor
• killed ants
• practiced squatting
• practiced lower body mobility
• did some ninja training
• titillated my wife (you'll know what I mean at the end)

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Some other ideas for making every day activities a movement practice:

• Make cleaning mirrors and windows a martial arts practice - "wax on! wax off!"
• Do the dishes in horse stance or balance on one leg
• Fold the laundry while squatting or on all fours
• Find an obstacle course to follow on your way to taking the recycling out
• Do the same as mopping and turn sweeping and vacuuming into a squat and lower body mobility session

Your turn. Can you turn an every day chore or activity into movement practice?Leave a comment below, or post a pic or video in the movement lifestyle group.

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.