By Erwan Le Corre, MovNat Founder
Photo credit: Wrigley Field Chicago Cubs Baseball 1932 via @history_and_stories
This photo shows a time not so long ago when Natural Movement was still a natural thing to most people. Adults and kids, countryside and city-dwellers altogether, would climb trees, walls, would run and carry stuff, among other useful, natural movements they would do for practical reasons or for entertainment alone. They would move because they had to but also because they could.
There wasn’t an overwhelming, ever-present and dramatic fear of an accident for the simple act of moving through the real world. Nobody would be calling 911, which didn’t even exist back then. That is because most people still had the physical capability of doing these things. And other people trusted in their own judgment and capability and trusted that others possessed the same sense of personal responsibility. You could spontaneously use your physical abilities whenever the occasions of using them presented themselves; for work, fun, or simply to help others. And nobody thought twice about it.
The true value of having a body is not in how it looks, but in how it serves you, the freedom of movement it gives you, so you can enjoy the sole pleasure of moving your body, but also moving through the world and achieving what you want.
Yet, that’s truly what modern society as a whole has almost forgotten. You don’t believe me? Just look around. Most people do not know how to effectively operate their own body in the real world, beyond sitting, standing and walking…mostly on flat, stable, linear artificial environments totally disconnected from nature.
It has reached levels where physically moving outside of what feels strictly conventional feels unsafe to most people. It feels unsafe for them to move their own body’s in natural ways, and it also feels unsafe to them when they see others doing it. You could literally be reported to authorities for displaying a “suspicious” behavior; for instance for jumping, balancing, crawling, or climbing (i.e for moving naturally), in what would be considered the wrong place.
Trust me, it has happened to me a few times in my decades of Natural Movement practice. But it was never actually because I was in the so-called wrong place or at the so-called wrong time that some people complained, but because it seemed to them that I was having the “wrong” behavior. Normal adults can’t move like that. Something must be wrong with them, right? Perhaps it could be a threat to normal people’s safety. It is already a threat to their sense of normalcy; strong enough for them to pick up their phone and expect the police to do something about it, as if it was some kind of a crime to run, jump, crawl, or balance.
This is the sad state of affairs we have reached. I hope we wake up and decide to reclaim our sense of physical freedom as individuals and communities before it’s too late.
“Use it or lose it,” they say. So much has already been lost. Recovery will have to happen both at an individual and collective level. It may seem impossible considering the direction we’re heading. But it can start right now for you, if you decide to move again the way you’re designed to, the way that empowers you and makes you a physically capable and free person. What kind of human being do you want to be?
Get Started With Natural Movement Fitness – TODAY!
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