We have a disconnected relationship with movement!

MOVE!!!! We are designed to.

As defined by culture, exercise seems to be an "extracurricular" activity that the abnormal partake in during planned times of the day. Yes, I said abnormal. Not to mean something is wrong with this group. What I do mean is that these people make up a small part of the population that engages in the one activity that we are designed to do. MOVE.

Our human anatomy and physiology are a testament to this. We have limbs that have built within it a strong power of intention. When this intention is activated via our central nervous system, we are able to lunge, squat, throw, push, pull, twist, extend, and manipulate objects in our immediate environment. What's more is that our metabolic systems are made to consume energy and convert it into a form that we can use to move. Our heart pumps blood to essential parts of our bodies, our lungs exchange air, our endocrine systems regulate hormone production, and our musculoskeletal system provides integrity and structure for all processes to operate. Everything down to the most fundamental process supports movement, and yet we have lost touch with this. We have a strange relationship with our bodies. So disconnected. So out of control.

Lets back it up from the science and take a look into your childhood. Do you remember when you were 5 years old? When you saw that playground and thought I'm going to go to town on these monkey bars! Ok maybe you didn't think that. But you felt that.Your whole body gravitated towards the slides, the bars, the seesaws, and ladders. There was no thought. Just an intuitive sense to experience the world through playing.

Even further than that, take a walk down into our primal ancestry. We walked to travel, ran, hunted and gathered, labored, fought, and had sex. If we didn't move to perform these activities, we died. Our genes didn't survive to be passed along to the next generation. It was abnormal to be overweight, sedentary, or to have faulty posture and muscular imbalances.

The times sure have changed. The normal is the overweight, sedentary, and faulty postured individual. We no longer possess the control and empowerment over our bodies. Culture has shaped our society to where everything is convenient. There is no demand for movement. At least not until we develop "dis"-ease, or "dys"-function. The infamous use it or lose it reverberates in my mind as I write this. Lose it, and slip into depression, loss of vitality, fogginess, loss of function, and pain. Engage in it, and maintain the capacity to pursue what you really want in life.

Want to travel? Want to play with your kids? Play that sport you love? Hang out with friends? Pursue your dreams and passions? Exist?

MOVE.

much love,
              Sumair