Movement IS Life

I have inspiration to write about my friend Adam as he is dealing with some pretty major issues in his life right now.

Due to an accident while on vacation in Nicaragua less than two weeks ago, he suffered a severely broken neck, and has (temporarily) lost his ability to move - he’s paralyzed from the neck down.

I say temporarily because with the brain and nervous system, nothing is set in stone. It is constantly changing based on experience. Provided the necessary experiences, some pretty miraculous things are possible.

The following statement has never rung more true to me that right now:

“Movement is life.”

Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais coined this phrase. He was a pioneer in his understanding of how truly important movement is in our lives, as well as how much potential for change exists.

However, with the majority of folks in the world, movement is so ubiquitous, so ever present in every moment in our lives, that most take it for granted.

It something that we are ALWAYS doing – there is movement always occurring in the body regardless of what activity we are taking part in. Heck, when you are sleeping, your ribcage is moving. Your diaphragm is acting as a bellow to both bring in, and then expel, the air that is keeping you alive.

When movement stops, life ceases to exist – it’s that simple.

What most often fail to realize is that this ubiquitous part of life – movement – can not only continue to be refined, but must be refined for us to experience life long energy and vitality, as well as mental acuity.

Don’t get me wrong; habits are a necessary part of life. If we had to think about everything that it is that we do on a daily basis, our ability to accomplish our goals would definitely suffer.

However, as with anything that we do, if we get entrenched into our daily habits, and we no longer seek novelty, we cease experiencing variations.

When we no longer experience variation, we halt the learning process.

Halting this learning process arrests our development and our ability to evolve.

You see, in life, never do we “arrive”.  Some may believe this to be so, but this is false thinking.

We are all on a continuum based on where we are at and what is possible. When we stop engaging in the learning process, especially with movement, we become entrenched in our habits and continue to “burn” in patterns of action that aren’t advantageous to our structures.

Unfortunately, we don’t notice the downside of our movement choices until later when we begin to experience pain and limitation.

When someone throws their back out tying their shoes, it wasn’t the act of tying their shoes that caused it. That action was simply the straw that, pardon the pun, broke the camel’s back.

It was the accumulation of all the poorly executed actions up to that point that enabled the simple act of tying one’s shoes to cause severe pain and limitation.

Once people (and corporations) begin to take advantage of this hugely untapped source of learning – movement – we will begin to see some amazing outcomes.

Productivity will skyrocket!

Don’t believe me? The Journal of the American Medical association has recently estimated that over $61 billion dollars per year are lost due to common chronic pain conditions! Seventy-six percent (76%) of that is while the employees are AT work!

On top of that, the impact of stress holds an estimated price tag to US businesses of over $300 billon dollars per year.

And again, as I’ve written many times before, stress is a somatic experience – we experience it with our whole selves. There is a body pattern that accompanies stress, anxiety, and fear.

When left unchecked, and no opportunities are presented to learn how to better deal with chronic pain and stress (when there are no opportunities to learn more efficient movement patterns), we enter into a cycle of dysfunction.

We begin to slowly circle the drain.

With movement, as in life, everything is a choice. You can choose to remain in your entrenched movement habits, or you can seek variation in what it is that you do when moving in the world.

Movement is ALWAYS good to upgrade for yourself.

And unlike most folks, Adam knew this. 

He appreciated what it meant to learn more refined movement. I have worked with him for over two years and to see what he had become was to see a more fully evolved human being.

His ability to handle stress had improved immensely. His output at work had skyrocketed!

And it could have played a part in saving his life – who knows!?

Regardless, I look forward to working together with Adam upon his return from Nicaragua.

Helping him to hopefully put the pieces of the movement puzzle together once again.

I ask you this: don’t wait until something (movement) has been taken away from you before you realize what a gift it is.

Take advantage of every opportunity to improve yourself - and your movement.

You might be shocked at the outcomes.

LET ME ASK YOU THIS…
What do you do on a daily basis that takes advantage of, and improves, your ability to move?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
Log into Adam's journal and send him some encouragement here.

*****

Chad Estes
Movement Specialist