Are You Free?

It's Independence Day here in the United States. A day we celebrate freedom. A day to spend with family, friends, and neighbors as we grill some burgers, dogs, or chicken. We are free. Free to live and enjoy our lives, free to pursue happiness, free to make our own decisions about almost anything.

Freedom is a wonderful thing. There is nothing like being free. Though it may be difficult to truly appreciate freedom unless you are not free. Many of us, by the way, are not free. There are multiple areas and degrees of freedom that a person can experience. There is one area of freedom, however, that all of us should be able to enjoy no matter who we are or what country we live in: The freedom of movement. 

Are you free? Are you free to move? Are you free to go outside and hike up any mountain, or conquer any adventure that your imagination creates? Or, are you caged up inside of your own body? When you see other people outside living adventures, do you long to do the same? When you see children skipping around the neighborhood, or playing in the park, do you wish you could swing from the monkey bars like you once did? Does fear or doubt grip you when you think about sprinting across a grass field, or when you think about picking up an awkward piece of furniture? Do your first thoughts go towards your "bad back" or your "bad knee" when you go to pick up your laundry from the floor? 

Many of us are prisoners in our own bodies. We fear our own ability to move without pain or injury. We are simply not created to live this way. We should be able to play and live like we did when we were a child. Adults are supposed to be "big children". Why would we spend so much time developing our strength, coordination, balance, posture, and athleticism the first 5 years of our lives if we were just supposed to lose it the last 75 years of our lives? That doesn't even make sense. We are supposed to be athletic and agile well into our golden years, until the day we decide we no longer want to be so - hopefully, we never decide that. 

Some of you reading this may think you are free, non of what I am saying applies to you. But ask yourself, are you really free. When you "exercise", if you "exercise", do you spend 30 minutes warming up? Do you spend 15 minutes on a foam roller? Do you have to do "corrective" exercises just to do your other exercises? If your warmup takes longer than 2 minutes, are you really free? Or, are you trapped in a warm-up ritual? Or, even worse, are you held prisoner by the belief if you don't do these things, you will hurt yourself?

This is not right. Our first thoughts should never be about our mortality, our injury history, our tricky hip, or our imagined fear of future injury. We were not made to be fragile. And, we were certainly not made to live in a cage of fear. 

No matter what condition your body is in, it can be restored. You can regain your freedom. You may have issues that may take more time and effort, or even a miracle, but guess what. You can still make those issues better. Heck, you may even find a miracle or two if you start moving the way you were designed to move. The body is more amazing than we even know. It was made to be whole: Strong, resilient, athletic. It was not made to be broken: Weak, immobile, fragile. Your brain was also made to be whole: Confident, fearless, strong; not fearful. 

Are you free? Free to move? Free to play? Free from fear? Free from 30 to 40 minute daily preparatory movement routines? Just as this country fought for its freedom, you can fight for yours. Do not settle for less. If you are not free, if you are caged inside your own body and mind, fight to regain your freedom. That is where life happens.

How do you start fighting for your freedom? The same way you fought for it when you were a baby. You earned it, learned it, and created it through learning how to move. Those same movements that once made you free, will still work today. You can absolutely regain your original freedom by restoring your original strength. 

Happy Freedom Day!

Articulating Joints

Joints - we have them. Lots of them. There are 206 bones in the human body. Bones that are joined together at well, joints. Have you ever wondered how many total joints are in the body? I actually looked this up, the answer varies. So I'll just say that the body is simply full of joints. In the human foot alone, there are 33 movable joints. 

We are one big pile of moving joints. Do you know why we have so many joints? It is the same reason that we have so many muscles. Because we were made to move! Our entire design screams out  for us to "move!" Everything about us cries out for movement.

Our vestibular system ties us together through movement. Our muscles are strengthened and trained through movement. Our brains are developed and enhanced through movement. Our bones are connected through moving joints. Our digestive systems are even stimulated through movement. And our skin tells us of every detailed movement that it encounters. 

There is nothing about the human body that suggest that we sit motionless for most of our waking hours. There is nothing about us that suggest we  sit for anything more than a brief rest. Sitting is for resting, not living. 

Your body is supposed to be a fully functioning, strong, mobile masterpeice of movement. It is equiped with countless movement detectors and movement enablers. The only time we should ever be motionless for hours, if ever, is when we are asleep. I'm not sure about that though. Have you ever woken up with your head at the foot of the bed?

Your body was created for movement. Think about that. Most created things have a purpose. A watch is designed to tell time. A dishwasher is designed to wash dishes. A mover is designed to move. You are a mover. To not move is to deny your design. To deny your design is to starve your life. The physical key, the physical "secret" to living a healthy, strong life is movement. 

Feed your design. 

Would You Believe Me?

If I told you that you could have the body you’ve always wanted (Fit, mobile, athletic, strong) by simply moving like a child, would you believe me? Some of you reading this would believe me. What if I told you that you could lose weight and pick up your metabolism by simply moving like a child? Would you believe that, too? 

I can hear your thoughts now: “Sure, anyone could lose weight if they bounced off the walls all day long like children do. They are so full of energy” 

Yeah, that might be true, but I’m not talking about moving like a child in that respect. I am talking about simply getting on the floor each day and learning how to move again: learning to roll and crawl - things like that. Hopefully you already know how these simple childlike movements can help you move better, feel better and restore your body back to its Original Strength. However, these simple childlike movements can also help you digest better, handle stress better, and pick up your metabolism too. 

Think about it. If rolling and rocking improve your reflexive strength and movement vocabulary, if they improve the efficiency of your brain, they can also improve the efficiency of your metabolism. If you improve one facet of your body, you can improve the whole. 

Do you think kids have so much energy and are able to “bounce off the walls” because they are kids? OR, do you think it is possible that they have so much energy because they spend time moving, and keeping things “right.” Kids can eat almost anything they want (kids that move - we have a whole other discussion here for a later time!) and stay fit, healthy and active. Why? Because they move. They move like they were designed to move. They crawl, roll, skip, run, laugh, play. 

What would happen to your body if you did those things? What would happen to your stress levels? Your stress hormones? Would you be more relaxed? Would you have more energy and less inflammation if your adrenals weren’t always in fight or flight mode? Would you digest food better? Would you suffer from acid reflux in indigestion? Would your metabolism pick up and burn “red-hot”? Would you be able to bounce off the walls? 

We dismiss a lot of things kids do by saying things like: “I used to be like that when I was a kid” , “kids have so much energy” , “when you get older, the body just slows down and things wear out.” 

Do you know what you should do with thoughts like those? 

THROW THEM AWAY! 

If you buy into thoughts like that, you will live out thoughts like that. You were made to move well, sleep well, eat well, feel well. Anything less than that is living below your design. If this is you, get some gumption and go after what is yours. Stand up, get down on the floor, learn how to move again and regain your body, your mind, and your life. Do not simply chalk things up to childish ways. Look at things through a different lens. 

You can completely change your life through the lens of a child. Can you believe that? 

Do Not Settle

Once upon a time, before you could even talk, you were filled with grit and determination. You probably don't remember this, but there used to be a time when you would not settle for less than what you wanted. There was time when you were so determined to get something you worked like mad to get it and you would not let any obstacle stop you from your goal. 

What am I talking about? I have seen many babies learn how to crawl, or creep, or slither because something across the room caught their fancy, and they just had to go check it out. They had a mission, a discovery to make, and they actually learned how to move across the floor with extreme effort and determination to get to where they wanted to go. I've also witnessed many parents, myself included, pick up their child, move them back across the room to remove them from where ever it was they were going? The result? Most times the child will just set off on his mission again, undeterred and full of conviction. This used to be you.

There was a time when all of us were once innately filled with determination, grit, and a no-surrender attitude. We were all filled with the secrets of success - unrelenting stubbornness. 

If you ask me, this is proof that we were all meant to succeed, to accomplish great things, to conquer our world. 

What happened to us? Not only have we let ourselves go and become broken physically, we have allowed ourselves to become broken mentally. We were not meant to be quitters! That was never placed in us! We had to learn how to quit because we sure didn't come in this world as a quitter. 

We all need to wake up. We live in a world where a pill is chosen over movement. We live in a world where settling is chosen over conquering. We allow ourselves to let other people tell us how we should think, what we should fear, and how we should feel. We were made for success, not defeat, not surrender. 

Again, here is something we can learn from a child. Children don't wait until tomorrow to get what they want today. Children don't change their minds the first time we tell them "no." Children actually determine themselves into new creative ways to move in order to get what they want. If a child that cannot talk can do these things, so can we. Tomorrow will never, ever come. The word "no" is just a word - it is not a prophecy. Your imagination was given to you so you would use it to create, not so you could lull it to death with mindless chatter from a TV. 

Everything about you was made for success. You were never intended to settle for cholesterol pills or shiny late night informercials. You were never supposed to be filled with thoughts of fear and a bunch of "what ifs."  You were once a conqueror. It is your innate desire to overcome. Don't suffocate what was given to you from your birth. Learn how to fight again. Learn how to crawl across the room again and grab that shiny red ball that keeps begging you to come play with it. 

This world is crazy. We don't need pills. We don't need fad diets. We don't really even need microwaves. And we certainly don't need to quit and give up when things get tough. We are capable of achieving and becoming anything that we set our minds to. Deep inside all of us there lives a "no quit" attitude greater than any negative force this world has to offer. It was given to us the moment we were born. All we have to do is dust it off and exercise it again. We were not meant to settle for less.  

Forecasting and Other Prophecies

The world is changing. Some time ago it was okay, if not good, to just intuitively know things. Today, we need data. We want numbers, stats, figures and information so we can make decisions and predict the future. I get that, I have a degree in statistics after all, so part of me really understands this. But we have a tendency to take things too far. We have started taking information and making bold predictions, if not harmful curses.

Take the corrective exercise world for example. We have all kinds of movement screens we can use to see how well, or how un-well, a person can move. This is not a bad thing. These screens can point us in the right direction when it comes to trying to help a person move better. And if that was the only use of a screen, that would be great. But that is not always what we do. Sometimes we take the information, the data, that we have determined from the screen, and we make predictions, or forecasts, or curses. 

We have been taught, or we have learned ourselves, to look at movement screens and make grave statements about the person being screened. We might say things like, "Oh, look at all these asymmetries you have. You are X-times more likely to get hurt than a person who doesn't have these asymmetries.", or "If you can't move this way, you should never try to perform this exercise, your risk of injury is very high." , or "Man, I surprised you have been playing soccer this long without an injury, look at your screen scores!" You get the idea, right? We have started cursing people that we screen. 

OKAY - If you are a "screener", just breathe. I am not picking on you. I have done this in the past. I ask forgiveness for doing this, too. I was wrong. AND, I am not saying screens are evil. I am only saying we need to be careful of how we interpret the subjective information we gather from screens and we need to be mindful of what we voice to those that we do screen.

Movement screens should NEVER be used to condemn a person, or to place fear and doubt in a person. That is cancerous. Sure, there may be statistically significant data that correlates with higher risk of injury, but that doesn't mean we have to forecast that injury to the person being screened. I know people that would probably score horribly on a movement screen and yet they can outperform, and have outperformed, most of their peers for years and have never sustained one injury. Perhaps they were able to do this because they never had a seed of fear (injury) placed into their heads? 

The truth is people who climb trees have a significantly larger chance of falling out of trees than those who don't climb trees. But the people who climb trees don't think about that. They are too busy climbing. They are too busy living. Numbers and stats don't always have to have meaning. Usually they only have the value that we place on them in the first place. 

We should not be using screens to plant seeds of fear, doubt, and pending injury into people. We should only use screens, if we use them, to try to build up and improve the quality of life for the person being screened. No one needs help accumulating more fear and doubt in their lives. No one needs more reasons not to move and engage in life. We need hope, not fear.

We should all be out there climbing trees. Yes the odds of falling out of a tree are greater than they would ever be if we were never in a tree. But way up in the tree, the view is beautiful. You can see for miles. Life happens way up in the tree. Teach people how to climb. 

There is No Emergency

In case of an emergency, walk, don't run, to the nearest exit. Be honest, you wouldn't walk. Everything in you would scream, "run!". Most people live in the "run!" world. Everything is an emergency. The thing is though, there is no emergency. And yet most people live their lives in a state of emergency. 

We are too stressed out. Our world of microwaves, instant clicks, deadlines, credit cards, and instant messages has taught us how to be high strung. Our society lives in a perpetual state of fight or flight. We all need to take a deep breath and relax. There is no emergency. At least, there isn't supposed to be. 

Life is not supposed to be spent in a state of emergency, in a state of fight or flight. We are only supposed to be in fight or flight mode when we need to be. It is not supposed to be our standard operating mode. Right now, chances are, you are breathing using your accessory breathing muscles - your emergency muscles. Why? Are you in a state of panic? You shouldn't be. 

I am going to teach you the most ridiculously easy reset you could ever do to help your body relax and restore your health and vitality: Diaphragmatic breathing - the way you are supposed to breath naturally. 

Many, many people are walking around in a state of emergency because they breathe using their emergency breathing muscles. They are stressed, anxious, irritable, easily fatigued, their stress hormones are out of balance and they have digestive problems. All of these issues could easily be solved by just relaxing, and breathing the way we were made to breathe - with our diaphragm. 

Are you overweight? Are you a chest breather? Are you always tired? Are you a chest breather?  Are you always nervous and you don't know why? Are you a chest breather? Do you get completely wiped out 2 minutes into a run, or your exercise routine? Are you a chest breather? Is your posture a mess? Does your head enter the room before your body does? Are you a chest breather? 

Becoming a belly breather - being a diaphragmatic breather - the way you were designed to breathe, can reset and restore your entire body. You can literally restore your strength, your health, and your body by learning how to become a diaphragmatic breather. This simple "exercise", this simple "reflex", is a key component to living life the way you were intended. 

Learn how to use your diaphragm. Take several breathing breaks through out the day or just be mentally aware of how you are breathing. Spend some deliberate time learning how to find and use your breath the way you were intended to. Once you learn how to do this, you will make this "reflex" automatic and without thought. You will be well on your way to life. 

Remember, there is no emergency. But if there ever is, knowing how to breathe will help you easily overcome whatever threatens you. Breathe on!

Freedom

In the heart of man, there are many seeds that have been planted: the desire to be super-human or immortal, the desire to be able to conquer life, the desire to save or rescue others - to be a hero, the desire to seek out God, and the desire to be free. 

Deep in man's heart, he longs for freedom. Freedom - free from bondage, slavery, suffering, oppression, depression, sickness, or whatever. Man longs to be free. 

We don't have much of a choice as to where we are born, or what government we are governed by (well, in today's world, that choice may actually exist, but it hasn't always). There are some outside constraints as to how much freedom we can experience. However, there are many aspects of freedom that are in our control. 

Your lifestyle, the actions you choose from day to day, play a large role in how much freedom you get to experience. If we are complacent, or apathetic towards moving (as we were designed to do), we can actually imprison ourselves to a life of obesity, pain, stiffness, fear, depression, and dreams. Movement is the key to freedom, the key to living.

We can actually put ourselves in bondage and become slaves to a chair, or a sedentary life if we do not engage in moving like we were created to do. Walking, skipping, running, playing - these are movements that we were made for. They are not intended for drudgery, they are not "exercise". They are vitality. They are freedom. 

Look around you. How many people do you see that sit around and say things like, "When I was young, I had all kinds of energy." , "I used to be a great football player when I was in high school." , "When you get older, things start to fall apart." , "I have to be careful, I have a bad back." , "Son, daddy can't throw the football with you. His knee hurts." This list can go on almost to infinity. 

Life is not meant to be lived in bondage to our broken down bodies. Life is meant to be lived in freedom through our resilient bodies. We are not made to sit around and remember how well we used to feel, or how well we used to be able to run and play. We are made to experience how awesome it is to run and play when we are 80 years old. We are made to be able to go hiking through the wonder and beauty that God created, we are meant to be able to play with our kids and their kids. We were not meant to be imprisoned in our own bodies. 

Deep in your heart, you long to be free. You long to live and experience life. You have a huge degree of choice as to whether you nourish that desire and enjoy vitality. You also have a huge degree of choice as to whether you suffocate that desire to the point that it haunts you and aches your heart. Your heart, your soul cries out for life, for freedom. Find a way, MAKE a way, get up and move. Move and TAKE your freedom. Live.