If you've been in my treatment room before, you've probably heard me talk about evolution. It's something I've always found fascinating, because it gives us a really interesting way of looking at the human body.
I often wonder what we can learn about ourselves by looking at how human beings lived for most of our history. Our bodies didn't develop sitting at desks, looking at phones, driving everywhere and spending evenings on comfortable couches. They developed through walking, carrying, climbing, digging, reaching, gathering, resting, playing and constantly adapting to the environment around us.
Obviously, our lives are very different now. I'm certainly not suggesting we all go live in the woods. But I do think understanding where we came from can help us make better choices about how we live now.
And with summer coming to an end and many of us moving back into school schedules, work schedules and more structured routines, it feels like a good time to talk about movement.
Movement is not just about fitness or burning calories. Every time you move, your body is learning something.
When you walk, reach, squat, turn your head, balance on one leg or get yourself up from the floor, your brain is getting information about where you are in space and what your body is capable of doing. Your muscles contract and relax. Your joints move and load in different ways. Your balance system gets challenged. Your eyes move around and take in the environment. Your nervous system is constantly receiving information and adapting to it.
That's one of the reasons I think variety is so important.
Our ancestors didn't just walk all day. They had to push things, pull things, carry things, climb, squat, kneel, reach and get themselves up and down from the ground. We don't need to recreate that life, but I do think our bodies still benefit from being asked to do lots of different things.
I talk about posture with clients all the time, and I want to be clear about something. I don't believe there is one perfect posture that every person should be forcing themselves into.
There are certainly positions that are more efficient for the body, and in treatment we're often working toward giving someone better alignment and better support. But we also have to respect where their body is right now.
If one area doesn't move enough, another area often starts moving too much to make up for it. That's compensation. And if we then try to force the person into what we think looks like perfect posture, we can actually create more strain.
So when you're working on your posture, I want it to feel upright and supported, but not forced. If you're pulling your shoulders back as hard as you can, tightening everything and holding your breath, that's probably not the posture your body is ready to maintain yet. We work toward it. That's an important distinction.
At the same time, I don't want people to hear that and think that sitting collapsed into a couch or a computer chair for hours is just as good as anything else. Our bodies are meant to hold themselves up. When we walk, stand, climb stairs, carry groceries or get up from the floor, our feet, legs, hips, core and back all have to participate.
Modern furniture does a lot of that work for us. There's nothing wrong with being comfortable and resting. We need that too. But if most of our day is spent being supported by a chair, a car seat or a couch, many of the muscles that are supposed to support us aren't being asked to do very much.
For most of human history, even resting looked different. People sat on the ground, leaned against things, crouched, changed positions and then had to get themselves back up again. That's a very different demand on the body.
This is really the invitation of this blog. I'm not asking you to completely change your life. I'm asking you to notice where movement already exists and maybe choose a little more of it.
Around the house, carry the groceries. Get down to the floor once in a while. Garden. Squat down to pick something up. Put some music on while you're cooking and move around.
At work, take the stairs. Walk while you're on the phone. Get up from your desk and move around regularly. Park a little farther away.
If you're waiting for the kettle to boil, stretch for a minute. If you're brushing your teeth, stand on one leg for a bit. If you're waiting to pick somebody up, maybe walk around instead of sitting in the car looking at your phone.
And if you have kids, play with them. Kick the ball. Throw the Frisbee. Get on the playground. Play tag.
You don't have to do all of these things. They're just examples. The point is to start noticing how many opportunities there are to use your body during a normal day.
I spend a fair amount of time on the floor. Sometimes I'm stretching, sometimes I'm hanging out with my boys, but most often you'll probably catch me meditating.
And then I have to get back up.
I actually try not to automatically grab onto a chair or use something to pull myself up. I let my whole body work it out. My feet, ankles, knees, hips, core and arms all have to participate. It's a very simple movement, but there's a lot happening, and frankly, it's something I want to keep being able to do as I get older.
We spend an incredible amount of our lives looking down now. Phones, computers, tablets, paperwork. For most of human history, our eyes were looking out into the world. We were scanning the horizon, looking at trees, watching the weather and noticing what was happening around us.
So every once in a while, just look up. Look at the trees. Notice the clouds. Find the moon. Watch the light change as we move into fall.
It's good for your neck, but I think there's something else there too. It pulls you out of the little two-foot world in front of your face and reminds you that there's a much bigger world around you.
This connects back to some of the things I've written about previously with the nervous system.
Sometimes we get so caught up trying to do everything correctly that we stop paying attention to what our body is actually telling us. Posture is a good example. We pull ourselves up, tighten our stomach, pull our shoulders back and start thinking, Is this right? Does this look right? Sometimes we don't even realize we're holding our breath.
If you're straining and holding your breath, pay attention to that.
The same thing applies when you're moving. If you're out for a walk, try actually being there for the walk. Notice how your feet feel when they hit the ground, what your arms are doing, how you're breathing and what's happening around you.
I sometimes think of this as a walking meditation. The challenge is to see if you can spend even five minutes just walking without going through the email you need to send, what you're making for dinner, something that happened yesterday, or what you need to get done tomorrow.
For me, this is where movement connects back to the nervous-system work I've written about in my previous blogs. We spend an incredible amount of time in our thoughts, and sometimes we become so busy thinking about our bodies that we've actually stopped feeling them. Movement can be an opportunity to change that. Instead of making the walk another thing to accomplish, it can be five or ten minutes where you come out of your thoughts and pay attention to what's actually happening in your body.
So how do we actually make some of this stick?
One approach I like is called habit stacking. The idea is simple: instead of creating another routine that you have to remember, connect something you want to practise to something you already do every day. Behavioural research supports this basic idea of repeatedly linking a behaviour with a stable routine or context cue.
Most of us already have plenty of habits in the morning. You brush your teeth, shower, make the bed, get dressed, make coffee or tea, feed the animals, make breakfast, read for a few minutes, walk the dog, take the kids to school or walk to work.
My invitation for this fall is to pick three.
Choose three things you already do most mornings and use them as reminders to come back into your body.
Maybe brushing your teeth becomes a time when you notice how you're standing. Are you collapsed into the counter, or are you comfortably supporting yourself? Maybe you balance on one leg for a little while and then switch.
Maybe making your coffee becomes a reminder to roll your shoulders, move your neck, look up and take a few comfortable breaths rather than automatically reaching for your phone.
And maybe your morning walk becomes part walking meditation. Spend some of it noticing your feet, your posture and your breathing, and let your eyes look out into the world around you instead of spending the whole walk planning the day in your head.
The important thing is that you're not adding three more jobs to your morning. You're taking three things you already do and using them as little reminders to check back in with yourself.
And your mind will wander. Of course it will. You'll start thinking about work, the kids, dinner, something that happened yesterday or something that needs to happen tomorrow. When you notice it, just come back to what you're doing and what you're feeling in your body.
So that's my invitation as we move into this next season. Pick three things you already do most mornings and, for the next few weeks, use them as an opportunity to move a little, notice your posture, breathe and spend a moment actually being in your body.
I'm going to be practising it too, and I'd genuinely love to hear which three you choose.
Our bodies have been moving, adapting and responding to the world around us for hundreds of thousands of years. We just happen to live in a world now where it's surprisingly easy not to.
As we move into another season, see if you can bring a little more movement with you—and actually be present for some of it.
And as always, if pain, stiffness or some other limitation is getting in the way of moving comfortably, bring it up the next time you're in. It's something we can work through together.
If there’s something you’ve always wanted to ask about your health, your nervous system, or what’s happening in your body—send it my way. I’d love to include your questions (anonymously, of course) in future posts.
You can email me directly at kevin.janna@gmail.com or drop a note through the new site: christiehealth.ca
Thanks again for being part of this journey. Here’s to presence, healing, and the practice of simply showing up.
