In the list of to-dos for a good home, we don’t often consider whether it gets us moving.
We think of home as a place to cosy into and curl up in, in chairs, armoirs, and beds.
For good reason, as we want our home space to be safe and predictable, protected from any intruders, from dangerous animals to bugs and bosses…
But — Many everyday common furniture and interior design can sabotage our need to move. Create a home that embraces natural movement options to avoid installing an overly sedentary space that impedes and discourages us from moving our bodies.
Why you want to move, naturally
Stress is a baseline starting point for a lot of mental and emotional dysregulation. And movement is a way that the body releases the build up of stress.
Being able to move and stretch in positive ways is a release for the nervous system. You are literally letting go stress, trauma, and anything your body would prefer to not hold on to.
This is why daily walks outdoors are so powerful for health; they’re a way to shake off nervous energy, even if your walks are in the city (i.e., you’re not getting to fully ground in Nature).
A home space that affords complex and adaptable movement patterns help maintain a clarity and restful state for the mind. This feeling of competence, peace, and grace permeates the home.
(In fact, I believe a successful home is one that facilitates you going out with confidence into the wider world and connecting with Nature and with people in your community—both core principles in building biology.)
What is natural movement?
Natural human movement is all about being able to move well in everyday life and in all the activities and sports you love to do. It’s about moving your body with ease in a wide variety of ways that are applicable to the real world.
The MovNat movement became popular in response to the regimented exercises that seem to characterise modern lifestyles. The best thing: anyone can gain from improving their movement, from elite athletes to those quite out of shape. You don’t have to be fit to move, you have to move to be fit.
When you reconnect with your body’s natural movement abilities – everything from getting out of bed to moving furniture, to playing with your children will feel different. You will be astonished how your body responds to practicing its natural movements.
The seven primary movement patterns are squat, lunge, push, pull, press, twist, and gait (walking, running, and sprinting). Some professionals may list “hinge” as a primary movement pattern and leave “press” (as in, overhead press) off the list.
The problem with four walls—cabin fever
Modern lifestyle comforts such as soft sofas and big fluffy pillows may have been designed with good intentions. However, they’ve diminished the necessity for us to maintain natural postures and, in turn, move naturally.
#1: natural movement improves mood and better body
hhawareness, alignment, muscle recruitment, and mobility. It can also reduce the stress placed on joints, release and strengthen connective tissue, and form part of a holistic pain management solution.
#2: Natural Movement Is Crucial Especially in Your Child’s First Three Years
Growing up is intensely physical during the early years, and babies are learning to use the entirety of their bodies. Every time your baby swings her arms, kicks her legs, or turns her head, she is discovering how different parts of her body work.
The more your little one develops their large muscles through reaching, rolling, pushing, sitting, crawling, climbing, and walking, the better their later development of small muscle movements like holding a spoon, turning a doorknob, or using a crayon.
Some common items for the 0-3 years old include driving instead of walking and the use of “bouncy seats” and “exersaucers,” in which babies sit in one position to play instead of moving their whole bodies freely.
#2: Natural movement helps cchildren learn better
Children acquire knowledge by acting and then reflecting on their experiences. Children learn through experience, in which children acquire knowledge by doing and via reflection on their experiences, is full of movement, imagination, and self-directed play.
If your kids are in school, they’re likely spending the bulk of their time in a passive learning environment. A study from the University of Virginia found that, compared to just a few decades ago in 1998, children today are spending far less time on self-directed learning—moving freely and doing activities that they themselves chose—and measurably more time in a passive learning environment.
#3: Natural movement can predict your lifespan
How fast can you get in and out of a chair? Do you need extra assistance, such as getting up on their knees or using two hands? Many studies are showing that, away from complicated diets and routines, health can be more accurately defined — and longevity predicted — by very simple health parameters, such as muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and body composition.
The study found a simple two-minute test could predict the level of overall fitness in middle age that earmarks those likely to enjoy a longer life.
Researchers said the ease with which someone could stand up from a sitting position on the floor – and vice versa – was linked to a reduced risk of dying early.
“If a middle-aged or older man or woman can sit and rise from the floor using just one hand – or even better without the help of a hand – they are not only in the higher quartile of musculo-skeletal fitness but their survival prognosis is probably better than that of those unable to do so.” —Dr Claudio Gil Araújo, who carried out the study with colleagues at the Clinimex-Exercise Medicine Clinic in Rio de Janeiro
#3: Natural movement can is Connected with a Confident Sense of Self
Along the same lines of thought, in 1926, strong man and physical culture enthusiast Earle Liederman wrote a book called Endurance. So while Liederman did “not believe in everyone striving to be a long distance swimmer, a long distance runner, or any kind of endurance athlete,” we felt we ought to be able to move.
In it, Liederman makes the case for developing all-around strength and fitness as a way of not only preserving one’s health in the everyday sense of extending longevity, but protecting it under extraordinary and acutely threatening circumstances.
He wrote, bluntly:
If he is of the fat, porpoise type, naturally he cannot do all, if any, of these things; he has nobody to blame but himself, and his way of living that has brought his body into its condition of obesity.
Unfortunately, the homes we built impede the thinhs that we can actually do. The panacea is to create a home space that enables you to move the way your body craves.
#3: Natural movement can is Connected with a Confident Sense of Self
Dr. Peter Levine developed somatic experiencing as a body-based therapy to process and release trauma. In his book “Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma,” Levine notes that animals can be observed shaking to release tension and stress. You might’ve seen a dog do this.
So maybe you’re thinking you’re not “traumatised” and you don’t need this therapy. However, most of us have a higher than optimal background level of stress, in part due to unnatural and stressful lifestyles.
Being able to move and jive as you please helps to release muscular tension, burn excess adrenaline, and calm the nervous system to its neutral state, thereby managing stress levels in the body.
It is easy to see this at play (no pun intended) with children. Getting to roughhouse (respectfully) is one way to have fun together, and it’s easy to see how anxious energy dissipates and connection happens with physical play.
It seems to loosen everybody up beyond just old bones or fidget young bums.
When you become a new parent, your usual routines get tossed to the wayside. Even if you can chug along well enough, neglecting self-care that include a good diet of physical activity is a fast track to depletion and stress building up…in yourself and at home.
Rather than piling on the guilt factor for not making it outdoors enough to a gym or even just a walk, I believe it is more effective to make space that actually encourage quality natural movement.
Create a calm, resilient home with natural movement
It is hard to keep up exclusively-yours exercise routines at exclusive places such as gyms. However, being mom or dad and making a home does not have to be sedentary, and I have learnt to expand my definition of movement to address how we can work with interior design and the flow of household chores and tasks.
Here are some ways to make space to move naturally around the house:
Vary seating around the house. We love cosy seats, love seats, armchairs, sofas, and beds. Also consider benches and seating that come in various tactile surfaces.
Ditch seating around the house. Identify the chairs and seats that you don’t like. Take the chance to clear out common “baby containers” such as bouncy strollers, etc.
Uncluttered areas where you can get on the floor. This allows your parasympathetic system to kick in as your breathing slows down.
Uncluttered areas and tasks where you get practise the “sit-to-stand” exercise. Laundry, getting on the floor to play “wrestling” with your kids, or just having your laptop space close to the ground are great opportunities every day to practise.
Create a safe area where your child can hang out “reigns free”. It’s a vital spot that can serve a few purposes: your child can move as he/she wishes, spinning in a circle, jumping in and out of a makeshift rocket ship out of a discarded box, turning Lego into a high-jump routine… And your own amusement as you may carry on your tasks un-jostled with entertainment.
Create a pebble tray or a foot reflexology path.
Create a movement sacred spot. Have fun with this and make it a place for your movement goals that you always wanted. It may be a special yoga mat to practice flow movements, a pull-up bar to regain your 100-pull-up dominance, or a rebounder.
Does your home help or hinder how you move around the house? How does your body feel at home, even if you don’t get a chance to get out of doors? Let’s make space for natural movement — for a home that feels at ease.
If you are craving a calm home, check out this post on another lifestyle tip that impacts the calm of your home.
Resources
Amazon link to the book. https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Original-Restored-Earle-Liederman/dp/1466433876
Amazon link to Dr Peter Gray’s book book “Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life.”