Nature

On: Nature

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Take a walk in your head. Out into the countryside. Not the bucolic picture of fields and animals and Sunday afternoon picnics, but the disconnected country. No mobile phone, dark woodlands, no shops or easy takeaways for food and water. Go further. Away from all the signs of humanity. The raw and unfiltered natural world.

Could you thrive there? Could you survive there? The experts will tell you in a temperate environment, you have 3 days without water, three weeks without food although in reality it would almost certainly be faster than that before death caught up and tapped you on the shoulder.

Even people who spend their time in that world, who practice and prepare, would not travel out without caution and care.

Because we are, as humans, pretty rubbish. We are not the apex predator we believe ourselves to be, far too many of us are prey animals with forward facing eyes (apparently the mark of a hunter).

We moved from hunter gathers to agriculture around 12000 years ago. And even before that we worked best in tribes, and carrying tools.

Knowledge weighs nothing, and although you may never need to know how to find and filter water, what plants can be eaten or how to catch and dispatch animals, spending time outside and reconnecting with the real world away from devices and screens, preferably with others is demonstratably good for you in every way. And of course, if you wish to learn those other skills, then find a reputable teacher who can guide you safely. Instagram, as one instructor put it, is not your coach and nature will still win if you fight her.

Even better is to find a tribe to do it with.

Learn to move, to feel earth under your feet and let your eyes settle on a distant horizon.

Your body and brain will thank you.

On: Self, Family, Community

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We are all linked, it is one of the joys and pains of humanity. We are nothing more than mammals that tell stories, and make tools, but far too many of us forget that and think we are above and disconnected from the rest of nature.

Reconnection with what supports and upholds us is vital for all of us, and all of us. No person is an island, or can exist for long as one. Neither should we. As the wheel turns, and peace becomes war, light, dark, the fragile nature of nature is revealed to those who recognise it.

What has this got to do with promoting optimal physical and mental health? Everything.

Unless we take time to listen and reconnect with our body’s requirements, we cannot develop. If we cannot develop, we cannot support ourselves. If we cannot support ourselves, we cannot support our families, our communities and the wider world.

For example, regular mobility work means less risk of injury, which leads to less time off work, or training. Improving your diet means better health and less need for medical support at some point in the future. And, if you are seen to be doing these by others, you might inspire them to try as well, another unintended benefit.

Looking further out, if we can help our family reconnect then we can have a positive influence on them as well.

And so on.

We must reconnect and re-engage with our selves, then our family, then the community, all the time holding onto the natural environment that supports us.

If you feel you need any help working though musculoskeletal issues that could be holding you back from being an asset, please contact us to see how we can work together. And then our skills can be used to help improve you, and the positive changes can roll on.