Re-Wilding the Body: Primal Movement
Welcome to the weekly Stretch & Bitch!
What does it mean to Re-Wild the body? This article will cover some tips and how burning herbs can open new vibrations, fasting can renew our cells, limiting lights at night gives us deeper recovery, ditching the shoes re-aligns the joints, and certain movement can bring us back into the body and mind we were meant to have.
Discussion
Re-wilding is the act of bringing the body back into a state that embodies primal movement and instincts. The way our bodies moved when we traversed the unbroken land and connected with the earth, sun, and moon cycles every day.
I imagine that burning fires has had humans mesmerized since they first discovered it. But, if you are not in a place to have a fire, burning incense or herbs can help open similar doors to the soul that large outdoor fires did.
Sage Burning
I would like too be sure we recognize the practice of burning sage was ane is well established in America within Native American cultures. To be sensitive to appropriation and ethics be considerate of your sources and your intentions.
Consider finding local sources or growing the herb yourself to keep from overharvesting or commercial destruction of wild sources. Each time you burn sage please honor the Native Americans and send them love and light.
Experiment with burning other herbs and woods: Cedar, lavender, pine, cloves, cinnamon stick, essential oils, etc. Herbs can be easy to grow and harvest yourself.
Being mindful of the energy behind it will also allow us to properly use and cleanse with it. Cleansing energy is a sacred process that is made through the intentions you set.
Benefits of burning:
Fills our senses to allow full focus for meditation
Gets rid of bacterias and allergens in the air
Clears traumatic memories or negative thoughts
Use fire as a reminder to our primal human activity that can bring us back to nature
Lights Out
The dark evenings told our bodies and minds how to turn in and follow the cycle of the earth. Now we are surrounded by light at all hours of the day that changes the rhythms of humans, animals, plants, and insects. Turn out your lights at night and bathe in the healing energy it provides.
Intermittent fasting
Fasting is a natural part of being a human. Or bodies cycled with the seasons and sometimes there was less food around.
I didn't believe it at first. Told all patients at the clinic I worked at to avoid fasting. Then I decided I would take a look into it more and found loads of research supporting the practice of fasting. I found a great book by Dr. Jason Fung who shares an abundance of peer reviewed research, case studies, and facts showing the health benefits of intermittent fasting. So I tried it myself and I was amazed.
Benefits of fasting: No food cravings, balanced blood sugar, improvement in memory, cognition, clarity. Increase in neuron growth and regeneration of cells in the body.
The body clears out dying or sick cells when we fast. Without a fast the sick cells keep reproducing and potentially lengthen or create a more serious illness. Ever heard someone say “starve a flu?” When old and infected cells are not fed they get turned over and new cells are produced.
More benefits include resetting our hormones, balancing blood sugar, and stabilizing insulin levels. After about 12 hours of fasting our body switches to fat burning. Fat burning is a better method for our bodies to obtain energy. When our bodies break down fat for fuel it does not cause blood sugar spikes nor does it activate insulin. Resulting in less energy crashes, headaches, insulin related problems, and more.
If you are interested in doing this for yourself, definitely research it, or you can reach out to me, Myss Angie, or Koreen, for some help finding resources.
No shoes
There is an innate energy that all plants and organisms have. When we are able to put our feet on the ground we become more connected to the earth.
Allowing the feet to behave naturally keeps the body more mobile and supple. The bones of the ankle and foot are designed to move and slide past each other while walking on uneven ground.
The feet are the beginning of the alignment chain. The mobility, or lack of, moves up the body to the knees, hips, spine, neck, and skull. When our feet are allowed to walk without stiff shoes and only on flat surfaces the other joints of the body stiffen up and become less mobile.
What can you do? Try working out in your home without shoes. Walk in your yard barefoot. Try minimalist shoes that allow the foot to move with the earth. Take time out to go hiking, walk off paths in the park or on boulevards. Balance on the curb and don’t walk in a straight line. What else can you think of for yourself?
Movement
-Make sure you are warm and prepped for movement before you try these:
FROG WALK:
From squatting position, place hands on ground/floor and shift weight to hands while hopping to side with feet, experiment traveling around the space in this way.
PRIMAL SQUAT:
Squatting into full primal squat with tailbone toward floor and heels on the ground. If you cannot put your heels down be sure to support your body with a mat, block, or pillow under your heels so you can work to be comfortable in the primal squat.
GET UP:
Getting up from the ground without putting the hands down on on the floor. Try it from seated on your legs, then from a cross-legged position. Transition to a lunge first then stand, work your way into standing up with both legs lifting the knees up.
CRAWLING:
Place hands with fingers spread wide on the floor. Grip the floor and distribute the weight of your hands evenly throughout the full palm and fingers. Shift your weight to your hands, tuck your toes under, and lift your knees about 1-4 inches off the floor (the closer to the floor the more challenging). Then move your body by stepping a foot and hand forward in a crawl.
CRAWL FLIP TO CRAB:
From the crawl position, step a leg through the space between knee and hand on the opposite side of the body. Plant foot and turn chest to sky, take the opposite hand from floor to sky. Reach the free hand behind and down to the floor in a reverse tabletop position.
ARM CIRCLES
From a comfortable seated position. Sweep an arm in front of body in circle and up over head as if drawing a rainbow over the head. Open up chest and move from entire spine to awaken all the upper body parts.
BREATH
Natural breathing, always keep breath going, diaphragmatic breathing, release your belly and deep pelvic floor to get a full breath.
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Send us a message or comment below when you try these! Let us know how your Re-wilding of your body is going.
Myss Angie &
Koreen Valdovinos
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