Being born has a few positive and a few negative outcomes in my opinion; You have life ahead of you, the joys and secrets of wisdom to discover and a path to create for you and those around you as you choose, not to mention the wonders of parenthood, falling in love and all that jazz....;)But lets get things into perspective from someone who relies on her body for a living and in recreation...none of this would be possible without a fit lean healthy physical self to carry us around in. And how much more perfect a body could you be gifted with than the one in which you were born? Unflawed, completely mobile, balanced, injury free and toned.
Most of us then choose to spend our lives in a manner that causes a reduced range of movement around what were mobile joints, pick up injuries and muscular imbalances due to repeated movement in an isolated plane, a weight gain over and above what our skeleton was designed to carry placing further stress on our joints and organs etc etc....These are some of the negative factors to consider in being born! Birth of the spirit generally means a speedy death to the healthy body....
So the answer to me seems clear. Move. Any way you can to start with and over time start developing a sense of proprioception, coordination and balance. Once you have started growing these more physical but still subtle branches of self you may want to consider movement patterns that you were born to do, that you still can do, and probably feel more natural to you than anything you have actually ever done!
If you consider the upright body it has 2 points of contact with the ground through your feet. There are hundreds of joints in the total body, however the main joints in an upward movement from the ground are the ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and neck. Each joint has wrapped around it various muscles which control its position depending on the tension of each muscle group. You can begin to see how the total number of positions the body can form through various permutations of muscle tensions around joints almost infinite added to which movement from one position to the next causes an exponential growth in the number of patterns the body can flow into. And for yet another layer of movement permutation the manner in which one moves ie slow or explosive further increases the possibilities of movement.
As you begin to explore your body's mechanical range make sure you start with some basic movement patterns, test walking on all fours for example and notice where you feel your weight is centered. Most beginners will load the legs almost exclusively and brush the ground with their hands as they traverse for the first time in this manner. But with improvement in muscle tone, balance and coordination you will find that after a small amount of time spent learning your own ranges it will feel much more comfortable to walk on all fours loading each point of contact (2 hands, 2 feet) equally.
You will notice using this position as an example the tension around your core and how if you arch your back slightly up from the ground you can engage your core more. You will notice if you rely more heavily on your hands that you can lengthen the spine but you may not be able to traverse as quickly until you have built up more strength and power in your chest and shoulders. Or that the range of movement around your shoulder joints can determine the cadence of your hand strike on the floor. Other people may find the muscles in the front of the thigh to be the limiting factor in the amount of time spent in this position, the burning sensation from the build up of lactic acid simply being too much! Or the softness of the skin on their hands prevent them from the "ape walk" for too long on rough terrain.
Each pattern of movement has its own limitations and progressions but thanks to mother nature has constantly changing boundaries depending on how you train. In my opinion building strength and fitness has a place, a place of insurmountable importance in the health of the human body. Yet you will always be limited by the range of movements you can perform if you do not engage in joint mobility and flexibility work to maximise the gains you make muscle building. Being fully mobile and flexible is key to promoting a pain free and balanced body.
Think about moving like a child or animal does, play with your movement patterns, climb, jump, swim, roll, twist, sway, crawl, throw and leap. Introduce yourself to your inner child!
