One of the body’s primary need is movement. You don't believe it? Try to stop breathing. Death is the absolute not moving of the physical body. Life has evolved around movement. Every bone, joint, muscle and organ dependents on it. Put a leg in a cast and see what happens when you remove the cast. The leg has become stiff, the muscles deteriorated and it has taken on a strange color as blood flow was decreased. Even the density of our bones can change. Our body is a great adaption machine. We need to run a lot, our cardio-vascular system and lungs adapt, we develop more endurance. We need to lift heavy weights, our muscles, tendons and joints adapt and we are capable of lifting heavier and heavier weights. Nowadays, a large amount of modern life is spent sitting at the office desk, in the train or car while commuting, while eating, watching TV, playing computer games – our body adapts to this as well. Muscles become weak and stiff, joints lose their range of motion and breathing becomes shallow as little oxygen is needed for sitting. Those deep physiological changes show up in bad posture and generally poor physical and mental health.
Movement is very much linked to the spirit and to a mental attitude. Bodily strength develops mental strength, bodily endurance trains mental endurance, bodily flexibility enhances mental flexibility. People who work out and train can see those qualities grow in themselves from experience. People who do not do sports might have difficulties relating to this. Movement contains a lot of different pillars, e.g., speed, coordination, balance, strength, flexibility or endurance. In our modern life, we tend to become specialists in a certain sport (if we do sports at all). Doing a specialized movement is better than no movement at all, but it should be kept in mind that general movement is what our body and mind needs. Engage as much as possible in natural movements like walking, swimming, running, climbing trees, throwing, digging, playing with kids, lifting things, deep squatting, hanging, carrying things, touching the floor with your hands, sitting on the floor, working with your hands… this will balance your body and mind. If we look at small children, they don’t do any specific kind of sport, but constantly move around in a playful way, always eager to explore and learn. As a result, they develop a healthy body – if not distracted by modern lifestyles.
When we think of movement, we think about movement of the body but not movement within the body like heartbeat or breathing. Breathing is essential for living. You can live without food for a week, you can live without water for a few days but you cannot live without breathing but for just a couple of minutes. Breathing is a highly important function; it is not only the oxygen that enters our lungs and gets transported into the bloodstream. It is also the movement of our abdomen which transports blood and vital nutrients to our organs.
In the old yoga tradition the practice of breath control is called pranayama. Life energy – the prana – is concentrated in the air and can be absorbed by deep breathing.