By VAHVA Fitness on August 27, 2019

What is the nature of movement training? The purpose and benefits? Why should you do or start doing movement training?

When you walk down the street, have you ever had the sensation of "I'm not sure how to walk anymore"?.

We took our first steps when we were under 1 year old and soon after that walked and ran like we meant it.

Depending on your age, this movement pattern has been ingrained to your body from a very early age for decades.

Yet, when you progress and explore the territories of human physicality, not just your mind but your body may start to question the very basic movement patterns of your ordinary life.

We all have "patterns" and most of us are stuck in these patterns. Movements and postures we do daily – always the same way. Day after day, year after year. 

No wonder the body eventually gets stiff and rigid. This is where a lot of the chronic pains and aches come from.

To combat this problem, a lot of people start movement training and they are encountered with the dilemma "I don't know how to do this!".

That's exactly how you break the patterns! The fact that you are in the unknown without knowing how to move properly, is how you develop new patterns for your body.

That's how you progress, how you evolve and how you transform your entire physicality. By the act of exploration and courage your chains will be broken and you are free to move any way you wish.

You return to the roots of physicality, the unfiltered and unrestricted mind and body you had as a child. You will attain what the Zen Buddhists call the "Beginner's mind".

Movement flow is the pinnacle of movement training.

It's the moment when you bring your entire past and background with you and express yourself with everything you are now and have always been.

Your flow should reflect your present mental state – give up the old mental patterns where you should act, be or move in a certain way. Just move and let it all come out. Whether it's joy, sadness, anger, frustration or calm serenity.

No judge is evaluating your performance or blaming you for your mistakes. It's for you done by you.

At this moment, how good you are, how mobile you are or how flexible you are doesn't matter. This moment should be above all of this. Forget about everyone else and just move.

Yet, in this act of flow you may notice that you are restricted. You are so much in the unknown that you are literally lost in the woods of your mind and body.

The easiest way to improve is to increase your movement vocabulary – to learn various movements that come from muscle memory. Now you have more tools and patterns to express yourself and cope with the chaos.

Increasing your strength, mobility and flexibility among many other physical qualities will help and allow you to express yourself more fully.

All of this will transfer to your daily life and you will notice that the regular patterns you've always done start to change.

Walking is no longer how you've walked in the past. You stand differently. You sit differently. Everything is different and in a better way. You see yourself and the world in a different light.

You broke the old patterns and freed the body... soon you will notice that your mind will follow and you will be able to think and feel more openly.

This freedom and open expression are the most important parts. Refined choreographies with highly refined skills are not – pure expression always trumps the technique.

Developing sophisticated and advanced skills is fun and great but you don't need to be as strong or as skilled as someone else. In fact, this comparison to someone else is what prevents and restricts pure expression.

With just several basic movements a flow can become alive and produce tremendous benefits in body and mind.

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