Encouraging your body to let go

Training moves are typically squats and push-ups, lunges and pull-ups. I think of these as ‘hard’ moves: they rely on overcoming resistance and building up tension.

Rolling, leaping, falling, skimming, surfing, skating, breathing, jumping, dancing, throwing. I feel these are ‘soft’ moves: releasing energy, encouraging your body to let go, leaps of faith before going with gravity, leaning in, controlled falling. There’s a lot of modifying as you go and feeling out limits with caution and curiosity.

‘Soft’ moves are pretty much controlled falling, by which I mean injury prevention as much as curiosity (and joy!).

Without getting too philosophical, ‘soft’ moves are not like ‘hard’ moves we can try and fight to make gains or push through with brut force. They’ve often internal barriers to reach - neurological, mental, past trauma, just no-go-there fear!

So how do we train for soft moves? We all need a little (or a lot!) of ‘soft’ moves in our life!

‘Training ‘soft’ is an element of each client’s movement map at fitbynature. We often start with breathing, but that’s a whole other post (coming!). Then there’s rolling, pretty much the secret to moving soft, shifting your wait from one position to another, and learning to feel safe in your own body in motion. Soft moves can also be as simple as transitioning between traditional ‘hard’ moves or even just getting up of the floor smoothly and without straining. Reps and sets are a matter of client discretion: trying, going with their body as it is on the day, and of course with what they’d like to be able to do. It’s about reaching and then practicing with a lot of laughing, especially when kookdom seems to be the common winner.

Note: As much as I feel my responsibility is to share all I’ve learned, experiencing is my priority and this is a work in progress for me as much as clients. Stay tuned for more updates by signing up for our newsletter!