I just returned from the Journey On Podcast Summit in Paso Robles, CA with Warwick Schiller. It was a pretty amazing experience with people from all walks of life. I gave a 20 minute “TIC Talk” (Teach, Inspire, Connect) on Evolutionary Fitness.

One of the obstacles I faced when trying to get my message out about the basics of fitness is that it isn’t a particularly sexy message. In our current fitness culture, it is believed that exercise has to be hard to be effective and only extreme results are acceptable. This makes it difficult to get across the message that the path to good health and quality of life is relatively simple. Its really just about body awareness and practice.

One of the ways I chose to address this problem in my book, Fitness without Fear, was to explain WHY this basic approach is so effective. The answer is that it is central to how we evolved as human beings and the closer we stay to how the earth shaped our development, the healthier we are.

Modern living has changed our circumstances in virtually everything, but we are very clever animals and if we think about it, can always find ways to adapt our lifestyles to support our own health as well as the health of our planet. For more on that, I highly recommend Doniga Markegard‘s book, Dawn Again, about her journey from troubled teen to wolf tracker to regenerative rancher. Or if you’d prefer to watch something, she is featured in the documentary, Kiss the Ground, on Netflix.

I always get a little anxious before presenting in front of a group I haven’t worked with before as I am sometimes accused of “reinventing the wheel”. But here’s what I have to say about that. If we never reinvented the wheel, we wouldn’t have off-road truck tires and I think everyone can appreciate that.

I will leave you with my final words from my talk over the weekend and if you want to listen to this and all the other amazing people who presented with me and shared their wisdom in the multiple group panels, check out the link to the summit above.

The world began shaping us long before we walked upright. Gravity is the fundamental gift that the Earth gives our physical bodies. It is the source of both our strength and our health.

I want you to think about the amazing physical potential we possess because of how our ancestors evolved to survive. Without our ability to navigate and travel long distances as the climate changed, we would not have survived the Ice Age. Being mindful of our bodies, the postures we hold, the movements we make, builds the strength and endurance we need to live well in this physical world.

Movement itself can be a form of meditation. And strength, whether physical or spiritual, is a skill that we develop through practice. We just have to be patient and mindful enough to allow ourselves the time to learn.