Secrets of Natural Movement

Learn to move the way nature intended

For forty-five years, John Stokes of the Tracking Project has been studying movement through the lens of the natural world, and through traditions of movement arising from close observation of Nature. From the animal forms of the martial arts, through tai chi and qi gong, humans have been studying the qualities of the movement of animals, seeking to understand their mechanics, harmonize with the qualities and the energies they embody, and enter into the stream of their minds. In this stunning video, John and his team applies this study of movement to create a workout that stretches, coordinates, and strengthens the body, empowering it with the qualities of movement required to become agile and powerful as we move through the Living World. From the power and grace of the flying Eagle, to the stealth of the stalking tiger, Secrets of Natural Movement will help you warm, lengthen, stretch, and fortify your physical body, while working with your underlying energy systems and your breath. Truly conscious movement is a form of meditation, and particularly for folks seeking to enter a deeper felt sense of the body, while building focus, power, coordination, and grace, this is the practice for you. What you may find, as did the author of this post, is that your body becomes hungry for the sequence of movements introduced here, and that this becomes a powerful and frequent part of your toolkit for embodiment, grace, and exercise. The film is 47 minutes, with original music.

Related Practices:

In movement, See Embodied Movement. See Dance. See Stretch. See Qi Gong. In Mindful Awareness, see Meditate. See Quiet Your Mind. In Deep Nature Awareness, see Sit Spot. See Tracking as Governing Metaphor. See Study the Pattern Language of Nature.

Who taught us this?

John Stokes is the Founder of The Tracking Project, in Corrales, New Mexico. For forty-five years, he has been studying tracking, deep nature connection, survival skills, and the Arts of Life. Trained by Aboriginal trackers in Australia in the 1970s, Tom Brown Jr. in the United States, and a variety of mentors in the Iroquois Confederacy, John has spent the past thirty-four years traveling the world and teaching modern and Indigenous children and adults the art and science of tracking animals and the Self. He has trained hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and trained a peace army of tracking mentors who now live and teach in a global network across the world.

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Who taught us this?

Caitríona Nic Ghiollaphrádraig is the Founder of Embodied Brain, in Ireland. She is a 5 Rhythms and Open Floor Mindful Movement teacher for over 25 years. She has combined Mindful Movement, Neuroscience and Mindful Self Compassion to create Embodied Brain/Embodied Presence. Caitriona studied 5 Rhythms with Gabrielle Roth, and became the first certified 5 rhythms teacher in Ireland in 1997/98. In 2008, she began exploring the links between neuroscience and movement. She participated in Sensorimotor Trauma and Development training from 2010 to 2014. She has been studying movement and the Polyvagal Theory for many years. She lives on the West coast of Ireland.

Teach me how

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