About me?
Hi I’m Josh. I’m originally from the UK and came for a 2 week holiday to BC in 2013, fell in love with the wilderness and have been here ever since. I worked in the outdoor industry for years taking youth in the backcountry but have since found my passion with natural movement.
I am a husband and father and love to move and play with my son using this approach. I have found Natural Movement to be one of the best ways to interact with my son as movement in this way is a language that children speak and understand. Kids get it.
I have never been able to stick to conventional gym exercise for very long. i found it incredibly boring. My approach instead was to do a wide range of activities to keep a well rounded body. When I discovered MovNat and Natural Movement approach everything fell into place, and I have never been fitter or stronger at the age of 41.
I am a Level 2 Certified Movnat instructor but have also completed courses, workshops, read books, and learnt from online resources from a number of fields and people.
The way I teach movement has been inspired and is a mix of the following teachers:
Erwan Le Corre - Movnat and BreathHoldWork
Rafe Kelley - Evolve Move Play
David Weck - Weck Method
Zahan Billimoria - Samsara Experience
I use Natural Movement as it is a fun way to stay fit and healthy while interacting with the environment, but also to keep me strong and resilient to do other activities I enjoy activities such as trail running, football, gravel and mountain biking, surfing, climbing, hiking and jiu-jitsu.
When I’m not doing this I run an permaculturte design business Barefoot Gardens
The fitness industry has lost its way.
It has become obsessed with aesthetics over function. We place higher value on what someone looks like over how they move. Instagram is full of unrealistic body types and movements that serve little purpose. We have quantified and specialised our exercise, with reps, pace, PB’s, and tricks and turned it into a continual growth cycle where success and progress is only measured by improving metrics and likes.
I believe as humans we have taken a capitalist approach to fitness and exercise that leads us searching for continuous improvement to the detriment of our mind and body.
As adults we have learnt to specialise, adapt and limit our body’s movement so that we can become better at playing within certain rules. The runner who can run a sub 3 hour marathon but can’t do a single pull up, the crossfitter who can lift 3 x their body weight but can’t run 1 mile.
This specialisation causes our body to adapt in unnatural ways in the search for continuous progress until we either get injured, lose the passion for the activity because we reach a plateau or stop moving altogether as fitness seems unattainable.
But what if there is another way?
When you were a child playing in the park, there was no reps, sets or pace, just play, exploration and wide ranging movements, and that got you fit, strong and capable. And that was enough. Your movement was only measured by how much fun your were having.
My approach is around full movement health. I think there is a minimum range of movements that everyone can aim for before specialising. Functional movements that you can use everyday that will make you a better mover and feel healthier.
It doesn’t mean you can’t play specialised sports, rather, that by maintaining a wide range of movements first, not only will you become more athletic, but you will be less adapted to one niche set of rules and more adapted to what life can throw at you resulting in a more resilient body.
Once you re-learn the patterns of natural movement, you can implement them into your day to day life and you can bring play and exploration back into your life.
Real movements for real humans