The Coherent Human: A unified practice for Self-Evolution
How do you feel in your body today? What is your state of mind? Do you feel well, balanced, healthy, happy, connected to yourself?
The body and mind are not separate; consciousness arises from being IN the body, the mind fully aware of this intimate relationship, one affecting the state of the other and vice versa. So with this is mind, we need to look at ourselves from the inside out and the outside in, taking care of both the physical body and the mind through developing our conscious awareness. Thoughts, actions, responses, growth, mindset, health, wellbeing, success, fulfillment, creativity are all governed by this intimate dance between the two, sometimes consciously, oftentimes not. Our overall experience of life is determined by perspectives, the ability to be flexible, change and adapt with a sense of ease.
One of the most tangible and practical ways of doing this, engaging with the many layers of your life, is through movement. We must develop the internal experience for improving our lives, being and performance. Physical fitness modalities, sports and other practices should then be viewed as tools to discovery as opposed to just things we do to stay fit or healthy, to tick a box, movement is living, breathing ART!
The Coherent Human: A Unified Practice for Self-Evolution
We stand at a crossroads, where the most vital frontier is not outside but within. Our focus must shift to the most important thing hiding in plain sight: our own self-human evolution. This evolution requires a unified, non-hierarchical approach that develops the physicality, emotions, and mind in a superimposed, coherent manner.
This is a movement to stop specializing in fragments and start becoming a Generalist of the Self.
Movement Culture (as developed by renowned mover Ido Portal) is a holistic philosophy that transcends traditional fitness, advocating for a generalist approach to human physicality. It is a path of continuous learning, self-exploration, and adaptability, aiming to create a versatile "mover" who can navigate a wide range of tasks with ease and efficiency.
Here is an overview of the key principles and practices that define this comprehensive system:
1. The Foundational Pillars: Strength, Stability, and Restoration
Movement Culture starts from the ground up, emphasizing the establishment of a robust, healthy body before complexity is introduced:
* Functional Training: The initial focus is on improving general physical conditioning, stability, and core strength—the non-sport-specific basics required for all movement.
* Restoration and Rehabilitation: Prioritizing joint health is critical for longevity. This involves restorative exercises, improving basic mobility, flexibility, and range of motion (ROM), often incorporating advanced techniques like PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) and PAILS/RAILS (progressive/regressive angular isometric loading).
2. Integration, Play, and Exploration
Once the foundation is solid, the practice shifts from isolated strength to fluid movement:
* Integration ~ Flow: After building foundational strength, the goal is to combine movements into seamless sequences. This phase of integration is akin to a dancer’s choreography, where individual skills melt into improvisational flow.
* The Generalist’s Toolkit: Movement embraces a massive range of disciplines, fostering adaptability through Play and Exploration. Practitioners borrow from:
* Locomotion: Mastering pushing, pulling, jumping, running, twisting, carrying, and animal/primal quadrupedal movements (crawling).
* Skills: Developing hand-eye coordination, balance, and fine motor skills through juggling, partner work, and using various props.
* Acrobatics and Martial Arts: Incorporating elements like hand balancing, cartwheels, gymnastics, wrestling, boxing, and Capoeira.
* Mind-Body Connection: Integrating practices like Mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, and Tai Chi to enhance control and awareness.
3. Practicalities for a Movement Life
The philosophy is structured to ensure a sustainable, lifelong practice:
* Structuring Your Training:
* Mindset: Define your 'why,' maintain a "beginner's mind," and embrace consistency and failure.
* Safety: Prioritize injury prevention, balancing goal-oriented training with free-form flow and play.
* Quality: Focus on quality over quantity, step outside your comfort zone, and ensure you are breathing well.
* Recovery and Longevity: The journey demands prioritizing recovery—rest, sleep, diet, massage, and meditation. Continuous work on mobility is key for healthy joints, as is being mindful of imbalances and always using a proper warm-up/cool-down routine.
* Move Throughout the Day: Movement is not limited to scheduled training sessions. The goal is to integrate it into daily life by having a morning routine, taking "movement snacks/breaks," sitting less, and being mindful of posture and breathing.
4. Community and Continuous Learning
Movement Culture is not a solitary pursuit. It thrives on Community and Exchange, facilitating the sharing of knowledge between practitioners from different disciplines. It's understood as a continuous path of learning and self-discovery, emphasizing the process of improvement over achieving a single specific goal.
By focusing on these elements - from foundational strength to improvisational play, and from deep recovery to daily movement - Movement Culture training aims to develop a truly versatile, adaptable, and efficient mover. So how does one DO this???
The Core Principles of Unified Practice
To evolve beyond the limitations of the mundane and be ready for the alarm of crisis, our practice is built on re-occurring, foundational concepts:
Ground Practice (Form & Formless): Mastery of the fundamental ATOMIC BUILDING BLOCKS—the ability to be in and out of convention. This is where we lay the foundation of awareness and capability.
Presence and Timing: Achieved through deep control of Footwork, Posture, and Weight Shift. To be well-organized, aligned, and truly ON TIME means having the physical control to be in the right place at the right moment.
Contextual Strength: Developing strength that is not isolated but functional—no other strength exists! It must be integrated into the right structures and timing to be useful in diverse scenarios of life and discovery.
Original Movement Forms: Transforming these deep, primal patterns means we change the atoms and transform all matter of how we move and operate.
Somatic Evolution: What we direct our attention to evolves. This is the internal work where INNER ORDER and OUTER ORDER become tightly connected, improving our being, performance, and experience of life.
Partnering (The Sharpening Stone): Engaging with another—through tactical work, games, and fighting scenarios—provides an unmatched opportunity to examine our true functionality and skill.
The Keys to a Life-Long Evolution
This is not a trend, but a decades-long conversation with your own being. Embrace these keys to unlock continuous growth:
Become a Generalist: Don't specialize. The more physical languages you learn—crawling, jumping, running, hanging, squatting—the more complete and human you become.
Adaptation over Perfectionism: Life is unpredictable. Focus less on a perfect technique and more on your ability to respond when the environment or challenge changes.
Reclaim Physical Intelligence: Your body remembers what your mind forgets. Re-engage the primal intelligence that modern life has suppressed.
Tension is a Teacher: Discomfort is information; friction shows you where to grow. Stay curious inside the challenge instead of simply avoiding it.
Movement is a Way of Being: This is a life-long practice, not a finite technique. It’s an ongoing process of discovery and embodiment.
The ultimate goal is simple: to develop an organized practice that is capable of dealing with the drowse of the mundane all the way up to the alarm of crisis, by cultivating a fully coherent, unified self.
So don't be afraid to GET MOVING, explore in creative ways, push boundaries, make MAGIC!