It is the morning after I got home from the MovNat 5-day Reawakening course in Summersville, WV. Just some things that have been flashing through my head. Maybe they will be fodder for future posts but more then likely it will just be a little reminder of the past week:
- Erwan, Clif and Vic were fantastic. If it weren’t for the other people, though, it wouldn’t have been nearly as enjoyable. The social aspect was quite important and I hope any of you future participants have as fun a group as I had. Thanks Cooks (the family!), Diane, Torin, Ben, Anthony, Rachel, Joseph, and Paul!
- I wish I could shut my mouth more often.
- A clothesline for inside my tent would have been handy.
- If I continue to do things like this and still wear shoes I should being Lysol or something more industrial to spray them out. Holy cripes my Vibrams STANK!
- Vic talked about lifestyle. I was thinking about them and others on the way home (stress, social, modern demands, etc).
- The first time my cell rang after having it turned off for 5 or so days it PISSED ME OFF. Two things with that… First, I overreacted as I often do to some small stressor and let it physically effect me. Second, maybe I should get rid of my phone…
- I wonder if there is an inverse relationship between the amount of stuff you have and a more primal state of mind. I bet a lot of people get that feeling when they come home from vacation. I don’t need all of this stuff and I wonder how that is effecting my daily lifestyle choices.
- Good food doesn’t have to be complicated. Maybe it isn’t the food but my state of mind (how truly hungry am I?) when I eat it. Clif fed as fantastically with some pretty simple stuff and it was tasty and filling!
- I’m even more convinced that Richard Louv is right: nature deficit disorder is real. We (I loosely consider myself older despite my behavior…) need to figure out how to get kids in contact with it again.
- Even the forest preserve paths around here, as great as they are, are there to see nature, not experience it.
- My ears are still dirty.
- I’d like to think my bare feet became more usable over the week but I am afraid the rain softening up the ground had more to do with that then me actually adapting.
- I am hooooorrible at swimming.
- I am hoooorrible at accurate jumping (I can box jump great though…).
- I am hooorrible at balancing.
- I have a ton of available improvement to make, I don’t think I will plateau any time soon!
- Comparatively speaking I don’t bruise easily. Hi Tor!
- I think, maybe, being free of debt would be more natural way of being. How old is money anyway? I imagine our distant ancestors would barter. Need to think on that more.
- I hope Erwan writes the book and makes a DVD.
- I hope I can talk Steve, JR, Hugh, or *someone* at Kooch-i-ching into looking at MovNat as a possible activity at camp.
- Hell I dream of being certified (when Erwan, Vic, Clif?!) and heading up to Kooch for a week and teaching there.
- Double hell, why not do it all summer at different camps where it would be useful?
- Gray Cook is the real deal. Someday I hope to attend one of his FMS seminars (why did the closest one have to be SO close to my vacation?!).
- I know they pack as much as possible into the 5 day but I wonder if an hour or so of free time out in the woods or (more safely, maybe) at the lake to just be quiet and listen to nothing would be worth it. Maybe just 10 minutes on the way to the lake to find a spot, sit still and shut up? Call it meditation, communing with nature, or whatever…
- I’m afraid I’ve forgotten more then I’ve retained. Typical me though.
- Time really stretches out… Every day there seemed like two days – in a fantastic way. Doubled my vacation!
- I’m quite hairy (nothing new there) but just thought I’d mention it.
- My hill sprint is only a sprint for 10m or so and rapidly falls into a run, then a jog, then a light jog…
- I need to camp more often. I enjoy it so why not freaking do it?
- (edit) Is being a bit beat up more natural? I know a lot of us stress our muscles, joints, bones, etc when we work out or exercise but this is the first time in a long time I stressed my skin. Would be scratched and bruised more often be useful for health?
There is more but my first load of laundry is just about done and it is time to fold.
Thanks MovNat for a memorable week. Given the chance I would attend again.
I was there last year. I mirror your thinking for sure and it’s deeply influenced the stuff that I’ve done over the past year and the way that I write now.
“I know they pack as much as possible into the 5 day but I wonder if an hour or so of free time out in the woods or (more safely, maybe) at the lake to just be quiet and listen to nothing would be worth it. Maybe just 10 minutes on the way to the lake to find a spot, sit still and shut up? Call it meditation, communing with nature, or whatever…”
Tim, if you remember that is something I have talked about a “wordless state of awareness” when moving through the woods, remember? Practical meditation. We also address it in our lifestyle talk. But that is not something that requires instruction or training, it is something you do on your own, without necessary supervision, which you do the way you feel and want, whenever you feel you need it. As you can notice yourself, the course has reawaken in you this drive to reconnect to nature both better and more. And after all, those 10′ minutes you could have taken them on a daily basis while with us right? Now it’s all up to you to make it part of your lifestyle. We may inspire you to spiritually reconnect to nature, not teach you how brother. We’ll leave that to so-called self-entitled spiritual experts
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Great post, Tim. It’s fun to see/read the reflections of others after having written my own as well. I agree that the people make SO much of the experience and we had a really fun crew (as I’m sure they all are!).
Take care!
Check out my post if you like here: http://balancedbites.com/2011/07/10-things-i-learned-at-movnat.html
Thanks for posting these. I have yet to go to any MovNat events (and now it looks like I’ll have to wait until 2012, dammit), but they look like great fun, a lot of work, and perhaps most importantly, a good way to build community and reconnect with a more natural way of being.
Hooray for being less bruise susceptible!
Great write up, pleasure spending the week with ya