Body skills

From REWILD.info Field Guide, the free Field Guide To Rewilding

Rewilders can easily overlook the importance of training their body, in favor of the technological skills of wilderness living. In fact, many cultures see the intimate knowledge of how to use one's body effectively as a technology in and of itself. Modern humans have the overwhelming excess of calories to make moving inefficiently and carrying constant tension an option. A person with an efficient body will find the vast array of wilderness skills far easier and pleasant, even with little or no actual change in "technique".

1 Relaxation and Going Barefoot
2 The Use of Center
3 Other Centers
4 Why?
5 Indigenous Physical Feats
6 The Tumpline
7 See Also
8 External Links

[edit] Relaxation and Going Barefoot

Learning to really relax will go a long way towards rewilding your body. A simple experiment may revolutionize your ability to go barefoot:

Find a gravel path or area.
Walk barefoot on it for a few feet. Notice how it feels.
Now imagine that instead of feet, you have rubbery flippers, unable to carry any tension. Walk the same distance as before, allowing your feet to flap down on the gravel. Notice the difference.

For anybody who had an urban childhood, this will probably blow your mind. Imagine all the ways in which our bodies will actually create pain and discomfort where the earth does not require it. This applies to pretty much all rewilding - the careful stripping away of the habits that allow you to project discomfort into safe and nourishing conditions.

[edit] The Use of Center

Many cultures acknowledge a place in the human body as a main "center", one of several that, when focused on, creates more stability and power in ones movements.

You can begin experimenting with this Center by locating it about where your belt buckle hits, between your belly and the small of your back. Tucking in your tail bone a little bit helps to activate this center, but don't do it too much (or too little!). Think of the pelvis of "dog body" instead of "cat body". Look at a house cat, versus a dog, if you don't understand the difference.

Try pushing on a large car. Placing your palms on the rear of the car, concentrate on bringing force up from the soles of your feet, through your Center, and directly into the car, bypassing your arms. Do not lean into the push. However much you take a step by, the car needs to move. If your arms give, this signifies that you've choked off the power coming from the ground in the muscles of your arms.

Another simple test: standing next to a partner, push gently but firmly on their shoulder. Ask them to concentrate on their Center. Describe its location. They will notice an increase in stability - allow them to experience this without commenting on it yet. You can increase the sensation by asking them to imagine it shrinking infinitely, or expanding. After some moments, lightly tickle the crown of their head. Your partner will experience a remarkable transformation in their stability as they, without understanding it, allow you to draw their psychological center away from their physical one, up to the highly unstable location at the top of their head.

When testing, prevent "bracing" by withdrawing your hand from the push unexpectedly. If they fall forward, even a little, they had begun to use you for support, by bracing themselves against your push. Instead, ask them to allow your push to flow through their center, into the ground via the soles of their feet. Sink, rather than strain.

[edit] Other Centers

The body has many Centers. One can usefully imagine another major one in the solar plexus on the chest. By pinching your shoulder blades together, and pulling down on your shoulders, you can begin to experience the structure of this Center. You want to almost empty out this center by "letting go" of your chest, allowing force to flow through it.

Try pushing the car again, with this center activated. See if this improves your performance. Remember, your primary Center lies at your belt buckle.

Further resources on training Center:

Most importantly, try to find actual human beings who can teach you Center skills. Failing that, look for these books...

[edit] Why?

The only way to answer this lies in practice. Though you may ask, "what does this do, exactly?", you could more wisely ask, "what does this NOT do?". A diligent application of this change in body use will affect your entire world.

Your bow drilling will immediately feel easier, as will rabbit stick throwing, Fox-walking, Fox-running, etc. Think of your Center when you feel off balance (putting your pants on, crossing a log bridge) - it will bring you back into balance.

[edit] Indigenous Physical Feats

From Why the sherpas of Nepal would leave our fittest soldiers standing[1]

NEPALESE mountain porters who climb steep Himalayan slopes carrying more than their bodyweight are the fittest and most efficient load-lifters in the world, scientists have found. Their combination of technique and physical ability makes their performance far more effective than that of Western soldiers marching with backpacks, according to research. It even surpasses the most efficient carrying methods studied to date: those of African women whose loads are balanced on or suspended from the head.

From Gospel of the Redman, 1966, Ernest Thompson Seton:

The most famous runner of ancient Greece was Pheidippides, whose record run from Athens to Sparta was 140 miles in 36 hours. Among our Indians, such a feat would have been considered very second-rate. In 1882, at Fort Ellice, I saw a young Cree who, on foot, had just brought in despatches from Fort Qu'Appelle (125 miles away) in 25 hours. It created almost no comment. I heard little from the traders but cool remarks like, "a good boy", "pretty good run". It was obviously a very usual exploit, among Indians. The two INdian runners, Thomas Zafiro and Leonicio San Miguel, ran 62 1/2 miles, i.e. from Pachuca to Mexico City, in 9 hours, 37 minutes, November 8, 1926, according to the El Paso Times, February 14, 1932. This was 9 1/4 minutes to the mile. The Zunis have a race called, "Kicked Stick". In this, the contestants each kick a stick before them as they run. Dr. F. W. Hodge tells me that there is a record of 20 miles covered in 2 hours by one of the kickers. The Tarahumare mail carrier runs 70 miles a day, every day in the week, carrying a heavy mailbag, and he doesn't know that he is doing an exploit. In addition, we are told: "The Tarahumare mail carrier from Chihuahua to Batopiles, Mexico, runs regularly more than 500 miles a week; a Hopi messenger has been known to run 120 miles in 15 hours".

[edit] The Tumpline

The "tumpline" looks like a strap with narrow ends and a wide padded middle section, that supports loads at a point just behind a persons hairline, concentrating the weight of the burden on the spine, rather than the shoulders. Why do so many indigenous peoples the world over use the tumpline, rather than conventional backpacks? The tumpline may explain some indigenous feats of strength and endurance, by using a point which one can easily train to support loads without much effort. See also the indigenous tradition of carrying loads directly on the top of one's head. Instead of using a backpack, if you must carry a load, experiment with the tumpline, remembering to use your Center, and see if you can increase the loads you carry with minimal effort.