Early mornings are a time I often use for reflection and visualization.  I reflect on where my fitness and movement path began and visualize this path as it winds into the future.  This reflection and visualization is always interesting and is a major part of who I have become as a teacher and student. Continually looking back and evaluating my movement practice has allowed me to create my own personal movement timeline. It began with competitive athletics, moved into and through a brutal but rewarding bodybuilding career and onto a rejuvenating and therapeutic yoga mat. Today, all of the significant points or dots on my timeline are being connected through natural movement and the MovNat System. How and when did your timeline begin? Is it something that you have thought about? If you have, Great!! If you haven't, it is time to start!! 

Reflect and Visualize

Connecting the Dots

​Evaluate your movements past and present...
    Let MovNat connect the dots

 As children, most of us can remember doing connect the dot pictures.  Early on most of the dot pictures were simple, like stars, squares and triangles.  But, as we got older the pictures became more complex, like houses, jet plains and people in action poses.  The MovNat system is very much like a connect the dot picture.  I often teach using this simple analogy as we deconstruct movement from the ground up breaking down complex skills into simpler, more user friendly techniques.  
This naturally breeds a more user friendly learning environment, offering both the advanced practitioner and the raw beginner a chance to connect the dots on their own personal timeline. Connecting the dots on your timeline can be simple as long as you understand where you started and where you hope to go. This will make the movements that are practiced in the now have a greater purpose and meaning.

Mindful Journal

   Stepping into my studio each morning I am continually reminded of its simplicity, not quite primitive, but close enough.  Kettlebells and a classic barbell set for lifting and carrying, pull up bars for practicing hanging and climbing skills, various size boards and concrete cinder blocks comprise a make shift balancing course that changes often.  All of this sits atop a 30 by 30 set of black horse stall mats that allow space for crawling, rolling, throwing, catching and jumping. With this simplicity comes a sense of peace and with no bright shiny exercise equipment or sensory overload to distract us from our practice, mindfulness can be slowly cultivated. Of course, we get outside as often as possible to move barefoot in the grass and hopefully find a tree to climb.  Each day, as a teacher, I get to use my imagination to create movement combinations that make work seem like play. 

Enter MovNat

Simplicity

MovNat is an incredible system, when practiced mindfully and patiently it has the ability to transform our bodies and minds. Everyday, in the simplicity of my studio, students learn a little at a time about themselves, as they connect natural movement dots that translate into their daily lives. Words such as PATIENCE, MINDFULNESS, EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE, all MovNat pillars, begin to take on a much greater meaning as we apply them with deeper attention. For me, teaching has always been a gift. An opportunity. MovNat has given me and others a formula and platform to teach natural movement as it is intended, systematically deconstructing movement from the ground up. The system allows us, as teachers, to help students piece together their movement timelines. Piece by piece and skill by skill the dots are connected, making each daily practice have meaning. By now, I hope you are thinking about your personal movement timeline. 


  • Do your dots create a clear picture?
  • Or, are the dots placed randomly with seemingly no connection or purpose?
  • Does your training practice translate to real world activities? 
  • Do you feel trapped inside a tight and rigid body that is holding you prisoner? 


If so, it is time to make a new dot on your timeline and begin to Mindfully connect the dots, the MovNat way.

 Aaron Baulch, NSCA - CPT / MCT Level 2, / Restorative Exercise Specialist Student, is the owner of Mindful Body Fitness Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mindful Body Fitness is a MovNat Licensed Facility and is MovNat Tulsa. Contact him at www.Mindfulbodyfitnesstulsa.com.

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