Conclusion

“You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.”

—Abraham Maslow

Wow, we made it! The intention of this book is to offer easily accessible practices to seamlessly integrate optimal movement into all aspects of your daily life. This way, you can look and feel your best without depending on a single repetitive workout routine—your whole life becomes richer with opportunities to become more flexible, strong, and confident. Everything from your external environment to your internal thoughts and senses affects the way you move through the world. The principles outlined offer a full toolbox on how to begin the process of occupying your whole self in any situation that may come.

Where do we go from here, you ask? For the next month (and hopefully the rest of your life), I’d like you to actively incorporate the principles outlined in the previous chapters into your daily life until they become ingrained habits and your whole day becomes an opportunity for growth.

KEY POINTS TO ALIGN YOURSELF

Harness Your Senses

Your senses are a crucial aspect of your physical fitness. Take the tools you’ve learned in the Moving Your Senses section to harness the power of sight, sound, touch, and mindfulness to take control of your mental and physical state.

Take Control of Your Environment

Your environment forms your mind and body. This month, make it a priority to examine your home, office, travel, and clothing to see if they match your ideal vision for your future self. If your environments are forming your body into a sub-optimal position, it’s about time you Align them!

FIVE DAILY MOVEMENT PRINCIPLES

Each of the daily movements mentioned in Part II have the power to provide you with more strength and ease in living in the short term and grant you physical autonomy into the final days with your body in the long run. As mentioned in Chapter 4, no human needs to go through the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” moment as an elderly person if they follow the principles outlined below! This month make a point to:

  Spend at least thirty total minutes on the ground (tag #floorculture to share with the Align Community).

  Hang for a total of ninety seconds to three minutes per day.

  Hinge from your hips in most household and work activities.

  Breathe almost entirely through your nose during the day and night.

  Make more excuses for yourself to take walks each day (park further away from your destination, take walk breaks while working, schedule walk meetings, take your calls while walking outside, etc.) and pay attention while doing so, like a moving meditation.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Perhaps the most valuable—and yet all too often overlooked—element of optimal health and movement function is determining your reason to move in the first place. Those mindful folks responsible for the rich Japanese language came up with a convenient term for this: ikigai. This translates to your “reason for being.” At the end of the day, if you don’t have a good ikigai, colors will seem less bright, flavors less flavorful, relationships less meaningful, and your posture less upright. Fill yourself with purpose by devoting more of your time to service free of expectations, and you’ll experience postural change a foam roller could never deliver.

Remember, there’s no pause on your self-development, and there’s no need to wait for a yoga class or gym to work on your fitness: You’re continually in a state of construction, no matter where you are or what time it is. You can use this book as a roadmap leading you back to a state of balance. Then, the ultimate step for true alignment is letting go of the rules and stepping into your own natural way of being. You will only find your ideal postures in sitting, standing, laying, walking, and breathing when you stop fixating on what “perfect” should look like and start listening to what your body has known all along.

Finally, I’ll leave us with the words of Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of osteopathy: “Harmony only dwells where obstructions do not exist.” Make each day a process of dropping restrictions on your capacity to give and receive love—our time in these bodies is far too short to limp through with a guarded heart. If these are your priorities, you’re set to move well in your life.

It’s been my pleasure and honor to bring this collection of ideas to you. Thanks for coming along for the ride.