NATURAL MOTION OR MOTOR SKILL, WHAT IS A DIFFERENCE?

In previous chapters I already defined what is Natural Motion. It is a motion that is close to inborn motion as much as possible when applied under existing conditions in order to solve motor problems. I also discussed numerous advantages of implementation of Natural Motion in every human activity as well as complete lack of disadvantages.

The Pure Natural Motion is completely based on inborn motor reflexes. It has the most perfect bio-mechanics as was explained earlier – the bio-mechanics of the waves starting from the body and running toward the palms like the wave that running along the rope of the whip. No intelligence-constructed movements, no sophisticated tools can be found in the Pure Natural Motion. It rather looks as absolutely ordinary motion, really nothing special, just very graceful, light and variable. 

By definition the Pure Natural Motion is the most versatile and widest basis for all human motor activities. Also by definition the Pure Natural Motion provides platform with positive transfer of training of the highest possible value. It is a heart of all our locomotor activities as well as of the huge variety of different motor skills.

In its pure basic state Natural Motion appears as pandiculation and yawning reflexes, but even so human culture and especially social conditioning often change their external appearance. We all know how individuals try to depress or conceal their yawning and pandiculation when in public. In all other appearances of the Pure Natural Motion it's a basis of the buildings and skyscrapers of the various motor skills and activities. Closer motor skill to the Pure Natural Motion, the lower and simpler the building – easier will be to restore the naturalness or in other words to make the motor skill to be as close to the inborn motion as possible. The most convenient way therefore is to start from breathing and continue to pulling, pushing, throwing and then to walking and running. Exactly like newborn baby makes his or her initial progress in motor skills. I believe that the best and easiest way back to the naturalness always must start from the practical work with these basic motor skills.

No practice of already acquired motor skill alone will considerably recover them, doesn't matter how hard the practitioner will work. His or her bad motor habits will survive even the most severe training. This is a reason that every sportsman, even of the highest level and especially of the highest level, needs the help of the coach. The coaches and science provide bio-mechanical analyses of the existing motor skills and the methods to improve them as well as psychological skills, proper diet etc. The quantity of the training, natural or man-made surroundings and natural training equipment – none of them survive confrontation with bad motor habits. No specially designed and most clever exercises will really help until them grow up from the most ancient and primitive statokinetic and survival reflexes. These exercises, if them are not Pure Natural Motions, just not transfer their specific motor proficiency to the other motor skills. They stay alone or almost alone and don't contribute to others, so to say they have no good friends in the world of motor skills. Sometimes they even harm others, we call it Negative Transfer of Training. Contrary to them, the Pure Natural Motion is a friend with every and all motor skills, it helps to all of them. It's actually a part of all of them.  

The next question is how to get proficiency in the Pure Natural Motion. This is a very important question. The God or Nature created us, our bodies, our nerve system and our motion for the Pure Natural Motion and not for something that our minds and cultures can develop.

One of the most important features of our body is that it has a fractal (I already explained this term in the previous chapters. Shortly, fractal – made of the parts similar to the whole thing) structure. The same fractal represents our Motor Control or the way, the method, of how our Central Nerve System (CNS) controls our motion. This fractal structure is a result of the evolutionary development of living creatures. This structure was developed and still functioning from the center of our body toward the external world, according to Proximal-Distal Principle.

The real meaning of the fractality of Motor Control is that it repeats in micro the long way of evolution in every single motion. It's a Theory of Recapitulation or Biogenesis of Motor Control. Every human Natural Motion includes the Natural Motions of the creatures that stand below us in their evolutionary development. Actually every human Natural Motion tells us the whole story of millions of years of Evolution. These Natural Motions of our animal ancestors appear in the same order as these creatures appeared during the Evolution and produce waves running along our body.

 In any motor skill, which is not Natural Motion, the recapitulation of evolution is destroyed by chronical stress, excessive muscular tension (blocks) and wrong bio-mechanics. This will produce mess in the natural and most effective sequence of movement. The natural synchronization of the joints rotations producing these waves along the body will cease. The result of this will be even future increment of stress which will harm movement even more. Of course no wave can be produced by stiff body and movement will be excessively forcible and lacking its natural effectiveness.

Sometimes slow motion can look really great to untrained eyes, but attempt to perform it in fast and vigorous manner, like in real life, will immediately reveal its real stiffness concealed in deceptive slowness.

Inertial and reaction forces support the Natural Motion but ruin all others. Inertia is the most important ingredient of our motion, so important, that our bodies have unique proportions to enable us to use inertia as much as possible. This very important result of my research I published in other chapters.    

For reeducation of people we have to work not on "what to do" but rather on "how to do", it means we have to work on the inner structure of movement. It can be done only with humans. We can teach animals to do different tricks but we almost can't change their intrinsic movement structure. Lower level of animal intelligence, comparatively to that of human, preserve animals from unnatural motion. Higher level of human intelligence sometimes has negative results and motion of civilized people is a striking example of that. So different activities alone are very good but must be accomplished by work on the inner structure of our motion on the "animal level".

 The new fractal bio-mechanics I developed operates with natural abilities of our bodies and motion. This new bio-mechanics equips us with useful practical tools for perfection of our motion and enables to create practical training methods to recover our Natural Motion.

The practical training consists of the three main parts:

1.     NPSE and NSSE – Natural Power Stretching Exercises and Natural Stance Stretching Exercises. These exercises relive chronical stresses, revitalize the body and soul, develop power and natural beautiful stance on the basis of pandiculation and yawning. We can start them either intentionally or spontaneously and reflexively but they both use inborn reflexes of pandiculation and yawning. The feeling of the real pandiculation and yawning during these exercises and appearance of the spontaneous and numerous yawnings are signs of the proper performance. When started intentionally there are special methods to "switch on" inborn reflexes to incorporate them in practice.

These natural exercises refresh, reinforce and calibrate statokinetic and breathing reflexes and therefore prepare one for the Pure Natural Motion. There are the only exercises that all living creatures perform without exclusion, from fish up to humans. These exercises make muscles incredibly strong but in the same time they remain soft, responsive and ready to jump into action every moment.

Very short NPSE and NSSE must be performed at least 3 times daily.

During these exercise our state of mind may vary from light to deep meditative state.

2.     Pure Natural Motion Exercises. This part consists of basic steps, their combinations and solo performances of the standard sequences (kata in Japanese). The animals use almost exclusively Pure Natural Motion. This is a reason for the amazing uniformity of the motion of the same kind of animals, contrary to humans.

Pure Natural Motion Exercises are full body exercises. Like piano player has to perform special exercises every day so the Pure Natural Motion Exercises and especially the set of basic motions must be performed at least once a day.

First of all, our motion becomes automatic.

Secondly, we learn how to incorporate automatically the powers of inertia and reaction and acquire the quality of standardization in our basic motion. At this stage we eliminate bad motor habits, blocks and stresses. The naturalness becomes automatic.

The influence of these exercises, as well as of NPSE and NSSE, on our quality of life can't be overemphasized.

Pure Natural Motion make full usage of inertial and reaction forces. The feeling of practitioner during the exercising is that movements just start and cease by themselves. It can be described as "don't do it, just permit it to be happen".

Pure Natural Motion Exercises also train perfect usage of statokinetic reflexes, which have their roots in bio-mechanics. The fractal bio-mechanics is especially convenient to describe this kind of reflexes.

Standard sequence ("Tavnit") trains combinations of different steps. There are 3 such sequences. The first one is the shortest one, the second includes the first and the third includes the second. If basic steps can be compared to the letters the standard, the sequence Tavnit is a vocabulary.  

The physics of the Pure Natural Motion was well known in the ancient cultures and encoded more than 8000 years ago. Two forms of this ancient code were preserved until nowadays but the secret knowledge itself was completely lost until I decoded it some few years ago. These two forms are Fuxi Bagua symbol and Taiji symbol, two of the three most important symbols of the ancient Chinese culture. This secret knowledge is one of the most important ingredients of our training method. I already wrote about it in details in the previous chapters.

During these exercises our state of mind is meditative and slightly emotional.

3.     Natural Motion Exercises. This part deals with acquired motor skills. There is a huge diversity of them and practically their number is unlimited. Just few examples of such skills – running, swimming, all known Martial Arts, wrestling, basketball, football, baseball, tennis, golf. In this field of motor activities our difference from other living beings reaches the maximum.

In this part of training we acquire proficiency in specific skills while using our Pure Natural Motion as much as possible. Such motions we call Natural Motions. In this part of training we can train alone or with partners, with or without tools, equipment and devices.

First of all, we learn to perform our motions automatically.

Secondly, we learn to act with standardization, it means to incorporate inertial and reaction powers instead of to fight against them.

Thirdly, we train for stability of our motor skill. It means that we try to perform with stability due to internal disturbances like headache or stomach ache or external ones like different shape of the field in the golf game, disturbing noise, strong and fast changing lights or resistance of opponent in wrestling or Martial Arts.

In some skills, like Martial Arts, we learn to incorporate survival reflexes in our activities instead of to fight against them. These survival reflexes include startle reflex, flinch or shielding reflex and the famous FFF (Fight, Flight or Freeze).

Due to the training of specific skills it is most desirable to incorporate different games, psychodrama, dances etc. These enjoyable activities greatly increase the pleasure and effectiveness of training. Due to the common motor basis of the Pure Natural Motion many Natural Motions will positively contribute to other Natural Motions and skills (in theory of training we can speak about Positive Transfer of Training) and improve the quality and the speed of the skill absorbing. Any living creature with considerable learning ability, like mammals and birds, play games and we are not different in this aspect. There are tag-like games, wrestling and fighting games, courtship and mating games and imitation games (for the most intelligent animals like some birds, wales, dolphins, apes and especially for humans).

This is a natural way of all of us to learn in general meaning of this word and acquire specific applicable motor skills in particular.   

During these exercises our state of mind is emotional and can be lightly meditative.