Mobility Is Your Best Friend

We often think mobility is something we don't have to work on — that the body will just keep working no matter what we do to it.

That's obviously a figment of our imagination! In the age of electronics and long hours of sitting, we actually have to work on mobility harder than ever before — especially if we want capable bodies not just in our art, but in everyday life. To me, good mobility is the privilege of standing up and sitting down on the toilet on my own when I'm in my 80s. But life is stagnant, and most of us stop moving and get stiff without even noticing.

The body is our BEST FRIEND, and it will adapt to however you use it — because it loves you. So if the way you use it is to sit and do nothing, it will learn to be comfortable there, even though that's terrible for it.

The body also works by one simple truth: "If you don't use it, you lose it." So you're a badass martial artist who wants to stay good at your art, performing the way you did when you were young — but you don't move? Let me give you a look at the arts I know well.

IN CAPOEIRA — have you seen how many people feel pain doing a simple negativa? Or how many have lost shoulder mobility and can no longer do floreios?

IN JIU-JITSU — how many people can no longer use a De La Riva hook because their knees hurt? Who can't reach their hands behind their backs because their chest is too tight? Or that person walking around all crooked, looking like their BJJ game — lasso shoulder lower than spider guard shoulder?

What if I told you this can be a simple shift — you just have to look at it differently. What if daily living was a playground? BE A CHILD. Explore the possibilities of your body. Don't just train and massacre it into submission — play with it instead. Breath is mobility too, and most of us do it all wrong. Breathe into it with love and joy for your lifelong friend, who gives you so much capability even though all you probably do is nag and complain that it doesn't work the way you want it to. If you treat the body with love, your capabilities will come naturally, and pain will naturally reduce — because it feels loved.

Till next time, warriors!

Love, Ana Carolina Lima "Morena"