Natural Movement

10 natural ‘utilities’

Pursuit – walk, run, crawl

Escape – climb, balance, jump, swim

Attack – throw, lift, fight

These are from the principles of Georges Hérbert’s Méthode Naturelle (c.1900) which has been the inspiration and foundation for new activities such as parkour and free running. These principles are now being engaged by the top health professionals in the world for health and performance.

These are best performed outside and are non-competitive. “Exercise only with the intention to carry out a physical gain or triumph over competitors” Hérbert believed, “is brutally egoistic and just wasn’t human.”

Instead: “être fort pour utile”  “be fit to be useful”

“There is the great duty of man to himself, to his family, his homeland and to humanity” Hérbert wrote, “only the strong will prove useful in difficult circumstances in life.”

Hérbert’s inspiration came from Ancient Greece, where health goes hand in hand with compassion and has three components:

• paideia = skill (mind)
• arete = strength (body)
• xenía = desire (soul)

Overload any one of the three, and you’ll unbalance the other two:

• if you build individual muscles on a gym resistance machine (that you see in most gyms) you build ‘stupid’ muscles that have no skill
• if you have skill and desire but no strength you will tire quickly
• if you do not enjoy your movement, there is no desire and motivation will quickly wane