Reawakening Your True Nature With MovNat

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The MovNat Reawakening retreat is a five day course spent camping in the outdoors that is intended to reacquaint people with aspects of human nature which they may have forgotten had existed. This not only includes natural movements and exercises that one would expect of jungle warriors, but also of paleolithic nutrition and the mindset of people who might live a life without the aids or shackles of civilization.

Erwan Le Corre, the founder of MovNat, developed his program from the ashes of the French Methode Naturelle, and has created an all encompassing system for attaining a healthy and vibrant lifestyle. I will give you a hint of what the program is like as I describe my experience at the West Virginia 2010 MovNat Reawakening event.

Movnat Base Camp

Our camp was nestled into the side of the woods in a RV camping site near Summersville Lake, West Virginia. Each of us had a tent to ourselves, clustered around the food pavilion and picnic tables (obviously the most important part of the camp).

When I arrived in the evening before the first day, it was already dark, so tiki torches were set up to light up the area. All around us was the steady blinking of thousands of fire flies, looking like a vast array of Christmas tree lights strewn about the field. Sleep was hard to get that first night as I was pretty excited (nervous) about the morning to come.

The first day, we had a hearty breakfast of eggs and a walnut salad. After eating we got right down to business. We did some light warm-up movement and stretching to get started, and then moved on to an assessment. Erwan and Vic, our other trainer, recorded our attempts at a multitude of movements to gauge our abilities and to have something to compare against at the end of the week.

The movements are what Erwan refers to as “natural movement“, and are collections of bodily activities that are intrinsic to the natural human experience. This includes running, climbing, throwing, jumping, defending, balancing, etc. I was hoping my CrossFit training and some sports experience would help me, but I soon discovered the benefit was marginal at best.

The assessment and the first few days of training quickly illustrated that the typical physical training experience, inside a sterile and controlled environment like a gym, was simply inadequate for preparing one to handle obstacles in a natural environment. What was before just a simple overhead squat became difficult when performed over uneven and sloping ground, and with a large tree branch instead of a thin barbell.

The unpredictable nature of CrossFit suddenly seemed to me quite controlled, as we literally had no idea what was in store for us as we ran through the woods. (Over the course of the week we did however come to expect the sound of buzzing hornets, and the inevitable yelps of pain that would soon follow.)

“Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable” takes a whole knew meaning when you are covered from head to toe in mud, grass, scrapes, scratches, stings, blisters, bruises and other assorted hurts. I was hoping this experience would be a way to gauge my toughness quotient, and I was not let down. It is recommended for attendees to bring long sleeve shirts and pants to avoid excessive scrapes and sun burn, a recommendation which I whole-heatedly agree with.

As a cubicle commando who sits in front of a computer most of the day, I had greatly underestimated how soft my skin had become. There were hours of physical effort each day, with sweat and dirt covering us in equal parts. (My Vibram Five Fingers were dutifully left outside the tent to avoid creating a military-grade chemical weapon stench inside my sleeping quarters.)

The food provided to us was unerringly paleo, as I never felt full in the traditional sense (bulging stomach, post-meal lethargy) but neither was I ever truly starving. The meals were different every day, and were excellently prepared by our on-site chef Alexandria. I admit that I felt a tad undernourished the first couple of days, but my body was always up to the task of what was in store for us. Erwan explained that the idea was to wean us of the idea of eating all the time, and to gradually ramp up our meals as the intensity increased.

By the end of the week our group had become firm friends. No doubt a certain camaraderie had developed as we strove to overcome personal limitations and encouraged others to meet each challenge. To be honest, there are some cases where I probably pushed myself a little too hard, suffering some minor injuries or strains. The drive to not let the group down and to keep moving was just too strong, and easily overrode my common sense. I suppose in a way, we had started forming into our own little tribe.

On the last day we were all sad to say goodbye and depart, but as all great experiences go, they must end sooner or later. I left the MovNat retreat with not only a greater understanding of what I am capable of, but also of the various deficiencies in my own training regimen. If the goal of our physical exercise programs is to prepare us to meet life’s challenges, then we must strive to ensure that our programs contain as many practical elements as possible. In the future, I hope to share more about how I plan to shake up my personal training, and see how the results pan out.

If you are interested in learning more about MovNat events, or attending one of them, you should visit their website and look for upcoming events in your area!