Free running in forest terrain
Our forefathers, all the generations in the eras when the human race was born, spend all their time in the nature which was unspoiled by human hand. There were no houses, no roads, no tools. We lived a natural kind of life in the nature and all activities were physical in one sense or in another, the stiffnes bought by the looks of the build environment and by schooled learning indoors from book knowledge was totally absent, everything was natural in our movements, in our style, in our activities, in our goals and in our relationship to the nature. That natural physically active athletic life in the wild nature is still the base for all our functioning, it is our principles of usage, the base for our modern day working ability and the basic training that is the base for all our modern skills too. A human who cannot eat starves away, a human who cannot exercise gets tired and fat, a human without a connection with the nature tires and loses spirit while a human living a healthy natural life gets refreshed, strenghtened, rested and finds pleasure and satisfaction with one's life. And the one incredient that we modern humans are especially lacking is free running in an uneven terrain in the wild nature.
Natural movement is not predetermined like that of a robot, such movements are maybe taught by school like looks but their only use is on even ground on city streets, rhytmical thought of movements do not offer one the exercise that our nature asks for, longs for, that is the base of all our actions. Natural movements are reactive, to be able to react wisely is the point in being alive and forest paths allow us a variety of situations which demand us to react with our whole being if we want to take them fully into account like is wisest for exercises sake and for enjoyment. The natural runner takes each step of a different lenght, of a different height, to a different place in a different rythm according to one's emotional motivation and according to each situation: here I am stepping to a root, there to soft moss, there a jump, here a tiny side step, all the time being wary of tree bra´nches hitting the eyes or the ground giving in under the feet, a branch catching the coat or something unexpected coming my way.
Good movement aren't like limbing, it is much more like the fun of watching the beautiful nature scenery and stepping to some spot in it just like you plan, eyes watching, whole being enjoying the beauty of nature and the pleasure of movement, each second anew, at your own ever varying pace like you want to watch or enjoy a short spurt in the middle of the weeds or up a stony little hill.
Eyes watch the scenery, the body is felt, you can feel your emotions and your movement intentions in the psace around the body too, some call iut the aura but it is your natural commection with the environment: here am I moving and there I want to go to, my emotions giving me my motivation to move, my intentions leading me to the direction that I wanna go to.
Like sensing the body makes the body more complex and enjoyable, easier to move than just watching it, likewise the forest nature trains our eyes to perceive lots of materials and structures at one long glance. Beauty open our eyes to look and that widened view we can use as increased capacity on all areas of life that demand rationality which is typically the most effective and most objective as landscape like picrtures.
Some Indian religion says that everything is alive. Something in my nature says that that is a very beautiful view of the world and when I come to forest I see the original source of that belief: each tree, each, grass, each insect and bird is a living being, an example of life in its flourishing original form that is our ideal of what life ought to be like: sporty, rich with sensations, all things mattering, each thing connecting with other living beings, each thing arising from our nature in a way that is clear for us to understand,... When I see a tree, I see its history of life, how it has grown, and like the tree has grown a new brach froma tiný beginning, I too can remember starting a new hobby from which grew a new area of life to my daily routines.
Hannele Tervola, Savonlinna, Finland, EU