Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement

Katy Bowman... The information Katy Bowman delivers has changed the way I live my life. I follow Katy's work through various media types- videos, podcasts, movement lessons, facebook etc. This book is the pinnacle of all of the information she has delivered to this point and it can be either a starting point for people just learning about her concepts for the first time, or is also great for people with more understanding of these concepts. I have read the book and listened to the audio version after that. I will probably read it several more times over the next year or so. There is such a wealth of information, and yet it is so easy to read and flows magically. I believe these concepts are so overlooked in our cultures, yet so incredibly important to our health, yet so incredibly obvious and simple once you hear it. I want to share it with the world (sorry that sounds super cheesy) and I ordered 5 copies so that I could give them as gifts to people that I think might like the material, or to lend/give to people that seem interested through everyday conversations I have (I try to bring up various movement topics frequently throughout my days). Read it. Give it some time and read it again. I also Highly recommend searching Katy Bowman in the podcast app and listening to them whilst walking. (her own show is great but my favourites are the ones she is a guest speaker on, and there a fair few of them) Incredibly interesting stuff and they are free so thats always good... Although I am a fan of digital books in general, in my opinion this one is best read from a physical book as there will be times when you want to flip back and forward to look at diagrams or re-check a term, something like that. A brilliant book from a brilliant mind. 10 stars out of 5. The end.

“Move Your DNA presents a new paradigm of movement. Because DNA can be expressed differently depending upon how external factors impinge upon the cells within which the DNA resides, and because movement is one of these factors, the way we move has a direct bearing upon how our bodies are shaped—for good and ill. It is not enough for me to tell you just to ‘move more.’ You also need to ‘move better’ if you are to enjoy a more sustainable state of well-being. … Most people have very little idea about how movement works in our bodies, or how much movement is required for natural biological function. It is not my intention to make you freak out about your health, although I’m aware that I might. My highlighting the essentialness of movement should be used to create opportunity for healing (a positive response) rather than fear of illness (a negative response). Many people are shocked when they realize just how easy it is to move more (note: I said move, and not exercise) and how radically better they feel by making tiny skeletal adjustments throughout the day. Are you ready? Let’s do this!” ~ Katy Bowman from Move Your DNA This is our second Note on Katy Bowman’s work. Katy is one of the world’s leading biomechanists—helping us integrate proper body movement to optimize our well-being. She has a great podcast + blog you might enjoy as well. This book is packed with a ton of exercises and plenty of info on the science of biomechanics to help us pay more attention to the loads we’re putting on our bodies throughout the day so we can get in harmony with how our bodies were designed to move. Here are some of my favorite Big Ideas: 1. Move Your DNA - The missing link is epigentics. 2. Movement vs. Exercise - M >E. 3. Walking - The secret sauce. (Do it often.) 4. Doing Less Physically - But almost never doing nothing. 5. Forest-Baths - Taken one lately? And, let’s make sure moving our DNA is an essential part of that process! :) More goodness— including PhilosophersNotes on 300+ books in our ​*OPTIMIZE*​ membership program. Find out more at brianjohnson . me.

Katy is a born teacher; she simplifies complex topics and presents them in a way that makes them understandable to those of us who aren't anatomy geeks. Filled with good information AND practical, simple exercises that make a difference. For instance, I realized that trying to correct my severe pronation isn't about using my ankles to hold my feet up (something that does NOT work). It's about rotating the thigh bones so my knees align with my ankles, which automagically (!) re-aligns my ankles and feet, lifting the arch up to where it's supposed to be. Even more wonderful is the fact that this feels RIGHT - it's not a struggle to do, but rather a settling back into where my body naturally wants to be. I purchased the Kindle version of this book, and I have to say that I wish I'd bought the print version. There is no functional index in the Kindle book - just a list of terms. When I contacted Ms. Bowman about this, she said that it was intentional since how one sets up one's Kindle changes the page number references. In fact, that doesn't have to be the case; I've seen plenty of Kindle books with page numbers that are managed throughout the book independently from the virtual page displayed on the screen. What this means, though, is that there's no way to find the specific exercises or a reference to (for instance) "core" without searching. So if you get the Kindle version, you might want to bookmark all the exercises as you read for future reference.

Good info, and the premise is spot on: that is, we need to move more, all damn day, not just an hour here or there in the gym AND we have to be mindful of HOW we are moving so that we get our 21st century bodies back in the shape nature intended. Katy gives you "correctives" to get yourself gradually back in alignment. These include stretches and exercises, but also new lifestyle habits that one must adopt over time (eg. sitting on the floor instead of fluffy modern furniture, squatting to go to the toilet, transitioning to "barefoot" shoes, etc.). There are good photos of people doing the exercises, but with some of them it's still hard to tell if you're doing them right, especially since they are so different than what we're used to. For example, good posture is not what you've always been told it is, and adopting good posture is going to feel weird at first, which will probably make you think you are doing something wrong. This is not really a problem with the book, but rather just the nature of this subject matter. You can only explain things about the body so much in a book. (I'm actually attending a Move Your DNA workshop this weekend, where an instructor is going to take us through all the exercises, so hopefully that will clear things up.) What could be improved: Moving your DNA and getting real health back means changing your daily habits: how you sit, how you stand, how you sleep, how you walk... which is a LOT to be thinking about as you go through the day. There's no way you can change all these things at once. I think the book would benefit from an Appendix suggesting a more structured way of implementing new habits. For example, maybe in week 1 you focus on being mindful of how you're sitting...try sitting on the floor at least 30 minutes each day in one of the positions described, etc.....Then maybe week 2 (or month 2) you focus on being mindful of how you stand..." etc. Overall, a great book and a must-read for anyone with a body.

Katy Bowman is shifting the paradigm away from the idea that what humans need is "exercise," taken in discrete chunks throughout the week. Instead, she proposes, the body was meant to be moved in many different ways, through many different positions and ranges of motions all day long. It's all about the loads, Katy says, and our modern-dwelling bodies aren't getting the loads our bodies were designed to get. What follows, of course, is disease and dysfunction. Katy explores the mechanical underpinnings of modern disease and it will blow your mind. Think you understand heart disease? See what Katy has to offer to the discussion, first. And arthritis, and GI distress, and pelvic issues, and oh so much more. The remarkable thing is, while you know Katy is breaking new ground and sharing transformational information, it doesn't feel particularly revolutionary, because it's explained so very well. She's got physics backing her up. I've been reading and studying Katy's work for a long time now, and her mind goes where other people's minds don't. She is, I believe, one of the very few true visionaries in the movement / exercise / body nerd world. This is not a book from just another fitness guru, walking you through a plan to improve your health. Katy will challenge conventional wisdom and your own understanding of your body in ways that sometimes make you feel uncomfortable. (How could we have gotten it all so wrong for so long?) Her work is important, digestible, and crazy enough, super fun. Read it, and then read it again. Then send it to a friend.

Katy's advice on sleep position (pp. 39, 159-161, 163) cured my morning neck pain and debilitating headaches. I now sleep on a few layers of blankets and mattress pads on a carpeted floor (atop a concrete slab). Took me a week to adjust to carpet camping, but now I fall asleep right away and wake up rested. I also attribute good sleep to being grounded/earthed all night. See on you-tube “The Earthing Movie: The Remarkable Science of Grounding.”

Everyone should read this book! Katy Bowman is very well spoken and has a way of explaining and sharing her abundant knowledge of our body's biomechanics. She has opened my husband and my eyes up to how sedentary we have been and why it matters to keep moving. Also what happens to the body when we don't. Katy proves how our aches and pains and lack of mobility stem from the lack of movement, and how it's not about getting older as most think. Our youngest son who is twenty-seven has Autism that has limited him even in his physical health. Since we have implemented Katy's suggestions on changing our environment, our son is moving in ways he has never done before. We are over the moon with how we're starting to feel and getting back out mobility like sitting on the floor and getting up with less assistance. It's only been four months and we arecreaping so many benefits. We share this book with everyone.

As a polemic, Katy Bowman’s Move Your DNA rates 5 stars. As a work of popular science writing and an exercise manual, ratings drop to 2 stars. As an Alexander Technique Teacher, I can’t help but cheer at Katy’s thesis that the mechanical forces created from our daily hours of sitting, wearing shoes and staring at screens shape our bodies. Even an admirable daily exercise habit cannot combat the other 23 hours of our day. It’s F.M. Alexander’s thesis: “Use affects function,” reformatted for a modern audience with a scientific and paleo twist. After reading Bowman’s book, you may find yourself squatting to go the potty, running barefoot and sleeping on the floor — or at least throwing away your pillows. She opens with the dramatic example of “Floppy fin syndrome.” The mechanical forces created when a killer whale swims in the ocean at variable depths, speeds and direction load the fin tissues in ways that stimulate the fin to stiffen and stay upright. Whales in captivity don’t get these natural mechanical loads and the top fin flops. Every modern convenience from heat, to cars, to your fluffy mattress, protects the body from the mechanical loads necessary for health. Our bodies are the whale’s floppy fin. Bowman does not shy away from strong analogies like “casting.” The adaptations our bodies make when we have to wear a cast, such as muscle wasting, stiffening and bone loss occur in response to our environmental “casts” of smooth sidewalks, chairs, and even indoor time. From our eyes to our feet, our tissues conform to the limitations of our daily positions. Bowman has a firm handle on the reality that our bodies function as a whole, and the added benefit of a scientists perspective on the effects of force on tissue development. I can’t help cheering when she states that the invocation to tighten your tummy to protect your low-back is hopelessly outdated. And her assertion that the endless regimen of crunches (that occur even in some of my favorite yoga classes) may have limited value and may even damage the spine. The book is less wonderful as an exercise manual. It’s poorly organized and hard to search. This problem may be worse in the Kindle version, where the index lacks hyperlinks and location references. The illustrative photographs are often pages away from the text instructions. If it was hard for me, as a movement specialist, to decipher all of her exercises, I’m imagining it would be quite frustrating for a lay person. Although the book is not intended as a technical study in bio-mechanical sciences, I would have appreciated a little bit more evidence. For example, she devotes a large section to her thesis that Kegel exercises (isolated contractions of the pelvic floor muscles) may cause more harm then good. I completely agree that Kegels do not address the overall use patterns of the pelvis and torso, and ideally, it’s best to let those muscles function automatically. However she does not present evidence that her approach works better. Although something seems intuitively true, it may not be. There’s no way that such a small book can be comprehensive, and I believe bowman’s attempt is not to get us to adopt a fully paleo lifestyle, but to rethink our current one. By bettering our daily movement habits, we have a better quality of life.

You always are transforming by How you move or Don’t move. So move more, on diversity and quality ;) Great starting book.

Enjoyed this book, good suggestions to follow in everyday life

Great condition.

Easy to read, light approach to a serious topic!

I bought this book a couple of weeks ago and can categorically say it is changing my life. I was hooked from the off. This book is incredibly well written and for someone like me who gets frustrated by masses of 'tech speak' it was a blessing. Not only is the information explained that your brain soaks it up like a sponge, but the little diagrams and layman's terms are understood by even the most stubborn of learners ie me. It has turned into not so much just 'a book' for me but some sort of bible that I preach at anyone who will listen. I have ditched my desk and found bliss working at my computer crossed legged on the floor. My dog thinks life is that bit more wonderful as we now go on longer walks where there are woods so I can play on trees, wiggle my feet on rocks, balance on . . anything. Basically, just by reading Katy's book I have realised I need to start living my life rather than existing. The exercises work. I have been dealing with shoulder issues (rotator cuff styleeeeee) and stuffed my achilles up running. Now both are calming down (it is only week 2 give them time) and I truly believe that through following the path of this knowledge my body will be tickey boo in no time. Not only this but a friend of mine keeps being put on hold as he slips his disc. From the information I garnered through this book I was able to show him that just by placing his feet at a different angle would help. We both stood outside our work and did one of the exercises (feet forward etc) and were simultaneously amazed by how out of whack our bodies where. Move Your DNA not only opens your mind to realising you do not know enough about your own body, but it gives you all the starter blocks to sorting it out, straightening it out and strengthening it from the toes upward. I honestly can not recommend this book enough (can you tell?) and will be off to buy Alignment Matters as soon as I have finished doing all the exercises in this one and maybe read through it a couple of times again. Life changer (for the better) book. PS if you are anything like me, when you read this and get to the bit about the arteries and veins in your hand pictures you will experience a gasp and a huge "AHAAA" moment.