Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement Paperback – October 15, 2014

If you study movements or have a human body then you must read this. Thank you for writing this book Katy Bowman.

This is one of those life changing books

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I can’t help cheering when she states that the invocation to tighten your tummy to protect your low-back is hopelessly outdated.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.

The media could not be loaded.  “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 DNAThis 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.

One and half month ago I was at my spinal surgeon reviewing my MRI. I had several slipped discs and was in horrendous pain, and was not able to do anything. I bought this book after someone mentioned it to me, and it has changed my life. I now sleep on the floor and I will never again sleep on a bed. The first few nights on the floor were hard, but I slowly got used to it. Now its the best ever, I feel it stretching my spine. I'm also no longer using chairs, and just try to stand or sit on the floor. I'm able to take care of my children, and do my daily tasks again. Thank you Katy Bowman for giving back my back. Life Changing!!! Read it!

Really liked this book. I must admit I had never considered the effects of movement on a cellular level, and I am guilty of being one of the “exercise for an hour then stop moving” crowd who have a blinkered attitude to being fit. After hitting a certain decent but still young age I grew bored of the decades of weights and circuit routines and was looking for something more natural. The suggestion that I should stop trying to work out and instead move like I’m designed to as often as possible therefore hit home with me.I have deducted a star because the exercises/movement descriptions are a bit poor and therefore difficult to follow. Maybe it’s just me who doesn’t know how to “untuck my pelvis” (is it not inside me?!), but given that I’m a reasonably intelligent professional with a lifetime of exercise experience, I doubt it. If all the lingo was changed from stuff you hear in new age birthing classes to standard human stuff (drop the hips, turn inwards etc.) then I wouldn’t have got bored and flicked through.It is, however, worth the read for the cellular stuff alone so don’t be put off by the fluffy exercise bit.

Really enjoyed this read. I read another way more expensive title in the natural movement field and was not too impressed. This book however dives deep into a very important subject when it comes to reclaiming our health and gives simple, actionable information with great theory behind why this is necessary. Also the section on squatting was fascinating and this lady clearly knows her stuff. It missed out on 5 stars for me because some of the exercises were so detailed it’s hard to get them 100% from a book but this would be the case with any format other than teaching in person most likely.

Forget exercise and embrace movement. That is what Katy Bowman wants you to do. This book is all about how modern lifestyles have stopped us moving and how that one hour of exercise a day (if we are lucky) does not compensate for so much sitting down. Katy proposes solutions such as more walking, corrective exercises, minimalist shoes and even getting rid of furniture (and your bra!) Some of her explanations went over my head ( I am no scientist), but a lot of what she said made sense and I am already implementing her floor sitting advice.

I am a personal trainer and most of my clients are 'older adults' so I work with functional fitness. This book has transformed my approach to fitness, especially for people who are not gym users for whatever reason. This book has had a greater effect on me than anything I learned during my training.