8. Conclusion — The Paradox of Movement

When the Answer Becomes the Question

Ultimately, I set out to prove that movement is the answer.

And, as is the beauty of research, I was proven wrong. The unexamined biases of the observer, is the most likely factor to distort the research outcome.

Movement is the answer — until it isn’t.

It heals — until it harms.

It regulates — until it ruptures.

There is a point, a point which I do not yet know, where movement ceases to serve us, and begins instead to consume us.

I keep coming back to the historical etymology of the word movement, as defined in 1872, once described a mental impulse — an inclination, an act of will. It was the language of both the body and the mind. Somewhere along the way, we moved so far from that original meaning that it fell out of use entirely.

I wonder: if we returned to that earlier definition — to movement as mental impulse, desire, and intention — would we find ourselves closer to who we are meant to be?

Perhaps the way forward is, paradoxically, a movement back —

back to embodiment

back to joy

back to meaning

in this increasingly maladaptive society we call home.

~~

“We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are.”

~ Anais Nin