An eye-opening journey into the power of human movement and how we can harness it to optimize our brain health, boost our mood and improve every aspect our lives For our earliest ancestors who hunted and gathered, movement meant survival. Our brains evolved to reward physical activity. Moving, thinking and feeling have always been inextricably linked. Yet what happens when we stop moving? Today, on average, we spend around 70% of our lives sitting or lying completely still. Our sedentary lifestyle—desk jobs, long commutes and lots of screen time—is not only bad for our bodies. It can also result in anxiety, depression and a lower overall IQ. But there’s good news. Even the simplest movements can reactivate our bodies and open up a hotline to our minds, improving our overall well-being and longevity. And we don’t have to spend countless hours in the gym. In fact, exercise as we understand it misses the point. Veteran science journalist Caroline Williams explores the cutting-edge research behind brain health and physical activity, interviewing scientists from around the world to completely reframe our relationship to movement. Along the way she reveals easy tricks that we could all use to improve our memory, maximize our creativity, strengthen our emotional literacy and more. A welcome counterpoint to the current mindfulness craze, Move offers a more stimulating and productive way of freeing our caged minds to live our best life.

Troubleshoot Your Human Machine and Resolve the Deeper Alignment Issues Affecting Your Health. Bowman's Move Your DNA (2014), which explores the difference between exercise and movement, caused a mini-revolution in health and wellness circles. Since mainstream media caught wind, Bowman's furniture-free home, movement-based lifestyle, and scientific explanations of why we need to move have become staples in national health publications and online media around the world. But before Bowman became well known, she wrote down her ideas on movement and alignment in a blog called Katy Says. Alignment Matters contains the first five years of her posts, organized to function as a primer to alignment and better movement, and also to Bowman's more complex books. Starting with the feet and working all the way up to the head, her clear, engaging essays take you on an enjoyable and unconventional ride through the human body, and include stretches, habit modifications, spiritual insights, and enough belly laughs to soften even the tightest psoas. Couch potatoes, professional athletes, and everyone in between all have something to learn about movement. With Alignment Matters, readers will gain a better understanding of the incredible, complex, and always fascinating human body. Book jacket.

What if your pain and lack of mobility aren't due to your age, but your habits? What if changing how you move can change how you feel, no matter your age? Dynamic Aging is an exercise guide to restoring movement. This book: Is geared to a 50+ audience and anyone looking to improve basic whole-body mobility, Includes exercises and postural adjustments that require no special equipment and include modifications for all fitness levels, Will help you move and feel better, Alongside biomechanist and movement teacher Katy Bowman's instructions are the experiences of four women over seventy-five who have used these principles and exercises for years. They've found recommended surgeries unnecessary and regained strength and mobility, and they move more than they did a decade ago. From hiking in the mountains to climbing ladders and walking on cobblestones with ease, each of these women embodies the book's message: No matter where you're starting, if you change how you move, you can change how you feel. Book jacket.

This groundbreaking new medical work demonstrates how modern sedentary lifestyles contribute to poor health, obesity, and diabetes, and how health can be dramatically improved by continuous, low-intensity, movement that challenges the force of gravity. Citing her original NASA research on how weightlessness weakens astronauts' muscles, bones, and overall health, the author presents a simple and effective plan for maintaining good health throughout life by developing new lifestyle habits of frequent gravity-challenging movement. Written for everyone who spends most of their lives sitting in chairs, at desks, and in cars, this practical, easy-to-follow action plan outlines simple gravity-challenging activities such as standing up frequently, stretching, walking, and dancing that are more healthful and effective than conventional diet and exercise regimens.

How can we unlock whole-body movement when our feet have been bound for decades? Is it as simple as kicking off our shoe-shackles and releasing our feet into the wild? Whole Body Barefoot will help you safely and effectively transition to minimal footwear, reaping the enormous benefits of freeing your feet without injuring yourself along the way. Whole Body Barefoot presents: How conventional shoes can cause your body to lose mobility and muscle, The importance of walking on natural surfaces, The corrective exercises that can transition your shoe-adapted feet and legs, Vitamin "Texture"-and how the latest research on toe-walking and texture might mean that barefoot time is essential to walking well, With clear, science-based explanations, biomechanist Katy Bowman lays out the issues created by conventional shoes and artificial environments, and describes in detail the steps necessary to transition to more natural footwear safely and effectively. With over twenty exercises, this is a must-have for anyone hoping to restore lost foot function, and improve their health...naturally! Book jacket.