Way back in August of 2013 I wrote about my experience becoming a MovNat certified trainer. It was an awesome weekend in Boston and I was excited to implement the new skills I’d learned into our classes and sessions at the Studio/Neuty/etc. Fast forward almost 2 years, lots of practice, a couple thousand miles…and there I was in New Mexico learning from Erwan and Vic for my Level 2 certification! I am even more inspired now! In fact, the more I learn about the MovNat system, the more I’m convinced that it is the absolute best investment of time when it comes to our physical competence. Here is the recap of the 3 days of schooling, as well as a couple days of relaxation in the Southwest in April:

Day 1 was extremely humbling! I thought I was pretty good at this MovNat thing but after spending the entire morning on stuff at which I suck, I felt pretty disappointed. While it was awesome to be moving with, and at times next to Erwan, I walked away from day one a little down on myself since my sitting and squatting movements were pretty poor. I can climb, run, jump, lift/carry, throw, and balance pretty well but I lack mobility and thus perform relatively poorly on some of the most simple movements. However, I tried to take the most important lessons home with me that day which were to move “with a happy heart” and love myself.

Day 2 was much better for me as we did moves that were in my wheelhouse! We spent lots of time working techniques in different planes (frontal, transverse) and combinations. I enjoyed balancing while throwing and catching, as well as carrying in the inverted crawl position. Just watching Erwan and Vic move and hearing them address nuances that make movement more efficient were extremely valuable! I also really liked how Erwan talked about how MovNat is a “practice” (ala yoga) and that we should always move with mindfulness.

Day 3 was testing day! We covered running and changing direction before being evaluated on our physical competence and coaching ability. I was very confident in all of the techniques we’d practiced (thankfully we weren’t being tested on our deep squats!) but as always, balancing while nervous is hard! I wasn’t proud of my performance on the 2×4’s that felt “like a mile long” but I still passed! For the coaching component I was also very confident as I’ve been coaching many of these movements for almost 2 years now! I performed well but still took home the MovNat coaching evaluation checklist that I refer to now when teaching new skills or as a general refresher.

This is one of those experiences that I will always remember! I’m proud to call myself a MovNat Certified Trainer! As always, the people teaching and taking this certification were awesome! I got to meet some really cool folks from all over the country who are part of the MovNat community. I learned a lot about my personal abilities, but also about my abilities as a coach. In fact, I think I’m most proud of the fact that I helped my client/friend/partner, Chris Jardin earn his MCT Level 2! Chris did awesome which made us laid-back dudes from RI look like we knew what we were doing!