Na'vi Fitness

After watching Avatar, I have found the imagined planet of Pandora and the way the Na’vi tribe live on it absolutely inspiring. People say to me ‘Tara – it’s not actually true you know!’. But, I think much of it could be.

The Wildfitness philosophy draws wisdom from how hunter-gatherers / tribal societies live. Incorporating some of their lifestyle into ours, we can get some of the benefits of their levels of health, physical prowess and freedom.

But, whilst we may learn much from hunter-gatherer societies, should we idealise them? I think obviously not – we are still a species evolving; physically and culturally. New technologies and lifestyles that work with nature (the most sophisticated technology of all) can only bring more richness to the human experience.

The Na’vi fitness is awe-inspiring. It’s been described as ‘super human’, but it isn’t; everything the Na’vi do is in the human potential. Moving absolutely silently, running along branches, riding on the backs of big beasts, climbing high up rocks, fighting off attacks. O.K. their tails may have helped a bit… and cliff jumping onto lily pads may be pushing it, but pretty much all their feats are natural human movements, mastered to breathtaking degrees, but no more so than any wild animal.

Georges Hébert (a French visionary who developed Methode Naturelle) commented: ‘(African) bodies were splendid, flexible, nimble, skilful, enduring, resilient and yet they had no other tutor in gymnastics but their lives in nature’.

The Na’vi connection to nature, although cartoonified, is resonant of the sophistication that our ancestors may have had. Their understanding is that the eco-system is an inter-dependent functioning whole and from its health each individual Na’vi draws their own health.

So at the risk of being lead away from reality; I think imagining an incredible way of life, like the one so richly (and expensively!!) portrayed in Avatar is just as valid as the inspiration we take from extant tribal societies.

I like to think of Wildfitness as a level 1 Avatar Na’vi training camp. Although we are not readying our clients for Pandora planet specifically (!!), so much of the way natural people move and live can bring fun and effectiveness into the way we eat, move and live in the city.