Summary of Huberman Lab Podcast Episode: Ido Portal: The Science & Practice of Movement | Huberman Lab
— Description —
Discover the transformative power of movement practice Embrace play, explore touch, and strengthen bonds through shared movement experiences From unskilled to virtuosity, unlock true freedom by inviting variability and chance
Analyze your practice and infuse more movement into your exercises Step into a world of limitless possibilities.
Ido Portal: The Science & Practice of Movement | Huberman Lab
Key Takeaways
- The opportunity for movement comes from deep within our bodies, we’re always in an anticipatory state of movement
- Don’t overthink and overly constrain movement – approach movement practice with play and exploration
- Much value of movement practice is interaction with someone else: don’t forget to incorporate touch & remove certain reactivity by exploring closer proximity
- Gathering around movement is culturally traditional, strengthens bonds, and builds community (today’s modern equivalent is a gym buddy or yoga friend) – try communicating with a loved one through movement instead of eating and drinking
- Dynamic nature of movement & evolution: we go from unskilled to skilled to mastery to virtuosity (true freedom, inviting variability and chance back in to try new things)
- Visualization may not be helpful unless you’ve developed tangible experience reinforced by feedback
- Bins of perspective are helpful in analyzing movement practice – are you moving towards or away from the following: (1) contraction/relaxation; (2) martial; (3) environment; (4) somatic/internal practice; (5) object manipulatory
- Consider infusing more movement in your current exercises – for example, step and bicep curl instead of standing still
Introduction
- Ido Portal (idoportal.com) is a movement teacher and expert on human movement. He created the Ido Portal Method, a physical fitness practice utilizing the practitioner’s own body weight and movements, rather than external weights and machines, to develop strength, agility, and flexibility.
- Andrew Huberman and Ido Portal take a deep dive into movement, covering topics from the role of the nervous system and mind-body connection, to how to leverage movement to expand mental and physical skills.
- Host: Andrew Huberman (@hubermanlab)
What Is A Movement Practice?
- Humans have a greater variety of movement than any other animal species
- Change is important and the primary way to sustain – it’s difficult to overcome at first and within the tension and adaptation lies the beauty
- Movement is not just physical, we can move through our emotions and thoughts as well
- “We are not just a brain with a body, we are a body with a brain.” – Ido Portal
- “Movement is the entity that ties everything together – it’s the magic.” – Ido Portal
- The mind and body are in motion when integrated properly – there are not purely physical or purely mental processes
- The idea is to find the balance between fun, play, and discomfort, strain – what you want to do versus what you need to do
- “Discomfort is necessary to recognize you are in the right place. When it’s too high and you are unable to make progress, you went overboard.” – Ido Portal
Approaching Movement Practice
- A movement practice can start from anywhere in the body or mind (e.g., spine, fun, etc.)
- Start with education – discuss, examine, look, but try not to stringently define
- Bring awareness to the fact that you are in a body, living in motion, and the mind and life are types of movement – nothing stops
- Movement can and should be incorporated into your entire life: pay attention to the rhythm of your breath, and don’t be passive in your physical and mental movements
- You don’t need a gym or specific equipment, just move and move often
- Domains of movement practice: posture (emotional, mental, physical), integration of postures
- Bins of perspective helpful in analyzing movement practice: (1) contraction/relaxation; (2) martial; (3) environment; (4) somatic/internal practice; (5) object manipulatory
- Spinal wave: when emotion is evoked, undulate the spine to shift and adapt
- Ido Portal squat challenge: accumulate 30 minutes in squat position per day (build-up to this if needed)
- Explore different distances and touch: don’t forget to incorporate touch & remove certain reactivity by exploring closer proximity
Theories Of Movement & The Nervous System
- The nervous system is receiving information from internal and external stimuli
- When something is reflexive or second nature, we use the lower motor neurons
- Theory: movements of small digits and portions of distal body parts evoke different sensations than movements in the core of the body or closer to the spine
- Central orientation (swinging, running, jumping, throwing) is rarer than it used to be – we’ve decentralized our ancient patterns and use our fingertips and extremities more
- The opportunity for movement comes from deep within our bodies, we’re always in an anticipatory state of movement
Leveraging Anatomy
- The architecture of our body changes our experiences
- Start with the eyes: the eyes are the entry point – we can adjust the aperture of our eyesight to adapt to focus
- When eyes (not head) are up, the focus is increased; when eyes (not head) are lower, we go into calmer states
- Practice panoramic vision: because our culture has pushed us to more narrowly focused states, we rarely use our panoramic vision – but in nature, we wouldn’t focus on a single leaf, we’d look at the tree
- Have a checklist of what you’re looking to do and use it as a guide
- Certain body types and emotions facilitate some movements over others
- Visualization may not be helpful unless you’ve developed tangible experience reinforced by feedback