There was a turning point in our history when our way of living shifted from being largely foragers to people who worked the land in domesticated agriculture.  In "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari he states:

“Around 10,000 BC, before the transition to agriculture, earth was home to about 5-8 million nomadic foragers. By the first century AD, only 1-2 million foragers remained . . .  but their numbers were dwarfed by the world’s 250 million farmers. The body of homo sapiens had not evolved for the literally “back breaking” repetitive tasks of agriculture. Our bodies were adapted to climbing apple trees and running after game, not to clearing rocks, hoeing fields from dawn to dusk, and carrying heavy buckets of water. Studies of ancient skeletons indicate that the transition to agriculture brought about a plethora of ailments, such as slipped discs, arthritis and hernias.”[1]

If you look at the graphic there's a point where the human body begins to bend and collapse, and it is at this very juncture where we see the beginning of a decline caused through repetitive tasks involving flexion and weight bearing. Those back breaking tasks have now been replaced with sedentary office work typically hunched over a computer and exacerbated by phone scrolling and texting.  Now, instead of the body breaking down due to arduous labor, the human structure is declining, dysevolving, due to inactivity, long hours of sitting, and the accumulated effect of poor body conditioning.  There is even a condition called “screen apnea” related to the way our eyes focus when scanning the horizon for predators (now a computer or phone) that causes shallow breathing or temporary cessation of breathing.

The physical practices of yoga are excellent for preventing and mitigating the tendency towards kyphosis and forward head caused by habitual slouching.  My next deep dive class at FlowWellBeing in Christchurch is about how we can use regular, gentle and dynamic back bending  to stem the tide of dysevolution as well as maintain erect posture into our twilight years.  Because dysevolution is not inevitable! 

For those of you outside New Zealand, I’ll be offering a shorter version of this class via livestream later this year.  Our next livestream series begins in September (details coming soon).

Saturday, August 6, 2022

1:00-3:30 pm

https://flowhotyoga.co.nz/workshops

Warmly,

Donna

[1] Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Harper Perennial, 2018