Why I Restored My Human
When I was in my early 20’s, which is about 40 years ago, I injured my spine in a parachute accident. I had the dream of “cloud punching”. But, as sometimes happens, it did not go as planned. That was my first and last bad parachute landing.
I was a grade ‘A’ skydiver student who “aced” the ground-based parachute landing fall training off a reasonably high platform, but unfortunately not when the real event occurred. The ground comes up very fast after you drop below the horizon. It’s also eerily quiet. So just a fair warning if you are thinking of doing this.
In the 1980’s, when I decided it was a great idea to jump out of an airplane, you could go un-accompanied with just a static line to open your (round /army-surplus) parachute shortly after leaving the planes door. Luckily the static line worked so I am here to write this.
The landing was not as spectacular as the jump and float down. As I approached the ground I turned with the wind which increased my speed instead of into the wind to slow me down, as we were instructed. And that’s hard to practice on the ground. It’s much safer these days, usually you are strapped to an instructor so you get the experience without needing the skill.
It seemed a very unlucky thing to have happened, but I was young, hopeful, resilient and quite optimistic. I could walk and talk,,, I was just a bit sore and leaning a bit to one side which I didn’t notice until someone at work pointed it out.
My doctor said, I should see a chiropractor and then my chiropractor said I should probably see a specialist. But he did recommend some physical therapy and mentioned Yoga in an off the cuff statement. Now that I think about it, was quite enlightened for a specialist in a northern BC city in the early 1980’s. The x-rays revealed uneven compression damage to the spongy discs between a couple of vertebrae around the upper thoracic vertebrae.
It was also impressed on me that I would likely be living with this injury for the rest of my life and it would probably get worse as I aged and I would have to do continuous remedial work to keep functioning normally. Great! Not what I wanted to hear …. But it had an awesome effect on my future life!
How I Learned to Restore My Human
I became a discoverer, an adventurer into physicality, spirituality and learned to strengthen my body and mind. I discovered meditation, fasting, alternate remedies, physical and incarnate spiritual gurus / through channeling, etc. I bent a fork with my mind. (only useful as proof of concept) Yes they were heady and fantastic times!
As the early moments unfolded it seemed like a lot of self work, with no certainty of any positive outcomes. It was difficult and sometimes ego-defeating work, and I only came to appreciate it much later as the journey has helped me arrive where I am today and informs where I am going to go tomorrow.
My earliest discoveries were Hatha Yoga and Pilates, well before anyone understood or heard of such exotic things. And there were none or few instructors, no YouTube or internet yet, so I found books, magazine articles, etc and taught myself. A women from Thailand in my office found out I was practicing yoga and asked me to demonstrate what I’d learned. She had taught yoga in her home country and was impressed by my flexibility, form and how much I learned from a book. That bolstered my confidence.
The concepts within Yoga and Pilates informed me greatly and gave me strength, body awareness and some flexibility. I also discovered and taught Taoist Tai Chi, which gave me an appreciation for inner energy flows and a connection to my spiritual self. Although awesome and enlightening, even these did not fix everything. I still experienced significant and random instability in my back which would go out of alignment or create nearby muscle imbalances. This prevented me from doing the things I wanted to do; functional things like lifting heavy objects, helping someone move or move myself, keeping fit with weight lifting, going for a run. Walking across an office and turning to go in a different direction would trigger a back event.
Which leads me to the last 4 years where I met the amazing super-humans’ at Restore Human.
Found Restore Human!
While browsing randomly through YouTube channels, I found the Ido Portal Movement tribe videos and was instantly fascinated by the simple but graceful body weight movements, primal and natural body positions that challenge the body’s strength and flexibility. I wondered if anyone was doing this kind of work in Vancouver. I instinctively felt that this was the direction I needed to go next.
In October of 2017, while on a visit to my Physio-works practitioner Jessie, I asked her about natural body movement practices locally, (I showed her the Ido video) she mentioned a group down the street. I immediately went down 4th Ave into Restore Human’s studio in Vancouver.
My first trainer was Stephan Vescey. He welcomed me with a big pre-pan hug and told me I had come to right place. He was absolutely correct. Connection made. I had never had a personal trainer before, or even thought I could ever have one. Stephan was a perfect introductory fit for me to begin and grow the next chapter of my physical literacy.
When Stephan left to attend University and Physiotherapist training I had to choose another trainer. A difficult choice. Pax Frias to me was the scariest (but ,,, not really ) of the training team. Scary to me because I knew he would not let me go unchallenged. His energy is limitless, and he was exuberantly positive and full of burgeoning potential and excitement about what he was discovering. He was “usually” right about the decisions on which direction to head toward. Pax has become a great friend and confidante over the years. I learned self trust and perseverance from him.
I faced many of my fears and excuses head-on and learned to be tougher, investigated some healthy food options and supplements and learned about biohacking and myself along the way. You are never too old to learn. That is another article for sure.
As well as some smart targeted strength and balance movements and teaching me how to finally run correctly, Pax introduced me to ice-baths, Wim-Hof breathing and some awesome books and concepts. It is difficult to put into words how life altering this phase was. I get a bit emotional thinking about it…
I had some sessions with rock-solid stoic Coach Karlo learning how to defend and punch and get LOUD, and with Dave Gu on how to chill-it-out like a rockstar baby and still get that exercise and breathwork done right. With Gabo, he has nuances of physical body knowledge I didn’t know I needed to know which improved my practice awareness. He also exhibits an emotional range and youthful courage that I want to emulate and learn to trust. I’m holding out for Coach Kesh with which I fully expect to be a spiritual journey. My warrior is ready. I have not had the pleasure of working with the other coaches yet, but we have played and adventured outdoors. Thanks for being part of my tribe.
After the first year or working out twice a week my back was under control and much more predictable. I have learned to read my body, enjoy my physicality, be stronger, more flexible and more resilient in my life. Knowing what it feels like to be this fit and ready to try new things, is a most awesome mind-set. I am a warrior ready for anything.
On occasion I can still overdo my workouts, as I have noticed that the more in-shape and healthy I am, the more I extend myself and push the range of my body. It is an ever expanding learning experience.
So much of it involves mind-set training, understanding and overcoming past hurts and emotions and believing and trusting in your capabilities. At least this has been my experience. I have the tools now to go forward and step across new thresholds.
A Restore(d) Human is exactly how I felt when going through their training regime. It’s smart, focused, time-efficient and totally tailored to what you need. It’s incredibly effective and very addictive and fun. An addiction you can be proud of. And the fun component brings wonder and awe back into the adult equation, which I sorely needed a refresher course on.
I share all of the above information and my experiences to demonstrate that anything is possible. No matter your age, your physical limitation or sense of worth. You can be improved, be happier, more confident and best of all physically healthier. It’s just a matter of choosing and making a commitment to yourself and the future. Your future and others, that rely on you.
Thank you!